Building Design articles from July 2004

Building Design archives from July 2004

Rogers partners divorce; Marco eyes Cabe job after RRP exit.(Richard Rogers Partnership Ltd., Marco Goldschmied, Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment)
July 2, 2004... The future leadership of the Richard Rogers Partnership was thrown wide open this week after managing director Marco Goldschmied left the practice in uncertain circumstances. Goldschmied's exit from the Hammersmith-based firm followed...

Political pressure for united education.(Richard Rogers lobbys for reform of architectural training)
July 2, 2004... Richard Rogers is to lobby ministers for a root-and-branch reform of architectural training. He wants to bring together architecture, landscape architecture and urban design in a new undergraduate degree, which will be followed by...

Design team delays cost Holyrood 166m [pounds sterling].(News)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Failure by the Holyrood design team to deliver work on time contributed towards 166 million [pounds sterling] of the estimated 220 million [pounds sterling] cost overrun, Scotland's auditor general said this week. In a report on the...

Making waves.(Heritage ship Cutty Sark)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Grimshaw has unveiled images of a 25 million [pounds sterling] scheme that will see the Cutty Sark riding the waves once again. But under Grimshaw's design the world's only surviving tea clipper would...

Architects to help secure Palace of Westminster.(News)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... MPs have called on architects to ensure the planned security crackdown around the Palace of Westminster does not damage the historic landmark. Members of an all-party group called on the profession to produce plans to tighten security in...

Architects will be applying themselves to the unique architectural challenge of designing a 19 million [pounds sterling] ice base at Antarctica.(Hit and miss)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... * Architects will be applying themselves to the unique architectural challenge of designing a 19 million [pounds sterling] ice base at Antarctica (above). The British Antarctic Survey has released details of the design competition for a new...

Construction of Daniel Libeskind's Freedom Tower in New York begins this week.(Hit and miss)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... * Construction of Daniel Libeskind's Freedom Tower in New York begins this week after months of wrangling between Libeskind and project architect David Childs of SOM.

The Calatrava-inspired Olympic Stadium in Athens looks like being ready in time for the start of the games.(Hit and miss)
July 2, 2004... * The Calatrava-inspired Olympic Stadium in Athens looks like being ready in time for the start of the games, but it might not be full after reports this week that only two-thirds of the tickets for the Olympic Games in August have been sold.

A new study, the Noah's Ark project, has been launched to examine the effects of environmental change.(Hit and miss)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... * A new study, the Noah's Ark project, has been launched to examine the effects of environmental change on Europe's most important buildings amid fears that many could perish.

Edinburgh architect Alan Murray has renewed his attack on the choice of Terry Farrell for a 60 million [pounds sterling] contract in the Scottish capital.(People)
July 2, 2004... * Edinburgh architect Alan Murray has renewed his attack on the choice of Terry Farrell for a 60 million [pounds sterling] contract in the Scottish capital. Earlier this month, BD reported city design tsar Farrell had been selected to design an...

Landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson saw her 3.6 million [pounds sterling] water sculpture memorial to Diana.(People)
July 2, 2004... * Landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson saw her 3.6 million [pounds sterling] water sculpture memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales opened this week in London's Hyde Park.

RIBA presidential candidates Richard Saxon, Valerie Owen, Simon Foxell, Ian Salisbury and Jack Pringle, will have to wait another week to find out who has won.(People)
July 2, 2004... * RIBA presidential candidates Richard Saxon, Valerie Owen, Simon Foxell, Ian Salisbury and Jack Pringle (above), will have to wait another week to find out who has won. The election was delayed because voting forms to overseas voters were not...

Ken Livingstone is set to announce a designer for a new public square in Brixton.(People)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... * Ken Livingstone is set to announce a designer for a new public square in Brixton, south London, part of the Mayor's 100 Public Spaces initiative in the capital.

The government has set a target to have 200 city academies either open or in preparation by 2010.(Power play)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... * The government has set a target to have 200 city academies either open or in preparation by 2010. The academies operate as largely state-funded schools outside local-authority control.

Ministers intend to press ahead with plans to establish a Supreme Court to replace the office of Lord Chancellor.(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... * Ministers intend to press ahead with plans to establish a Supreme Court to replace the office of Lord Chancellor. It could be housed either at Somerset House or the old Middlesex Guildhall, following renovation.

Architects hoping to win contracts in Iraq were dealt a blow.(Power play)
July 2, 2004... * Architects hoping to win contracts in Iraq were dealt a blow after the American government proposed diverting $640 million from the $18.4 billion reconstruction budget to help cancel Iraqi national debt.

