Building Design articles from April 2009

Building Design archives from April 2009

25 years on, prince and RIBA kiss and make up.(Royal Institute of British Architects)
April 3, 2009... Invitation to speak a "historic moment" - but don't expect a love-in, warns RIBA president Marguerite Lazell & Will Hurst The architecture profession is set to bury the hatchet with Prince Charles following 25 years of bad blood...

The shock of the Noo.(Mecanoo contracts for library architecture)(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... Dutch architect Mecanoo this week revealed its design for a #193 million library for Birmingham. The glass building is wrapped in a metal filigree which the practice says has been inspired by the city's history of craftsmanship and industry....

LEADER: Prince is back for seconds.
April 3, 2009... AMANDA BAILLIEU Sustainability is likely to be the target of Prince Charles's RIBA speech next month, but architects can't expect an easy ride When Prince Charles was last invited to address the RIBA, the lines between modernists and...

LEADER: Sending out the right signals.(Railroad engineering)(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... The billions of pounds being ploughed into the UK's creaking rail network have prompted a comparison with the great era of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. But mentioning the great engineer in the same breath as Network Rail, which is in charge of this...

IN BRIEF: Green light for Tate Modern 2.(Herzog & de Meuron contracts with Tate Modern )(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... Herzog & de Meuron's revised plan for the Tate Modern extension won planning permission from Southwark Council on Tuesday evening. Councillors voted unanimously to approve "Tate Modern 2" following a hugely positive report from officers,...

IN BRIEF: Hadid's new wave rolls in.(London 2012 Aquatics Centre )(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... Zaha Hadid's wave-shaped roof for the London 2012 Aquatics Centre has begun to take shape. The 2,800-tonne, 11,000sq m steel roof was prefabricated in Newport. Installation is set to last until summer, when the aluminium covering will be...

IN BRIEF: 20% of Ulster architecture jobs go.
April 3, 2009... One in five architecture jobs in Northern Ireland has been lost over the past year, according to a survey by the Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUS). The survey, which questioned every architect in the region, found that 400 staff had...

IN BRIEF: Factions a fiction, says Prasad.(Royal Institute of British Architects)(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... RIBA president Sunand Prasad has denied reports that a "faction" of council members has urged a radical restructuring of the institute. Speaking after last week's council meeting in Cardiff, Prasad said no members had proposed such...

IN BRIEF: Holmes's Queen Street approved.(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... Scottish practice Holmes has won planning consent for a #40 million mixed-use project on Queen Street in central Glasgow. The site is surrounded by listed buildings in Glasgow's first conservation area. The building will be constructed with...

College crisis was avoidable - report.
April 3, 2009... Funding for 144 stalled college projects should be allocated on a "needs-only" basis, a damning independent report into the Building Colleges for the Future programme has concluded. Released this week, the report by former Audit Commission...

Birmingham basks in building boom.
April 3, 2009... #20bn of public-led projects are enabling the city to buck the recession Ruth Bloomfield Birmingham is enjoying a publicly funded architectural renaissance, with billions of pounds pouring into the city despite the recession, its...

BIRMINGHAM'S HIGH-ROLLING PROJECTS.
April 3, 2009... * #2.4 billion: Building Schools for the Future scheme by Will Alsop, DSDHA, Associated Architects, Archial, Fat, and Cottrell & Vermeulen. * #500 million: new "superhospital" for Edgbaston by BDP. * #193 million: new Birmingham...

Brace of Oxbridge modernists listed.(Brief article)
April 3, 2009... Modernist university buildings in Cambridge and Oxford by James Stirling and Powell & Moya have been listed, to the delight of heritage groups. Stirling's Florey Building for Queen's College in Oxford was awarded grade II status by the...

Saana reveals its Serpentine design.
April 3, 2009... Japanese architect Saana has unveiled its design for this year's summer pavilion at the Serpentine gallery, which will be its first built project in the UK. The temporary pavilion, to be built on the gallery's lawn in London's Hyde Park,...

