Building Design articles from February 2006

Building Design archives from February 2006

Robots to build homes: transatlantic race to research freeform construction will deliver first building in months.
February 3, 2006... Researchers in the United States are on the verge of unveiling a robot capable of building an entire house from an architect's computer-based design. Behrokh Khoshnevis, from the University of Southern California's department of industrial...

Treasury signals PFI reform.
February 3, 2006... The Treasury has given its clearest indication so far that it is willing to reform the controversial PFI process in line with RIBA president Jack Pringle's Smart PFI model. Financial secretary to the Treasury John Healey told the House of...

Ascona's crown jewel.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Architect Caruso St John has beaten international star Zaha Hadid to win the competition to design a 25 million [pounds sterling] Centre for Tourism & Culture in the Swiss town of Ascona on Lake Maggiore. Caruso St John was one of eight...

Archigram goes public with 300,000 [pounds sterling] grant: archive of 1960s collective's material will appear on a special website.(News)
February 3, 2006... After 40 years of being stored in garden sheds, under beds and in cupboards, the archive of the 1960s collective Archigram is finally being made available to the public. The archive of approximately 4,000 drawings, models and audio tapes...

Olympic changes.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... The designs that helped win London the Olympic Games in 2012 have been updated after a land deal with the owners of the nearby Stratford City development in east London. The deal means the media centre for the games and parts of the...

Allies & Morrison.(Hit and miss)
February 3, 2006... Allies & Morrison has been appointed to design the Elizabeth House tower in Waterloo (above) from a shortlist that included Make, KPF and Foreign Office Architects. RHWL, which designed the original scheme for the site, will act as executive...

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, Buschow Henley, Cottrell & Vermeulen with Sarah Wigglesworth, Penoyre & Prasad and Feilden Clegg Bradley.(Hit and miss)
February 3, 2006... Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, Buschow Henley, Cottrell & Vermeulen with Sarah Wigglesworth, Penoyre & Prasad and Feilden Clegg Bradley have been shortlisted to design a 7 million [pounds sterling] New Deal for Communities scheme in New Cross...

The Richard Rogers Partnership's masterplan for the regeneration of Bracknell town centre will go before council planners next week.(Hit and miss)
February 3, 2006... The Richard Rogers Partnership's masterplan for the regeneration of Bracknell town centre will go before council planners next week. The masterplan includes 1,000 new homes and 56,000sq m of new retail space.

Work on the tallest tower in China, a 432m high building by Wilkinson Eyre in Guangzhou, has begun.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Work on the tallest tower in China, a 432m high building by Wilkinson Eyre in Guangzhou, has begun. The 400 million [pounds sterling] mixed-use building, the New Town West Tower, will house a 370-bed room hotel at the top as well as 163,000sq m...

Piercy Conner Architects.(People)
February 3, 2006... Stuart Piercy of Piercy Conner Architects is in talks to produce new modular housing schemes in India. He is in discussions with manufacturers in the country for domestic schemes.

The cost of Zaha Hadid's futuristic Glasgow museum of transport has rocketed by 10 million [pounds sterling].(People)
February 3, 2006... The cost of Zaha Hadid's futuristic Glasgow museum of transport has rocketed by 10 million [pounds sterling]. A report to Glasgow City Council said the museum would cost at least 60 million [pounds sterling] rather than 50 million [pounds...

Squire & Partners.(People)
February 3, 2006... Squire & Partners has appointed four new directors and eight new associates. James Denner, Clelia Filipe, Matthew Holloway and Tim Must, all previously associates, are now directors.

Save Britain's Heritage has published a damning report on deputy prime minister John Prescott's plans to revive the housing market in the north of England.(Power play)
February 3, 2006... Save Britain's Heritage has published a damning report on deputy prime minister John Prescott's plans to revive the housing market in the north of England. The report says the plans involve the demolition of too many old terraces.

The Liberal Democrats have said Treasury plans for a new planning gain supplement will be a "catastrophe" that will "deter development".(Power play)
February 3, 2006... The Liberal Democrats have said Treasury plans for a new planning gain supplement will be a "catastrophe" that will "deter development". Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said similar taxes had "failed three times in the last century".

The number of homes built on brownfield land has hit a record new high of 72%, according to new figures released by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister this week.(Power play)
February 3, 2006... The number of homes built on brownfield land has hit a record new high of 72%, according to new figures released by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister this week. The average density for new homes was 40 dwellings per hectare, up from 25 in...

