Building Design articles from March 2005

Building Design archives from March 2005

Let there be light.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Hakes Associates Architects has played with the conventions of light and sound to evoke a sense of awe in this new north London chapel The project, which won planning approval in just 80 seconds last month, is for the London School of...

Terminals take off: Grimshaw working on Heathrow terminal one upgrade to match Rogers' terminal five.
March 4, 2005... The world's busiest airport is revving up for the second phase of its mammoth redevelopment with Grimshaw working on a redesign of Heathrow's terminal one to rival Richard Rogers' glamorous new terminal five. Grimshaw is believed to be...

Victory in sight.(Campaign for More Women in Architecture )(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... BD's 50/50 Campaign for More Women in Architecture is preparing to end in a blaze of glory with trade & industry secretary Patricia Hewitt praising the "great job" it has done. As the campaign enters its final week, a clutch of high-profile...

One for Hedong.(News)(GMW Architects has a contract to build Chinese airport terminal)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... GMW Architects has unveiled the first interior shot of its striking design for a 20 million [pounds sterling] Chinese airport terminal. The London practice is on a competition shortlist for the 30,000sq m Hedong Airport building in Yinchuan,...

War of words on demolition plan: Rogers 'grossly overreacted' in criticism, claims Hill.(News)(Richard Rogers )
March 4, 2005... The government has defended its plans to demolish thousands of homes in the North, with housing minister Keith Hill accusing Richard Rogers of "grossly overreacting" in his criticism of the project. Hill added that Rogers had "got the...

Birmingham library in doubt.(News)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... The future of Richard Rogers' much-delayed design for a new Birmingham library appeared in further doubt this week as Birmingham City Council branded it and a number of rival schemes "unacceptable and unaffordable". A meeting of the...

Housing quota set for court.(News)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Westminster City Council is to start legal proceedings against the Government Office for London in a bid to avoid a 50% affordable housing quota on new developments. Westminster planning head Gordon Chard is locked in negotiations with the...

London's historic Marble Arch could be on the move following the appointment of John McAslan & Partners to prepare a masterplan for the redevelopment of the monument.(Hit and miss)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... London's historic Marble Arch could be on the move following the appointment of John McAslan & Partners to prepare a masterplan for the redevelopment of the monument. Moving the arch, designed by John Nash, to nearby Speaker's Corner, is one of...

Oxford City Council has launched a competition to redesign Bonn Square in the city centre.(Hit and miss)
March 4, 2005... Oxford City Council has launched a competition to redesign Bonn Square in the city centre. A shortlist of six schemes will be selected from the open first stage. The deadline for the submission of design ideas is April 26. For more information,...

RHWL's 80 million [pounds sterling] mixed-use St Paul's Square development in Liverpool has won 9 million [pounds sterling] funding from the North West Development Agency and the European Objective 1 programme.(Hit and miss)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... RHWL's 80 million [pounds sterling] mixed-use St Paul's Square development in Liverpool has won 9 million [pounds sterling] funding from the North West Development Agency and the European Objective programme. The first phase of the mammoth...

Greater London Authority.(People)(David Lunts appointed)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... David Lunts has taken up his position as executive director for policy and partnerships at the Greater London Authority. His key responsibilities cover planning, housing, the Thames Gateway, environmental policy, the Olympics 2012 bid and the...

Architecture & Design Scotland.(People)(Margaret Hickish appointed)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Margaret Hickish, head of disability design consultancy at Buro Happold, has been appointed to the board of Architecture & Design Scotland. She has been actively involved in Scotland's built environment and previously worked with the Scottish...

Niven Architects.(People)(Ciaran Walsh, McCrossan O'Rourke Manning, Gareth Alderson appointed)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Darlington practice Niven Architects has appointed three new technicians: Ciaran Walsh (pictured right), 33; McCrossan O'Rourke Manning, Gareth Alderson (left), also 33; and 17-year-old Neil Lomas (middle) who has joined straight from school.