Stem cell scheme to regenerate Nottingham.
April 3, 2009... Studio Egret West has designed this #100 million MediPark, a"life sciences community" in Nottingham. The scheme, for council vehicle Nottingham Regeneration, is intended to house more than 200 medical firms. The 3.6ha MediPark will sit...

O'Donnell & Tuomey museum fails in lottery bid.
April 3, 2009... Ruth Bloomfield & Will Henley Ambitious plans for a new museum in Northern Ireland by O'Donnell & Tuomey have been turned down by the Heritage Lottery Fund amid claims that the organisation is neglecting regional schemes. Kate Kneale,...

FIRST LOOK: High times ahead as Romford infants get rooftop play space.
April 3, 2009... Anne Thorne Architects has opened the doors of its #1.8 million building for Furze Infants' School in Romford, Essex. The 780sq m building features four classrooms, a 210sq m school hall and kitchen space on the ground floor, and a rooftop...

British firms battle it out in Botswana.
April 3, 2009... Foster & Partners and Studio Egret West are among eight shortlisted practices for the Botswana Innovation Hub, on the outskirts of Botswana's capital, Gaborone. The UK practices are up against US architects Perkins & Will, Shop Architects...

Tower approvals rile Westminster Council.(Westminster City Council approved Beetham tower construction)
April 3, 2009... Will Henley Westminster City Council has blasted communities secretary Hazel Blears' decision to approve towers by Ian Simpson and Wilkinson Eyre on London's South Bank as an "act of architectural vandalism". Following a public...

Boris is soft on high rise, says Ken.
April 3, 2009... Former London mayor Ken Livingstone has branded successor Boris Johnson more pro-tall buildings than he ever was, and vowed to reinstate the 100 Public Spaces programme should he be elected mayor again in 2012. Speaking exclusively to BD,...

African American shortlist revealed.
April 3, 2009... The Smithsonian Institution has unveiled designs by the six shortlisted architects for its #350 million National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington DC. The shortlist for the 2ha site on Constitution Avenue includes...

LETTER: Sticky wicket.(Letter to the editor)
April 3, 2009... I know this is well overdue but... I moved into Robin Hood Gardens when I was nine, in 1972. We came from the Canada Estate, built at the turn of the century. Robin Hood Gardens was a real place in comparison - and my dad was part of the...

LETTER: RIBA: get real.(Letter to the editor)
April 3, 2009... I have followed your raging debate about Arb and the RIBA. I even wrote to the minister two years ago, imploring her to resist the RIBA's efforts to take over Arb's functions, and I made sure that I didn't vote for a Reform Group candidate. ...

LETTER: Fount of wisdom.(Letter to the editor)
April 3, 2009... Last Sunday, I cycled past Centre Point and was saddened to see the pool and fountains dry and hoarded-off, ready for demolition. Crossrail and its architects are making a big mistake. The fountains - not necessarily the pool - should be...

LETTER: Ode to joy.(Letter to the editor)
April 3, 2009... Thank you, Jonathan Glancey, for bringing up a worthwhile but neglected issue (Whatever happened to craft? March 27). We now know that craft and build quality are also vital for energy efficiency and indoor air comfort; they affect envelope...

LETTER: Computer craft.(Letter to the editor)
April 3, 2009... Like it or not, computers are here to stay (Whatever happened to craft? March 27), so the issue is how computing-based design can achieve a more sensual quality rather than a default abandonment of how architecture has been practiced for the...

LETTER: Make more of the year out.(Letter to the editor)
April 3, 2009... The latest call from the Association of Consultant Architects to "relax work experience rules" (News March 20) came as no surprise. As a part I student myself, I strongly feel that what needs to be altered is not the necessity of a year out,...

CORRECTION: Steven Tompkins.(Correction notice)
April 3, 2009... In last week's front page story ("Lifeline for arts projects") Haworth Tompkins and director Steve Tompkins were incorrectly spelt as Tomkins. The practice's redevelopment of Liverpool's Everyman theatre is costing #24 million rather than...

