London Wall

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE Evelyn Grace Academy, Shakespeare Road by Zaha Hadid

2009-11-28T08:55:00.000-08:00

Cladding and glazing just going on new school in Brixton, South London designed by Zaha Hadid.

What the finished building will look like -

Lock-keeper’s Cottage, Queen Mary's University by Surface Architects

2009-11-27T11:33:00.000-08:00

The kind of juxtaposition of old and new that London does so well is exemplified in microcosm by this small project overlooking the Grand Union Canal. The Cottage provides an environment in which postgraduate students from the College’s Humanities, Social Sciences and Laws sector can study. The extension to the original building has been deliberately designed to contrast with the Victorian cottage.

School of Slavonic and East European Studies, Tavition Street by Short + Associates

2009-11-27T03:01:00.000-08:00

This building according to the architects is the first passive downdraught cooled public building in a city centre anywhere in the world.Remarkable considering the many challenges the site presented, "An existing electrical sub-station, fuel and district heating line connected to the Chemistry Building passed through the site, and delivery access and escape routes had to be maintained to adjoining buildings".
As well as meeting the conservation area requirements of English Heritage, the Bloomsbury Society and the Victorian Society. Given these conditions the architects have managed to come up with a modern/traditional building with a facade full of energy, life and "esprit".

60 Threadneedle Street by Eric Parry

2009-11-27T02:53:00.000-08:00

St Mary's Garden Hall, Arthur Road, Wimbledon by Terry Pawson Architects

2009-11-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

An excellent mix of modern and traditional style blurring the boundaries between the two. The use of materials such as white limestone ashlar with a contrasting rough, blue/brown dry-stone wall embed this project into the neighbouring landscape whilst the cubic forms of the hall itself make a clear statement of contemporary modernity.

Albion Riverside, Hester Road by Foster + Partners

2009-11-26T06:54:00.000-08:00

One of Foster's best London buildings with its two very different faces. The Thames riverside facade, translucent, undulating and flowing like water and the Hester Road side scuttling pod-like up on its legs as if newly emerged on shore. Add to this a much improved river walkway with shiny modern sculpture this is well worth a visit.

Houses, West Heath Drive by Pennington Phillips

2009-11-26T06:43:00.000-08:00

This attractive modern pair of houses in North West London recently achieved media notoriety after being beseiged by hundreds of screaming (and scrawling!) "Jedward" fans. The X-Factor twins were berthed at these luxury houses during their stint on the programme much to the annoyance of neighbours who found their properties covered in adoring grafitti messages.

10 Hills Place by AL_A

2009-11-26T06:18:00.000-08:00

Amanda Levette's new firm have made a striking start to life as a significant architectural presence on the London scene. 10 Hills Place is an instantly memorable building with its shimmering facade. Inspired by the slashed canvases of the painter Fontano it is literally "cutting-edge" design.

Stadthaus, Murray Grove by Waugh Thistleton Architects

2009-11-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

Few London buildings can claim to be as innovative structurally as Stadthaus. The entire building is constructed out of immensely strong bonded-laminate wooden boards. Apart from the ground-floor and foundations the rest of the building including core, stair-cases, walls and lift-cores etc is made out of wood. The building's striking façade has been inspired by the work of artist Gerhard Richter and even the cladding panels are made up of 70% waste timber.

The building under construction showing the wooden core;

Cladding pattern;

Indescon Court Phase 1 by Hamiltons.

2009-11-23T11:44:00.000-08:00

Considered to be the "heart" of the Millennium Quarter this residential development lies just south of Canary Wharf.

From the architects website;

"Phase 1 consists of 364 residential units sitting on 1,200m2 of retail and commercial units, with basement car parking. Eight storey buildings wrap around two sides of the public space and terminate at the ends with a fifteen and a seventeen storey tower. These towers have projecting upper levels directed to maximise views. A stand-alone building conceived as a pavilion sits on the third side of the space, floating above the landscape and allowing views into the gardens from the surrounding area. The design of the public realm encourages pedestrian movement into and around the site, connecting public rights of way with the principal routes across the quarter".

Bramah House and Woods House, Grosvenor Waterside by Make.

2009-11-23T11:23:00.000-08:00

Make architects collaborated with artist Clare Woods to create the decorated facades on both these buildings. Exploiting the adonising process Wood's design has been etched onto the aluminium panels in what must be one of the largest scaled art-works in London.

Reiss Headquarters, Barrett St by Squire & Partners

2009-11-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

An innovative facade by Squire & Partners gives a luxurious quality to what is a rather non-descript back-road just to the north of Oxford Street. The front of the building consists of a glazed wall with a semi-transparent, grooved rain-screen suspended in front of it. This layered facade creates a, warm, luminous glow on dark evenings.

Clapham Manor School by dRMM

2009-11-23T10:54:00.000-08:00

A brave decision by Lambeth Council to allow such a bold extension to a primary school in a conservation area, has paid off. dRMM have created a beautiful, energising building that sits comfortably with both its brick-clad neighbours as well as within the post-war tradition of curtain-walled educational buildings.

