Building Design articles from February 2009

Building Design archives from February 2009

Architects joining the dole queue up by 544%.
February 6, 2009... RIBA and Arb voice alarm as redundancies and liquidation hit practices worldwide Will Hurst & Will Henley Architects are joining the dole queue at a faster rate than all other occupations, new figures show. Data from the Office...

OMA UPBEAT DESPITE SLASHING 50 STAFF.(Office for Metropolitan Architecture)(Brief article)
February 6, 2009... Office for Metropolitan Architecture, the practice run by Rem Koolhaas, has laid off a sixth of its 300-strong workforce, it emerged this week. The losses are mainly from its Rotterdam offices, although some US staff have been affected, said...

Handball arena goes to planning.
February 6, 2009... Make's design for the Olympic handball arena - the third largest venue at the 2012 games - will go before the ODA's planning committee next week. The scheme has changed since it was granted outline planning in 2007, with capacity reduced...

LEADER: Regeneration loses its magic.(exploration of cultural arts)
February 6, 2009... AMANDA BAILLIEU As the boom comes to an end, will anything of substance remain from New Labour's urban policies? Whatever we might think of the architecture, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham all claim to have been regenerated over...

LEADER: You get what you pay for.(Royal Institute of British Architects)(Brief article)
February 6, 2009... It was surely only a question of time before that old chestnut, architects working for no or very reduced fees, popped up again. While there is agreement that free work is a bad idea, is the RIBA right to read the riot act? You can...

IN BRIEF: Six on Jewellery Quarter shortlist.
February 6, 2009... Six UK practices have been shortlisted for a #1.5 million public square in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. Birmingham's Capita Lovejoy and FIRA Landscape are joined by Arup, Barton Willmore and Page & Park in the running to create Golden...

IN BRIEF: Van Egeraat sets up new practice.(Erick van Egeraat Associates opens a new firm)(Brief article)
February 6, 2009... Work could recommence on Erick van Egeraat's projects around the world after the architect established a new practice. Dutch-based Erick van Egeraat Associates recently went bust after the sudden cancellation of some of its 50 current...

IN BRIEF: Richard Buckley remembered.(memorial service for co- founder Richard Buckley)(In memoriam)(Brief article)
February 6, 2009... A memorial service for Richard Buckley, founding partner of Buckley Gray Yeoman, will be held at 6pm at the RIBA's HQ at Portland Place, London W1, next Monday February 9. Buckley, 44, drowned off the coast of Sri Lanka in October last...

IN BRIEF: RMJM makes Haston a director.(Nick Haston joins RMJM Architects)(Brief article)
February 6, 2009... RMJM has appointed former Sandhurst army officer Nick Haston to the new role of director of global emerging markets. Haston, who led major military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, has not previously worked in architecture. RMJM...

IN BRIEF: Crossrail selects chief executive.(Rob Holden appointed as chief executive)(Brief article)
February 6, 2009... Crossrail this week announced the appointment of Rob Holden as its new chief executive. Currently chief executiveat London & Continental Railways, Holden was responsible for the restoration and development of London'sSt Pancras rail...

BD CAMPAIGN: Prasad makes final bid to save estate.(Sunand Prasad has joined the Twentieth Century Society )(Brief article)
February 6, 2009... Sunand Prasad has joined the Twentieth Century Society in a final bid to convince the government to list Robin Hood Gardens. In a letter written at the end of last month to architecture minister Barbara Follett, the RIBA president insisted...

Copper warning over Make's handball arena.
February 6, 2009... Police say the valuable cladding material is likely to attract criminals Marguerite Lazell The copper cladding of Make's 2012 Olympic handball arena has been criticised by the Metropolitan Police, which claims the "high value" of the...

ODA progress.(Olympic Delivery Authority)(Brief article)
February 6, 2009... The ODA has published a report on the progress of construction across the site. It confirms plans to construct seven bridges, complete the foundations for the aquatics centre and begin work on the foundations of the media centre and velodrome...