OPINION: The shining: a modern horror story.(Viewpoint essay)
April 3, 2009... BILL MITCHELL The new wave of energy-efficient lightbulbs is enough to bring out the axeman in anyone How many AIG executives does it take to screw in a lightbulb? The bitter answer, of course, is that it's not lightbulbs they're...

DEBATE: Should the RIBA introduce a register for conservation?
April 3, 2009... YES Jeremy Blake AABC board member and senior principal, Purcell Miller Tritton Our fellow professionals in surveying, medicine and law have well established specialist registers and accreditations which are recognised by fellow...

URBAN TRAWL: NOTTINGHAM - Notty problem.
April 3, 2009... Nottingham hopes to be `2012 world design capital' but the varying quality of its newer buildings exemplifies the problems of what to do with a post-industrial city OWEN HATHERLEY Whispers have it that Nottingham will imminently be...

WORKS: GEURST & SCHULZE - Act of mediation.
April 3, 2009... Geurst & Schulze's Le Medi housing estate in Rotterdam fits comfortably with a career spent celebrating diverse architectural sources, writes Hans van der Heijden PROJECT TEAM Architects: Geurst & Schulze, Korteknie Stuhlmacher,...

SOLUTIONS: `It struck me as having the qualities of a modern plan'.
April 3, 2009... Continuing our series in which architects talk about the building that has most inspired them, Jamie Fobert tells how he came upon Schinkel's Roman baths almost by accident, yet the design has stayed in his head Inspiration: Romische Bader...

Loving Las Vegas.(Book review)
April 3, 2009... These archive photographs shed light on the making of Learning from Las Vegas, Venturi and Scott Brown's classic text, writes Sean Griffiths BOOK LAS VEGAS STUDIO: IMAGES FROM THE ARCHIVES OF ROBERT VENTURI AND DENISE SCOTT BROWN ...

Bristol's brave new world?
April 3, 2009... Pamela Buxton on two Belgian artists' waterfront reworking EXHIBITION THE GOOD LIFE Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol. wwwthegoodlife-collection.com April 10-June 7 Bristol's respected Arnolfini arts centre has sold its...

Hands off this masterpiece.
April 3, 2009... James R Payne on an appraisal of three Stirling university buildings CONFERENCE STIRLING'S RED BUILDINGS Leicester Engineering Building Organised by the Twentieth Century Society Almost 50 years after the commission of...

JONATHAN GLANCEY: Wren's template for austerity.
April 3, 2009... When Mies talked about doing more with less, he didn't necessarily mean less money. Far from it. Many of his buildings are constructed from fine - and costly - materials. That he used these more or less economically is more or less not in...

THIS WEEK: GIVE TO RECEIVE.
April 3, 2009... To mark the 40th anniversary of charity the Churches Conservation Trust, the Church of England has given it the grade I listed medieval church of St Margaret of Antioch in Knotting, near Bedford, which was recently declared redundant. ...

THIS WEEK: CALL TO ARMS.
April 3, 2009... After the Excalibur Estate in Catford, south-east London, the UK's largest prefab housing estate, was listed last month, the battle has moved to Australia where preservationists are battling to save Pommy Town, a 1950s estate of 50 converted...

THIS WEEK: THE BOOM IS BACK.
April 3, 2009... A ray of hope piercing the big grey cloud that hangs over the housing market? A new Bank of England report has revealed that mortgage approval rates rose by 19% last month. Copyright: UBM Information Ltd.

THIS WEEK: ART DIRECTION.
April 3, 2009... Arts Council England spent #22.62 per head on arts organisations in the capital last year, but only #4.82 per person in Yorkshire and #3.35 in the North-West, prompting calls for an overhaul of the funding system. Copyright: UBM...

THIS WEEK: LIFE'S A DRAG.
April 3, 2009... The Learning & Skills Council rejected James Dyson's plans for an engineering academy in Bath because it thought that a scheme by Dragons' Den star Peter Jones would receive "more positive national publicity". Copyright: UBM Information...