The full spectrum;

Stonebridge Hillside Hub by Edward Cullinan Architects

2009-11-23T10:45:00.000-08:00

The Stonebridge Hillside Hub is a key project in the redevelopment of the Stonebridge Estate in North West London.
It is a mixed use building with two wings, one housing a Primary Care Trust and the other a retail unit, they are connected together by a central community facility. Each wing is topped with residential units clad in larch timber. On the south side of the development is an small but welcoming open civic space.

Falcon Wharf, Lombard Road by Burland TM

2009-11-23T06:44:00.000-08:00

A 17 storey building with four linked blue-clad curved towers situated on the banks of the Thames in Battersea.

Greenwich Millennium Village by Ralph Erskine with EPR Architects

2009-11-23T06:41:00.000-08:00

Tompion House, 44 Percival Street by Piercy Conner

2009-11-23T06:20:00.000-08:00

From Islington Council website;

"Tompion House at 44 Percival Street, EC1 makes clever use of a former car park, itself a legacy of WWII bomb damage.

Islington Council sold the land to leading social housing experts Guinness Trust, who paid for the £2.5m scheme, delivered in conjunction with architects Piercy Conner.

The affordability of the scheme - belying its city fringe location - maximises the benefit to residents on low income while ingenious design features such as rainwater-flush WCs and solar panels reduce the impact on the environment.

The building boasts a 180m2 community centre for local residents at its base; Guinness Trust worked with local residents to specify the design and facilities needed".

North End Road Building

2009-11-23T06:13:00.000-08:00

Pinchin Street Studios by Urban Space Management

2009-11-23T06:01:00.000-08:00

Created out of 35 prefabricated containers this innovative development includes doctors surgery space with office space on the next three floors as well as a roof-top garden.

New River Development, Hornsey by Stock Woolstencroft

2009-11-23T05:44:00.000-08:00

New River Village on the site of the former Thames Water pump station provides a total of 622 units including affordable, shared ownership and open market sale properties. The 1901 listed pump house has been refurbished as a restaurant & bar, with a gymnasium and art gallery.

Wansey Street by dRMM

2009-11-23T05:32:00.000-08:00

Wansey Street Housing is an award-winning development by dRMM Architects in South London. Clad in a fibre cement weatherboard outer skin, this development works almost as a showcase for the graduated colours capable of being produced in this material.

Tarling Estate Regeneration by S333

2009-11-23T05:23:00.000-08:00

S333 architects collaborated with Stock Woolstencroft on this development in East London which incorporates much-needed large family houses as well as smaller flats. Great thought was put into how the spaces could be sub-divided or rearranged internally to suit tennants needs.

Peninsula Square by Terry Farrell

2009-11-23T05:13:00.000-08:00

Bankside Studios, Southwark Street by CZWG

2009-11-23T04:59:00.000-08:00

A development by The Manhattan Loft Corporation, CZWG throw a giant over-hanging cornice around this corner building creating a sculptural presence appropriate for its proximity to Tate Modern Art Gallery.

Paul O'Gorman Building, Huntley Street by Nicholas Grimshaw

2009-11-23T03:49:00.000-08:00

From the London Festival of Architecture website;

"Grimshaw’s design links a Grade II listed building – housing the Graduate Medical School - with the high specification new build Institute. The main entrance is located at the juncture between the two buildings and glazed with a single glass sheet. This sheer span reveals a highly engineered staircase that provides the main circulation core and an architectural focal point. The transparency of this circulation area articulates it as an open, shared space that is visually accessible from the street".

The shapes of the energy-saving terracotta panels at the front of the building are based on the very electromagnetic waves which they are intended to block.

Grosvenor Waterside by Sheppard Robson

2009-11-23T03:43:00.000-08:00

Unite Student Residence, Green Lanes

2009-11-23T03:41:00.000-08:00

The Wallpaper Factory, Offord Road by Chassay + Last

2009-11-23T03:29:00.000-08:00

A mixed-use office and residential development Islington, North London.
The site was formerly the home of Cole's wallpaper factory which inspired the use of one of the original woodblocks used for hand printing the papers. The panels are created in faience (hand made glazed baked terracotta) by Shaws of Darwen.

Stoke Newington School by Jestico + Whiles

2009-11-23T02:08:00.000-08:00

An extensive re-construction of Stoke Newington School as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme. The work include a completely refurbished frontage to the school, nine new classrooms, a professional standard high-tech 600-seat drama theatre, a contemporary 6,500 sq ft games hall, new sixth form facilities and a new and refurbished music department.

Bellefields Road, Brixton

2009-11-23T01:49:00.000-08:00

Almost like an organic growth with its mushroom shape and treacle-brown cladding this new build terminates the junction of two roads in Brixton successfully.

The Modern House, Centaur Street by dRMM

2009-11-23T01:45:00.000-08:00

The Guardian’s architecture critic Jonathan Glancey wrote:

“A solid concrete block is clad in a form of contemporary clapboard. What might be taken for old railway sleepers bolted along the walls turn out to be dark, concrete sections animating all four sides of the building. Set close together at its base, they grow wider apart as the building pops its head above the railway viaduct, causing the block to lighten as it rises into the London sky.