Liverpool takes heritage hardline.(News)
February 3, 2006... The new leadership of Liverpool City Council will take a strong pro-heritage stance, refusing to "sit back and accept" the kind of proposals it would have "welcomed in the 1990s", it said this week. New leader, councillor Warren...

Farrell's Lots Road gets nod from Prescott.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Terry Farrell's controversial Chelsea development Lots Road is finally set to go ahead after deputy prime minister John Prescott overturned the decision of a planning inspector. Prescott's approval, which echoes his overturning of another...

Southwark to set up its own design review panel.
February 3, 2006... An elite team of architects, many building in the borough, will begin advising the London Borough of Southwark on design next week after Cabe complained its design review panel was swamped with schemes from the authority. More than 30...

Design changes blamed for Wembley delay.(News)
February 3, 2006... Design changes to Wembley Stadium could spell defeat in the battle to finish the 757 million [pounds sterling] stadium in time for the FA Cup final, bosses admitted this week. The managing director of contractor Multiplex, Martin Tidd,...

NHS heralds fresh era in hospital design.(Health special)(National Health Service)
February 3, 2006... Health secretary Patricia Hewitt signalled the end of the grand hospital this week when she unveiled a white paper ushering in a new generation of around 50 cottage hospitals providing outpatient services within local communities. ...

The changing face of healthcare ...(News: Health special)
February 3, 2006... The looming revolution in healthcare architecture could even surpass the radical changes which transformed hospitals in Britain with the creation of the NHS in 1947. After the war the country's Victorian hospital buildings appeared worn...

Jackson walks the walk.(Health special)
February 3, 2006... Richard Jackson, a paediatrician by profession and the former health adviser for California state governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, was in London last week to tell none other than Prince Charles how the design of our environment has a massive...

Royal London set to go ahead.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... The troubled 1.2 billion [pounds sterling] Royal London & Barts PFI hospital looks likely to be given the go-ahead after an independent report found a strong clinical case for the massive new building. Health secretary Patricia Hewitt...

Animal rights group attacks practice.(News)
February 3, 2006... Animal rights activists have claimed responsibility for an attack on the offices of a firm of architects which is working for Oxford University. Oxford Architects, which is not involved in Oxford University's proposed 18 million [pounds...

Group to campaign over Israel/Palestine projects.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... A pressure group aiming to spotlight the political role of Israeli architects in the occupation of Palestinian territories was set to be launched yesterday (Thursday) as BD went to press. The group, with the working title of Architects &...

Croydon surprise.(Foster & Partners)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Foster & Partners' scheme for the London Borough of Croydon looks set to go ahead after a dramatic u-turn by the council. Croydon Council ended years of opposition to the 90,O00sq m mixed-use Croydon Gateway scheme for developer Stanhope...

Arb rivals lay into reform candidates.
February 3, 2006... Architect members of the Arb board standing for re-election have launched a fierce attack on rival candidates the Arb Reform Group, accusing it of being an unrepresentative "clique" risking serious damage to the profession. As ballot...

Gummer's solution: two registers.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Former environment secretary John Gummer, who set up the Arb, has proposed "a register in two parts" as the means of ending the dispute in the profession over regulation. Gummer said there was a problem with "duplication" between Arb and...

Banking on it.(Scotland)
February 3, 2006... Michael Laird Architects has completed a 240 million [pounds sterling] world headquarters for the Royal Bank of Scotland in Gogarburn, Edinburgh. The offices, on a 40ha former hospital site, feature 75,000sq m of commercial space, a conference...

Wharf factor.(Scotland)
February 3, 2006... Fraser Brown McKenna Architects has completed an affordable housing scheme in Sandport Place for the Port of Leith Housing Association. The 48 affordable one, two and three bedroom apartments form the final phase of the Ronaldson's Wharf...

Capital growth.(Scotland)
February 3, 2006... Multidisciplinary giant Atkins has moved to larger offices in Edinburgh to cope with fast growth in the Scottish market. The practice, which has more than 450 staff in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, will move to new premises in Canning...

Heritage views.(Scotland)
February 3, 2006... Edinburgh could be at risk of losing its World Heritage Site status, Unesco has warned. The International Council on Monuments & Sites is concerned at the impact of Foster & Partners' Quartermile development on the city skyline. The development...