CF Moller dumped from Maritime Museum project.
April 9, 2009... Purcell Miller Tritton replaces concept architect on Greenwich landmark scheme Ruth Bloomfield The architect behind the landmark #35 million extension for the National Maritime Museum has been removed from the project. CF Moller,...

Vinoly's Battersea take 2.
April 9, 2009... Rafael Vinoly's latest designs for the #4 billion Battersea Power Station project emerged this week as part of a public consultation by Wandsworth Council on the regeneration of the wider Nine Elms area. As BD revealed in February, Vinoly's...

LEADER: The wrong skills for the job.
April 9, 2009... AMANDA BAILLIEU Restricting conservation work to those on a specialist register could stop buildings having the best viable future Historic buildings need to be appropriately repaired, therefore choosing the right architect and builder...

A justified barracking.(Royal Institute of British Architects)(Brief article)
April 9, 2009... It's all hotting up nicely. Just as the RIBA was being congratulated for its magnanimity in welcoming the Prince of Wales back to Portland Place, he drops another clanger of rather epic proportions. It's not simply that he doesn't like the...

IN BRIEF: Industry faces 12% fall in outputs.(Brief article)
April 9, 2009... The construction industry is facing its worst fall in outputs on record, according to the latest industry forecast from the Construction Products Association. Results from 2009 showed that construction outputs have had their sharpest fall...

IN BRIEF: RIAS convention heads to Dundee.(Royal Incorporation of Scottish Architects)(Brief article)(Conference notes)
April 9, 2009... This year's annual convention of the Royal Incorporation of Scottish Architects will be held in Dundee on May 14-16. The city was chosen to mark the Dundee Institute of Architects' 125th anniversary. Speakers include Rab and Denise...

IN BRIEF: Manis is Woking pavilion winner.(Tina Manis Associates)(Brief article)
April 9, 2009... US practice Tina Manis Associates has won an open competition to design a pavilion to sit outside Marks Barfield's Lightbox gallery in Woking, Surrey. The competition for the Art Fund Pavilion was launched last December by the Architecture...

IN BRIEF: Engineer rebrands as Ramboll UK.
April 9, 2009... Engineering consultancy Ramboll Whitbybird has announced it is to change its name to Ramboll UK. The change marks the full integration of structural engineer Whitbybird into the Ramboll group, after the 25-year-old company joined...

IN BRIEF: YRM staff to run London marathon.
April 9, 2009... Staff from YRM Architects' King's Cross office are to compete in the Flora London Marathon this month to raise money for the practice's charity partner, Alone in London. The charity works with families and schools to prevent homelessness...

Architect erased from Arb register.
April 9, 2009... Architect Gillian Beckingham was removed from the Arb register on Tuesday, almost three years after she was convicted of a breach of health and safety regulations in a case which involved the deaths of at least five people from Legionnaires'...

Southwark tower plans under threat.
April 9, 2009... Westminster council's Doon St legal action could halt other skyscrapers Will Henley A cluster of skyscrapers proposed in the heart of London by some of the country's leading architects could be scuppered thanks to an audacious legal...

Tories outline new housing policies.
April 9, 2009... The Conservative Party has launched a policy green paper outlining its approach to social housing, the private rented sector and energy- efficient homes. Announced on Tuesday by shadow housing minister Grant Shapps, the Strong Foundations:...

Benoy and Foster's join Iraq delegation.(business delegation)(Brief article)
April 9, 2009... Members of staff from Benoy and Foster & Partners joined Peter Mandelson on the first British business delegation to Iraq in more than 20 years on Monday. The business secretary took delegates from 23 companies - including the two...

Grimshaw reveals its Coney Island amphitheatre.(Grimshaw Architects )(Brief article)
April 9, 2009... Grimshaw Architects has unveiled images of its #32 million amphitheatre for Coney Island, New York. The 3.5ha project in Asser Levy Park is part of a major regeneration of Coney Island, formerly a favourite holiday and day trip resort for...

