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Architects Journal
December 2007

View all stories from this issue.

  • 2012 Olympics fencing arena could be binned

    The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has confirmed it is conducting a review on all temporary venues for the London 2012 Olympics, which could see the fencing arena being scrapped.

  • 3DReid reaches Belfast

    Growing practice 3DReid is to open a new office in Belfast on the back of a large Public Private Partnership school project win in Northern Ireland.

  • A new chapter

    Former RIBA director of education Leonie Milliner has been rather low-profile recently, having left the institute to reproduce.

  • A+DS criticises Aedas' Haymarket scheme

    Architecture and Design Scotland (A+DS) has criticised Aedas Architects’ proposals for Edinburgh’s Haymarket Station for ‘lacking ambition’.

  • AA®3610 vertical sliding window

    Kawneer UK Ltd

  • Acoustic Ceiling Solutions

    Ecophon

  • Acoustic Solutions

    Ecophon

  • Adjaye joins Brad Pitt's New Orleans scheme

    David Adjaye has unveiled his designs for new, flood-proof homes in New Orleans – a regeneration project part funded by Hollywood star Brad Pitt.

  • AJ Christmas break

    The AJ web team will be taking a break from 22 December. Our regular service of daily news plus a host of features will resume on 2 January.We would like to take this opportunity to wish all visitors to the site an enjoyable holiday period.

  • AJ Designing for Floodplains

    An architect’s guide to key design strategies for flood risk control and flood mitigation

  • AJ Historic Buildings

    The architect’s role in adapting and regenerating listed buildings

  • Alsop's Stratford DLR station opens

    SMC Alsop’s Stratford Dockland Light Railway (DLR) station on the edge of the London 2012 Olympic Park in East London has fully opened to the public.

  • AR200XP - Building envelope solution

    Arcelor Construction

  • ARB reprimands Preston architect

    Architect Mark Heyes of Heyes & Co in Preston has been found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct at an ARB conduct committee meeting on the 11 December.

  • Arca's Salford proposals win planning approval

    Arca has finally won the green light for its high-rise Canopus Greengate proposals in Salford – after spending almost three-and-a-half years at the drawing board.

  • Architects sought to design new town centre in Brum

    Developer St Modwen has issued a call for architects to tender for the contract to design a new town centre for Longbridge in Birmingham – the former home of MG Rover.

  • Architects sought to overhaul Princess Diana's former home

    Kensington Palace in west London, the former residence of Princess Diana, is hunting a team of architects to design various new-build, refurbishment and landscaping projects.

  • Aukett Fitzroy Robinson unveils £450 masterplan in Birmingham

    Aukett Fitzroy Robinson’s (AFR) has unwrapped its masterplan for the £450 million mixed-use regeneration of Birmingham’s Eastside.

  • Back Issues - Open Letters

    Back Issues It’s time to follow Annie Choi’s example and revive the lost art of the open letter to readers, says Steve Parnell

  • Back issues - Shand

    Back Issues Shand brought the best of continental Modernism to an Arts and Crafts Britain, writes Steve Parnell

  • Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust

    Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust is planning to undertake a construction project entailing the demolition of existing outdated buildings and the construction of a new Older Persons Mental Health Inpatient Facility on a local site. In order to achieve the successful outcome of this scheme, the Trust intends appointing individual professional design team members (Architectural, Building Services Design Consultants, Quantity Surveying/Cost Control, Structural Engineering, CDM Co-o

  • Bob Reid bows out of Milton Keynes Partnership

    Bob Reid has stepped down as chairman of Milton Keynes Partnership, the subsidiary of English Partnerships.

  • Book - Courtyard Houses and Row Houses

    A love of typologyCourtyard Houses and Row Houses are a sober antidote to architecture fluff, says Michael HoweCourtyard Houses by Günter Pfeifer and Per Brauneck. Row Houses by Pfeifer and Brauneck. Birkhäuser, 2008. 217 illustrations. £22.90 each

  • Book - The Toothpick

    As you prod at the turkey stuck in your teeth, take a moment to ponder the technology of your toothpick, says Adam Leith GollnerThe Toothpick: Technology and Culture. Henry Petroski, Knopf. 464 pages.

