Architects Journal
August 2010
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Armstrong ceilings come up with more (books of) ideas
Leading interior solutions provider Armstrong Ceilings has taken a monolithic approach to its 12th Book of Ideas. -
Ian Ritchie on Oxford and Cambridge drips
‘The Leak’, or keeping the water out, has haunted modern architecture ever since the flat roof of modernism -
John Allan on Stirling as architecture’s gravedigger
The buildings of the Red Trilogy may be seen to have entrenched a fatal narcissism in British modernism -
New Practices #39: Amos Goldreich Architecture
The latest in a series of practice profiles looking at architects who have recently decided to go it alone, either through choice or redundancy -
RIBA proposes penalty to stop developers ditching architects
The RIBA has unveiled a plan to deter developers from replacing a project’s original architect with a cheaper firm -
Sheppard Robson’s timber academy ready for new term
[FIRST LOOK] Sheppard Robson’s recently completed Open Academy in Norwich will open its doors to pupils within the next two weeks -
‘Two-way traffic’: Liza Fior and Katherine Clarke of Muf discuss the Villa Frankenstein
Muf Architecture’s British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale takes a strand of British architectural practice rooted in research and collaboration to the world stage. Here we preview the collaborations with artists, scientists and schools that created the ‘Villa Frankenstein’ -
Aberdeen locals call for investigation into Union Terrace Gardens
Campaigners have demanded the Scottish government investigates the decision to scrap proposals for a Brisac Gonzalez-designed arts centre at Union Terrace Gardens -
Aecom acquires Davis Langdon in £200m deal
Construction consultants Davis Langdon has agreed to be taken over by US giant Aecom Technology Corp in a deal worth £200 million -
AJ and Open City launch Open House London photography competition
The Architects’ Journal with Open City has launched a photography competition to celebrate the upcoming Open House London Weekend -
AJ exclusive: Q&A with new architecture minister John Penrose
English Heritage, equalising VAT, Stonehenge and budget cuts: new architecture minister John Penrose answers the profession’s questions about his plans and priorities for the next five years -
AJ giveaway: win a copy of Green Architecture NOW
The AJ’s sustainability blog Footprint has joined up with publisher Taschen to give away five copies of Green Architecture NOW! -
Amanda Levete donates £2,000 to David Miliband's campaign
Amanda Levete has been spotted among the list of donors to David Miliband’s £324,100.33 war chest as he contests the leadership of the Labour party -
Amin Taha submits plans for Highbury house
Amin Taha Architects has submitted plans for this competition-winning house for a private client in Highbury, north London -
An elegant game of hide-and-seek with GKD metal mesh
As a vibrant global economic metropolis within a limited space, the Southeast Asian city of Singapore demands modern architecture which meets both local and climatic conditions. -
Anshen+Allen snapped up by Canadians
Canadian giants Stantec is set to buy Anglo-American healthcare specialists Anshen + Allen for an undisclosed fee -
Architecture's Evil Empire? A new book by Miles Glendinning
A new book frames a critical history of modernism through classic tragedy. Here its author, Miles Glendinning, describes how an architecture devoid of modernism’s idealistic beginnings has been perverted by a cult of individualism -
Argentinian debut for Foster + Partners
[FIRST LOOK] Foster + Partners has won the contest to design a new corporate headquarters for the Banco Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina -
Argyll and Bute Council regeneration programme
Argyll and Bute Council is accepting proposals for a framework agreement for the provision of consultancy services to assist in the delivery of a £250-500 million pound regeneration programme of five of its waterfront towns: Campbeltown, Helensburgh, Oban, Rothesay and Dunoon. -
Bblur wins green light for Slough cultural centre
Bblur has bagged planning permission for its 4,500m² library and cultural centre within the £450 million Heart of Slough town centre regeneration project -
BDP bags Welsh rail station redesign
BDP’s Manchester office has been chosen to masterplan the redevelopment of a series of Welsh train stations, including Swansea -
BDP to redesign Manchester train station
Network Rail has appointed BDP as chief architects for the refurbishment of Manchester’s Victoria railway station -
Bob Allies supports the dynamism of the trio
These are dynamic buildings, buildings which seem to contain an extraordinary pent-up energy, buildings in which the pieces of which they are made – columns, stairs, ramps, auditoria, flues, roofs, canopies, gantries, even planes of masonry and glass – feel as if they are, or until recently were, on the move -
Book review: Other Space Odysseys