Bat house approved.
April 9, 2009... Architectural Association students Jorgen Tandberg and Yo Murata have won planning permission for a home for bats at the London Wetland Centre at Barnes, south-west London. The Bat House was Tandberg and Murata's winning entry in a...

Prasad urges prince to lay off barracks scheme.
April 9, 2009... BD Newsdesk RIBA president Sunand Prasad has made a dramatic appeal to Prince Charles to stop interfering with Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners' Chelsea Barracks scheme amid a mounting backlash against the institute's decision to invite the...

Housing Fed backs Prasad's retrofit call.
April 9, 2009... RIBA president Sunand Prasad has joined forces with the National Housing Federation to call for a #3 billion pilot to retrofit social housing stock across the UK. In a joint letter sent to chancellor Alistair Darling, Prasad and NHF chief...

Shanghai dune on site.(2010 Shanghai Expo)(Brief article)
April 9, 2009... Work has begun on Foster & Partners' design for the United Arab Emirates pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo. The project, which broke ground last week, was inspired by the shape of a sand dune. Gerard Evenden, a senior partner at...

Arb releases guidance as bankruptcy numbers rise.
April 9, 2009... Will Henley The Architects' Registration Board has issued new guidance for architects worried about individual and company insolvency after a near- doubling in personal bankruptcies in the profession. Seven architects were issued with...

O'Connor to design memorial for aircrew.
April 9, 2009... Liam O'Connor Architects has won the competition to design a national memorial for the second world war's Bomber Command. The architect behind the award-winning Armed Forces Memorial in Staffordshire, and a neoclassical favourite of Prince...

EDUCATION: New campus for Strabane schools.(HLM and RPP Architects contracts with Holy Cross College )(Brief article)
April 9, 2009... HLM and RPP Architects' #29 million Holy Cross College in Strabane, Northern Ireland, has opened. The 115-room secondary school is on the site of the former St Colman's High School in West Tyrone. Three existing schools - two former...

Caltongate architects fear quality cutbacks.(Brief article)
April 9, 2009... Will Henley Architects behind the frozen #300 million Caltongate scheme in Edinburgh have raised fears that new investors could seek to cut corners on design quality. Half a dozen "significant" potential developers are said to be...

MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT: 3D Reid wins Stafford go-ahead.
April 9, 2009... 3DReid has won planning permission for a #23 million mixed-use development in Stafford town centre in the Midlands. The proposal, for Stoford Developments, includes 14,700sq m of office space which will become the central office for...

Heritage outcry over Make's Spurs stadium.
April 9, 2009... Heritage groups have slammed plans to demolish a set of historic buildings on the site of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club's new north London stadium, following the unveiling of designs by Make Architects, KSS Group and Martha Schwartz Partners...

LETTER: Brought to book.(Letter to the editor)
April 9, 2009... Clive Dutton (News April 3) is clearly delighted that the councillors who employ him have "given" him #200 million to gamble on his pet property-led regeneration scheme. In contrast, the very same department that runs the city's public...

LETTER: Metal gurus.(Letter to the editor)
April 9, 2009... Mecanoo claims on its website that the facade of the proposed Birmingham Library (News April 3) is a "delicate metal filigree, inspired by the rich and proud history of this former industrial city with a tradition of craftsmanship". ...

LETTER: Into the light.(Letter to the editor)
April 9, 2009... Maybe Bill Mitchell (Opinion April 3) needs to get his compact fluorescent lightbulbs from somewhere other than his local supermarket? I bought seven from Ikea in 2001 to be my sole living room lighting. One failed last year, the rest are still...

LETTER: A new start for conservation.(Letter to the editor)
April 9, 2009... Your invited columnists debating a new conservation register (Debate April 3) should have delved a little deeper, on two grounds. First, from my experience assessing secular and ecclesiastical schemes since 1980 and 1990 respectively, I...

OPINION: We have strayed too far from the flock.
April 9, 2009... CAROLYN STEEL Our reactions to the G20 and ambivalence to rural life are symptoms of a wider dislocation Two headlines grabbed my attention last week: the trillion dollars pledged by the G20 to be pumped into the global economy, and a...