“This clever, yet restrained, use of materials continues throughout the building. [Alex] de Rijke and his partners, Philip Marsh and Sadie Morgan, have created their own vocabulary of materials, playing intelligently with unusual woods and tiles offset by finely finished concrete, glass and industrial components…

“It is curious that buildings like this are so rare. We have all but forgotten how to build compact city housing so intelligently.”

Visage, Adelaide Road bY Terry Farrell

2009-11-23T01:40:00.000-08:00

The Visage development in Swiss Cottage combines a luxury apartment block with affordable housing and high-quality leisure facilities for public use.The scheme also included substantial remodelling of the nearby open space by Gustafson Porter.

Burdett Road building

2009-11-23T01:39:00.001-08:00

The Glass Building, Jamestown Road by CZWG

2009-11-23T01:30:00.000-08:00

From the architects website;

"In a street of buildings historically related to storage and manufacture, this scheme celebrates these former uses with a series of big interlocking drums of differing heights".

28 Dorset Square by John McAslan

2009-11-23T01:26:00.000-08:00

McAslans completely stripped a 1960's building back to its concrete frame and refaced it in Jura limestone, as a response to the nearby conservation area. Frameless minimal windows were inserted into the solid surface with Georgian proportions.

Garner Street House by FAT

2009-11-23T01:20:00.000-08:00

10 Weymouth St & Bridport Mews by Make

2009-11-23T01:12:00.000-08:00

A refurbishment and new build, 10 new apartments are created by extending the building with a new full-height block to the rear and replacing an existing penthouse level with a new structure. Each apartment features a projecting glazed pod which offers views out over the city.

The design has a highly modelled, brass-clad elevation at the rear of the building, which transforms the rear mews street. See it before the golden sheen tarnishes (it's meant to) to a duller brass colour!

Bermonsey Square by Munkenbeck + Marshall

2009-11-23T00:57:00.000-08:00

Excellent new development in South East London by Munkenbeck + Marshall containing apartments, offices, retail, cinema and a boutique hotel with a new open square at its centre used for open air cinema and theatre.

The metallic bike store is by Sarah Wigglesworth, the triangular stainless steel cladding panels continue the geometry of nearby bollards scattered around the public square.

House, Kingstown Street, North London

2009-11-22T12:59:00.000-08:00

23-25 Bacon Street, London by William Russell Architects

2009-11-22T12:43:00.000-08:00

From the building centre trust website;

"A small plot measuring 9.8 by 6.3 metres was available, following the redevelopment of an adjacent school, with the opportunity to insert a building fronting on to Bacon Street and backing on to the school playground. The structure is an in-situ concrete frame with a variety of internal and external spaces designed to allow different types of occupancy over time. The raw concrete frame is clad externally in three materials; glass, galvanised steel and black Alwitra Evalon. Internally the concrete is exposed and there is a cast concrete stair".

Evelyn Road, Silvertown by Niall McLaughlin Arcitects

2009-11-22T12:28:00.000-08:00

From the architects website;

"We investigated all kinds of wrapping designs and materials, looking for something really decorative. Working with the artist Martin Richman a beautiful envelope for the apartments was developed.

The French physicist Augustin Fresnel explained the colourful iridescence of dragonflies, peacocks and films of oil. It is caused by light reflecting off different layers within a material resulting in interference patterns. Martin found a strange ‘dichroic’ film made by 3M - famous for everything from dentistry to post-it notes. We designed a layered construction in which the film selectively reflects and transmits light to generate shifting colourful patterns. This has become our wrapping.

The 12 apartments have two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a large living room. All the living spaces face south and they open up at the corners to give great views of the Millenium Dome and London City Airport. This project connects with the eerie beauty of these industrial edge zones, being re-inhabited with factory-built modular housing".

Barton Engineers HQ, Vernon Street by Terry Pawson

2009-11-22T12:19:00.000-08:00

"There are two parts to this project; firstly the refurbishment of a grade 2 listed court house with prison cells, and secondly a 4,000 m2 new office building. The original courtrooms and cells which date from 1901 have been restored in accordance with their listing, while the new building has a large basement and long span floors, and is of flat slab construction with a coffered ceiling.

There are structural glass rooflights to illuminate the interior spaces and the structure and cladding has been carefully integrated with a cast stone facade".

Barking Learning Centre by AHMM

2009-11-22T12:13:00.000-08:00

A really visionary piece of architecture in Barking, East London by Alfred Hall Monoghan Morris Architects. Comprising two buildings the Barking Learning Centre and residential Ropeworks building containing 246 flats.

Whistler Street House by Phil Coffey Architects

2009-11-22T11:26:00.000-08:00

An excellent extension/new build in a conservation area in Highbury North London, demonstrating how well rugged modern design sits next to London vernacular.

100 East Road by Feilden Clegg Bradley

2009-11-22T11:16:00.000-08:00

"100 East Road is a new build student and commercial development in
Hackney, London. The mixed use development comprises 220 student
studios with commercial and retail units at ground level".