Other Space Odysseys interprets the 1969 Moon landing as a trigger of self-contemplation for people living on planet Earth, through the investigative projects of Greg Lynn, Michael Maltzan and Alessandro Poli -
Books in brief - Henley Halebrown Rorrison
[ARCHITECTS’ MONOGRAPH] The re-emergence of Buschow Henley as Henley Halebrown Rorrison was heralded by this self-titled publication which explores forty selected projects, both past and present -
Budget cuts: £20m playgrounds project axed
The coalition government has axed £20 million worth of funding earmarked for the delivery of new playgrounds -
Bust BURA back under new name
The British Urban Regeneration Association (BURA) has been relaunched under a new name just weeks after going into voluntary liquidation -
CABE works, so let's keep it strong
Quality is constantly overlooked on public projects – this is no time to ignore CABE, says Stuart Lipton -
Called in: Mayor to decide Bennetts' plans for London Fruit and Wool Exchange
London mayor Boris Johnson has stepped in over Bennetts Associates’ contentious plans to redevelop the London Fruit and Wool Exchange site next to Spitalfields Market in London -
Competition launched for new playground at Royal London Hospital
A contest has been launched to find a design team to create a children’s play space and exterior garden within Britain’s largest new hospital -
Competitions: Editor's Pick, 12.08.10
A play space and roof garden for the Royal London Hospital, a new public park in South Tyneside and a skyscraper design competition; the editor’s pick of this week’s top competitions -
Competitions: Editor's Pick, 26.08.10
The restoration of Lews Castle, regeneration of five Scottish waterfront towns and a conceptual city design competition; the editor’s pick of this week’s top competitions -
Cooper Architects scoops Ardrossan pavilion contest
Emerging Scottish outfit Cooper Architects has won the RIAS Consultancy-backed contest to design a new seafront pavilion in Ardrossan, Ayrshire -
Council throws out HKR's contentious West Quay project
Poole Council’s planning committee has refused planning permission for HKR Architects’ £100 million West Quay scheme, going against the recommendations of its own planning officers -
Councils offered cash for approving new homes
Councils will be offered extra cash for every new home they allow to be built in their areas under a scheme designed to ease housing shortages -
East London's Fresh Wharf backed by planners
Jestico + Whiles and Glenn Howells Architects’ Fresh Wharf scheme in Barking has been given the go-ahead by the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation -
Ecophon - Environmentally friendly ceilings win royal approval
Upton, on the outskirts of Northampton, has been hailed as the most sustainable and environmentally friendly new community in the UK. Designed by English Partnerships, Northampton Borough Council, The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment and a team of design and planning consultants led by EDAW, the development includes… -
Education should encourage innovative office design rather than cliff-top museums
The shortlist for Britain’s biggest student prize reveals that today’s students are fixated by ‘spatial gymnastics’, says Richard Waite -
Eva Jiricna on the public’s inherent conservatism
It’s the nature of people and the world to be very conservative -
eVolo Skyscraper Competition
The deadline looms in the annual eVolo Skyscraper Competition which is open to both students and architects -
Exclusive: Retrofit Awards shortlist revealed
The shortlist for the inaugural Retrofit Awards has been revealed, with 37 entries battling to be named leaders in a sector potentially worth £500 billion over the next 30 years -
FCBS wins planning for foreign language centre
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCB Studios) has bagged planning for this £5.8 million language immersion centre at Blackfriars Priory, Gloucester -
Feilden Clegg Bradley to design postal museum
The British Postal Museum & Archive’s (BPMA) new £18 million centre in Swindon will be designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBS) -
Finally a:b:i:r wins planning for Brighton housing
[FIRST LOOK + PLANS] After five years of delays a:b:i:r architects has finally landed planning permission to build 39 affordable flats in Brighton -
First Look: Grimshaw towers for NYU
Grimshaw Architects’ latest offering for the US city has been met with uproar from local residents -
First Look: UK's greenest motorway services
Glenn Howells Architects has revealed designs for its Gloucester Gateway services station, set to be the greenest in the country -
Foster + Partners shortlisted in contest to revamp St Louis Gateway Arch
Foster + Partners is one of five shortlisted practices competing to revamp Eero Saarinen’s iconic St Louis Gateway Arch in the US -
Foster + Partners wins Hong Kong cultural district battle
Norman Foster has beaten OMA to win the right to design Hong Kong’s new £1.7 billion West Kowloon cultural hub. -
Gatwick Airport announces architectural framework
Gatwick Airport has revealed the framework practices for its £1 billion capital projects programme -