A group of guerrilla architects is planning to forcibly open London's Russell Square to the public on Monday night by erecting a series of structures and devices that will offer access over the fence.(Power play)
March 4, 2005... A group of guerrilla architects is planning to forcibly open London's Russell Square to the public on Monday night by erecting a series of structures and devices that will offer access over the fence. Transgressive Architecture has secured...

Arb board member Nicholas Tweddell this week attacked the regulator's handling of its confidentiality dispute with former board member Ian Salisbury.(Power play)(Architects Registration Board)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Arb board member Nicholas Tweddell this week attacked the regulator's handling of its confidentiality dispute with former board member Ian Salisbury. Tweddell told BD: "The agreement between Ian and the board was negotiated by four board...

Glasgow sends out homes SOS: interviews for 500m [pounds sterling] revamp.(News)
March 4, 2005... Britain's largest registered social landlord has called on the country's architects to help with the 500 million [pounds sterling] revamp of 15,000 homes in 11 separate masterplanning schemes across Glasgow. Glasgow Housing Association...

Ferguson 'bridge-mending' with Prince's Foundation chief.(News)(George Ferguson )(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... RIBA president George Ferguson has met new Prince's Foundation chief executive Hank Dittmar this week as part of a "bridgemending exercise" Ferguson is championing between Prince Charles and the profession. Ferguson said the meeting was...

Learning space.(News)(contracts)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Six leading architectural practices, including David Chipperfield Architects, Eric Parry Architects and HOK, have submitted designs for the transformation of a 10,000sq m former government building recently purchased by the London School of...

Health work.(contract for construction of hospital building)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Construction has started on a 6.6 million [pounds sterling] healthcare facility in Chester designed by Aedas. The 2,400sq m extension to the Countess of Chester Hospital will include facilities for renal dialysis and cardiology services as well...

Malaysian marina.(Fraser Brown MacKenna Architects to construct a resort)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Fraser Brown MacKenna Architects has completed the masterplan for a large tourist resort at Pangkor Bay, Malaysia, which includes an 850-berth marina. The proposal aims to minimise impact on the local environment and will use solar, wind and...

Tudor refurb.(Bromley Hall in Poplar undergoes construction)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... One of London's oldest houses, the 15th century grade II* listed Bromley Hall in Poplar, is to undergo a 1 million [pounds sterling] refurbishment to become part of a business quarter. The hall, believed to have been visited by Henry VIII, has...

Sustainable test for guru: property investor to launch pilot scheme for eco-friendly housing.(News)
March 4, 2005... The largest quoted residential property investor in the country. has enlisted social housing guru Dickon Robinson to advise on a "national experiment" in sustainable design. The Grainger Trust, which invested 60 million [pounds sterling] in...

Broadway Malyan joins forces with Hemingways in Gateway.(News)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Broadway Malyan is collaborating with designers Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway and housebuilder George Wimpey on a 100 million [pounds sterling] scheme in the Thames Gateway. The Dartford Park scheme, close to the Dartford Crossing, will...

Ski station design scales new heights.(First Look)(Zaha Hadid Architects)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... High-altitude designs for four cable railway stations and a bridge in Innsbruck, Austria, have been revealed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The new project, due to be submitted for planning permission shortly, will run up the side of the valley...

Forestry commission.(construction of a building for Yale University by Hopkins Co.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Hopkins Architects has been appointed to design a new building for the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies at Yale University in the US. when finished in 2008, the US$27 million building will join an Eero Saarinen ice rink and Louis...

Rocking the boathouse.(construction of boathouse by Poynton Bradbury Wynter Cole)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... A new lifeboat house in Cornwall designed by architect Poynton Bradbury Wynter Cole is to start on site next month. The 5.5 million [pounds sterling] Padstow Lifeboat House will replace a 1960s boathouse and will accommodate a new all-weather...

