Building Design articles from November 2004

Building Design archives from November 2004

400m [pounds sterling] PFI waste: BD investigation into the costs of government building projects spurs calls for reform.
November 5, 2004... Architects, developers and politicians called for major reform of PFI this week after a BD investigation revealed 400 million [pounds sterling] of wasted work in the past financial year alone. The figure refers to the cost of design,...

Election stuns US architects.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... One of American architecture's brightest firms threatened to quit the US on Wednesday after President George W Bush won a second term in office. Diller & Scofidio partner Ricardo Scofidio reacted with despair at the news that John Kerry had...

Fallen Isokon revived.(News)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Avanti Architects' 2.4 million [pounds sterling] renovation of modernist landmark the Isokon Flats in the London Borough of Hampstead is almost complete. The grade I listed structure, designed by Wells Coates and opened in 1934, was...

Glass cancer hits Foster's City Hall: investigators called in after several panels crack.(News)
November 5, 2004... Foster & Partners' City Hall in London could be the latest building to be afflicted with the glazing defect known as glass cancer. Contractors are investigating all the internal panels on the fully glazed purpose-built Greater London...

Fees to replace Section 106.(News)(housing plans)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Property and planning experts have welcomed draft government proposals to replace Section 106 planning gain agreements with a system of fees. Under the proposals, outlined in a consultation document published this week, fees would be spent...

A 900-tonne section of a Richard Rogers-designed air traffic control tower.(Hit and miss)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... A 900-tonne section of a Richard Rogers-designed air traffic control tower for Heathrow Airport terminal 3 was successfully rolled into place this week.

John Thompson & Partners has won planning permission.(Hit and miss)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... John Thompson & Partners has won planning permission for nearly 250 homes on the brownfield Lucy Foundry site on the Oxford Canal north of the city.

Portakabin subsidiary Yorkon has been appointed to design the 9.2 million [pounds sterling] Shepton Mallet Treatment Centre in Somerset.(Hit and miss)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Portakabin subsidiary Yorkon has been appointed to design the 9.2 million [pounds sterling] Shepton Mallet Treatment Centre in Somerset (above). The two-storey, 4,100 sq m healthcare building, where 11,000 operations will be performed a year,...

DSDHA has been appointed to design a 27 million [pounds sterling] secondary and special needs school in Guildford, Surrey.(Hit and miss)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... DSDHA has been appointed to design a 27 million [pounds sterling] secondary and special needs school in Guildford, Surrey. The practice, working with engineers Adams Kara Taylor and Atelier Ten, was selected by Surrey County Council after a...

Inspiration to build greener buildings came from the highest sphere this week after it emerged that the Queen had commissioned a 900,000 [pounds sterling] hydroelectric plant.(People)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Inspiration to build greener buildings came from the highest sphere this week after it emerged that the queen had commissioned a 900,000 [pounds sterling] hydroelectric plant on the river Thames to power Windsor Castle (see Soapbox page 13).

Edward Lutyens' government bungalows in Delhi are reported to be under threat from the city's planners.(People)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Edward Lutyens' government bungalows in Delhi are reported to be under threat from the city's planners, who want to redevelop the 112 buildings to maximise the land's potential.

Ezra Stoller, an architectural photographer famous for his pictures of post-war modernist buildings.(People)(Obituary)
November 5, 2004... Ezra Stoller, an architectural photographer famous for his pictures of post-war modernist buildings such as Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim building in New York and Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal, has died, aged 89.

Zaha Hadid and Will Alsop are the only architects to feature in a newly released list of the 100 most powerful people in the art world.(People)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Zaha Hadid and Will Alsop are the only architects to feature in a newly released list of the 100 most powerful people in the art world. Hadid comes in at 20 and Alsop at 96 in the Art Review Power 100.

ODPM guidance has been issued to local authorities on how they should use new compulsory purchase powers awarded to them in the Planning Bill and also on how to prepare Local Development Frameworks.(Power play)(ODPM)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... ODPM guidance has been issued to local authorities on how they should use new compulsory purchase powers awarded to them in the Planning Bill and also on how to prepare Local Development Frameworks. The ODPM, Department of Health and the...

Tender prices have shot up 7% already this year because of higher steel and labour costs.(Power play)
November 5, 2004... Tender prices have shot up 7% already this year because of higher steel and labour costs, according to a report by BCIS, a division of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The figures show building costs have risen 77% over the past 10...

