Building Design articles from January 2009

Building Design archives from January 2009

Foster dragged into Wembley legal row.
January 9, 2009... Lawsuit over access to architectural staff could signal wider battle Will Henley Foster & Partners and HOK Sport have been dragged into one of the biggest legal battles in UK construction history, the multi-million damages claim made...

LEADER: Glimmers of hope in the gloom.
January 9, 2009... LIZ BURY In uncertain times everyone has a prediction, but between the bad and the mad are some positive signs for architects High heels will grow taller, hemlines will fall. People will lose weight, buy white shirts to appear more...

IN BRIEF: Sector sees drop-off in projects.(Brief article)
January 9, 2009... The UK Construction Purchasing Survey for December has shown a record decline in new work, with a sharp fall in activity across the construction industry. The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supplying, with Markit, which updates the...

IN BRIEF: Farnborough airship shed listed.
January 9, 2009... Architecture minister Barbara Follett has listed a airship shed in Farnborough, Hampshire, at grade II. The shed, built in the 1890s and erected in 1910-11 at what is now Farnborough Airport, is the first building to be listed in 2009....

IN BRIEF: ORMS' #45m old people's home.
January 9, 2009... ORMS has won planning permission to build a #45 million retirement home at Royal Arthur Park in Corsham, Wiltshire. The 10ha development draws on examples of Scandinavian and German design, which the practice says offer a more "enlightened...

IN BRIEF: Developer warns on tower revision.
January 9, 2009... The developer behind Rafael Vinoly's controversial #4.5 billion scheme for Battersea Power Station has warned that blocking its revised tower - now 250m high rather than 300m - could jeopardise the wider Nine Elms area regeneration. ...

BSF threatened by downturn.
January 9, 2009... The government's multi-billion pound Building Schools for the Future programme could become the next victim of the downturn, a committee of MPs has warned. The DCSF select committee predicted this week that future spending on the #45...

Architecture schools excel in rankings.
January 9, 2009... Assessment shows major improvement in schools' research performance Arlene Martin Architecture schools have excelled in the latest official rankings of university research standards. The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), which...

Light Bar protection hits Foster's scheme.(Brief article)
January 9, 2009... Foster & Partners' #500 million Bishop's Place scheme in London's Shoreditch has suffered a blow after Hackney Council officials recommended the local conservation area be extended to include the popular Light Bar, which stands in the way of...

Students called to design sustainable community.
January 9, 2009... Technology giant Cisco has launched a competition for architecture graduates and undergraduates to design the "connected community of the future". The Urban 2020 competition, intended to address many of the sustainable technology issues at...

ODA reveals basketball arena.(Olympic Delivery Authority )(Brief article)
January 9, 2009... The Olympic Delivery Authority has submitted Wilkinson Eyre's 2012 basketball stadium for planning permission. The 12,000-seat stadium - which has not been seen until now - will be one of the largest temporary venues built for any Olympic...

UK firms face supporting role only on US embassy.
January 9, 2009... Marguerite Lazell British firms are hoping to win work as executive architects on the proposed #275 million US embassy at Battersea, south-west London, after the country's State Department announced an all-American shortlist for the...

Dow Jones brings crypt to life in Spitalfields' Hawksmoor church.
January 9, 2009... Dow Jones has unveiled its competition-winning design for the crypt of the Nicholas Hawksmoor-designed Christ Church in east London's Spitalfields. The #1 million project includes a chapel, cafe, a multi-purpose hall and a reception and...

#3m restoration for UK's oldest mosque.
January 9, 2009... England's oldest mosque is undergoing a #3 million refurbishment in an effort to restore the building to its former glory. The mosque, on the ground floor of a 19th century grade II listed building in Liverpool, was established in 1889 by...

New school, new systems.(Capita Architecture has been appointed to design Southwark Primary School)(Brief article)
January 9, 2009... Capita Architecture has been appointed to design the #13 million Southwark Primary School in Nottingham. Discarding traditional school layouts, the design will create a series of courtyards to provide more flexible spaces which will be used...