Brought to book.(Royal Incorporation of Architects )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... The director of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, Brian Moore, has written a new book for clients about how to select design teams. The Guide to Selection of Design Teams: Design Competitions and Other Quality Based Procurement...

Come together.(Scotland)
February 3, 2006... Architect Terry Farrell is championing the idea of Edinburgh and Glasgow forming closer links to market themselves as a Scottish metropolis. Farrell, also design adviser to Edinburgh City Council, said the two cities should work "together and...

Going for a conversion.(Scotland)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Dunfermline-based architect and former rugby player Ken Oliver has proposed to the Scottish Rugby Union that Murrayfield could be adapted to increase capacity and create a better atmosphere. Oliver has proposed that demountable seats could be...

On the level.(Scotland)
February 3, 2006... A new exhibition, Bungalow Blitz, at Glasgow's Lighthouse architecture centre, explores the self-build bungalows made popular in Ireland in the 1970s by the book of house plans Bungalow Bliss. A scale model of one of the bungalows will be...

Spotcheck.
February 3, 2006... Michael Laird Architects' newly completed 240 million [pounds sterling] world headquarters for the Royal Bank of Scotland in Gogarburn, Edinburgh.

BRE: it's time to join the green coalition.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Sustainability experts are set to establish a UK Green Building Council to help reduce the environmental impact of buildings. The industry-led proposal, headed up by the Building Research Establishment's managing director for the...

Carlisle masterplan on track after flood.(News)
February 3, 2006... Deputy prime minister John Prescott visited Carlisle on Friday to launch a public consultation on a 15-year masterplan to rebuild the city following last year's devastating floods. Taylor Young has been appointed to draw up the masterplan...

Wales cares PRP Architects has won planning permission for a care home in Wales.
February 3, 2006... Wales cares PRP Architects has won planning permission for a care home in Wales. The development, in Albion Street, Newport, will combine 40 flats with a 60-bed care home. The 5 million [pounds sterling] development, for Glamorgan & Gwent...

Wales wins The National Assembly for Wales, designed by Richard Rogers Partnership has been awarded an excellent Breeam rating by the Building Research Establishment.
February 3, 2006... Wales wins The National Assembly for Wales, designed by Richard Rogers Partnership, has been awarded an excellent Breeam rating by the Building Research Establishment. The award was presented to the Assembly in Cardiff on Friday by BRE director...

What's next for Bradford.
February 3, 2006... Bradford Channel Ltd has submitted plans for the next phase in Will Alsop's masterplan for the Yorkshire city. The plans, by local practice Robinson Architects, are for a mixed-use development dubbed "the Channel".

Caruso St John's crowning glory.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Caruso St John Architects has beaten a shortlist which included Zaha Hadid and Peter Markli in the competition to build a Centre for Tourism & Culture in the Swiss-Italian town of Ascona. The 25 million [pounds sterling] building will...

Going public.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2006... Rem Koolhaas and Robert Booth (Leader January 20) have a point: narrow minded and risk-averse officialdom is killing off the civic/public realm, but neither should we romanticise the present situation in which some of the most damaged people in...

Private thoughts.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2006... I was interested by Koolhaas's remark "We have surrendered vast sections of our privacy to protect the public realm" (News January 20). We are not going to make an urban renaissance if we don't deal with the quality of people's privacy. ...

Over the top.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2006... It was gratifying to see serious flood risk taken into account in the design of Kiran Curtis Associates' Thames Estuary housing (Solutions January 20). The storm of 1953 occurred with a high--not highest--spring tide of 2.5m on top of...

Dictating terms?(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2006... I went along to the David Adjaye exhibition (Culture January 20), and was surprised that the words "William Russell" appear nowhere, when at least a third of projects in the first space were the work of Adjaye & Russell. Whether we will be...

Outside the box.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2006... If Arb is serious about its box-ticking exercise (News January 27), it should be making random checks on employed architects and architect lecturers to ensure they really do have insurance, especially in relation to pro-bono private advice. ...

At least get it right.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2006... I regularly receive emails from Arb trumpeting its success in prosecuting someone. At the end of each is a note: "Arb has a board of 15 members, seven of whom are architects elected by the profession. The remaining eight are members of the...

Protect & survive.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2006... Your correspondents (Letters January 20) appear to be under the impression that Arb exists for the benefit of RIBA members. Arb exists to protect the public. To do this it imposes rules on architects, to ensure high professional standards....