The Council for European Urbanism.(Power play)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... The Council for European Urbanism has launched a UK branch that will be headed up by Leeds-based urban designer Delton Jackson.

Cabe's public space offshoot Cabe Space said this week that its Manifesto for Better Public Spaces had gained the support of 300 organisations.(Power play)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Cabe's public space offshoot Cabe Space said this week that its Manifesto for Better Public Spaces had gained the support of 300 organisations with a combined membership of 3.5 million. Details www.itsyourspace.org

Codes are 'eco timebomb': BedZed architect warns 'rigid' design codes will create Poundburv mark II and environmental catastrophe.(News)
November 5, 2004... Environmental pioneer and BedZed architect Bill Dunster this week slammed the use of design codes, inspired by the Prince's Foundation, at one of the UK's highest-profile housing schemes, claiming they will recreate Poundbury and discourage...

Another director quits Alsop's new practice.(News)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Another director has quit Alsop & Partners, the new practice formed by Will Alsop with investment from a venture capitalist. David West stepped down last Friday after leading Alsop's "big architecture" unit and spending four years at the...

Campaign launched to save Cambridge school.(News)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Architects are to launch a campaign to save the Cambridge School of Architecture as alumni and current students expressed outrage over the university's plans to scrap it. Cambridge University's general board of the faculties last week...

Adjave's Rocky Mountain high.(News)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... David Adjaye has unveiled the first images of his new art museum in Denver, Colorado. The 8 million [pounds sterling] Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver will feature five galleries across three floors. Adjaye intends it to glow like a "beacon"...

RIAS award.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Elder & Cannon Architects' Clavius Building at St Aloysius College in Glasgow has won the 25,000 [pounds sterling] Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland award for the Best Building in Scotland.

Stepney go-ahead.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... A 9 million [pounds sterling] scheme by PRP to build 92 homes at the Braybrook Estate in Stepney, east London, has gained planning permission.

Cambridge winner.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... A student from the soon-to-close Cambridge School of Architecture, Matthew Barac, is on the team that has won the third International Bauhaus Award for projects that deal with transit spaces--urban spaces prone to change.

Cabe review role questioned: witness tells investigation committee of former design watchdog chief's concerns over review function.(News)
November 5, 2004... Former chief executive of Cabe, Jon Rouse, believes the design watchdog should drop its design-review function, according to evidence presented to the government select committee investigating its role. According to evidence submitted by...

Lessons in light.(First Look)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Deborah Saunt David Hills Architecture has unveiled images of its school in Sheffield which will unite the St Johns Church of England School and St Oswalds Roman Catholic School in a new building on the Manor Estate near the city centre. ...

Artistic healthcare.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... The artist and designer Thomas Heatherwick has been appointed to transform the entrance of London's Guy's Hospital and Great Maze Pond, the main road through the Guy's Hospital site.

Birmingham green light.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Birmingham City Council has granted Aedas planning permission for an 80 million [pounds sterling] transformation of the city's Chamber of Commerce. The scheme includes nearly 30,000sq m of office space and is expected to complete in 2007.

Friary school.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... AC Architects Cambridge has been given planning approval for a drama studies centre and sixth form centre for Thetford Grammar School, Norfolk, on the site of a 14th century Dominican friary.

Lecturer lashes out at AAA 'fiefdoms': school 'structurally incapable' of meeting Arb regulations; unit masters too dominant, former tutor claims.(News)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... A former Architectural Association lecturer this week slammed the school's teaching practices as a series of personal "fiefdoms" and warned that the school faced extinction. In a sensational attack on one of the world's most prestigious...

Planning barrier lifted for Battersea Power Station.(News)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... The government this week paved the way for construction to start next spring on the 1 billion [pounds sterling] redevelopment of Battersea Power Station, saying that it would not intervene on the project. Last month the Government Office...

McBains Cooper in church deal.(News)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... A British firm has won a commission to design churches for one of the fastest-growing Christian churches in the world. The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints builds 400 churches around the world each year and McBains Cooper is to have...

Hague goes under.(News)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... A transport project in the Hague by Rem Koolhaas's Office of Metropolitan Architecture has opened. The 234 million [euro] (162 million [pounds sterling]) Souterrain project includes a new tramway tunnel, two new underground tramway stations and...