Cabe slams poor spaces at KPF's Victoria interchange.
January 9, 2009... Marguerite Lazell Cabe has criticised Kohn Pederson Fox's latest designs for the #2 billion Victoria Transport Interchange scheme in London, saying it has major concerns with the project's urban design principles. In its design review...

Gazprom promises full funding for Okhta tower.
January 9, 2009... Russian energy giant Gazprom has pledged to fully fund its 396m-high RMJM-designed landmark tower in St Petersburg after the city government suspended its contribution to the project. Gazprom, which is at the centre of the energy row...

Benetton holds competition for Tehran buildings.
January 9, 2009... Anna Winston Italian fashion label Benetton has launched an international architecture competition for two multi-storey retail and office buildings in Iran's capital, Tehran. The contest is the latest high-profile link-up between the...

Barber best for Bush.(Peter Barber contracts Shepherds Bush)(Brief article)
January 9, 2009... Peter Barber, architect of the award-winning Donnybrook Quarter housing scheme in east London's Tower Hamlets, has won a contest to design an urban quarter in Shepherds Bush, west London. Hailed by Barber as "Donnybrook Mk II", the Goldhawk...

BD writer Morrell awarded OBE.
January 9, 2009... BD columnist Paul Morrell has been awarded an OBE in the New Year's honours list for services to architecture and the built environment. Until his recent retirement, Morrell was deputy chairman at design watchdog Cabe and senior partner at...

COMPETITION: Birmingham gets new public square.(Brief article)
January 9, 2009... More than 100 architects from around the world are competing to design a public square in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. Practices from Australia, France, Italy and the Netherlands as well as the UK have submitted preliminary designs for...

HOUSING: Hanham Hall plans go to HCA.
January 9, 2009... Plans for HTA's Hanham Hall project, which will see 195 code level 6 new homes built near Bristol, have been submitted for approval by the Homes & Communities Agency and developer Barratt Homes. The 6.6ha scheme in south Gloucestershire,...

MASTERPLANNING: Ferrier Estate put in for planning.(Berkeley Homes Urban Developments plans development in Kidbrooke)(Brief article)
January 9, 2009... Berkeley Homes Urban Developments has submitted a planning application for its #1 billion redevelopment of the Ferrier Estate in Kidbrooke, south-east London. The Kidbrooke Vision masterplan by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands was presented...

EDUCATION: Graceful design for Coventry's academy.(Grace Academy)(Brief article)
January 9, 2009... Swanke Hayden Connell Architects has unveiled designs for Grace Academy, a mixed secondary school and sixth form in Coventry in the West Midlands. The 12,000sq m academy for 1,350 pupils will contain over 60 teaching spaces and will...

EH legal spending doubles in a year.(English Heritage)
January 9, 2009... Heritage groups dismiss criticism, welcoming robust stance Will Henley English Heritage's spending on legal bills rocketed to more than #1.6 million in the last financial year, according to papers released to BD under a freedom of...

LETTER: Mote and beam.(Letter to the editor)
January 9, 2009... Michael Rasmussen (Letters December 19) uses such words as "disturbed", "ill timed and insensitive", "great offence", "offensive", "wave of resignations", "cutting the common bond". What dreadful act might justify such language? Surely...

LETTER: Let's get together.(Letter to the editor)
January 9, 2009... How disappointing that concerns over the RIBA fees increase led to calls for a break with the RIBA. (Letters December 19). I am sure English and Welsh members are no more enamoured with the fee increase than our Scots colleagues, yet I hear no...

LETTER: Yawning gap.(Letter to the editor)
January 9, 2009... Last week it was Hoxton Square, this week (December 19) a library in Vienna. Both look very similar and, irrespective of context, like everything else Zaha Hadid has designed. I for one am weary of seeing "her latest image" in BD almost...

