30 September 2011
Studio 8
This year we will be starting to teach Undergraduate Studio 8 at the London Metropolitan University Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Design. We are investigating the lost shopping centres of London; the utopian dreams that created them and the spatial and social opportunities opened up by their obsolescence. Read more
Image: Competition drawing for Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre, Boissenvain & Osmond, 1963
16 September 2011
Site progress
Work is progressing on the interior of Britannia House in Spitalfields. The existing entrance area has been opened up by removing unnecessary walls and stripping the space back to the concrete frame, with a new glazed door screen.
30 August 2011
Planning Submission
We have made a planning submission for a second phase of work for a mixed-use former warehouse off Brick Lane. The existing ground floor unit is enclosed by solid brick walls at street level; these are proposed to be removed and replaced with glazing with perforated ventilation panels, to allow light into the unit and animate the streetscape.
11 August 2011
Architect in the House
This week we have given our time to two consultations with local householders in exchange for donations to Shelter, as part of the RIBA "Architect in House" scheme.
29 July 2011
Creative City Limits
Final workshop in the Creative City Limits research network, which we have been participating in over the last year. A very interesting discussion with speakers including Peter Marcuse (Columbia University), Andy Merrifield, Indy Johar (Research 00:/), Zayd Minty (Cape Town Partnership), Michael Edwards (University College London), Bob Colenutt (University of Northampton), and Anthony Iles and Josephine Berry Slater (Mute magazine).
We will be collaborating with We Made That on a project called “Urban Reasoning” as an output of this network; more to follow.
24 June 2011
The Free State of Soho
The LMU Summer Exhibition opens today, and the catalogue will be available to download here.
Concerned by the possibility that current development will alter the uniquely contradictory character of Soho, Unit 11 have declared a state of emergency, proposing a new Urban Constitution for the "Free State of Soho". The unit’s work is based on the concept of ‘Exchange’, both on the scale of the whole district, with proposals for 6 cities exploring future urban models, and on the scale of the individual block, with proposals for 17 new exchange buildings across Soho.
William Haggard teaches Unit 11 with Deborah Saunt, David Hills, and Tom Greenall of DSDHA.
16 June 2011
Kennington Gate
In our proposal for the Forgotten Spaces competition, the abandoned traffic island opposite Oval Underground is reconfigured to create Kennington Gate, a new public space and gateway to the park. Kennington Park, due to its proximity to Westminster, was historically a focus for public assembly and demonstrations such as the Great Chartist Meeting of 1848.
A lightweight and open park structure built on an urban scale, the gateway creates a new urban square for Kennington and Oval, reactivating the surrounding public realm. Existing road traffic is diverted around the edge of the park, releasing the forgotten triangle of space for public use.
The frame includes a captured garden and structures a series of external spaces for the use of public events and assembly, from weekly events such as the farmers’ market which is currently held in the area, to annual events such as Portugal Day. The metal framework and precast concrete cladding of the Gate relate to the nearby St Mark’s Church and the traditional gates of London parks.
6 May 2011
Site Progress in Hackney
Progress on site - the brick wall has been rebuilt and the new window openings can be seen for the first time.
26 April 2011
Showroom completion
26/04/11 - Showroom completion in Kings Road. The showroom is complete, with the first set of wall linings installed on the gallery wall. More photographs will follow.
14 March 2011
Planning Permission in Spitalfields
We have received planning permission for the refurbishment of an existing 1960s industrial block on Hanbury Street, to create upgraded office accommodation for the creative industries and activate an under-used forecourt. The entrance stair is enlarged to create a more generous and welcoming entrance to the building and to incorporate an area for informal seating.
A new entrance wall element incorporates a wheelchair stairlift behind metal panels, adapting the building to contemporary accessibility standards, while the wall onto Hanbury Street is clad with weathered steel, creating a new signage element and animating the streetscape.
10 March 2011
Exhibition in Bankside
Our scheme for the Bankside Bikeshed competition, organised by the Architecture Foundation and Better Bankside, is one of 15 selected for exhibition from over 50 entries. The exhibition is in the Bankside Community Space and runs all week.
Our proposal is the Bike Wheel; with around half the footprint of other systems on the market, it provides high security bicycle storage for urban areas where space is at a premium.
2 March 2011
Ullswater Yacht Club competition entry
Our entry for the Ullswater Yacht Club competition: an elegant and simple functional structure which builds upon the existing vernacular architecture of the Lake District, with a series of pitched slate roofs over a solid base clad in stacked concrete lintols.
The ground floor houses the back-of-house and changing rooms and is designed to cope with periodic flooding. The first floor, raised above flood level, is designed as a transparent band to maximise views out to the lake and accommodates the club room and training areas. A series of slate-tiled roofs create beautiful and flexible internal spaces beneath a contextual and delightful roofline.
28 February 2011
Start on site in Hackney
Work has started on site for our family house project in Hackney. The rear wall of a bomb-damaged Victorian house, unsympathetically restored in the 1950s, is being entirely rebuilt as a new brick structure. A new lime-washed brick rear wall, punctured by new aluminium doors and windows, will create a series of new internal and external spaces; a hall leading to the garden, a bathroom built off a stair landing, a glass-enclosed terrace at first floor, and a top-lit studio opened up to the roofspace.
27 January 2011
Start on site in Kings Road
Strip-out work has started on site for our first retail project in Kings Road in Chelsea, West London.
10 December 2010
Prototype inspection
Today we had our first look at the prototype illuminated shelf product and bespoke furniture for our office project in North London. The shelves will be used to display products in the headquarters of a cosmetics company and will be completed early in 2011.