  • British Parking Awards 2008

    Extended deadlineThe deadline for entries to the 2008 awards has been extended by a fortnight to Friday 28?December.The eventThe winners of the seventh competition will be announced at a gala lunch held at London’s Dorchester on Friday 7 March.0845 270 7867entries@britishparkingawards.co.ukOr visit the website:www.britishparkingawards.co.uk

  • Broadway Malyan unveils Reading tower

    Broadway Malyan has unveiled the designs for a 29-storey, four-star Radisson SAS hotel in the heart of Reading.

  • CABE attacks KPF's £2 billion Victoria Interchange proposal

    A new CABE design review has concluded that Kohn Pedersen Fox's (KPF) London Victoria Transport Interchange masterplan needs a ‘major rethink’.

  • CABE to oversee seaside renaissance

    CABE is to head up a £45 million programme to regenerate the country’s shabbiest seaside resorts.

  • CABE 'unconvinced' by Allies and Morrison's Three Sisters scheme

    CABE has stated it remains ‘unconvinced’ by Allies and Morrison's redesigned Three Sisters scheme in Waterloo, London.

  • Can a leopard change its box?

    I see a Register correspondent asking the question 'Can I purchase any Intel box and install Apple's Mac OS X Leopard operating system on it?' The answer seems to be yes – though the Register asks the next important question: 'Why would you?'

  • Careyjones and CZWG's Granary Wharf gets going

    Work has started on Careyjones and CZWG’s £40 million Granary Wharf mixed-use development, next to Leeds city station,

  • Comment - Irresponsible architects

    In Denmark architects have far more responsibility, says Teva Hesse, and this leads to better design

  • Comment - Judging Architecture

    How do you judge an architectural award when there’s no architecture on the shortlist? Jaffer Kolb asks

  • Comment in the AJ - Patrick Lynch

    The pseudo-science of the ‘ starchitects’ makes them the real Roundheads, says Patrick Lynch

  • Competition for Commonwealth Institute imminent

    The developer behind the proposed high-profile overhaul of the London’s iconic Commonwealth Institute has revealed it intends to launch a contest to find an architect to mastermind the project.

  • Competition launched to overhaul key area of Gloucester

    Designers are being sought to regenerate a key area of Gloucester.

  • Conferences Sponsorship Information

    The AJ runs nearly 30 conferences annually on some of the most topical issues that face the architectural market – tackling issues ranging from housing design and sustainability to education and refurbishment. All of our conferences are derived from in-depth research into market needs – they cover vital subject areas which our delegates need to be informed of in order to remain at the forefront of their sector.

  • Connect2 is bookies' favourite for Big Lottery cash

    As voting closes for the Big Lottery Fund’s £50 million People’s Choice, William Hill has put charity Sustrans' Connect2 scheme as frontrunner.

  • Connect2 project bags £50 million Lottery prize

    The winner of the much-anticipated Big Lottery Fund's £50 million People's Choice prize is charity Sustrans' Connect2 – a UK-wide project to create new cycling and walking routes across the country.

  • Construction's Future Leader Awards 2008

    Date: 28 March 2008Venue Name: TBALocation: London In association with Blackberry, publishing company Emap Construct has created a competition to challenge, reward and recognise talented young professionals in the built environment. Open to professionals aged 30 and under (40 in the case of architecture), and spanning across the construction, engineering, quantity surveying and architecture sectors, this award is set to identify the next generation of future leaders/CEOs

  • Corporate Green

    Hamilton Associates has designed an office park with a Roman-style ventilation system. It’s remarkably innovative, finds Hattie Hartman

  • Council calls for government to reject eco-town plan

    Winchester Council has written a letter to the government calling for it to reject a developer’s bid to build a 12,500-home eco-town near the Winchester city.

  • Creative East Awards

    The Creative East Awards, set up to recognise achievement in the Eastern region of England, give prizes in 18 categories, ranging from best computer game to best radio programme. There are two awards for architecture:

  • Critic's Choice - Kellier

    The more things change, the more they stay the same? Andrew Mead takes a look at the past.

  • Critic's Choice - Luisa Lambri

    Critic’s Choice Luisa Lambri’s photos elude definition, says Andrew Mead

  • Critic's Choice - Robert Adam

    There are still surprises in Robert Adam’s work, says Andrew Mead

  • Debunking Theoryspeak

    ‘Why…do architects feel duty-bound to talk aesthetic and philosophic rubbish? And why, more importantly. are clients impressed and even intimidated by it?’. John Silber is one of the few adversaries of contemporary architectural icon-making informed and weighty enough to be taken seriously by designers and public alike.