LETTER: Best laid plans.(Letter to the editor)
January 9, 2009... Carolyn Steel's Opinion piece (5 December) elucidated much of why local communities are often at odds with the planning process and feel marginalised by so-called regeneration schemes. "Consultation" is a word liberally used by central...

LETTER: Women's work.(Letter to the editor)
January 9, 2009... Do you, like me, ever sit at your desk and wonder where the boundaries of your duties lie, or even whether our clients comprehend the task we have to do? After spending a week playing referee between the client and contractor at a progress...

LETTER: Stone me.(Letter to the editor)
January 9, 2009... Stonehenge was given to the nation in the 19th century on the condition that it be freely accessible to us all. But the authorities now regard it as a capital asset to be exploited for profit. If it were not hyped, visitor numbers would be...

LETTER: Skills needed not role models.(Letter to the editor)
January 9, 2009... I am a "black" architect running a small practice in south London and find your news story on black role models (12 December) extremely disturbing. First, I attack the lame culture of role models that has appeared over the past few years...

OPINION: Give Bush's era the order of the boot.(Architectural models)(Viewpoint essay)
January 9, 2009... BILL MITCHELL As the boom bursts, how best to commemorate the president who let this happen? Irrational exuberance: former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan coined the now famous phrase. It stuck, became the title of an...

DEBATE: Should the government relax rural planning laws?
January 9, 2009... YES Meredith Bowles Director, Mole Architecture Yes, because altering planning laws to encourage growth and housing equity in rural communities will help prevent villages and small towns becoming commuter homes for larger conurbations,...

WORKS: STUDIO IDEALYC - Pyramid scheme.
January 9, 2009... The refurbishment of London's Spa Fields includes a distinctive community building by a recent architecture graduate, writes Graham Bizley Writing in the 1930s, Danish architect Steen Eiler Rasmussen identified the intimate combination of...

WORKS: DAVID KOHN ARCHITECTS - The sublime and the aedicule.
January 9, 2009... Architect David Kohn has teamed up with cult restaurateurs Pablo Flack and David Waddington to create a temporary dining space for the Royal Academy, deploying a host of artists and designers to startling effect, says Ellis Woodman ...

SOLUTIONS: ANDREW MELVILLE HALL - `What influence has Stirling had?'.(Viewpoint essay)
January 9, 2009... `What influence has Stirling had on my work? He influences probably everything' In the first of a new series in which architects talk about the building that has most inspired them, Simon Henley of Buschow Henley Architects revisits James...

Stirling gets to grips with precast concrete at Andrew Melville Hall.(Andrew Melville Hall for St Andrews contracts with James Stirling)
January 9, 2009... Completed in 1968, Andrew Melville Hall for St Andrews was the first time James Stirling had used prefabricated concrete modules, writes Pamela Buxton. The practice was appointed without competition following the completion of Leicester...

CULTURE: With eyes wide open.(Calendar)
January 9, 2009... If adversity breeds creativity, then 2009 could be a fascinating year. Liz Bury picks out some of the inspiring and thought-provoking events to look out for in the months ahead 1 Baroque 1620-1800: Style in the Age of Magnificence V&A,...

JONATHAN GLANCEY: The audacity of open architecture.
January 9, 2009... The new US embassy in London, due to open sometime between the 2012 Olympics and the 240th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, will not be in the centre of the city. Located south of the river, not far from the sorry wreck of...

THIS WEEK: DOWN ON AN UP.
January 9, 2009... Down House at Downe in Kent, where Charles Darwin wrote On The Origin of Species, has been nominated as a world heritage site to mark the bicentenary of his birth. It reopens next month following a #900,000 revamp. Copyright: CMP...

THIS WEEK: ICING ON THE CAKE.
January 9, 2009... Unesco has added to its world heritage list 46 tulou - the traditional home of the Hakka, a fishing people from Fujian province on China's south-east coast. The doughnut-shaped dwellings are built from a mix of sand, mud and pebbles bound with...