METAL THEFT PRESENTS GROWING PROBLEM.
February 6, 2009... Metal theft costs the UK an estimated #360 million a year, and is becoming a serious headache for the government and the police. Common targets include lead from church roofs, man-hole covers and wire from telephone and rail lines. Police...

New law could expel Foster from Lords.(United Kingdom. Parliament. House of Lords)(Brief article)
February 6, 2009... Norman Foster risks being expelled from the House of Lords under new reforms drawn up by justice secretary Jack Straw. Following BD's revelation last year of claims that Foster, a cross- bench peer, had become a Swiss resident and can avoid...

Prince's `Surfbury' plans approved for Newquay.
February 6, 2009... Plans by the Prince of Wales to create a "Poundbury-on-Sea" near Newquay in Cornwall have won approval despite rousing opposition from local politicians. The scheme, by Robert Adam Architects, recently won the go-ahead from Restormel...

Grimm meeting place wins prize.(architect Richard James wins Line of Site competition award)(Brief article)
February 6, 2009... Richard James from Design Engine in Winchester is the winner of this year's Line of Site competition for his interpretation of a meeting place in the woods. Chairman of the judges, Edward Jones, said: "A combination of steps down to a...

Glasgow scheme `ignored advice'.
February 6, 2009... Scottish watchdog says Chapman Taylor has disregarded its criticisms Marguerite Lazell Architecture & Design Scotland has slammed a #1.2 billion waterside scheme in Glasgow by Chapman Taylor, claiming the design team has effectively...

Class act for Deptford.(Pollard Thomas Edwards contracts for school construction)(Brief article)
February 6, 2009... Pollard Thomas Edwards has won planning permission for a primary school and library scheme in Deptford, south-east London. The project will also include a cafe, offices, sports facilities and flexible spaces for community use around an...

McColl bucks recession to launch new practice.
February 6, 2009... One of the most charismatic and controversial figures in British architecture has announced his return to the profession with the launch of a new practice. In an extraordinary move given the worsening recession, Stewart McColl announced...

A different seal is set.(Brief article)
February 6, 2009... David Chipperfield Architects has resubmitted plans for its Seal House office and retail scheme in the City of London, after an earlier application was refused last April. The original 11-storey, 20,000sq m scheme, at1 Swan Lane on the...

Birmingham picks winners for #2.4bn BSF scheme.(Buildings Schools for the Future contracts)
February 6, 2009... Will Henley Will Alsop, DSDHA and Associated Architects are among the winners of the government's biggest Buildings Schools for the Future contract, a #2.4 billion project to overhaul 89 secondary schools for Birmingham council. ...

Adjaye, Foster vie for black history museum.
February 6, 2009... Norman Foster, David Adjaye, Antoine Predock, Moshe Safdie and IM Pei are among a stellar crop of architects competing to design the US museum of black history in Washington DC. Six teams have been shortlisted for the $500 million (#350...

LETTER: Blind on bland.(Letter to the editor)
February 6, 2009... Steve Cooper says PFI projects might be rubbish or bland (Debate January 30), but that they are finished on time and within budget! Something of an own goal, I think. Also "there is a transfer of risk to the private sector, which gives...

LETTER: Strike a light.(Letter to the editor)
February 6, 2009... I wholeheartedly support Jonathan Glancey's excellent piece on the tungsten light (January 16). As architects we must lobby to keep the good old light bulb that allows us to play with and modulate light. Low-energy bulbs will always have...

LETTER: Don't bank on it.(Letter to the editor)
February 6, 2009... At a time when we are all suffering from the effects of too little regulation, the public will wonder where the Arb Reform Group (Letters January 30) is coming from in wishing to follow the banking profession. I doubt if many clients really...

LETTER: Sorry for rubbish.(Letter to the editor)
February 6, 2009... In response to letters last week about my "rubbish" remark, I sincerely apologise for any offence this caused - my quotation was taken out of context. A large proportion of Nightingale Associates' assignments are small projects and...

LETTER: Water force.(Letter to the editor)
February 6, 2009... The response to your article (Letters January 23) on the fountains at Centre Point is encouraging. It would be wonderful if they could be incorporated into the new forecourt design, or at least a good home found for them. Jupp Dernbach was...