DEBATE: Is the RIBA right to invite Prince Charles to speak?
April 9, 2009... YES Robert Adam Founder, Robert Adam Architects Back in 1984, the architectural profession went into a big huff because the Prince of Wales dared to criticise the architects' right to design whatever they wanted. Pretty quickly,...

WORKS: MALCOLM FRASER ARCHITECTS - Break for the border.
April 9, 2009... Malcolm Fraser Architects has honed its reputation in Edinburgh, but how has its approach translated to creating a business incubation centre in Berwick-upon-Tweed? asks Peter Wilson PROJECT TEAM Architect: Malcolm Fraser Architects,...

SOLUTIONS: ROOFING - Project: Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre.
April 9, 2009... Architect: Foster & Partners Structural engineer: Buro Happold Location: Astana, Kazakhstan By Amanda Birch With temperatures soaring to 40 degrees C in summer and sliding down to minus 35-40 degrees C in winter, Astana,...

SOLUTIONS: ROOFING - Broadening their horizons.
April 9, 2009... Adam Khan Architects has extended and refurbished a centre for homeless young adults near London's Euston Station, says Amanda Birch Not many architects would be particularly pleased to be told their building was like a Wendy house, but...

CULTURE: Study in practice.(Viewpoint essay)
April 9, 2009... Adrian Dannatt is invited to Yale to see the reopened architecture department and take a cocktail with its dean, Robert Stern TOUR YALE UNIVERSITY Visitor Center, 149 Elm Street, New Haven, Connecticut www.yale.edu/visitor ...

CULTURE: Gathering darkness.(Sir John Soane's Museum, London)(Book review)
April 9, 2009... A new book sets the Soane museum in context, writes Dan Cruickshank BOOK SIR JOHN SOANE'S MUSEUM, LONDON By Tim Knox, photographs by Derry Moore Merrell, 160pp, HB, #24.95 Sir John Soane's Museum is the most glorious...

CULTURE: Fin-de-siecle uncertainties.(European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century)(Book review)
April 9, 2009... R Craig Miller tries to pin down late 20th century design, says Liz Bury BOOK EUROPEAN DESIGN SINCE 1985: SHAPING THE NEW NEW CENTURY By R Craig Miller, Penny Sparke and Catherine McDermott Merrell, 271pp, #35 The phrase...

JONATHAN GLANCEY: High society and low taste.
April 9, 2009... It is, one has to say, absolutely marvellous that the Prince of Wales has accepted an invitation by the Royal Institute of Branded Architects to give a speech thingy at 66 Portland Place in May. It was, of course, absolutely appalling when...

THIS WEEK: GREEN SHOOTS.
April 9, 2009... Businesses report easier access to credit, activity in the services industry is picking up, and house prices have risen by 1%, making some economists optimistic that the worst of the recession may soon be over. Copyright: UBM Information...

THIS WEEK: CANDY SHOP.
April 9, 2009... Despite incurring the wrath of HRH with their Chelsea Barracks scheme, the Candy brothers revealed to the Sunday Times Rich List that they have assets worth #450 million to "put the record straight and show the extent of what we're worth". ...

THIS WEEK: ARCHITECTURE WITH A HUMAN FACE.
April 9, 2009... Architecture for Humanity celebrated its 10th anniversary this week, with a birthday event in San Francisco, while co-founder Cameron Sinclair attended an ethics debate at the Barbican in London. Copyright: UBM Information Ltd.

THIS WEEK: EMPTY NEST.
April 9, 2009... The consortium that inherited operation of the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing is struggling to find regular uses for it, and the venue has hosted no events since the 2008 Olympics ended. Copyright: UBM Information Ltd.

THIS WEEK: IN A PICKLE.
April 9, 2009... Occupancy rates at Foster's Gherkin in the City of London are under threat after its primary occupier, insurance giant Swiss Re, said it was set to cut 10% of its 11,560 staff worldwide. Copyright: UBM Information Ltd.