  • Design a chair: Caiazza Memorial Challenge

    The organisers of the Italian chair show Promosedia have launched a competition for the design of indoor chairs that make significant use of wood.

  • Directors complete management buyout of Bond Bryan

    A group of directors at Bond Bryan, one of the largest practices in the North of England, have pulled off a 75 per cent management buyout of the company.

  • Drag aloo

    A great debate was had by all at the Sheffield Civic Trust/Sheffield Society of Architects' event last week, where Glen Howells, Eamonn Canniffe (of Manchester University) and Abbie Thomas and Richard Holland of Sheffield NOW! had a right old ding-dong at the Showroom cinema.

  • Editorial - Is Lend Lease really after good design, or just branding?

    The risk-averse nature of Olympic clients is hardly surprising, but when they pretend to be otherwise it really rankles.

  • Editorial - The east London green grid

    The East London Green Grid is a breath of fresh air for British urban design, writes Kieran Long. And it even features great drawings

  • Egremont Castle winner unveiled

    Swiss practice Décosterd-Cotting Architects has won the international competition to design a new performance pavilion in Egremont Castle, Cumbria.

  • Eric Parry's Holburne Museum could face yet another challenge

    ‘Outraged’ opponents of Eric Parry’s recently approved extension to Bath’s Grade I-listed Holburne Museum could challenge the decision in court.

  • Exhibition - Sleeping and dreaming

    Ruth Slavid dreamwalks through ‘Sleeping and Dreaming’Until 9 March 2008, at the Wellcome Collection, London. www.wellcomecollection.org

  • Exhibition - The Painting of Modern Life

    The real world in brushstrokes, ‘The Painting of Modern Life’ is not for the escapist at heart, says Maria FuscoThe Painting of Modern Life. Until 30 December 2007, The Hayward Gallery, London SE1.

  • FCBS and Haworth Tompkins 'too busy' for Olympic work

    Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBS) and Haworth Tompkins have turned down the chance to design the first phase of the 2012 Olympic Park’s £2 billion Athletes’ Village.

  • FCBS unveils 'jewel-like' project for Manchester uni

    Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBS) has won a competition to design a £65 million project for Manchester Metropolitan University.

  • Finsbury Park public-realm competition launched

    RIBA has launched a competition to find an architect to design a 'major new public realm’ development for Finsbury Park, north London.

  • Foster + Partners designs carbon-neutral resort for Bulgaria

    Foster + Partners has unveiled a masterplan for a carbon-neutral resort for Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.

  • Foster unveils new city for Middle East

    Foster + Partners has unveiled yet another scheme in the Middle East with these plans for a new city in Oman.

  • Foster's birthday party

    The shade of Robert Smirke must have smiled down benignly the other evening as smoke drifted across his magnificent British Museum portico and strange immensely tall white figures performed arcane rituals in a slow and complicated dance.

  • Frank Whittle wins green light for Oldham stadium

    Preston-based Frank Whittle Partnership's (FWP) £80 million masterplan for a new stadium for Oldham Athletic FC has won the thumbs-up from planners.

  • Free-Hanging Raft Solutions

    Ecophon

  • Fund-raiser

    Victoria Harris, the head honcho of charity Architects 4 Aid, was in a playful mood at the AJ100 breakfast in Claridges last week.

  • Gensler

    Gensler have moved to:Aldgate House, 33 Aldgate High Street, London EC3N 1ATT: 020 7073 9600 / W: www.gensler.com

  • Ger district architecture - 10 December 2007

    Ulaanbaatar is increasingly comprised of and surrounded by ger districts (Mongolian tent dwelling districts), the informal architecture of encampments claimed by Mongolians under their traditional right to nomadically and temporarily settle on their land, in this case close to the capital.

  • Girona

    DimplexDimplex is a smooth operator this season with the launch of the new Girona premium glass-fronted panel heater. The range combines simplicity of design with a classically beautiful material for a unique style. Girona’s smooth front panel is sophisticated yet understated and will complement the most fashionable designer surroundings.Click here to request more infor

  • GMW unveils Polish tower

    London-based GMW Architects has unveiled this 35-storey tower in Wroclaw, Poland, designed with Polish practice IMB Asymetria Architects.

  • Green grid to roll out across London

    Design for London’s (DfL) green grid strategy (AJ 13.12.07) will be used in other parts of London, director Peter Bishop has said.