LETTER: Regulate title and function.(Letter to the editor)
February 6, 2009... Jonathan Braddick (Letters January 23) puts a strong case for the architect function to be bound into UK legislation. Of the 20 EU member states, 15 already have this. The Architects' Council of Europe and the International Union of...

OPINION: Learn - and teach - lessons of history.(Building Schools for the Future)
February 6, 2009... PAUL MORRELL The government is taking money from BSF and giving it to the car industry. Be very afraid The idea that you can dig yourself out of a debt hole by spending still more is an appealing one. This - together with his equally...

DEBATE: Does working for free devalue the profession?
February 6, 2009... YES Jane Duncan Vice president, Practice, RIBA Architects can charge what they want for their services, including nothing, but must still do the job properly. The RIBA and Arb codes of professional conduct require us to apply...

URBAN TRAWL: SOUTHAMPTON - Any port in a storm.
February 6, 2009... Owen Hatherley Southampton's reliance on retail and leisure to countera declining shipping industry has given it a new identity Southampton is not, despite the cruise ships, a glamorous city. Too closely surrounded by the Tory...

WORKS: NIALL MCLAUGHLIN - Deal's choice.(Niall McLaughlin Architects)
February 6, 2009... As British seaside towns scramble to secure much needed regeneration cash, Niall McLaughlin Architects' refit of the pier at Deal sets down a marker, reports Ellis Woodman In December, a high-speed train service will begin operating...

WORKS: THAMES GATEWAY - Riverside drive.
February 6, 2009... Maccreanor Lavington and KCAP are providing the impetus for the massive Barking Riverside regeneration project which will see thousands of new homes built in east London, writes Emily Greeves The image of Barking Riverside that sticks in...

SOLUTIONS: LUCY THE ELEPHANT.(Lucy the Elephant tourist attraction)
February 6, 2009... `I don't know many other examples of 120-year-old double curvature cladding' In our series in which architects talk about the building that has inspired them the most, AOC's Tom Coward explains the attraction of New Jersey resident Lucy...

Adieu to The Lintons.(Rooms with a View)
February 6, 2009... Denna Jones views Verity-Jane Keefe's paean to a 1960s housing estate FILM ROOMS WITH A VIEW Directed by Verity-Jane Keefe In 1962, Mr and Mrs Albert Smith of Barking in east London moved into their dream home. The Smiths...

Mass of observation.(John Gay: England Observed)
February 6, 2009... John Gay excelled at documenting Britain in the post-war period, writes Amanda Baillieu BOOK JOHN GAY: ENGLAND OBSERVED (1909-1999) By Andrew Sargent English Heritage, 256pp, #20 John Gay was born Hans Gohler in...

Winning the battle for recognition.(Gareth Hoskins Architects)
February 6, 2009... Will Henley enjoys a show of Gareth Hoskins Architects' first 10 years EXHIBITION GARETH HOSKINS ARCHITECTS: 0-10 YEARS RIBA, London W1 Until February 24 With the design of numerous exhibition spaces under its belt -...

JONATHAN GLANCEY: Building with mud, glorious mud.
February 6, 2009... An email arrives from Jean Dethier, director of the Pompidou's architecture exhibitions between 1975 and 2004. Remember Le Temps des Gares, Images & Imaginaires d'Architecture, Architecture de Terre? Great exhibitions, all. Dethier wants to...

THIS WEEK: FULL HOUSE.
February 6, 2009... The prime minister has attempted to kick-start UK housebuilding by allowing local councils to borrow money to build social housing and keep the proceeds from rents and sales. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

THIS WEEK: CRIME FREE.
February 6, 2009... Parkour - free running and leaping over and across buildings and other urban obstacles - could be taught in British schools after a pilot project helped cut youth crime by 30%. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

Foster's set to slash a quarter of workforce.(Foster & Partners)
February 13, 2009... Practice starts redundancy process the day after it highlights its profitability to staff Will Hurst Foster & Partners has announced plans to make around a quarter of its workforce redundant and has closed two of its 17 offices around...