Web poll.(News)
November 5, 2004... Last week we asked: Should a road (the A650) won the prime minister's Better Public Building award? 18% said yes 82% said no This week we ask Should PFI building procurement be abolished? Give your answer at www.bdonline.co.uk

Bleak future for iconic offices.(News)(office design)
November 5, 2004... Future office design will focus far less on creating iconic forms such as the Gherkin and more on transforming existing interior spaces to suit changing work patterns. Architects waiting for their dream office job could be waiting a long...

Fourth Grace warehouse win.(News)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Following news that alternative plans for a winter garden and museum to replace Alsop's Cloud are struggling to get funding, Liverpool can take solace in the fact that a small 19th century warehouse looks set to be reconstructed on a corner of...

Filling the gap.(News)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Hawkins Brown has unveiled images of a 9 [pounds sterling] million mixed-use scheme on City Road in east London. The development will include housing, office space, retail facilities and a restaurant, and is the first project by Iconic, a joint...

Crackdown on foreign architects: 2,000 [pounds sterling] for qualification recognition.(News)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Non-EU architects this week reacted with horror to a move by the Architects Registration Board that will make it far harder and more expensive for them to get their qualifications recognised in the UK. From last Friday, the price of getting...

Sunderland project.(North-east)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Sunderland project Plans by Durham practice Howarth Litchfield for a 300 [pounds sterling] million redevelopment of one of Sunderland's industrial blackspots have been submitted to City of Sunderland Council. The 36ha Riverside Park proposals,...

High level lowdown.(North-east)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... High Level lowdown A grade I listed bridge between Newcastle and Gateshead designed by engineer Robert Stephenson could be closed to cars permanently because of safety fears. The High Level Bridge closes for six months of repairs next April,...

Landmark of the year.(North-east)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Landmark of the year The ID Partnership has been honoured for a 65 million [pounds sterling] office development in Newcastle. The building, a headquarters for computer firm Sage, was recently crowned 2004 North East Land mark of the Year by...

Devlin chosen.(North-east)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Architect and director of development and enterprise at Gateshead Council, John Devlin, has been named the RIBA's new chairman for the Northeast. Devlin has taken over from John Burns, a director of Newcastle practice Mackellar Architecture.

City slickers.(North-east)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... City slickers Next time you're designing a building in Newcastle you may be asked about otter preservation. Foxes are already a regular feature of our built environment, and now otters are the latest of our furry friends to quit country life...

Just for kids.(North-east)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Just for kids Jane Darbyshire & David Kendall Architects has been appointed to design a new children's centre at the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School in Fenham, Newcastle.

Regional assembly vote.(North-east)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Regional assembly vote Nearly 250,000 people have voted in the referendum for a North-east regional assembly to govern the region, including its built environment. The poll closed yesterday.

Light show.(North-east)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Light show Ten neo-classical buildings in Newcastle city centre, including the three domes of Central Exchange Building, are being lit up as part of a 187,000 [pounds sterling] initiative by regional development agency One North East.

Waiting for disaster: hired guns or investigators seeking the truth? Whatever practices think of expert legal witnesses, they can be sure one is always nearby when something goes wrong.(News Analysis)(architectural investigative services)
November 5, 2004... Going under investigation can be traumatic. There's been a technical failure, the lawyers are hovering and a disgruntled client has hired another architect to point the finger of blame. It happens to even the best architects: MacCormac Jamieson...

Making new school rules: five years ago US architects founded a high school for architecture. Peter Wilson went to see if it worked.(News Analysis)
November 5, 2004... Getting architecture onto the school curriculum has long been the Holy Grail for those who believe a more visually literate society can only come from encouraging children to be more aware of the built environment around them. I wasn't...

A united front on tropical timber.(Comment)(Letter to the Editor)
November 5, 2004... Your report (News October 22) gave the unfortunate impression that the RIBA and English Heritage were at odds over the use of certified timbers. This is untrue. We are as one on the issue of the use of tropical hardwoods. We start with the...

The big squeeze.(Comment)(Letter to the Editor)
November 5, 2004... Cabe has launched its trenchant critique of housing design, but on closer inspection all it does is to reveal the superficiality, of architectural ideas about this subject. While whinging about the Brookside-esque appearance of current...

Place your bets.(Comment)(Letter to the Editor)
November 5, 2004... Regarding your article, "A fight to the death?" (News Analysis October 15), the image of two fighting dogs is very evocative, so is there anywhere I can put a tenner on the RIBA to win? The odds might look a bit long, as Arb seems to have...