An urban development corporation (UDC) for London's Thames Gateway was launched this week.(Power play)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... * An urban development corporation (UDC) for London's Thames Gateway was launched this week to accelerate housebuilding in one of the government's key growth zones.

Your new-look BD is now online every week for free.(online)
July 2, 2004... Each week, from Friday, you can browse our new website for the news stories, analysis, special reports, building studies and all the comment that packs your regular weekly issue. Extras include: * interactive web polls *...

Towers still at terror risk: developers must spend more, Shuttleworth warns.(News)
July 2, 2004... Developers are not spending enough on simple measures to ensure tall buildings can withstand terror attacks, one of Britain's leading tower architects has warned. Ken Shuttleworth, the creative brain behind Foster & Partners' Swiss Re...

Homes jitters to hit small firms.(News)
July 2, 2004... Small practices could be hit after the latest construction forecasts showed a sharp decline in maintenance and improvements to private housing. As interest rates continue to rise, growth in Repair Maintenance and Improvement work, a key...

Lack of evidence clears architect of misconduct.(News)
July 2, 2004... An architect has been cleared of professional misconduct and incompetence at an Arb hearing. Kennedy O'Callaghan, of O'Callaghan Architects in Finsbury, London, had faced two charges of unacceptable professional conduct and two of serious...

Cockney colour.(News)(Pastina Matthews Architects)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Pastina Matthews Architects has revealed designs for a colourful mixed-use development for a private developer in London's Whitechapel. The 650,000 [pounds sterling] project, which has already secured...

Studying form.(Faulkner Brown)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Faulkner Brown is working up designs for a new 100 million [pounds sterling] campus for Sheffield University. The university council recently approved the plans in principle, which are to be put out to public consultation in the next few weeks...

South-west champion.(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Cabe has appointed an architect to head a new initiative intended to improve design in Devon and Cornwall. Mark Pearson is the new manager of Design Action, a two-year scheme also supported by CPR Regeneration and the South West Regional...

Centre for learning.(Bond Bryan Partnership)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Sheffield practice Bond Bryan Partnership has won planning permission for a 50 million [pounds sterling] new campus for York College. The 29,000 sq m facility will take the form of a four-storey learning centre. Work is expected to begin...

Listing move questioned; developers fear new powers for English Heritage will slow regeneration.(preservation of historical monuments)
July 2, 2004... Developers are urging the government to dilute the new listing powers given to English Heritage this week amid fears that a spate of new listing decisions could slow regeneration schemes. Heritage minister Lord McIntosh confirmed this week...

Belgian book prize for Sergison Bates.(Erasmus University's contract to convert a school into public library.)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Two out of six isn't bad. That's the ratio of competition wins for Sergison Bates since it began competing in the Vlaams province of Belgium. This 4 million [pounds sterling] project to convert a redundant school into a library in the coastal...

EH removes 100 from at risk register.(English heritage )
July 2, 2004... More than 100 buildings have been removed from English Heritage's 1,500-plus grade I and grade II* Buildings at Risk Register after their futures were secured. In the new EH Buildings at Risk Register, 94 of last year's entries have been...

Aukett Group recovery cut short by losses.(News)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Britain's only listed practice--Aukett Group Plc--is operating at a loss once again, only six months after coming back into profit amid claims that its long malaise was over. Results for the six months to March 31 show an operating loss of...

Faulkner Brown hits Tory snag.(News)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Faulkner Brown's joy at being selected to design a major mixed-use scheme in Altrincham, near Manchester, has been cut short after the new Tory administration said it would start the whole selection process again. The Newcastle-based...

Green light for TV green plan.(News)(Fryston village green)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... The transformation of a village green in Castleford by Martha Schwartz and BDP--to be featured in a TV show about regenerating the West Yorkshire town --has gained planning consent. The scheme to transform Fryston village green is part of a...

Cambrian eyes consent.(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Holder Mathias's scheme to redevelop the Cambrian Centre tower in Newport, South Wales, has been put in for planning permission. The redeveloped tower, opposite Newport train station, is seen as a gateway to the city.

Calyx win.(Nicoll Russell Studios)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Dundee-based Nicoll Russell Studios has won a competition to design a main building for the Calyx showcase gardens in Perth. The practice beat BDP, Ushida Findlay, Snohetta, Benson & Forsyth and Malcom Fraser.

Salford competition.
July 2, 2004... An international design competition has been launched in Salford to find an urban vision for the centre of the city over the next 20 years. Email Colette Hilton on colette.hilton@ salford.gov.uk for a competition brief. For information on...