Atkins sheds staff.
February 13, 2009... Atkins announced on Wednesday it is shedding up to 1,000 staff - around 5% of its 18,600 global workforce - over the next year, blaming a downturn in its UK and Middle Eastern design businesses. Atkins, which employs 380 architects in the UK...

LEADER: After Foster's, no one is safe.(economic impact on construction contracts)(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... AMANDA BAILLIEU If a practice that prided itself on the global spread of its projects has to slash its workforce, can anyone be immune to the recession? What a difference a few week makes. Pressed in January, Foster's chief executive...

LEADER: Visions depart from reality.
February 13, 2009... While it may be hard to build at the moment, producing beautiful computer images of what a place might look like sometime in the future - preferably at least a good decade away - is keeping architects busy. Masterplanning of course takes...

IN BRIEF: Garston NHS centre in for planning.(Liverpool Primary Care Trust)(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... Liverpool Primary Care Trust has submitted a planning application for a #15.5 million NHS treatment centre in Garston by MBLA Architects & Urbanists. The project will more than double the size of the Sir Alfred Jones Memorial Hospital,...

IN BRIEF: Williams wins #6.9m museum bid.
February 13, 2009... Keith Williams Architects has won planning permission for a #6.9 million, 1,300 sq m museum and 26-unit residential scheme in Chichester, West Sussex. The plans, approved by Chichester District Council, include an exhibition of the remains...

IN BRIEF: Fuksas among five Mies finalists.(architect Massimiliano Fuksas recieves Mies van der Rohe Award)(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... Massimiliano Fuksas's Zenith arena in Strasbourg and Snohetta's Olso opera house are among the five finalists for the 2009 Mies van der Rohe Award. The other three finalists are Irish practice Grafton Architects' Luigi Bocconi University...

IN BRIEF: Hadid to cover Regium waterfront.
February 13, 2009... Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled its latest project in Italy, a performing arts centre and museum for the southern city of Reggio Calabria. Reggio Calabria mayor Giuseppe Scopelliti joined Zaha Hadid at a ceremony last Thursday to sign...

IN BRIEF: Botten to head north-east centre.(Carol Botten appointed as director of Northern Architecture)(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... Carol Botten has been announced as the new director of Northern Architecture, the architecture centre for the North-east, replacing Andrew Guest from April. A former business development manager at Newcastle University, Botten has worked...

Heatherwick's Bang to be put into storage.
February 13, 2009... Thomas Heatherwick Studio's troubled B of the Bang sculpture in Manchester is to be dismantled. The #1.4 million sculpture, which is made up of 180 steel spikes, has been blighted by safety concerns and a legal battle since it was erected...

BSF delivery likely to bust budget by #10bn.
February 13, 2009... RIBA calls to ditch PFI for building schools as auditor raises concerns Will Henley The government's #45 billion Building Schools for the Future programme will cost as much as #10 billion more to deliver thanks to unrealistic targets,...

Little sign of improvement.(standard of school design )(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... Schools minister Jim Knight said this week that the standard of school design showed little sign of improvement. Nearly 80% (26 of 34) schools referred to Cabe at planning stage are still being rated as "mediocre" or "not yet good enough" by...

WHAT THE REPORT SAYS.(Building Schools for the Future)(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... * Government and PFS failed to estimate how long the first BSF schools would take to be delivered. * It will be difficult to deliver 3,500 new or refurbished schools by 2020. * Expenditure will need to rise from #2.5 billion a year to...

Hotel fire hits OMA Beijing TV complex.
February 13, 2009... An investigation has been launched after fire swept through the OMA- designed 40-storey TVCC media and hotel building, part of Rem Koolhaas' #500 million CCTV complex in Beijing, China. Work was not finished on site when the fire broke out...

Grimshaw arts centre opens in Troy.
February 13, 2009... Grimshaw Architects' largest project to date in the US, the 20,550sq m Experimental Media & Performing Arts Centre, has opened. The $142 million (#99 million) project, at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, features a...