Memorial of mud.(Comment)(Letter to the Editor)
November 5, 2004... I wonder if Tony Fretton had visited the Diana memorial lately he would still consider it "a serene and beautiful piece of work" (Letters October 22). I visited it last Wednesday at about 12.30pm. There were some 20 visitors wandering...

Put in the hours.(Comment)(Letter to the Editor)
November 5, 2004... Flipping marvellous. No sooner than I stop charging hourly rates for domestic projects because most people don't want to pay as much per hour as I pay my car mechanic, than I'm told that all architecture fees may soon have to be based on time....

More, more, more.(Comment)(Letter to the Editor)
November 5, 2004... I had the good fortune to visit Venice recently and took the opportunity to take in the Biennale. During my exhausting walkabout among some of the very exciting and complex schemes (most of the models must have cost more than many of my...

Mixing it up.(Comment)(Letter to the Editor)
November 5, 2004... Don't get me wrong, our perception that Stanhope found the "mix not working" on the Croydon Gateway scheme (News October 22) was about the architecture, not the architects. We had a really enjoyable time working with Foster's, West 8,...

Lost for words.(Comment)(Letter to the Editor)
November 5, 2004... The architectural profession is sexist enough without headlines such as "Backing for man-hour fee scales" (News October 29). This is just lazy ladguage. Peter Morris, London

Correction.(Comment)(Correction Notice)
November 5, 2004... Philip Christou (Culture October 29) is a senior research fellow at the Architecture Research Unit at London Metropolitan University.

System that haemorrhages millions.(Private Finance Initiative)(Editorial)
November 5, 2004... Pointing out problems with the Private Finance Initiative is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, but that doesn't mean we don't bother. In the past year, BD has reported RIBA president-elect Jack Pringle calling for PFI to be scrapped; we...

Queen's royal seal a green turning point.(Soapbox)(environmental protection)
November 5, 2004... It has been a good autumn so far for establishment endorsement of the environmental agenda. First came the prime minister's speech on September 14 putting "the world's greatest environmental challenge: climate change", at the top of the...

On shaky ground.(Concrete Boots)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Tony Blair has tried manfully to stay mates with the environmental lobby, but he's really gone and blown it now, judging by the reaction to his naming a road for the Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award last week. ...

Battle lines.(Concrete Boots)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Maggi Hambling's much-maligned scallop sculpture in honour of Benjamin Britten, on the sands of Aldeburgh in Suffolk, has inspired a local campaign for its removal. But Southwold-based architect Brian Haward was more poetically inspired and...

Dial M for murder.(Concrete Boots)
November 5, 2004... Zaha Hadid may be on a high in the wake of her latest design win in Glasgow, but she has not lost her sharp tongue. During her interview with BD last week, Hadid was suddenly interrupted by the ringing of a mobile phone belonging to one of...

Dizzy heights.(Concrete Boots)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Frank Gehry's $300 million Stata Centre building for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been lavished with critical praise since its completion earlier this year. But one of the building's most famous users hates it. MIT professor...

The ayes have it.(Concrete Boots)
November 5, 2004... Government think-tank Demos has proposed that offices should be redesigned to provide "power nap" rooms where staff can catch up on their sleep to reduce stress and improve concentration, All those in favour of being allowed to have a nap after...

Digging the East End scene: Feilden Clegg Bradley's student residences at Queen Mary, University of London, join a pantheon of successful housing experiments.(Works)
November 5, 2004... I am afraid for me, London will never extend much beyond the West End, save for a few scattered outposts: Soane's Dulwich Art Gallery, Lasdun's National Theatre and Hopkins's Bracken House in the City. However, in the course of the past 70-odd...

Queen Mary Student Village, University of London.(In Detail)
November 5, 2004... Architect: Feliden Clegg Bradley Structural engineer: Adams Kara Taylor The largest residential block at the Westfield Student Village has an eight-storey concrete frame built with tunnel-form shuttering. Another word for shuttering is...

Virtuous vacations: traditional African methods are the star of Cullum & Nightingale's eco-resort.(Solutions)
November 5, 2004... On the east coast of Africa in the tiny, isolated village of Guludo in Mozambique, a string of tented structures and low-level buildings inspired by the local vernacular are nearing completion. They are the first stage of an alternative type of...