  • Green light for Caspar replacement

    Architecture 2B’s replacement for Levitt Bernstein’s doomed CASPAR apartment scheme in Leeds has won the go-ahead.

  • Green meaning

    Congratulations on an excellent first edition of the Sustainability in Practice series

  • Hadid's Architecture Foundation HQ set for lift off

    A preferred contractor has been named to build the Architecture Foundation’s new Zaha Hadid-designed headquarters on London’s South Bank.

  • Hawkins Brown replaces Benoy at Bricket Road

    The developer behind the controversial Bricket Road cinema, restaurant and apartment project in St Albans, Hertfordshire, has kicked off architect Benoy.

  • Hawkins\Brown replaces Benoy at Bricket Road

    The developer behind the controversial Bricket Road cinema, restaurant and apartment project in St Albans, Hertfordshire, has kicked off architect Benoy.

  • Hawkins\Brown replaces Benoy at Bricket Road

    The developer behind the controversial Bricket Road cinema, restaurant and apartment project in St Albans, Hertfordshire, has kicked off architect Benoy.

  • Heatherwick's Boiler Suit is unzipped by vandals

    Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in South London has blamed vandals for problems with Thomas Heatherwick’s award-winning stainless-steel facade.

  • Henning Larsen and Martha Schwartz on the road to Damascus

    Henning Larsen Architects (HLA) and Martha Schwartz Partners have revealed these images for a children’s discovery centre in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

  • Hodge wants stricter listing for 20th-century buildings

    Architecture Minister Margaret Hodge wants to make it more difficult for 20th-century buildings to be listed by introducing a two-tier test.

  • HOK reveals latest Maze prison stadium plans

    HOK Sport has revealed its latest images of its new ‘multi-sport’ stadium on the Maze prison site in Northern Ireland.

  • HOK reveals latest Maze prison stadium plans

    HOK Sport has revealed the latest images of its new ‘multi-sport’ stadium on the Maze prison site in Northern Ireland.

  • HOK reveals plans for former Gillette HQ

    HOK has revealed proposals to transform the former European headquarters of shaving giant Gillette into a luxury hotel in west London.

  • Homeless huts

    At the end of their time in Hyde Park, the Serpentine pavilions aren’t homeless for long.

  • HTA bags UK's first eco-village

    HTA Architects has won a competition to design the UK’s first net-zero-carbon ‘eco-village’ in Bristol.

  • I'll take Manhattan

    Astragal was feeling distinctly bah humbug about electronic Christmas cards, until this one arrived from the Manhattan Loft Corporation.

  • Increasing primary school places, Coventry

    The city is seeking the following disciplines to work on five primary schools:

  • Industrial range - BLUCHER

    The BLUCHER Industrial range of stainless steel drains offer architects the perfect solution to drainage requirements in areas where loads are likely to exceed normal foot traffic. A range of gratings and outlet positions are available to suit individual site requirements. All drains can be trapped with removable water traps.C

  • Innovative Acoustic Lighting Rafts

    SAS International

  • Interview - Peter Bishop reflects on his first year at Design for London

    Design for London (DfL) has elbowed its way to influence in the first year of its existence, using guerilla tactics to become what is effectively the most influential city architects office in the country. Richard Vaughan spoke to director Peter Bishop about the first 12 months.

  • INVISTA, Antron® carpet fibre shows the way

    Antron® carpet fibre

  • Jamie Fobert's Tate St Ives extension revived

    Jamie Fobert’s long-overdue Tate St Ives extension in Cornwall is finally moving forward after gallery bosses rejected costly alternatives, including splitting the collection over two sites.

  • JCB launches masterplan comp

    One of the world’s largest construction equipment manufacturers, JCB, has launched a design competition to redevelop one of its sites.

  • John McAslan in Oxford Street tram plan

    John McAslan + Partners is working as lead architect on the feasibility study to introduce trams along London’s Oxford Street.

  • John McAslan in Oxford Street tram plan

    John McAslan + Partners is working as lead architect on the feasibility study to introduce trams along London’s Oxford Street.

  • Kawneer - AA®3610 vertical sliding window

    Kawneer UK LtdA thermally-broken vertical sliding window that is eminently flexible but compliant with the ventilation requirements of Document F has been launched by leading architectural aluminium systems supplier Kawneer. The AA®3610 has been designed to appeal particularly to the architect/specifier and is suitable for use in new-build or refurbishment projects in a wide variety of commercial sectors including education and healthcare.