Fiddlers under the roof.(News)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Work has begun on site for Burrell Foley Fischer's new 2.6 million [pounds sterling] concert hall in Surrey. The building is for the famed Yehudi Menuhin music school in Stoke d'Abernon, whose former...

LDA's Brixham plans a bit fishy.(News)(Landscape Design Associates)
July 2, 2004... A 100 million [pounds sterling] masterplan for Brixham (south Devon) is set to be revised, following stinging criticism by a director of the town's regeneration group. Landscape Design Associates (LDA) has worked up plans to transform the...

Web poll.(News)
July 2, 2004... Last week we asked: Has Cabe under-represented classical and traditional architecture? 93% said yes 7% said no This week we ask Should the responsibility for listing buildings be handed over from the government to English...

GCSE students tell Farrell to liven up.(General Certificate of Secondary Education )
July 2, 2004... Terry Farrell has worked for some hard taskmasters in his time, but they don't come any tougher than the teenage clients he is working for on the refurbishment of a school hall in Oldham. His practice, Terry Farrell & Partners, has already...

Biennale to spread.(News)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... London's first architectural biennale was such a success that the organisers are already talking about extending it beyond Clerkenwell in two years' time. Peter Murray, chairman of Wordsearch, and a prime mover behind the event, told BD...

Ahoy there.(News)
July 2, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: A record number of entrants are climbing aboard for the Little Britain Challenge Cup sailing event in Cowes, Isle of Wight. More than 2,000 hearty and hardy souls will take to 230 boats, forming a colourful...

Minister backs Arb on conduct; RIBA fails to stop PCC expansion.(Royal Institute of British Architects,)(Professional Conduct Committee)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... A campaign to have Arb's Professional Conduct Committee revamped on the grounds that its independence is undermined by having three Arb board members as members, has been thrown out by the government. Phil Hope, the ODPM minister...

Stars donate work to rescue Wren church.(News)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and Will Alsop have joined forces to help rescue Wren's St James's church in Piccadilly. The church, completed in 1674, was repaired after World War II, following extensive bomb damage. But a recent survey by...

Harborough Museum in Market Harborough.(East Midlands)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Harborough Museum in Market Harborough will invite architects to submit designs for a 500,000 [pounds sterling] renovation following completion of a public consultation on how to update its facilities, displays and access. Improvements are set...

Leicester City Council .(East Midlands)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Leicester City Council is developing an 8.4 million [pounds sterling] regeneration of the St George's conservation area in the city, using 3.4 million [pounds sterling] funding from the government's Liveability Grant. The council is also...

A baby unit at a Corby community centre by Gelder & Kitchen Architects has opened.(East Midlands)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... A baby unit at a Corby community centre by Gelder & Kitchen Architects has opened. The facility, a largely glass extension to the Pen Green Centre, is for one-to-three-year-olds. Various innovative features include a pod-like kitchen.

Nottingham City Council.(East Midlands)(reoccupy empty homes)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Nottingham City Council has appointed an empty homes buster in a bid to free up housing capacity in the city. The empty homes officer will roam the city encouraging owners of empty properties to get them reoccupied. If the property owner cannot...

Nottingham & Derby Society of Architects.(East Midlands)
July 2, 2004... Nottingham & Derby Society of Architects is seeking nominations for the Gordon Graham Award for outstanding buildings in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire by local RIBA architects. Gordon Graham was a prominent architect from the area who...

The meaning of urban design.(East Midlands)
July 2, 2004... The meaning of urban design will be discussed at a half-day seminar in Nottingham on July 21. Speakers include Kevin McGeough of English Partnerships and Ian Bentley of Oxford Brookes University. The event kicks off at 1.45pm at the National...

RIBA East Midlands .(East Midlands)
July 2, 2004... RIBA East Midlands is to hold its annual general meeting next Tuesday at the University of Nottingham. Members are invited to drinks and a light buffet at the School of the Built Environment at 5.30pm. The meeting will be followed by a tour of...

Building a life on Mars: this week's design contest for Antarctica will inspire the first buildings on Mars.(News Analysis)
July 2, 2004... In the early 1970s, a microbiologist called Wolf Vishniac was developing experiments to test for signs of life on Mars. When NASA slashed his budget, Vishniac cut his losses and headed for the most Mars-like environment he could...

The Nimbys need guidance.(Comment)(Letter to the Editor)
July 2, 2004... I have always thought Nimbys may be misunderstood (News June 25). When someone says "not in my back yard", they may not be saying "not in my back yard because it is mine", but that they see themselves as its custodian and would say the same if...