Street plans.(Feilden Clegg Bradley constructs new urban quarter)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Feilden Clegg Bradley has masterplanned a new urban quarter for the West Country market town of Street. The 400-home masterplan is for a site now used as a shoe distribution centre. The masterplan includes courtyard housing, apartments,...

Alsop design goes down the pan: Peckham gets 'most amazing loo'.(News)(Will Alsop)
March 4, 2005... Will Alsop is to return to the home of his Stirling Prize-winning library with bold new designs for Peckham Square that include "the most amazing lavatory in London". The 340,000 [pounds sterling] arts project, announced this week, is...

Traditional and modern do battle in public vote.(News)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Competing modernist and traditional designs for a 4 million [pounds sterling] community centre in Alton, Hampshire, have been put to a public vote to decide which will be built. A modernist design by Milton Format Architects and a more...

Web poll.(News)
March 4, 2005... Last week we asked: Are foreign architects good or bad for UK architecture? said good 88% said bad 12% Where would you draw a moral line? Would you design... 1 A "palace of peace" for a dictator with a poor human...

Critics force Hastings Plaza rethink.(News)(Hopkins Architects)(Bill Dunster Architects)
March 4, 2005... Hopkins Architects and Bill Dunster Architects have been sent back to the drawing board after three separate design watchdogs slammed their landmark 72 million [pounds sterling] scheme in Hastings. The Station Plaza project, a 120-home...

Cattle drive.(News)(Hopkins Co. to build adepartment store in England)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Hopkins Architects has won planning permission for an 85 million [pounds sterling] redevelopment of the 5ha Cattle Market site in the centre of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The scheme includes 24,620sq m of retail space, including an 7,900sq...

Pringle summons troops to put forward PFI alternative.(News)(private finance initiative)(Jack Pringle)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... RIBA president-elect Jack Pringle hopes to propose an alternative "smart PFI" model to the Treasury. as part of his bid to place procurement reform at the heart of his presidency. Pringle, who starts his term as RIBA president in September,...

Rogers eyes luxury deal: RRP in talks on Knightsbridge site.(News)(Richard Rogers)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Richard Rogers is working on a high-profile Knightsbridge site for a developer that specialises in luxury housing for Russian emigres. Developer Candy & Candy is believed to be in talks with site owner Land Securities about Bowater House in...

Erosion threat to Victorian gems.(News)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... The Victorian Society is concerned that three grade II listed buildings on the east coast of Britain will fall into the sea if government proposals to abandon rather than protect an eroding stretch of coastline are adopted. The society has...

The Broadmead scheme, anchored by a landmark House of Fraser.(Spotcheck)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... The Broadmead scheme, anchored by a landmark House of Fraser store designed by Stanton Williams, will create 92,900sq m of retail space.

Store approval.(South-west)(contracts to Stanton Williams Architects)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Stanton Williams Architects' design for a landmark House of Fraser store on the outskirts of Bristol is to be submitted for planning approval this week. The five-storey 13,000sq m buildingwill cost about 16 million [pounds sterling] and is part...

Visual clean-up.(South-west)
March 4, 2005... Proposals for the multi-million regeneration of one of the most "visually depressing areas" in Bristol have been submitted for planning consent. Symes Avenue, a run-down district shopping centre, is to be converted into a new centre designed by...

Bath rethink.(South-west)(Nash Partnership)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... The Nash Partnership's plans for the redevelopment of a contentious site in Bath are being revised after they were rejected by Bath & North East Somerset Council. Local traders in the Walcot Street area of Bath had opposed 11 three-storey...

Wood memorial.(South-west)(John Wood)(Obituary)
March 4, 2005... A memorial to Bath architect John Wood the Elder has been unveiled 250 years after his death. Bath & North East Somerset Council supplied a bench that includes a plaque in memory of the designer of the Circus residential area of the city.

South-west awards.(South-west)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... RIBA South West's Town & Country Design Awards take place next month. The five categories are construction of a new living accommodation in an urban or rural setting; construction of new or renovated workspace accommodation in an urban or rural...