THIS WEEK: PLANE CLEVER.
January 9, 2009... Designer Moto Art has created a furniture range using bits of aircraft. Items include office chairs made from B52 ejector seats and tables that recycle MK84 bomb tail fins. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

THIS WEEK: LOSING IT.
January 9, 2009... Beijing is suffering the "Olympic curse", with hotels empty, industrial output down and the Bird's Nest stadium largely unused. Even the city's largest football team says the space is too big for its crowds. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd....

THIS WEEK: ECO-ECONOMICS.
January 9, 2009... Another week, another criticism of eco-towns. Planning consultancy Halcrow says the Pennbury project, for 12,000 homes near Leicester, is economically unsustainable. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

THIS WEEK: IDYLL THREAT.
January 9, 2009... There are fears English village life could be in danger if moves to relax planning laws to encourage affordable housing go ahead. Up to 16,000 small towns, villages and hamlets could be affected. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

Herzog & de Meuron plans London towers.
January 16, 2009... Swiss practice is working with Shard developer on UK's tallest residential development Will Hurst Herzog & de Meuron is working with the developer behind the Shard, Sellar Property Group, on credit crunch-defying designs for the...

SELLAR PROPERTY GROUP: James Sellar.(Brief article)
January 16, 2009... The 35-year-old managing director of Sellar Property Group has emerged from his father Irvine's shadow as a patron of high-quality architecture. He has commissioned Herzog & de Meuron for a stadium for Portsmouth FC and appointed David...

LEADER: Why towers must aim high.
January 16, 2009... AMANDA BAILLIEU Herzog & de Meuron's towers will reignite a debate about London's skyline that ought to be solely about good architecture For sheer audacity, the three residential towers proposed by Herzog & de Meuron for a site near...

LEADER: A bunch of rankers.(Brief article)
January 16, 2009... Little wonder that some architecture schools are upset by their ranking in the latest league table of research performance. Depending on who you believe, the Bartlett, Cambridge and Cardiff are all top for research, which is baffling to say the...

IN BRIEF: 20 architects stand for Arb board.
January 16, 2009... Twenty architects are standing for election to the Arb board. Nominations for the seven seats closed on Friday. The candidates are: Mark Benzie, Colin Brock, Sarah Lupton, George Oldham and Derek Salter, who are standing for re-election;...

IN BRIEF: DCMS warned over Chelsea chapel.(Chelsea Barracks)(Brief article)
January 16, 2009... The developer behind the Rogers Stirk Harbour-designed Chelsea Barracks scheme in London has warned the DCMS not to list a chapel on the site. In a statement, Project Blue, a subsidiary of the Qatari Diar property company, said that a...

IN BRIEF - Rogers: US embassy to be fortress.(Brief article)
January 16, 2009... The new US embassy in London is likely to be a "fortress", Richard Rogers, one of the jurors who will select the architect, has acknowledged. Speaking last week, Rogers said the new "compound", which could be double the size of the...

IN BRIEF: Architects call for Gaza ceasefire.
January 16, 2009... Charles Jencks, Cezary Bednarski and Asif Khan have joined more than 50 architects from around the world in signing a letter from Architects & Planners for Justice in Palestine to foreign secretary David Miliband, calling for a ceasefire in...

IN BRIEF: Westminster boss's job expands.
January 16, 2009... Westminster City Council head of planning Rosemarie MacQueen is set to gain a host of new responsibilities covering transport, crime and disorder, licensing and the environment in a major organisational shake- up. Promoted to strategic...

Cambridge anger over Schosa table.(Standing Conference of Heads of Schools of Architecture)(Brief article)
January 16, 2009... Cambridge School of Architecture has hit out at school heads organisation Schosa over its interpretation of the latest official rankings of research performance. Last week, BD published a league table of the top 25 architecture schools...