Glasgow City Mission by Elder and Cannon Architects
Glasgow City Mission and Elder and Cannon Architects, the designer of its new headquarters, appear to have similar values. Both are a positive force in Glasgow; both seem content to keep a low profile and to quietly go about their business. Photography by Andrew Lee -
HCA rescues £7.4m of East Midlands schemes
The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has approved more than £7.4 million of funding for housing in the East Midlands -
House at Hamm Court, Weybridge by Ben Adams Architects
[FIRST LOOK + PLANS] Ben Adams Architects has won planning permission for this £225,000 family home in Weybridge, Surrey -
Ian Martin is shocked and appalled
Scheme-fixing: the shame of a profession throwing projects for cash -
Ian Martin. ‘Remaining true to urban principles’ is no match for our ‘Mend A City’ initiative
Ian Martin explains the fate of Tamworth -
In Pictures: Beijing's water cube legacy
The 2008 Beijing Olympics Aquatics Centre has been turned into Asia’s largest indoor water park -
In Pictures: FaulknerBrowns' Olympic canoe course
FaulknerBrowns Architects has released these images of its £31 million Olympic whitewater canoe centre -
In pictures: Muf unveils British Pavilion at Venice Biennale
[FIRST LOOK] These are the first shots of Muf architecture/art’s Villa Frankenstein British Pavilion for the 12th International Venice Architecture Exhibition -
In pictures: the completed 2012 basketball arena
Work has finished on the 2012 Olympics Basketball Arena designed by Sinclair Knight Merz, Wilkinson Eyre and KSS -
Indian floods damage Arup Associates’ school
Arup Associates’ award-winning Druk White Lotus School in northern India has been damaged by Himalayan flash floods -
Indoor play space and roof garden, Royal London Hospital
The RIBA has launched a competition for the design of an indoor children’s play space and exterior roof garden at the HOK-designed Royal London Hospital, due to open in east London in 2012 -
Is it possible that TV eugenics could one day develop a MasterSpace?
Ian Martin develops a new TV show -
Jim Stirling and the Red Trilogy
Alan Berman’s new book asks ‘Why do architects love Stirling’s buildings, while the public and users hate them?’ Jim Stirling and the Red Trilogy – Three Radical Buildings, Frances Lincoln, October 2010, £30 -
John McAslan set for Smithfield resurrection
John McAslan + Partners has been brought back into the contentious redevelopment of Smithfield Market after months of uncertainty about the central London project -
LA scare for Meier
Talk about architects being judged by their persuasive talents. Before Richard Meier started building the Getty Centre museum in Los Angeles he had a meeting on the hilltop with some objectors… -
Lambeth Council awards Waterloo project
Atkins has won a design competition to revamp the Lower Marsh area in Waterloo, south London -
Landscape Architecture: Three new projects highlighting recent developments
The Landscaping of 151 Rosebery Avenue by John McAslan + Partners, Windrush Square by Gross Max and Ebbw Vale Vertical Garden by Lianne Russ and Philip Henshaw are analysed by the experts. -
Leeds Rhinos reveal stadium plan
Headingley Stadium, the home of Leeds Rhinos Rugby League Club, is to undergo a £10 million revamp designed by DLA Architecture -
Leeds to pioneer PassivHaus primary school
Education Leeds has appointed architecture practice Space to build a PassivHaus-standard primary school -
Living City Design Competition
Design teams from around the world are invited to select any international city and conceptually transform it through photo-realistic three-dimensional modelling and renderings for the Living City Design Competition -
Location Location Location
Commenting on the accommodation of those staying in Venice for the Biennale can be an exquisitely bitchy matter -
London boroughs to control housing budgets
London boroughs will determine how their own housing budgets are spent under radical proposals put forward by the city’s mayor Boris Johnson and the London Councils think-tank -
London projects scrapped as LDA funding cuts bite
Budget cuts have forced the London Development Agency (LDA) to lose 100 staff, scrap half a dozen projects and delay or reduce funding on more than 25 others -
Lynch wins huge scheme on prime site in the capital
Lynch Architects has seen off a top-secret international shortlist to land a massive scheme within Land Securities’ multi-billion-pound redevelopment in Victoria, London -
Mark Cannata on the buildings as architects’ pin-up
As a synthesis between history and utopia, the red buildings became a paradigm of the fusion between past and future, somewhere between Paxton and Skylab. -
Mather reveals second phase in Ashmolean Museum revamp
Rick Mather Architects has unveiled the first images of its planned £5 million second phase of its multi award-winning overhaul of the Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology in Oxford -
Miller Partnership’s Aberdeen FC scheme goes for planning