Plymouth talk.(South-west)(Steve Parissien to give lecture)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... The University of Plymouth's dean of arts and professor of architectural history, Steve Parissien, is to give a lecture on the development of a "cultural quarter" in the city. Based around the North Hill area, the university-led scheme is...

A time for scruples: would you design a military installation? An animal research facility? Or a palace for a dictator? When it comes to ethical judgements, how far is too far.(Analysis)
March 4, 2005... You've been approached by the dictator of an ex-Soviet republic to design a presidential palace dedicated to peace and interracial harmony. He's not the ideal client, but does the nature of the project make it ethically justifiable? If you...

Foster & Partners struggled with the ethics of designing a Palace of Peace for the president of Kazakhstan, who has been criticised by the Foreign Office and Human Rights Watch.(The real dilemmas)
March 4, 2005... Foster & Partners struggled with the ethics of designing a Palace of Peace for the president of Kazakhstan, who has been criticised by the Foreign Office and Human Rights Watch. The practice decided the nature of the project--to bring together...

Richard Rogers is well known for saying he will never design a prison, nuclear power station or military facility.(The real dilemmas)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Richard Rogers is well known for saying he will never design a prison, nuclear power station or military facility. However, he is currently building Heathrow Terminal Five, condemned by environmentalists for increasing air travel seen as...

Rem Koolhaas is building CCTV in Beijing, a state broadcasting centre for the Chinese government.(The real dilemmas)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Rem Koolhaas is building CCTV in Beijing, a state broadcasting centre for the Chinese government. As China opens up to capitalism, architects are increasingly working there, despite the continuing repressive nature of the regime.

Even when you believe your project is ethically sound, others may disagree.(The real dilemmas)
March 4, 2005... Even when you believe your project is ethically sound, others may disagree. Architon found itself the victim of threats from animal rights protesters after it agreed to design an animal research centre for Oxford University. The project was...

Barring foreigners will damage UK.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 4, 2005... Joann Tang, London I read with dismay the news that the Home Office is now barring foreign architects and trainees from pursuing a career in Britain (News February. 25). While universities in Britain are relentless in their pursuit of...

Ultimate sacrifice.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 4, 2005... Brigette Zechner, a South African architech working in London It is not the 50/50 Charter that's half of Britain's challenge, it's the red tape hemmed in with the old-school mindset. If one is not even allowed into the system, it's...

Wasted resources.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 4, 2005... Peter Gibbs-Kennet, Gloucestershire I welcome your powerful focus on the barriers being put in the way of foreign talent. You quote the registrar of Arb as stating: "We have to make sure the qualifications they hold are equivalent to...

Full metal jacket.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 4, 2005... Tim Quick, London I go past Amin Taha's building on Clerkenwell Road every day (News Analysis February 18). The use of Corten cladding as a piece of the urban fabric did strike me as an overtly aggressive gesture--an architectural "full...

Cross at Vauxhall.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 4, 2005... Susannah Woodgate, London The giant tuning fork aside (Works February 25), the arrangements for the safe passage of cyclists across the vast tarmac wilderness at Vauxhall Cross are an abomination. So much for integrated transport and the...

Gold standards.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 4, 2005... John Regan, Leeds In his Gold Medal address (News February 18), Frei Otto criticised the interest of investors in making symbols and money rather than "a place for humans to live in". A view perfectly illustrated by your adjacent report on...

Wrong turning.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 4, 2005... Lars Tecihman, Zaha Hadid Architects With regards to your article on our soon-to-be-opened building for BMW (News February 25), I feel the article is misleading with regards to the building's extraordinary nature and its unique concept of...

Correction.(Letters)(Correction Notice)
March 4, 2005... Make's client on the Kite Tower is Urban Catalyst, not Urban Splash as stated (First Look February 18).

Architects have a moral responsibility.(Editorial)
March 4, 2005... Everybody needs a roof over their heads. It is one of the great levellers that makes architecture such a diverse occupation. While luxury-car manufacturers sell to a narrow constituency of the affluent, and criminal barristers mostly sell their...