Research proposal.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2006... Occasionally I go into hospital where an image of my heart valve is shown on a screen and I think: "Wow, what amazing research must have produced such a result." I understand that historical research helps us understand the past, and...

Last week's Zumtobel Staff photo contest feature, accidentally omitted one of the runners up.(Comment: Letters)
February 3, 2006... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED Caption: Last week's Zumtobel Staff photo contest feature, accidentally omitted one of the runners up, Michael Stewart, of TADW Architects, Cheschire, who took the above picture.

Get ready for the robo-building.(Editorial)
February 3, 2006... The power politics between designer and contractor could be about to change for ever. Next time your builder tries to block your designs, tell him about the machines nearing completion in laboratories on both sides of the Atlantic which will...

Give back planning powers to the state.(Soapbox)
February 3, 2006... A nice thing about having our wee Scottish parliament is that you occasionally get the feeling--or at least the illusion--that you are close to power. Of course as a wee nation, with wee powers, these occasions are intimate things, without the...

Hello sailors.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... A fantastic gaffe during deputy prime minister John Prescott's speech to Cabe last week. His speech was being subtitled live by an offstage typist, but when Prescott called for the profession to "stop this navel gazing", the subtitles read: "We...

End of terrorist.(Concrete Boots)
February 3, 2006... Prescott also made an interesting Freudian slip when he said journalists often criticised him for "knocking down terrorists" when he meant terraces. Perhaps this is the government's new anti-terror measures. As we know, the big man is not...

Empire state.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Still with Prescott, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was this week accused of bullying and discrimination in a survey published by the Commons select committee. "This raises yet more questions about John Prescott's beleaguered empire,"...

Prole position.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... You can't help but feel you are being treated like a prole when you attend an event where Prince Charles is speaking. At last week's Celebrating Achievement conference all the journalists had to wait outside St James's Palace in the freezing...

Stand-in comedy.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Meanwhile Prince Charles's sympathies went out to Rob Smith, the new director of NHS Estates, who, standing in when health secretary Patricia Hewitt was held up in the House of Commons, had to give a 2D-minute speech with just an hour's notice....

Third time unlucky.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... The next week Hewitt gave someone else a pierhead jump. A journalist from the Independent, determined to get a straight answer from the health secretary, asked the same question three times at a press conference for the healthcare white paper...

Is the prefab revolution on hold? They've been heralded as the future of building and the solution to housing shortages, yet prefabs have failed to take off. Elaine Knutt asks whether they still have a future.(Focus)
February 3, 2006... The Prefabulous London exhibition running at New London Architecture is based on an ABC of prefab and modular construction. Considering that prefab has been on the architectural agenda for the best part of a decade, most architects with an...

A shift in scale: it's a tricky step for any architect to move from the small to the large scale. Tony Fretton is making the leap with three high-end residential schemes in Amsterdam. Ellis Woodman discovers whether he has managed the transition.(Works)
February 3, 2006... The moment in an architect's career when their work makes a jump in scale is always a heady one. Positions that bewitched when tested at the scale of a house can suddenly shed their charm when required to support a project of 10 times the size....

How we cracked it: 22.
February 3, 2006... The challenge: To give structural strength to a five-storey, single skin stack-bonded brick wall The solution: To use the alignment of the bricks to thread reinforcement rods through them Architect: Austin-Smith Lord Site:...

Click 'print' for your building: is the next step on from rapid prototyping, machines that can make actual buildings?
February 3, 2006... At a workshop for design professionals organised by Loughborough University researchers last summer, a strange thing happened. "At some point, it was as if a switch suddenly went on in everyone's brain," says Jalal El-Ali, a structural designer...

China syndrome.(SELECTOR)
February 3, 2006... New Chinese architecture's relationship with the west comes under the Royal Academy spotlight in a lecture by Jianfei Zhu on Monday February 6, at the Geological Society Lecture Theatre, Piccadilly, London 6.30pm. 10 [pounds sterling]/ students...

Brazilian blend.(SELECTOR)
February 3, 2006... Sculpture's interaction with Oscar Niemeyer's architecture in Brazil is the subject of Espaco Aberto/ Espaco Fechado: Sites for sculpture in modern Brazil, opening on February 4 at the Henry Moore Institute, 74 The Headrow, Leeds. Tel: 0113 246...