  • Ken Shuttleworth receives honorary doctorate

    Make’s Ken Shuttleworth was handed an honorary Doctor of Letters at the University of Westminster yesterday.

  • Kerslake named as first HCA boss

    Communities and Local Government has named Bob Kerslake as the first chief executive of the new Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

  • Kingframe Building System - Kingspan

    This 7-storey residential/retail project in Glasgow features the Kingframe Building System from Kingspan Off-Site, a whole building construction method consisting of a range of loadbearing steel-framed wall panels and steel floor and roof cassettes - all manufactured off-site and delivered to site ready for immediate installation.Click here for more information

  • KPF's London Victoria Transport Interchange to face planning committee

    Kohn Pedersen Fox’s (KPF's) London Victoria Transport Interchange masterplan will be hauled in front of a Westminster Council planning committee on Thursday (6 December).

  • Le Corbusier et Jeanneret

    Originally published in 1984, this sumptuous new edition expands the text and includes more photographs, but is no easier to read, says Elain HarwoodThe Villas of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret 1920-1930. By Tim Benton. Revised & expanded hardback. Birkhäuser 2007. £39.90

  • Leaseholder strife hits Aukett Fitzroy Robinson's Ally Pally scheme

    The long-running saga surrounding Aukett Fitzroy Robinson’s plans to overhaul north London’s famous Alexandra Palace has taken yet another twist.

  • Leeds to build new social housing

    Leeds Council has outlined plans to start building social housing for the first time in 30 years.

  • Liverpool FC's stadium delayed

    Liverpool Football Club’s plans for a new stadium have been delayed by a year due to spiralling costs.

  • Longbridge, Birmingham

    Attn: Michael Murray, UK-Birmingham B32 1AF.Tel. 012 12 22 94 00E-mail: mmurray@stmodwen.co.ukFax 012 12 22 94 012007-295773-EN 4/2772Apply by: 28.1.2008 - 12:00.

  • Luton Building Schools for the Future programme

    The contracting authorities are seeking an innovative private sector partner or partners to participate and invest in a new Public Private Partnership Vehicle (a 'Local Education Partnership' or 'LEP') to be established jointly with some or all of the contracting authorities.

  • Make to overhaul key Glasgow area

    Make Architects has been won the contest to overhaul the well-known Speirs Lock area of Glasgow, overlooking the Forth and Clyde Canal.

  • Make's 'tree' chopped in Big Lottery loss

    Make Architects’ Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre in Nottinghamshire has officially been dropped after missing out on vital Big Lottery funding last Wednesday (12 December).

  • Man fined for breaching Architects Act

    Bradford magistrates have fined a man £3,630 for breaching Section 20 of the Architects Act after he described himself as an architect ‘when he had no legal right to do so’.

  • Matrix Ceramic Collection

    Pilkington Tiles

  • Merry Christmas - 24 December 2007

    For the last few years in London, I have been volunteering at my local section of Crisis Open Christmas, that great institution which shelters and entertains thousands of homeless people every year. I was wondering what to do now that I am a full time volunteer in Mongolia, and with so many homeless people in Ulaanbaatar.

  • Metropolitan Workshop puts seasonal gingerbread on display

    Clerkenwell practice Metropolitan Workshop has unveiled its now-traditional Christmas gingerbread advent calender.

  • Metropolitan Workshop puts seasonal gingerbread on display

    Clerkenwell practice Metropolitan Workshop has unveiled its now-traditional Christmas gingerbread advent calender.

  • Metropolitan Workshop puts seasonal gingerbread on display

    Clerkenwell practice Metropolitan Workshop has unveiled its now-traditional Christmas gingerbread advent calender.

  • Michael Trentham designs south London residential scheme

    Michael Trentham Architects has submitted this scheme for nine residential units on a brownfield site in Clapham for planning approval

  • Miniatures bring seasonal cheer

    I've recently mentioned the EeeePC, that tiny PC with the almost unusable keyboard which has had the press getting over-excited.

  • Model behaviour

    Ah, the romance of the model workshop: the smell of balsa, the chugging of CNC machines, and, er, the walls lined with pin-ups.

  • MRG

    The Management Recruitment Group (MRG) have launched a new office in Brighton as a result of continuing growth.The team will be headed by three recruitment professionals: Sadie Coughlan; Hannah Page and Lizzie Fannon.The new office will offer a dynamic approach to construction management recruitment in a bid to fill the growing number of vacant roles across the south coast.

