Rushcliffe Sixth Form Centre...

Further to my post last night I have just extracted a few pages from the Design and Access statement that explains some of the concepts and ideas behind the overall design and massing of the proposal...

An introduction...

A section through the front of the site illustrating the proposed buildings relationship with its residential neighbour. The bottom section shows the proposals positioning in relation to the road, the neighbour and the existing school buildings...

Some of the key design principles best illustrated in plan...

And some more demonstrating the ideas behind the massing...

Key views of the site were identified and quick cgi's produced to give an idea of what the proposal could look like...

A natural palette of materials ...

Just a small insight in to the key design ideas for the Sixth Form Centre...

Joe.

Major Planning Application...

Once again, apologies for the intermittent posting... I am a busy man!

Just a couple of weeks ago i got to experience my first planning committee meeting..

Location: Rushcliffe Borough Council, Civic Centre, West Bridgford
Reason: My very first major planning application!!
Project: Rushcliffe School Sixth Form Centre

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity at Church Lukas to take on the design of a new sixth form building at Rushcliffe School. The practice, in particular the building consultancy, had done quite a bit of work for the school in the past and our relations with the staff there were good.

When i adopted the brief a site on their grounds had been chosen, following extensive site analysis, and so i had a fresh slate to work with. The brief for the building however was less certain and over the next 3 months changed over and over. From what started life as a building set to be approx.1000sq.m the brief was finally confirmed requiring 12 classrooms sized for 30 pupils each, an IT suite, private study zones, staff room, meeting rooms, mentor rooms, and a social space with kitchenette space... totalling 2000sq.m!

Nonetheless, a fantastic opportunity and the increase in size brought about some really design challenges as the picked originally was to remain the preferred site. It was close to residential neighbours, close to the main road and on a sloping site, something that proved to be in my favour as the design process developed.

Designs, sketches and layouts went backward and forward between the design team and client. A palette of materials was established early.. though so was a £1500/sq.m budget for the entire build, a requirement as part of the Department for Education's Academy Capital Maintenance Fund - something in which the school along with Pulse Associates will be bidding for come December.

Come June/July a frantic rally around saw a public consultation evening held and then the submission of my first ever major planning application! I very proud moment, though the work would no stop there...Several objections were made and further information was submitted, some sacrifices were made but we got there.

At that committee meeting just a couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to see my scheme, my baby, win 14 to 1 in favour of the proposal to grant permission! Fantastic news, a firm handshake with the Headmaster of the school and  their operations manager and it was job done!

The design...

In a little more context...

And just a couple of images lifted from the D&A statement...

Hope you have enjoyed the read.. the full planning application can be found @

http://www.document1.co.uk/blueprint/Results2.asp?Acpt=7897909&CaseNo=13/01427/FUL&Dept=DC

Thanks.

Joe

Apologies..

I do apologize for such sporadic updates... I am a busy man! I do hope however to resume with regular updates from now on! Apologies out the way, I have a couple of new visuals for ya'll to see.

First come from a small private job that i was working on in West Bridgford. The client was looking for an extension, but really i persuaded her that the space they really wanted was already there and a simple case of switching spaces around inside could create the home they wanted... without spending £40k for an extra 8sq.m.... Maybe bad business on my behalf but honest all the same and id have hated to have seen such lovely people waste their money.

The visual below isnt actually what i proposed to them, though i may once the plans are sorted. But for now i was just having a little play and produced this...

Same old tricks, Google Sketchup into Artlantis and then photoshop. The model took a while to build as i tried to make it super detailed. There are still areas i need to explore with Artlantis, and i know a couple of little errors i made during post production but all in all i think its not a bad little CGI... thoughts pleaseeeee...

Secondly, another private job i have been working on.. refurbishment of a nightclub in the Lace Market area of Nottingham. I produced this visual on behalf of the client to allow them to begin with preparations in marketing and promoting the club. Unfortunately i do have an updated version of this with the chosen name behind the bar but for the life of me cant seem to find it... so you'll have to settle for the initial CGI which just used 'name' haha ... Excuse also the banner...

Well folks, that concludes todays update... as i said i am going to try and start being a little less random with my updates and perhaps start to post some process images too so that you can see what im up to.

Thanks for reading :)

Busy busy..

Another weekend... another visual. Not sure it one of my best unfortunately, I didnt have a decent photo of the sites context so have had to leave the surrounding building as white mass for now. I may go back and amend in the future but for now... How it came out of Artlantis..

A few options to choose from, the first was a slight amendment on the consented scheme, then the rest were me just playing around...

It was a difficult task to really make this building look beautiful, its form is not anything like i would design. The building is supposed to be a student residential scheme but looks wayyyy more like offices in its proportions!! Anyway, in the end this is what i went for..