Centre Point fountains make way for Crossrail.
January 16, 2009... But heritage groups argue they should be reinstated once work is done Marguerite Lazell Fountains built to mark the base of London's Centre Point are looking for a new home as preparations get under way for the Crossrail project. ...

Arup slashes staff by 10% as downturn bites.
January 16, 2009... Arup is to slash its UK workforce - including staff at architectural wing Arup Associates - by 400, blaming "turbulent times" in the world economy. The cuts, which amount to nearly 10% of the global design and engineering group's...

Prasad backs fair access.(Royal Institute of British Architects)(Sunand Prasad )(Brief article)
January 16, 2009... RIBA president Sunand Prasad is to sit on a high-level government panel to help open up professions including architecture to those from less privileged backgrounds. Prasad, the only construction industry representative on the 18-member...

Trade minister launches tour.
January 16, 2009... Meanwhile, trade minister Gareth Thomas launched a 10-day tour of the Far East to help drum up business for British practices and construction firms, including Arup, Broadway Malyan and RMJM. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

Concrete is key to Woodland Trust's green offices.(Woodland Trust)(Brief article)
January 16, 2009... Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios has won planning permission for a headquarters for the Woodland Trust in Grantham, Lincolnshire. The 2,800sq m scheme, due to go on site in June, will provide offices and meeting space for 200 staff. ...

Minister intervenes over Belfast tower plans.
January 16, 2009... Arlene Martin Northern Ireland's environment minister has slammed planning officials for rejecting proposals for Belfast's tallest building. Last week, designs by HKR Architects for the Aurora Building, a 37- storey, #90 million...

HOK lines up a Yorkshire home for the British Library collection.
January 16, 2009... HOK has unveiled its plans to help the British Library store the vast majority of its huge collection on a single site in West Yorkshire. The 90-year masterplan, for the British Library's Boston Spa base, will enable the institution to...

Gehry denies he has left Brooklyn project.(Brief article)
January 16, 2009... Frank Gehry has refuted suggestions that he is no longer part of a $4 billion mixed-use project in New York's Brooklyn district which was put on hold last month. Pressure group Don't Destroy Brooklyn insisted Gehry was no longer part of...

2012 village takes shape.(Olympic Delivery Authority)(Brief article)
January 16, 2009... The Olympic Delivery Authority has released an image of the London 2012 Olympic Village. The view shows a block by Patel Taylor, CF M+ller and Panter Hudspith in the foreground to the right, with blocks by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and...

Firms picked for Scottish healthcare framework.(Aedas, Keppie Design)(Brief article)
January 16, 2009... Will Henley Aedas, Keppie Design and Nightingale Associates are among a crop of practices to have made it onto a massive #900 million framework to design hospitals and healthcare facilities in Scotland. Billed as the Scottish version...

Stirling Prize role in UK City of Culture proposal.(Royal Institute of British Architects)(Brief article)
January 16, 2009... The Stirling Prize ceremony could play a part in a proposal from culture secretary Andy Burnham to allow cities to vie to be British City of Culture every four years. Speaking in Liverpool last week to mark the end of the city's year as...

LETTER: Pulling rank.(Letter to the editor)
January 16, 2009... Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed the omission of some leading research institutions from your list of the "top 25" schools of architecture (News January 9). BD adopted an unusual way of working out the rankings, with a selective "quality...

LETTER: Spirited place.(Letter to the editor)
January 16, 2009... I enjoyed your piece on Jim Stirling's Andrew Melville Hall (Solutions January 9). As my daughter is studying in St Andrews, I take every opportunity to wander around the last of his university buildings in the UK. Like the late arrival to...

LETTER: Powering down.(Letter to the editor)
January 16, 2009... Battersea Power Station's architect and developer (News 9 January) could be really clever by showing talent and sharp commercial nous if only they would produce a spatially exciting, ground-hugging development. They could prick the balloon...