  • My Holbourne extension in Bath has unleashed violent and surreal feelings

    About 1,200 letters were received about our revised planning application for an extension to the Holburne Museum in Bath. There were 64 per cent in favour, and 36 per cent against.

  • Nash Partnership end 15 years of hurt at Kingston Mills

    The 15 year long-saga surrounding the future redevelopment of Kingston Mills, a derelict riverside plot near Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire, finally looks to be drawing to a close.

  • New Energy Efficient Products

    John Cullen Lighting

  • New Store

    London Graphic Centre

  • 'No subsidy' blow for zero-carbon housing targets

    The government’s target for all new houses to be net zero-carbon by 2016 – equal to the Code for Sustainable Homes’ Level 6 requirements – has been severely dented after developers learned they would not be eligible for ‘green subsidies’.

  • NORD makes a splash with Stoke Waterside win

    Glasgow-based NORD has won the competition to mastermind Urban Splash’s City Waterside development in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

  • Occa Design

    Occa Design have moved to:36 Speirs Wharf, Glasgow G4 9TGT: 0141 332 2890 / F: 0141 332 6890 / E: info@occa-design.com

  • O'Donnell + Tuomey wins green light for new Photographers' Gallery

    Dublin-based architect O’Donnell + Tuomey has won planning permission for its competition-winning design for the Photographers’ Gallery’s new home in Soho, London.

  • O'Donnell and Tuomey at the Photographers' Gallery

    AJ editor Kieran Long interviewed John Tuomey and Sheila O’Donnell after the presentation of their new project for The Photographers’ Gallery in London on 4 December. This is an extended version of the interview that appeared in the AJ on 13 December 2007.

  • On leading the UK - GBC

    Paul King took the reins of the UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) in June 2007, five months after it was founded. He talks to Hattie Hartman about the trials of the first year, working with bigwigs, and his plans for the organisation

  • ORMS

    ORMS have promoted Sean Hatcher and Andrew Harrison to become full Directors.Hatcher joined the firm in 1996 and was responsible for the design of ISG's new Headquarters and Harrison joined ORMS in 2006 via Cartwright Pickard and Michael Hopkins and Partners.For the last 12 months both have been Associate Directors and their new appointments strengthen the range of skills at ORMS.

  • Other - Film - My Kid Could Paint That

    Four-year-old Marla Olmstead became a painter and a fraud all in one go. Nick Haramis investigatesMy Kid Could Paint That, a documentary by Amir Bar-Lev. Opens tomorrow, 14 December, in film theatres across the UK

  • Panton Sargent and Mansfield Ravenhall

    Worcester based architects, Panton Sargent, and Birmingham based mechanical and electrical engineers, Mansfield Ravenhall, have begun a joint venture to provide a full service of design solutions.The move will provide clients with an integrated design approach where the feasibility of a plan is checked at inception, resulting in any obstacles to be predicted and resolved at an early stage of the project.A shared communication network and knowled

  • Parry's Holburne extension could face legal obstacle

    Opponents of Eric Parry’s recently approved extension to Bath’s Grade I-listed Holburne Museum could challenge the decision in the High Court.

  • Participation and access - 12 December 2007

    An ongoing aim of the work here is to fight disadvantage and to increase accessibility of existing resources. I believe making buildings more physically accessible is therefore instrumental.

  • Patrick Lynch - Frampton

    Patrick Lynch says Frampton may be seen as a throwback, but he knows what good architecture is

  • People's Lottery Giveaway hit by double whammy

    The People’s £50 million Lottery Giveaway has been thrown into turmoil days before a winner is due to be announced on TV.

  • Policy update - Code for sustainable homes

    The Code for Sustainable Homes sets out a national standard for residential construction

  • Policy update - Energy performance of buildings directive

    The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive as implemented in England and Wales has four principle provisions

  • Policy update - The Merton Rule

    The much-talked about Merton Rule is a local planning policy which demands that 10 per cent of all energy in major new developments comes from on-site renewable sources

  • Policy update - Zero Carbon

    There is a widely held belief that there are currently two definitions as to what constitutes zero carbon

  • Public realm improvements related to the Olympics, Tower Hamlets, London

    High Street 2012 is a programme of initiatives to encourage the A11/A118 (which is a key part of the Olympic and Paralympic Marathon route) from Aldgate East to Stratford, to become a focus for regeneration, community pride and the visitor economy in East London.The London Borough of Tower Hamlets and its High Street 2012 partners (Design for London, London Borough of Newham, Transport for London, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and English Heritage) are seeking to appoin

  • Punning Purnell

    Culture secretary James Purnell was on hilarious form at the unveiling of his big wad for Tate Modern last week.