Firms team up for Glasgow.(college redevelopment projects )(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... Frank Gehry and RMJM are to go head-to-head against Archial, Atkins, BDP and Hopkins in the race to win one of the largest college redevelopment projects in Europe, a #300 million campus in Glasgow. Five teams have been shortlisted to...

Blears calls in Foster and HKR's Ealing development.(Communities secretary Hazel Blears contracts with HKR and Foster & Partners )(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... Marguerite Lazell Communities secretary Hazel Blears has called in a #500 million project by HKR and Foster & Partners in west London just weeks after it was given the go-ahead by the local authority and London mayor Boris Johnson. ...

Regeneration scheme called in.
February 13, 2009... A #100 million regeneration scheme of Crystal Palace in south London has been called in. The project, masterplanned by German landscape practice Latz & Partners for the London Development Agency, involves refurbishing the listed 1960s sports...

FIRST LOOK: Gareth Hoskins' grand villa sticks out in conservation area.(Gareth Hoskins Architects )(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... Gareth Hoskins Architects has won planning permission for this 1,000sq m, six-bedroom private housein the Pollokshields conservation area of Glasgow. The Lawlor House will stand on a steeply sloping plot in a garden suburb on the site of a...

Council backs Fobert's Tate St Ives extension.(Jamie Fobert Architects contracts with Penwith Council)(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... A new proposal by Jamie Fobert Architects for the extension of Tate St Ives in Cornwall has won the full support of local authority Penwith Council. Fobert was originally appointed by the Tate in 2005 for the extension scheme but has seen...

BDP picked for academy.(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... BDP has been selected as the preferred bidder to design a new academy in Tidworth, Wiltshire. Its design for Wiltshire County Council's 11,500sq m Wellington Academy features a central hub space leading to double-height spaces which will...

`Small firms will design 2012 legacy projects'.
February 13, 2009... Marguerite Lazell Small practices will get the chance to design parts of the 2012 Olympic legacy masterplan, directors from the three firms leading the masterplanning have insisted. Speaking at Tuesday's unveiling of the 102ha...

KPF given go-ahead for Victoria scheme.
February 13, 2009... Kohn Pedersen Fox's controversial #2 billion Victoria Transport Interchange scheme in London has finally been given the all-clear at the third time of asking. Both Cabe and English Heritage had objected to the proposals, with Cabe saying...

LETTER: Test of time.(Letter to the editor)
February 13, 2009... Our scheme in Southampton's French Quarter, mentioned in your feature last week, offers truly mixed uses, mixed tenure and tenure-blind accommodation. It also supports commercial office and retail, sheltered and affordable rented accommodation,...

LETTER: Mud lark.(Letter to the editor)
February 13, 2009... Jonathan Glancey might like to know that construction using mud and earth ("Building with mud, glorious mud", February 6) is alive and well in north-east Yorkshire. I am currently restoring buildings of rubble stone bound with mud. These date...

LETTER: 100% effort.(Letter to the editor)
February 13, 2009... It is pointless for the RIBA's Jane Duncan to exhort architects not to work for reduced fees (Debate February 6). As in the last recession 15 years ago, the market will decide what fees we shall be able to charge. Indeed, I understand that...

LETTER: Courtesy title.(Letter to the editor)
February 13, 2009... It is bad enough having the media routinely ignoring the terms of the Architects' Registration Act and calling any old plansmith an architect without you doing the same in your story about the Prince of Wales's "Surfbury" development (News...

LETTER: Seeing the light.(Letter to the editor)
February 13, 2009... It's scary to find out that we have something else to worry about other than the impending worldwide collapse of the architectural profession and its client base - the loss of the 100W incandescent light bulb. Neil Clark, Newcastle upon...

LETTER: Sea change for Southampton.(Letter to the editor)
February 13, 2009... Southampton is a sad city, as described by Owen Hatherley (Urban Trawl February 6), and I would like to see a similar article on Liverpool. Both cities were ravaged by bombing in the second world war, lost most of their labour-intensive...