Beyond the circus of the media darlings.(Soapbox)
March 4, 2005... Once upon a time, buildings were designed to serve specific purposes. They were judged on how well, and, at best, how beautifully, they served them. Today, a building need only be a marketing ploy, a PR stunt, to gain mass approval as it...

In the line of fire.(Concrete Boots)
March 4, 2005... Regeneration minister Jeff Rooker has never minced his words, but at Monday's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister select committee hearing, he was more than usually honest. "The red tape for the first phase [of Pathfinders] was...

Northern woes.(Concrete Boots)
March 4, 2005... Perhaps one of the things slowing down the Pathfinders was the over-use of consultants, as picked up on by the Audit Commission in a recent report. But for Andrew Bennett, a dyed-in-the-wool Northerner, it wasn't the delay that was the...

Art dealers.(Concrete Boots)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... The negotiations between Westminster and the Government Office for London about affordable housingtook a strange twist last week when a fire alarm forced planners and civil servants out of the GOL'S Millbank headquarters and into the cafe at...

Bus boy.(Concrete Boots)(Bus shelters)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Foster & Partners' bid for world domination continued this week with the news that it is in the running to design thousands of bus shelters for New York. The practice has moved from the sublime to the ridiculous--last week it was an...

Barnsley banter.(Concrete Boots)
March 4, 2005... Will Alsop last week gave an interview to the Globe & Mail newspaper in Toronto. The star architect talked about the ambitions for his new office in Toronto and even coined a new motto for the city: "Better than Barnsley." Well, I suppose...

Locked resources.(Concrete Boots)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... The building of a four-star hotel in New Zealand has been put on hold because the construction of a nearby prison has used up all the local construction skills. Kiwi website Stuff, www.stuff.co.nz reported that the hotel, in Dunedin, on...

Larry Malcic.(Talkbox)(Interview)
March 4, 2005... Larry Malcic of HOK last year enlisted legendary architect Peter Cook to work 80 days a year at the practice and contribute to the design of a number of projects. The first fruits of that collaboration are starting to come to light: HOK is...

Towards a common goal.(Shorts)
March 4, 2005... BD last month suggested that planners could be the solution, rather than the problem. At last it is talking about planning as a process again, writes Steve Bee. The circumstances may be right for a rapprochement between planners and...

An architect's life for me.(Shorts)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Phil who cuts my hair--he tries his best--began his professional life at architecture school with me--mainly behind the bar, writes George Ferguson, RIBA president. He must now be amused that, according to a City & Guilds happiness survey...

Back to the studio: an art studio home by Tony Fretton starts our two-part series on live-work designs.(Live-work Part 1)
March 4, 2005... Over the past decade no area of London has seen as dramatic a change as the former manufacturing territory to the immediate north of the City. Having fallen into an advanced state of decline, the area has been gentrified with astonishing speed....

How we cracked it: 03 freeform modular building exemplar designs for education: James Pickard of Cartwright Pickard Architects solves the technical challenge set by modular building manufacturer Yorkon to create an innovative design for school buildings that makes best use of the benefits of off-site construction.(Solutions)
March 4, 2005... Step 1 Achieving a crescent-shaped building form Modular buildings have been used widely in the education sector but have tended to be very rectilinear in design. We wanted to find a way of introducing curves and pushing forward the...

Making it stick: an engineer hopes his process of gluing glass will enable more daring structures.(Solutions)(glass structures)
March 4, 2005... Architects and engineers have aspired for years to build a seamless glass structure unimpeded by clunky support connections. Now, the world's first frameless structural glass dome, using glue to connect the panels of glass rather than metallic...