  • Replanning the commercial-industrial urban area of Canton Ticino, Switzerland

    The Town of Lugano is launching a competition along with the Communes of Barbengo, Collina d'Oro and Grancia and the regional spatial planning department (Dipartimento del territorio) to replan the largest commercial-industrial urban area of Canton Ticino, which currently provides over 5,000 jobs with a turnover of more than one billion Swiss francs.The urban conglomeration of Lugano is among the largest economic urban centres in Switzerland. With this competition it aims to identify a

  • Review - Book- Vertical Gardens

    Britain simply doesn’t do much vertical gardening, Ruth Slavid discoversVertical Gardens: Bringing the City to Life. By Anna Lambertini and Jacques Leenhardt. Thames & Hudson, 2007. 240pp. 39.95

  • Review - exhibition - Moving paintings

    Christine Murray reviews the Artscape Project’s ‘Openness’ at Sketch Gallery in Mayfair, LondonUntil December 14th, Sketch Gallery, London W1

  • RG+P wins green light for overhaul of Birmingham's Irish Quarter

    Leicester-based practice RG+P has won planning approval for a £130 million scheme to overhaul Birmingham's run-down Irish Quarter in Digbeth.

  • RIBA kicks off awards scheme for 2008

    The search for next year’s RIBA Stirling Prize winner has begun, just two months after David Chipperfeld’s Museum of Modern Literature (pictured) scooped the coveted title.

  • RIBA unveils shortlist for Doncaster bungalow competition

    Bauman Lyons is among a quartet of firms shortlisted for the RIBA’s St Leger Homes competition, which involves the radical transformation of ‘pokey’ council bungalows in Denaby Main, Doncaster – once labelled the ‘worst village in England’.

  • Rick Mather given go-ahead on two Oxford Uni schemes

    Rick Mather Architects has been granted planning permission for two projects in Oxford University.

  • RLF

    Construction and property consultants RLF recently launched an office in Sheffield and are now strengthening their position in the north of England by merging their Liverpool and Manchester offices.Bringing together a team of quantity surveyors, project managers, building surveyors, health and safety consultants creates a support group under one roof in central Manchester.

  • RMJM begins defence of St Petersburg tower

    RMJM has released new images detailing the potential impact of its new 394m-tall Okhta Tower in Russia’s picturesque St Petersburg.

  • RMJM wins green light for Cambridge Biomedical Campus

    RMJM Architects has been given the go-ahead for a 27,000m2 laboratory on the outskirts of Cambridge.

  • Rogers remains optimistic after Goldschmied buys practice HQ

    Richard Rogers has played down fears his practice could be kicked out of his long-term riverside home in Hammersmith after it was bought by the firm’s former managing director Marco Goldschmied.

  • Rural Studio

    Architype's new Herefordshire offices show the firm practising what it preaches on sustainability, writes Oliver Lowenstein. Photography by Leigh Simpson

  • Science City, Zurich, Switzerland

    As part of the project 'Science City' the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) is planning to build 1000 student accommodation units and, in accordance with the 'Science City' master plan, at least 390 apartments should be completed on the plot IV.3. by 2010.

  • Scottish government calls in Trump golf resort

    Billionaire tycoon Donald Trump’s £1 billion golf resort has been thrown a life-line after the scheme was called in by Scottish Parliament.

  • Sensory delight

    Astragal notes with interest that vandals have had their way with the Heatherwick-designed Boiler Suit at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital.

  • Six battle it out for Walsall library

    London-based FAT is among the six shortlisted practices in the contest to design a new community library in Bentley, in Walsall, West Midlands.

  • Six in running for Tunbridge Wells cinema contest

    London-based Avanti Architects, Panter Hudspith, Stanton Williams and FAT are among a handful of architects invited to come up with new designs for the former ABC Cinema in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

  • Six vie for Urban Splash Birnbeck Pier

    The six finalists for Urban Splash’s competition to develop Birnbeck Island and Pier in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, are: Richards Partington; Pierre d’Avoine/White Young Green Planning & Design; FLACQ; AOC; Levitate; and Austrians MOH Architects.