And after only a wee bit of photoshopping..

Thanks for looking!!

Ohhhh a new CGl!!

So i did say id have this done by sunday.. however i ended up having an amazing roast dinner sunday evening and the visual had to wait!!

As in the previous post, below is how the image came out of Artlantis...

The building used for this CGI was just a simple massing model that had a small amount of elevational treatment, again a scheme i have been working on with Church Lukas... Here is what she looks like after a wee bit of photoshopping...

Please leave your comments :)

Its been a while!!

Wow, it has been a while... The past 6 months have been ridiculously busy, but unbelievably awesome!

Upon finishing my Masters degree @ Nottingham Trent I managed to secure employment straight away in Nottingham based practice Church Lukas Architects. I was also fortunate enough to be offered an 'Hourly Paid Lecturer'  role at the university, I spend 2 days a week working with both Interior Architects and Architectural Technologists at different levels. 

This weekend i have been busy just enjoying everything i have learned over the past couple of years. I had a rough model of a building designed as part of a larger scheme at Church Lukas so decided to do a visual. I recently acquired Artlantis and this was used as my rendering package - ahead of the trusty kerkythea that was so good to me before! As before mind, I decided to produce a simple render and then spend a little more time in photoshop post processing...

From Artlantis - 

And after an afternoon in photoshop! 

Ignore the 2 people, i just chucked them in at the end and didnt really make much fuss about them (shadows etc.. :/ ) but overall i am very pleased with the outcome. The Sketchup and Artlantis combo performed brilliantly, i feel this render matches most 3DS and Vray visuals... let me know what you think. 

This was Saturdays work, Sundays will be posted later :) 

Live Project..

So, whilst most students finish up their degrees and go partyyyy... not me and paul! Well we did a little... but we were then offered the challenge of designing a small extension for an even smaller coach house in West Bridgeford, Nr Nottingham.

The coach house belongs to the guy that actually wrote our MSc and is located at the bottom of his garden. The building is not listed but is located within an area of which a covenant applies stating that the existing building may not be altered significantly unless to a high degree of architectural design.

So in the past two days we've sat down and produced a few documents that would allow him to take our proposal to the planning office to gauge a response. If they like it then we shall proceed with a full planning application.

The proposal is designed to meet Lifetime Home criteria. It has a large porch which allows occupants to park their car and proceed to the dwelling under cover. This also creates a small courtyard and decked area which will receive sun almost all day long as well as offering full privacy from the main house. This courtyard can be accessed via bi-fold doors from the new downstairs en-suite bedroom (which used to be the kitchen) and also the new extension which too uses large bi-fold doors. Being surrounded by trees the porch also gives some coverage from falling leaves, which when combined with timber decking can become very slippery.


To prevent the extension becoming too hot in the summer a series of visors have been put in place, crawler plants can be used to increase density in this area and provide shade over the glazing in the summer, in the winter this should also allow maximum light to enter the building. The visors also help prevent the building from appearing too heavy and bulky and visually provide a light connection between the new and old. 


Shown below are three alternatives in terms of exterior finish, it is proposed that the timber cladding be used for ease of build and due to its ability to weather and blend in to the surroundings.

Timber cladding

 White render

 Black brick

Inside the extension offers a separate WC and area to hang coats upon walking through the door, followed by a kitchen and dining area. The kitchen has been designed to offer lots of easily accessible storage at a good height. The island would house the dishwasher and sink so as to exploit views in to the courtyard. The flow through the extension in to the coach house is aided by the existing opening and links the kitchen, dining and lounge area in an open yet cosy way. From the lounge there is access to the downstairs bedroom and the stairs to one further bedroom and ensuite.

Plans

View from proposed entrance

View from existing stairs

The building was designed to sheet sizes to aid the timber frame construction, minimising waste and expense.

I welcome any comments... Thanks for looking.

Nottingham Trent University

Well, upon finishing my MSc in Architectural Technology and Design at NTU, and with a few questions in my head as to what to do next... The uni decide to make my decision just that little bit tougher!!

After receiving distinctions in the masters, which has been more of an MA than an MSc, myself and my colleague Paul Colfer were both put in an extraordinarily unique position.. the university offered us both places on the MArch programme!

With the MArch only recently being accredited the school are keen to begin building a reputation and felt that, having seen our desire and progression through this past year, we were two people that might be able to help! And on top of all this... We would be welcomed straight in to the second year of the programme.

I believe the offer is open for three years, although we are awaiting confirmation on that. I feel i need a year in practice before committing to another year at university on a course which will once again be extremely demanding if i hope to leave with the highest grade.

All in all, though lots of hard decisions lay ahead... id say its not the worst predicament to be in!

Thank you NTU for everything :)