Public art.(Selector)
March 4, 2005... Explore the nature of official and unofficial public art at a weekend of tours/talks organised by the ICA. Public Art: Reframing the streets takes place from March 5-6 around London. Details: 020 7930 3647/www.ica.org.uk

Futuristic prefab.(Selector)
March 4, 2005... The iconic, prefab Futuro House is one of the subjects of Hotel Futuro, an exhibition of films by Finnish artist Mika Taanila. Hotel Futuro, from March 5 to April 23, Spacex Gallery, 45 Preston Street, Exeter. Tel: 01392 431786.

Recreating a secret history: artist Sadie Murdoch's photographs portray two women's role in modernism.(Culture)
March 4, 2005... Women played a key role in most of the major artistic movements of the 20th century--Leonora Carrington and Lee Miller stand alongside Dali, Breton and the other surrealists; Virginia Woolf and Vita SackviIle West were pivotal to the Bloomsbury...

Berlin works.(Selector)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... At the RIBA on Tuesday David Chipperfield is discussing his work in Berlin, where he has had an office since 1998. Projects include his design for Museum Island. March 8, 6.30pm, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London. Tel: 020 7580 5533.

Take a seat: John Lee enjoys an exhibition of 20th century chairs.(Culture)
March 4, 2005... Brief: design an object to support a load of up to 120kg 500mm above floor level. How might this object be mass-produced? And how can it be made desirable to consumers? Thus the chair is architecture in microcosm, blending a functional...

Petalpower.(Inspiration)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... I worked at Michael Hopkins for two days a week as a student. A project to design a set for the Royal Opera House came into the office. It was too small for the firm to do themselves, so Michael suggested I do it as a project at college. ...

Keymer.(Products & Literature)
March 4, 2005... Keymer, the UK's oldest and most prolific manufacturer of genuine hand made clay tiles, has launched a new range of rustic fittings specifically developed to blend in with second hand tiles or aged roofs. Enquiries 5000 or see...

Formica.(Products & Literature)
March 4, 2005... Formica Limited, the UK market leader and the only manufacturer of high pressure laminate in the UK, is delighted to announce the opening of its new London Showroom. Located at The Building Centre, the showroom provides a valuable resource for...

Kingspan TEK.(Products & Literature)
March 4, 2005... The revolutionary pre-insulated Kingspan TEK Building System was chosen for a Builder's 21st century design for Kings House in King's Cross Road which featured large areas of window space, as the presence of so much glass meant that traditional...

Corus Building Systems.(Products & Literature)
March 4, 2005... The new Abbot Data Storage facility at York Way near Kings Cross in London is one of the first UK projects to feature the stunning new TF800R wall cladding system from Kalzip. Enquiries 5009 or see www.enquirenow.com/bd [ILLUSTRATION...

Degussa.(Products & Literature)
March 4, 2005... Degussa Construction Chemicals (UK) has supported the recent launch of its new Decorative Flooring division with a Decorative Flooring Contractors' Symposium aimed at developing dialogue with applicators. The strategy is part of Degussa's drive...

Schuco.(Products & Literature)
March 4, 2005... New from Schuco International is a highly engineered aluminium sliding door system offering remarkable thermal and weather performance. Designated the Royal $120+, the system can accommodate openings up to 3 metres high or 3 metres wide and is...

Arding Marketing Ltd.(Products & Literature)
March 4, 2005... In the UK, the market for pinoleum blinds is expanding rapidly with several factors influencing this growth. Perhaps the most significant is the pro-active marketing being undertaken by Ballauff's marketing agents in the UK, Arding Marketing,...

BlueSky.(Products & Literature)
March 4, 2005... Aerial mapping company BlueSky (www.blueskyworld.com) has launched Point-Z, a huge national database of land and building height measurements that holds the height above sea level for any given point in Great Britain. Enquiries 5004 or see...

Prefit.(Products & Literature)
March 4, 2005... Prefit, specialists in fittings for glass, is representing the new Stremler Glass Hardware range of frttings in the UK as a result of a merger by Assa Abloy, the world's leading lock manufacturer, of three companies--Stremler of France, MAB of...