No bee's knees.(Comment)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... So it's official: "British people do not like modern architecture." A Mori poll finds that 67% of the population are not prepared to disagree with the statement "I do not like most modern buildings". A glance through your jobs pages...

What people want.(Comment)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... I don't wish to say "I told you so," about the public's negative attitude to modernist architecture, but it is no great surprise. What is interesting, however, is Chetwood Associates' response. Chetwood Associates put it down to the fact...

Game on.(Comment)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... The 3D real-time interactive technology reviewed in your article, "Game plans" (Business & IT June 18) is not new, but rather it is the increasing awareness of its benefits that is making it more acceptable. As a registered architect, I...

Common purpose.(Comment)
July 2, 2004... Andrew Matthews (In Practice June 18) bemoans the increasing influence of other consultants in developing design proposals, but he might consider the reasons behind such a large design team. As long as architects find other specialisms...

Take bold steps.(Comment)
July 2, 2004... In 1982, an Architectural Association student proposed a grand entrance staircase for the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. It was considered too freakish an idea and rejected. In "Dixon Jones proposes grand entrance" (News June 18),...

Captain Cabe man.(Comment)
July 2, 2004... You have got the wrong end of the stick about Cabe's design review committee (News June 25), as your editorial did the week before when it described me as Cabe's chairman (I am deputy chairman). I did not tell your reporter that DRC would...

Cross dressing up.(Comment)
July 2, 2004... Is the reporter on Alsop's designs for The Public in West Bromwich (Solutions June 25) ashamed to write about corrugated cladding, and instead has to dress it up as sinusoidal cladding? It's this kind of pretentiousness that distances the...

Correction.(Comment)(Correction Notice)
July 2, 2004... Studio Bednarski/Flint & Neill Partnership were not shortlisted for the Courage Brewery bridge competition in Bristol (News June 25). They were invited to enter but declined.

Ferguson's challenge: lead a revolution.(Editorial)(Editorial)
July 2, 2004... We should welcome the stirrings of revolution around the professional status of architects. The gathering pressure to reform built-environment education and Richard Rogers' decision to question the point of architecture and planning...

Time is the essence for future of design.(In Practice)
July 2, 2004... Good design requires many different factors, a clear brief, a strong client, good designers, but above all, time. There is an inevitable process of reflection, discussion, consultation, considering others and interrogating the brief. Yet I...

Move over Glasto.(Concrete Boots)
July 2, 2004... If architecture is frozen music, God only knows what the buildings designed by Fat Midget look like. After the duo's appearance at last weekend's Architecture Rocks gig (pictured below) you'd have to cross a giant cornbarn from the Deep South...

Blockheads hit.(Concrete Boots)
July 2, 2004... More hedonism at a Chetwood Associates party and a clear sign the firm must be doing all right. Laurie Chetwood appeared to have swallowed the party planner's handbook whole and deluged his guests with treats from frogs' legs canapes to a...

Prince charming.(Concrete Boots)
July 2, 2004... Minister for housing and planning Keith Hill grins... and grins and grins. If prizes were won for grinning, Hill would win them all. Mild use of violence would probably only make his grin more inane. And now, having charmed audiences...

Class structure: DRMM's refurbishment of Kingsdale in south London gives the post-war school a bright future.(de Rijke Marsh Morgan)
July 2, 2004... I associate some of my most vivid childhood memories with the dangerous and exhilarating territory of the schoolyard: that expanse of open space, often hidden behind high walls and all the more dazzling in its capacity for exposure. Far...

Kingsdale School auditorium.(In Detail 12)
July 2, 2004... Architect: dRMM Structural engineer: Michael Hadi Associates Subcontractor: Timber Engineering Connections The centrepiece of the new ETFE-covered courtyard at Kingsdale School in south London is a 314-seat auditorium and library....

Goodbye Windy Miller: why do wind turbines have to spin like windmills? A new concept to be applied between Oxford and Cambridge, suggests they don't.(Solutions)
July 2, 2004... Not content with simply designing London's future tallest building, Make has created what could be the world's tallest land-based carbon fibre structure. The 21-strong and growing office of former Foster's partner Ken Shuttleworth has teamed up...

Future performance.(Techbrief)
July 2, 2004... A key event at this year's Building Performance exhibition, which explores the future of property, will be a two-day Building Performance is Business Performance conference on October 6-7. The conference will draw together speakers including...

Cycling proficiency.(Techbrief)(Streetlife street furniture)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... The Dutch-designed Streetlife street furniture is already known to many architects. Its design for a cycle rack Clip (above) is now available in two stainless-steel finishes: normal and matt, as well as in galvanised steel. The Clip consists of...