Destruction as cultural cleansing: a new book examines how attackers use the tactical eradication of architecture.
February 3, 2006... "The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then you have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long the nation will begin to forget...

Make some space.(SELECTOR)
February 3, 2006... Peter Swinnen of Brussels-based practice 51N4E discusses the role of the architect as space producer on Monday February 6 at the Architectural Association, 36 Bedford Square, London. Tel: 020 7887 4000.

Film theory fails to project: David Cunningham on a cinematic architectural installation at the AA.(Culture: Books Exhibitions Events)
February 3, 2006... From the stage sets of expressionist films to the futuristic cityscapes of Alphaville or Blade Runner, from the architectural imaginings of Le Corbusier to those of Rem Koolhaas, architecture and cinema have often found inspiration in each...

On the bookshelf.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... New Architecture in China, by Bernard Chan. Merrell, HB, 29.95 [pounds sterling]. The fruits of China's construction boom are showcased in this coffee table tome. Case studies include work by OMA and Shigeru Ban. Vernacular...

Culture vulture.
February 3, 2006... You've got a day to indulge your cultural pursuits. What would you do? My first thing to do is have a lie-in, with a job and two small children there is seldom time for such decadence. It always puts me in a better mood for the day. Next a...

Stoakes Systems.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... The 2006 Guide to Kalwall Projects is now available to BD readers. It has stunning images and information about how architects have used the Kalwall translucent system for different cladding and roofing applications. Highly insulating Kalwall...

Gooding Aluminium.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... Gooding Aluminium's 'secretly fixed' Posi-Grip perforated radiator casing panels are registering a big success at the recent Land Registry development in Lytham St. Annes. Providing a distinct architectural element around the inside perimeter...

Ruukki Construction.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... Ruukki Launches New RIBA Assessed CPD Off-Site Construction Seminar. A new continuing professional development (CPD) seminar on offsite construction techniques, developed by Ruukki UK Ltd, has just been granted Assessed Materials status by the...

Space Works.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... Spaceworks create a high street facility for Waltham Forest Council. Spaceworks, the interiors solutions specialist, has acted as main contractor for creation of the 500m2 modern and customer-friendly Waltham Forest Direct council offices....

Pilkington.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... Pilkington Building Products--UK & Ireland is pleased to announce the appointment of David Pinder to the role of Managing Director. David, who has been with Pilkington since 1985, takes up the helm in the UK and Ireland after performing a...

Polypipe Civils.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... Polypipe Civils the UK's leading manufacturer of ducting, drainage, sewerage and environmental systems has provided the solution as part of a supply chain agreement for the prestigious Terminal 5 project at Heathrow Airport. Polypipe Civils was...

Corus Building Systems.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... Leading aluminium roof and wall cladding manufacturer Kalzip has become the first organisation to be approved by the new COMPASSure[TM] scheme, a revolutionary insurance concept designed specifically to reduce risks and maximise supply chain...

Lignacite.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... Foster and Partners specified 25,000[m.sup.2] of Lignacite SP in a paint grade finish for the redevelopment of Spitalfields market in London. The old Spitalfields market has been transformed into new spacious residential and commercial outlets....

McKenzie Martin Ltd.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... Website launch for McKenzie Martin. Manchester based McKenzie Martin Limited are pleased to announce the launch of their website www.mckenziemartin.co.uk. It is anticipated the addition of the comprehensive website will enhance McKenzie...

Junckers.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... Junckers' 200th RIBA-accredited CPD was held in November at one of the UK's largest architectural practices, Sheppard Robson--the name behind award-winning projects such as the Salvation Army International HQ and City Point, Ropemaker Street,...

Terrapin.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... Terrapin provide full service building solutions using modern methods of construction which have twice proved ideal for Burghfield St Mary's School, near Reading. the first building a single storey double classroom block constructed in 2000,...

Interior Design Handbook.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... For over 20 years, Interior Design Handbook has been one of the most valuable and visionary sources of products available to the British interior design and retail professions. Widely acknowledge as the essential interior design source book,...

Kingspan Insulation Ltd.(Products & Literature)
February 3, 2006... Kingspan Kooltherm[R] K15 Rainscreen Board for use behind rainscreen cladding systems not only achieves a Class O fire rating when tested to BS 476, and less than 5% smoke emission to BS 5111 Part 1:1974, but it also meets the requirements of...