A wealth of nouveau riches: a European touring exhibition seeks to revive interest in this style.(Culture)
November 5, 2004... Alongside a search for national identity and a desire to forge new links with industrial production, an urge for the modern was one of the guiding principles of art nouveau. It was an optimistic style that appeared suddenly, and almost...

New on the bookshelf.(Culture)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... The Architecture of The British Library at St Pancras, by Roger Stonehouse and Gerhard Stromberg. Sport Press, 65 [pounds sterling]. Definitive account of Colin St John Wilson's tour de force that was 35 years in the design and...

Stephen Proctor.(Radar)
November 5, 2004... Books I should probably be reading Jacques Derrida in light of his recent death, however, with three children (two, five and eight years) the closest I've got is Roberto the Insect Architect by Nina Laden. (Hank Floyd Mite and Fleas van der...

Kaldewei.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... The premium line Studioform bath from Kaldewei is an original design with finely sculpted curves and generous interior proportions, while also providing intelligent use of space. The Studioform measures a standard 170cm length by 75cm width...

Marley Roofing.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... "The Mill Cottages" has been recently renovated into a luxurious home, retaining its unique rustic charm thanks to Marley Roofing's Dalestone. Manufactured from 30% recycled material, Marley's innovative Dalestone uses as little primary raw...

Baggeridge Brick.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... A brand new Surestart Centre has been built in Wigan using Baggeridge Brick's innovative fast track clay cladding system--Corium. More than 400[m.sup.2] of orange Corium tiles have been used to build the two storey building which facilitates an...

Stirling Lloyd.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... Stirling Lloyd's Decseal[R]] combined waterproof wearing course system has been utilised recently at Newcastle United's Stadium to provide 100% effective long-term protection to the concourse area of the ground's Newcastle Brown Stand....

Kingspan Insulation.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... Stunning accomodation has been created through the clever use of architectural wall panels supplied by Kingspan Insulated Panels. The building sets a standard for fresh design and architect's Halliday Clark Ltd, has utilised Kingspan KS1000 MR...

Kingspan Insulation Ltd.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... Kingspan Thermawall TW50 and TW55 zero ODP has been used throughout Gunwharf Quays, a 200 million [pounds sterling] development transforming Portsmouth Harbour. These high performance products were chosen as it was necessary to specify only...

Avanti Systems.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... Avanti Systems, the UK's largest independent producer of office partitioning systems, has supplied a wide range of their highly versatile Unity partitioning product to the newly built Mercedes Benz car showroom in Staverton, Gloucestershire....

Thermalite.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... Completing the block work from floor to roof on a new house, completely unaided, in just nine days would test the skills of even the most experienced builder. However, by using Thermalite's Thin Joint Masonry system, novice builder, Stuart...

Baggeridge Brick.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... Bricks from Baggeridge have helped to transform an area of Monyhull Hospital into recently constructed flats in Kings Norton, West Midlands. Architects, Roger Dudley and Associates, specified Marlborough Smooth bricks from Baggeridge due to...

Corus Colors.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... Colorcoat Celestia[R] & HPS200[R] by Corus have been used on the walls of a new Call Centre on the Eurocentral Industrial Park in Motherwell. The innovative cladding finish was specified following discussions with the Corus Colors Business...

Rock Asphalte.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... Rock Asphalte's Flexiphalte Triple Protection Roofing and Structural Waterproofing System was chosen for the latest addition to the largest Hindu Temple complex outside India--the Swaminaray Temple in Neasden, North London. Enquiries 5013...

Brett Martin.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... A combination of Brett Martin Daylight Systems' rooflights were specified by Hathaway Roofing Ltd to allow diffused daylighting with minimal shadow effects to penetrate into the innermost work areas of Airbus UK's new manufacturing centre, West...

Tarkett.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... ID Moduline--Tarkett's inspiring modular vinyl--has been chosen for the restaurant at Cheshire Police's new Constabulary Headquarters and Training Centre at Winsford. The modular concept of ID Moduline, available in tile and strip, opens up...

Mumford & Wood.(Products & Literature)
November 5, 2004... Located within paces of the Long Walk leading to Windsor Castle, an official residence of The Queen, nestles Black Horse Yard. Windsor has specified Conservation Doors and Conservation Box Sash Windows manufactured by specialists Mumford & Wood...