LETTER: Beyond technicalities.(Letter to the editor)
January 16, 2009... It was gratifying to read of the great research success of UK architecture schools (News January 9), but it is important to make a few clarifications. First, your table of the "top 25" schools of architecture is correct in that it refers...

CORRECTION: Urban 2020 competition.(Correction notice)
January 16, 2009... Cisco's Urban 2020 competition, for architecture students to design a sustainable community, is open to students from all UK and Irish universities, not just those listed (News January 9). Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

OPINION: Let's fix the roof before the next storm.(Viewpoint essay)
January 16, 2009... PAUL MORRELL We need to align policy around the idea that our homes are not a suitable subject for speculation Where will you be when the next house price bubble bursts in 2026? Look ahead one generation and the odds are that wherever...

DEBATE: Should architecture schools care about league tables?
January 16, 2009... YES Murray Fraser Architecture professor, Westminster University Supporting league tables always sounds reactionary, and there are clear problems with the performance tables being produced for architecture schools in the wake of the...

WORKS: BUSCHOW HENLEY ARCHITECTS - Concrete knowledge.
January 16, 2009... With its pared-down palette of materials and colours, a new building at St Benedict's School in Ealing, west London, has transformed and unified what was a sprawling and unruly site, writes Ellis Woodman PROJECT TEAM Client: St...

SOLUTIONS: CLADDING - Project: British Embassy.
January 16, 2009... Architect: Tony Fretton Architects Location: Warsaw, Poland THE INNER SKIN The inner, "rusticated" skin, designed to protect people in the event of a bomb blast, has three main components: a concrete structure, aluminium cladding...

SOLUTIONS: CLADDING - Project: St Paul's Place car park.
January 16, 2009... Architect: Allies & Morrison Location: Sheffield ANODISED ALUMINIUM PAINTED PANELS The big attraction of anodised aluminium is that it is highly durable and rust-free, but it has one hitch - it doesn't lend itself to being...

CULTURE: Our temporary traces.(Stroom Den Haag)
January 16, 2009... Mark Pimlott has created a luminous set of photographs of urban landscapes, writes Hans van der Heijden EXHIBITION MARK PIMLOTT: ALL THINGS PASS Stroom Den Haag, The Hague Until February 1, 2009 There are architects who...

CULTURE: MY CULTURAL LIFE.(Interview)(Brief article)
January 16, 2009... Charlotte Newman, manager of the AA Bookshop, which reopened this week. What was the last book you read? The Accidental by Ali Smith. I'm now looking up some reading on and from China for a trip I'll make in March. First website...

JONATHAN GLANCEY: In praise of tungsten light.
January 16, 2009... The campaign against the tungsten light bulb is, as far as I can see, a rather dim affair. Even as greener-than-green politicians lecture us on the evils of tungsten light, so they give their approval, as if groping in the dark, to developments...

THIS WEEK: ROOM AT ETAP.
January 16, 2009... French hotel firm Accor, of Ibis and Novotel fame, is investing in new brands in the UK, including Suitehotel and Adagio, a city centre apart- hotel. It also plans to introduce top-end brand Pullman and add more Sofitels and budget Etap hotels....

THIS WEEK: SALT IT OUT.
January 16, 2009... A #1 million scheme to redevelop Whitby's harbour into a marina has been approved. Salt Architects is to transform the North Yorkshire port to cater for the huge number of leisure vessels using it each year. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd....

THIS WEEK: GRACEFUL SPACE.
January 16, 2009... After the #10 million restoration by landlord Downing of the grade II* listed Port of Liverpool building, one of the city's Three Graces, more than 1,850sq m of refurbished office suites will come to market there this year. Copyright: CMP...

THIS WEEK: ISLES MAROONED.
January 16, 2009... The World, the complex of artificial islands off the Dubai coast, by developer Nakheel, has been hit by the crunch. Of the 254 total, 175 have been sold to date, but work can begin on 25 only if further financing is secured. Copyright: CMP...