The Miller Partnership has submitted plans to build a new 21,000-seater stadium for Aberdeen Football Club (FC) at Loirston Loch, Scotland -
MSA's parrot sanctuary plans approved
Proposals for the largest aviary in the world have received planning permission as London-based practice Matthew Springett Associates (MSA) had its ambitious plans for the National Parrot Sanctuary in Lincolnshire approved -
New dawn for oldest working factory in the world
[FIRST LOOK + PLANS] Evans Vettori has won planning permission for this £1.4 million visitor centre at the John Smedley knitwear mill near Matlock in Derbyshire -
New Practices #38: Chris Rhodes Architect
The latest in a series of practice profiles looking at architects who have recently decided to go it alone, either through choice or redundancy -
New public park, South Tyneside
South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council is on the hunt for a landscape architect to design a new £1.5 million public park -
Olympics: David Morley's 2012 Water Polo arena approved
The Olympic Delivery Authority Planning committee has rubberstamped David Morley Architects’ plans for the temporary London 2012 Water Polo arena -
Open-City chair steps down
The chair of Open-City, Jane Priestman, has stepped down following 18 years at the organisation -
Payoffs to residents mooted to reverse 'housing crisis'
Housing developers should be allowed to offer ‘very substantial’ cash incentives to win the support of residents for new construction projects in their neighbourhoods, a think-tank report suggests -
Penrose turns down Camden housing listing
A bid to list phase I of Benson and Forsyth’s 1970s Maiden Lane housing estate in Camden has been rejected -
Relief as ‘hundreds’ of BSF jobs saved
Up to 500 jobs may have been saved by the unexpected decision to resurrect sample schools and academies put on hold during the shake-up of the £55 billion Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme -
Restoration and development of Lews Castle
Western Isles Council has announced plans to redevelop the Category A-listed Lews Castle on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, after receiving initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund -
Revealed: Squire and Partners' submits Potters Field plans
Squire and Partners has finally submitted plans for this mixed-use residential and cultural development on Potters Field next to Tower Bridge in London -
RIBA predicts double-dip recession
A double-dip recession is ‘almost certain’, according to the RIBA Future Trends Survey. -
RIBA's scouse mystery
Will there be a ‘looky-likey Portland Place’ in Manchester? -
Richard Haut’s EU tenders, 12.08.10
Richard Haut rounds up European opportunities. This week: Four leads, including an experimental cattle centre at Dummerstorf in Germany, and a new photonics space for the Paul Cézanne University at Marseille in France -
Richard Rogers on the shock of Leicester
It was clear to us early on that what Stirling was doing was something radical. -
RMJM loses raft of top names
International giant RMJM has confirmed that five of its leading lights, including the chief executive of its Asia and Middle East operations, have left the company -
Rogers' reworks Sydney Harbour scheme
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSH+P) has trimmed down and ‘refined’ its £3.5 billion regeneration of the Barangaroo district of Sydney Harbour -
Ropemaker Place, London, by Arup Associates
The treatment of the glazed facade of Arup Associates’ Ropemaker Place office development employs architectural means to environmental ends, writes Hattie Hartman -
Rowan Atkinson: 'Modernism does belong in the countryside'
Rowan Atkinson and Sunetra Sastry talk to Merlin Fulcher about Richard Meier’s design for their modernist Chilterns home, which has been branded ‘completely inappropriate’ by opponents -
Sarah Wigglesworth on James Stirling's legacy
To survey Stirling’s oeuvre today is to be struck by its abstract quality -
Satellite Architects wins Hammersmith Quaker contest
The Hammersmith Friends (Quakers) have chosen Satellite Architects from more than 125 entrants to design their new meeting house -
Shapero reveals Manchester mental health centre
[FIRST LOOK] Maurice Shapero, working with Bolton-based Bradshaw Gass and Hope has unveiled these proposals for a new mental health centre in Great Ancoats Street, Manchester. -
Smith Scott Mullan unveils Stranraer waterfront masterplan
Smith Scott Mullan Associates has revealed the first images of its vision to regenerate the waterfront at the port city of Stranraer, Scotland -
Social housing 'fire threat' warning
Houses built with a central timber frame are a fire disaster waiting to happen, experts have warned -
Social housing turnover tumbles
Social housing starts declined by 21 per cent this year, according to statistics released by industry monitor Glenigan as the sector continues to take a battering -
Squire and Partners’ Vauxhall Cross towers go for planning
[FIRST LOOK] Squire and Partners has submitted plans for two mixed-use towers at Vauxhall Cross in south London -