  • Smoking ban

    Astragal received a interesting request from a small independent publisher in the US, which is working on a biography of Jane Jacobs.

  • Specifiers to get even more support

    Kawneer UK Ltd

  • SpeedDeck and Vitesse

    SpeedDeck

  • Steel building wins green light

    Adrian James Architects has won planning permission for this almost entirely steel HQ building for Corus Colorcoat in Deeside, North Wales.

  • Stonehenge Visitor Centre scheme ditched

    Denton Corker Marshall’s plan for a Stonehenge Visitor Centre has been killed off by a government decision not to build a proposed bypass under the historic site.

  • Take cover

    Last month, Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on architects to help ‘design out’ terrorist opportunities

  • Tate Modern bags government windfall

    The government has pledged to cough up almost a quarter of the cash needed to build Herzog and de Meuron’s ambitious £215 million Tate Modern extension (pictured).

  • Teacher training

    Encouragingly, I discovered some staff had been researching teaching materials using techniques from the first CPD seminar.

  • The AJ's review of 2007 in numbers

    The AJ's daily newsletter its taking its Christmas break. The next newsletter will be on 2 January 2008. To keep you going until then, we present our statistical review of 2007.

  • The site that launched a thousand pics

    All this column's previous talk about pictures being worth a thousand words and, courtesy of a reader, up comes Liverpool practice shedkm.

  • The site that launched a thousand pics

    All this column's previous talk about pictures being worth a thousand words and, courtesy of a reader, up comes Liverpool practice shedkm.

  • The Thames Gateway needs you to help tackle social inequalities through design

    After spending nearly 15 years building wriggly tin sheds all over the UK and Europe, I am an unlikely choice to lead the regeneration of large swathes of East London. Having spent so much time in the development world, I was warned that the public sector would be ‘like swimming across the floor of a cowshed’.

  • Thermozone AR 300

    Frico

  • Think Place bags high-profile Polish project

    Think Place, the masterplanning practice set up by former Terry Farrell design director Garry Colligan (pictured), has pulled off a major coup after winning a huge urban planning project in Poland.

  • To cap it all…

    Winning the Silver Medal is something to celebrate, but students, be wary.

  • Tower Hamlets calls for Aldgate-Stratford visionaries

    The London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTH) is seeking a team to put together a ‘Vision Study and Strategy’ to encourage development from Aldgate East to Stratford along the A11/A118.

  • Tower of cards

    Tis the season to be jolly wasteful, apparently.

  • Two Brits shortlisted for Vienna bank contest

    Tony Fretton Architects and Caruso St John are the only Brits to be shortlisted for the Erste Bank headquarters competition in Vienna, Austria.

  • UK-GBC says zero carbon for non-doms is achievable by 2020

    The UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) has completed its new Carbon Reductions in New Non-Domestic Buildings report.

  • Van Heyningen and Haward's Welsh valley school opens

    Van Heyningen and Haward Architects’ (VHHA) Ysgol Ifor Bach school in Caerphilly, South Wales, has opened.

  • Very Early Stages - 12 December 2007

    After the success of the recent ground-breaking ceremony at Foxhill, we’re on the move and installing all the necessary equipment on site before we begin construction.

  • Vitesse and SpeedDeck

    SpeedDeck

  • Vitesse and SpeedDeck - Roofing and Wall Panels

    SpeedDeck

  • W A Fairhurst

    W A Fairhurst have opened their new London office in Victoria, headed by Regional, Director Nick McSpadden and Technical Director, John Lau.The company are an award winning multi-disciplinary engineering consultant, working with clients in a wide range of sectors. In total the firm operates 18 offices around the UK.The new office contact details are:One Warwick Road, London SW1E 5ERT: 020 7808 7090 / F: 020 7808 7901E:

  • Welcome to the AJ product alert

    Welcome to the weekly product alert from The Architects' Journal. To find out more about the products shown, you can request information through the enquiry number shown. See more information about products at www.architectsjournal.co.uk/products. If you want to advertise on this product alert, contact abigail.reed@emap.com

  • Wet behind the ears

    While Astragal's employer, The Architects' Journal, is still getting used to its Camden residence, others are preparing to move away.

  • Wheelchair users' city tour - 4 December 2007

    Yesterday was International Disability Day. I took part in a well-planned campaign by the Mongolian Wheelchair Users Association.
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