Captain birdseye.(Techbrief)
July 2, 2004... Redeveloping a piece of land where every square inch needs to be accounted for? Maybe the Bluesky mapping service with its detailed aerial photo-maps and ordnance survey maps can help. Simply provide an address or postcode of the site and by...

All in the detail.(Techbrief)(Architectural Details 2003)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 2, 2004... Architectural Details 2003 is a joint publication between Elsevier/Architectural Press and Detail and includes all the information featured in the Detail magazine throughout the year. Mirroring Details structure, the book is divided into three...

Seen in fleeting glimpses: Gareth Gardner finds familiarity in an exploration of how buildings are perceived.(Culture: books exhibitions events)
July 2, 2004... Much of my childhood was spent zooming around Britain in the back of a Ford Corsair, on a touring holiday or day trip, nose pressed against the window as I watched buildings rush past. Because my parents were never inclined to stop and pay...

The light of youth.(Culture: books exhibitions events)(Business Design Centre)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Dan Ward's Arc Light (left) and Ulrika Jarl's bone china wall light (below) are two of the 4,000 works by student designers being showcased at the Business Design Centre in London's Islington, this week and next. The New Designers show, in its...

Radar.(Brief Article)
July 2, 2004... Books I have several books on the go. I am re-reading an old favourite, A Man by Oriana Fallaci, a story of passion, the search for truth and never giving up. Also Paradise and Power by Robert Kagan and Why Terrorism Works by Alan M Dershowitz,...

Ian Martin.(Harry K Garcia, the engaging 13-year-old presenter of Channel 4's new architecture show--Knobs, Blobs and Talking Gobs.)
July 2, 2004... Item 1 Clear my diary, for the week, and replace it with a more flexible, task-based itemised list. Item 2 It's working already. I feel as though I've accomplished two things, and I haven't even started. Item 3 Spend half an hour...

The Charettes.
July 2, 2004... I SEE HOLYROOD IS NEAR COMPLETION YES, WHAT A SHAMBLES THAT HAS BEEN [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THEY HAD TO REPAIR THE CEILINGS TEN TIMES REALLY? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE COSTS KEPT GOING-THROUGH THE ROOF WE'D...

Dutch courage.(Brief Article)
July 9, 2004... Designs by Fat for the first social housing units at the New Islington Millennium Community in Manchester were unveiled today, alongside schemes by Alsop Architects and Ian Simpson Architects. The practice was chosen by residents to create...

Prefab security slammed.(housing project)
July 9, 2004... A flagship pre-fab housing project praised by the government this week as one of the UK's best public buildings is not safe for the key workers it is meant to house, according to tenants and the Metropolitan Police. The striking 61-unit...

Pringle is next RIBA president.(Royal Institute of British Architects)(Brief Article)
July 9, 2004... Jack Pringle has won the race to be the next president of the RIBA. His immediate pledge was to start his fight to persuade the government to improve the PFI process. Pringle beat Valerie Owen by just 480 votes in a campaign that started...

Marco speaks out over split.(News)
July 9, 2004... Marco Goldschmied hinted this week that his surprise departure from the Richard Rogers Partnership was just the first of more changes at the famous practice. Speaking out for the first time since he announced his departure last week, the...

Foster quits NYC tower.(News)(Brief Article)
July 9, 2004... Foster & Partners has quit a controversial 100m tower scheme in New York after concern from local residents over the scale and massing of the project. The practice walked away from the scheme after it emerged that the residential tower...

Architecture for Humanity has launched a design competition for a football ground and changing room in Somkhele, South Africa.(Hit and miss)
July 9, 2004... * Architecture for Humanity has launched a design competition for a football ground and changing room in Somkhele, South Africa. The pitch will also be used as a gathering place and as a venue to distribute information on HIV/Aids prevention....

The Richard Rogers Partnership is part of a consortium in the running for a 100 million [pounds sterling] contract to design, manage and maintain 2,500 bus shelters across London.(Hit and miss)(Brief Article)
July 9, 2004... * The Richard Rogers Partnership is part of a consortium in the running for a 100 million [pounds sterling] contract to design, manage and maintain 2,500 bus shelters across London. Transport for London is expected to choose a winner later in...

Brady Mallieu Architects has gained planning permission for a high-density scheme.(Hit and miss)(Brief Article)
July 9, 2004... * Brady Mallieu Architects has gained planning permission for a high-density scheme (above) to build 55 flats and 13 houses at Laycock Street in London's Islington. Construction of the 10 million [pounds sterling] scheme will begin in the...