StoneLite; Making Light Work of Explosive Situations
Ultra lightweight natural stone cladding panel, Weighs 95% less than solid 100 mm solid stone, Resists 60 times more impact than solid stone. Impervious to water penetration, Panel sizes up to 3.0 m x 1.5 m, Withstands 150kg TNT at 34 m distance -
Surprise as Rowan Atkinson wins planning for Meier house
Rowan Atkinson’s controversial plan to build a Richard Meier-designed house in rural south Oxfordshire has won planning permission despite planning officers’ recommendations -
The child in the city
[VENICE BIENNALE 2010] Collaborator: Lottie Child, an artist working with teachers and pupils from Venice’s schools and founder of streettraining.org -
The Lagoon Room at The British Pavilion
[VENICE BIENNALE 2010] Collaborators: Jane da Mosto, environmental scientist; Lorenzo Bonometto, life scientist; Venice Natural History Museum; Venice in Peril; Cambridge University -
The Posters of Venice
[IN PICTURES] Slightly less well-known than Stones of Venice, the posters of Venice Architecture Biennale provide an picturesque guide participating nations pavilions. James Pallister snaps a plastered wall near the Accademia Vaporetto stop -
The Ruskin & Gavagnin Wings
[VENICE BIENNALE 2010] Collaborators Wolfgang Scheppe, artist-philosopher; Robert Hewison, cultural historian; The Ruskin Library; Alvio and Gabriella Gavagnin, photographers -
The Stadium of Close Looking
[VENICE BIENNALE 2010] Collaborators: Spazio Legno, specialist gondola builder; Rebiennale, Venice-based collective; Atelier One, structural engineer -
Treasury Galleries for the Science Museum in London
The Science Museum in London has launched a search for architects to revamp two of its major permanent collections -
UKGBC calls on BREEAM to modernise
The UK Green Building Council’s (UKGBC) report on the future of BREEAM has set out guidelines for greater transparency when certifying buildings -
URBED wins Stoke masterplan
Manchester-based URBED has seen off an impressive shortlist, including Studio Egret West, to land the Stoke Town masterplan -
Venice 2010: Bahrain bags Best of Show at Biennale
Bahrain’s ‘exploration of the decline of the sea culture’ has won the Golden Lion for the best national participation at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale -
Venice 2010: Inside the British Pavilion with Ed Vaizey
AJ Critics editor James Pallister reports on the opening of Muf Architecture’s British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale -
Venice 2010: Surreal adventures in the Polish Pavilion
The AJ can reveal the first images inside Poland’s surreal Venice Biennale Pavilion -
Venice 2010: The Irish Pavilion's consumable archive
This year’s Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale is being billed as ‘both an archive and reading room’ of Dublin architects de Blacam and Meagher -
Venice 2010: Why the biennale matters
The Venice Biennale may be pretentious, but it is also a vital hotbed of ideas, says Christine Murray -
Venice Architecture Biennale 2010
Kazuyo Sejima transforms the Venice Biennale into an architectural fairground steeped in playfulness and sensuality, reports James Pallister -
Venice Biennale: Tony Fretton's PiazzaSalone installation
Venice veteran Tony Fretton and artist Mark Pimlott have revealed pictures of their PiazzaSalone collaboration at the biannual architectural showcase -
Vicky Richardson, commissioner of the British Pavilion, on the Villa Frankenstein
It moves Venice into the pavilion and takes the pavilion out into the surrounding areas, creating a long-term relationship with the city and its people and informing our future work in the UK.Villa Frankenstein references John Ruskin, one of many British writers, artists and architects who have been obsessed by Venice. The title alludes to his regret that his great work, The Stones of Venice, spawned widespread copying by speculative builders in south London. Here, in the title’s barbe -
Victory for campaign to save Spence-Webster bungalow
Campaigners have welcomed Camden Council’s decision to reject plans to demolish two Spence + Webster-designed bungalows in north London -
Why do architects love Stirling's buildings, while the public and users hate them?
Architects including Norman Foster and Richard Rogers respond to this question, posed by academics to Alan Berman when his practice, Berman Guedes Stretton, surveyed James Stirling’s Florey Building at Queen’s College, Oxford -
Woods Bagot beats big names to bag Chinese victory
Woods Bagot has seen off the likes of Zaha Hadid and RMJM to win the competition to design a new convention centre in Shijiazhuang City, China -
Woods Bagot unveils iceberg concept for stalled sites
Woods Bagot has revealed a modular iceberg design to spruce up stalled construction sites -
Work begins on vHH’s Barking Riverside scheme
van Heyningen and Haward Architects’ £20 million Rivergate Centre project at Barking Riverside has started on site -
Working detail: Ropemaker Place
[WORKING DETAIL 12.08.10] Ropemaker Place- facade detailing
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