OPINION: Where there's muck, there's indignation.(waste management)(Viewpoint essay)
February 13, 2009... CAROLYN STEEL The response to Peter Jones's opinions shows how we'refailing to deal with rubbish The recent hoo-ha over Boris Johnson's waste adviser Peter Jones's remarks to the effect that incinerating rubbish locally may be more...

DEBATE: Are the British any good at designing public space?
February 13, 2009... NO Martha Schwartz Principal, Martha Schwartz Partners The vigorous, highly enviable and admirable garden culture in Britain has disallowed an expanded vision of what constitutes a landscape. The term landscape is associated only with...

WORKS: DSDHA - Pastural care.
February 13, 2009... Pond Meadow special needs school near Guildford is the first phase of DSDHA's biggest commission yet. The external aspect makes free with the sense of scale while its attentive internal detailing is as much therapeutic as architectural, says...

SOLUTIONS: TIMBER STRUCTURES - Project: Salvation Army Chelmsford.(Hudson Architects contracts for church architecture)
February 13, 2009... Architect: Hudson Architects Location: Baddow Road, Chelmsford, Essex By Amanda Birch It is encouraging to come across a client as venerable as the Salvation Army which is also an enlightened patron of architecture. The desire...

SOLUTIONS: TIMBER STRUCTURES - Project: Faerie Camp Destiny shower.(Radical Faeries group formed camps for gay groups)
February 13, 2009... Designer: Studio 3, Royal College of Art Location: Chester, Vermont, US By Amanda Birch The fairies in children's books often inhabit forests, so it seems appropriate that a group called the Radical Faeries choose to spend the...

CULTURE: A contained approach.
February 13, 2009... Adam Kalkin has devised a novel building type using shipping containers - if only the practicalities weren't so tiresome. Pamela Buxton met him Adam Kalkin is not suited to mainstream architecture. It's not just that he specialises in...

CULTURE: Suffering for her art.
February 13, 2009... Regina Galindo's work has involved personal physical pain and incarceration, writes Tony McIntyre EXHIBITION REGINA JOSE GALINDO: THE BODY OF OTHERS Modern Art Oxford, 30 Pembroke Street, Oxford Until March 29 For the...

Test results.
February 13, 2009... EXHIBITION DIGITAL EXPLORERS: DISCOVERY Metropolitan Works Showroom, London E1 www.metropolitanworks.org Until March 12 This exhibition of artefacts at London Metropolitan is small but, thanks to digital technology,...

JONATHAN GLANCEY: When legacy is dead on arrival.(2012 Legacy Masterplan)
February 13, 2009... The less civic-minded we become, the more public squares we wish to build. There are competitions afoot for the design of new public squares in central Birmingham, as well as at King's Cross and Waterloo. Weren't there meant to be a hundred new...

THIS WEEK: MOVING HOME.(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... Robert Venturi's 1969two-storey Lieb House has been rescued by a couple of Venturi fans after its new owner wanted to knock it down. They have moved it from its original site at Barnegat Light, New Jersey, and await permission to rebuild it at...

THIS WEEK: OFF THE JOB.
February 13, 2009... Unemployment roseto 1.9 million in the three months to December, its highest level since 1997. The jobless figure is setto worsen as layoffs continue, and could reach 3 million by theend of 2009. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

THIS WEEK: RETAIL HAMMERED.
February 13, 2009... Hammerson has delayed three retail-led renewal schemes. Eastgate Quarter in Leeds and Watermark West Quay in Southampton are on hold, while construction at Sevenstone in Sheffield is also being postponed. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

THIS WEEK: PEDAL PINCHING.
February 13, 2009... Thieves have made off with 7,800 of the 20,000 for-hire bicycles introduced to Paris 18 months ago. The Velibs have turn up as fair afield as eastern Europe and Africa. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

Prasad urged to resign over Arb election `endorsement'.(Royal Institute of British Architects)
February 20, 2009... RIBA president accused of influencing poll after supporting Reform Group policies Marguerite Lazell RIBA president Sunand Prasad has been called on to resign after being accused of unfairly influencing the Arb elections. Twenty...