SPUD Longlisting + future collaboration

Entering the SPUD competition came about over many'a lunch breaks spent in Subway talking about design and architecture.. for me what has been most reassuring about the whole process is that we actually managed to walk the walk following all the talk.

Architecture in commercial practice is becoming stale, mundane and boring. All this while smaller, design-led, passionate practices develop new business models, new ways of generating work and new ways promoting themselves.. Paul and I sat down with Mark and Ricky of SPUD and got the low-down on how their organisation is growing and gaining momentum everyday, and it was so great to hear them talk so enthusiastically about the industry and the opportunities that are out there if we look hard enough.

The trip came about, as you know, following our design entry for the SPUD competition. Having not made the short-list Mark very kindly passed on some of the judges feedback about our design but we were keen to delve a little deeper! 

Render of the proposed observatory 

The design concept always revolved around this idea of a denial plane, removing views so that they are enhanced when given back... We created this using the vertical posts and through their increased density the consumers sight is removed. The posts eventually merge to create the actual enclosed space. Each post demands space in the landscape encouraging macro observation but the closer they become, the more the visitor views the micro aspects of the site. Once inside the building the visitor experiences a sheltered atmosphere away from the sun, wind and rain and is invited to observe the artist’s products and process.

Inside the intervention a counterpoint to the surrounding landscape is created through removing light from the tower and creating a pinhole camera obscura. This camera obscura projects the light and atmosphere of the artist’s studio above onto a translucent screen below giving a real-time view of the artist at work.

The mirrors work to project a real-time view of the artist at work to visitors

The artist working on the floor above cannot see the people below but can hear visitor’s comments through floor vents. A picnic style work approach is encouraged with a large open space studio floor with outward viewing windows flush to the floor. The artist has the option to use a work table with a horizontal window at eye level and a view of both the sky and topography below using mirrors in the tower.

The 'picnic' style work space for the artist with carefully positioned light interventions

Upon departure from the building the visitor’s eyes takes time adjust from the dark sheltered interior to the bright external exposure. Once in focus the user observes the landscape at a macro level contrasting the internal atmospheres of the building.

I will reveal more on the technical proposals for the project and that invaluable feedback from Mark at SPUD another day, please feel free to leave comments...

Space, Placemaking and Urban Design (SPUD) Competition

We made it!

A fantastic effort all round; Paul Colfer, Artist Casey Williams and myself not only managed to put together a competition entry for the SPUD  but on April 3rd we were published on the long list for the competition! 

We emerged through as one of the 20 teams to be long listed for the exhibition at Winchester Guild Hall where the projects were reviewed by a panel of 7. The judges included some high profile names such as Will Alsop and Bill Woodrow as well as five other distinguished professionals. The project was also mentioned on bdonline and the competition website that can be viewed in the links below:

www.lookinlookout.org/#!competition/c1n0f 

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/longlist-announced-for-observatory-design-contest/5066963.article

The brief was an exciting one that asked its competitors to design a structure that would provide shelter for a number of artists to work in in-turns over a period of two years. The structure will move location up to 3 times  so needed to be demountable, easily moved on a lorry and potentially re-configurable to suit the needs and geography of the new site.

The nature of the competition required professionals within the design field to collaborate with an artist.; we worked  with Casey Williams, my little brother, whom has a BA Fine Art degree from University of the Arts London: Chelsea.

With our team of three in place the design process began with an exploration of the meaning of observation and in what ways it could be questioned through architecture. A denial plane that actually obstructs sections of a view was the outcome of a collaborative brainstorming session on how to increase the effects of observation with the following statement forming the concept for our design:

“The beauty of landscape and topography is somewhat elusive to those whom use it often and in a transient manner. Studio Obscura uses the power of denial to remove and distort views so as to render scenes beautiful that have since become ordinary through frequent use”

Over the next week or so I will post about the competition entry in more detail but for now I leave you with the two A2 boards submitted...

The Observatory - a project by SPUD.

It has been on our agenda for a while now but finally myself and Paul Colfer (http://colfer-architecture.blogspot.co.uk/) have finally got round to registering for a competition. The competition in question is..

http://www.lookinlookout.org/#!competition/c1n0f

Its an absolute cracker. It also provides me with the opportunity of collaborating with my little brother, Casey Williams, who is a graduate from Chelsea College of Art with a BA in Fine Art.

We have set out a tight programme of works for the next 7 weeks ahead of the submission on the 28th Febraury so keep your eyes peeled. We won't, unfortunately, be posting too much before this date due to the nature of the topic however will post up what we can along the way and come the 28th Feb we will get it all online!

I think competitions like these are a brilliant way of keeping your design flair alive outside of the restrictions imposed upon us as designers in the industry we are in. I experience it first hand almost everyday, the danger of not partaking in this sort of activity and the effects it can have on architects prone to becoming stagnant in industry and willing to let clients and regulation dictate them.

I am excited already just thinking of what the outcome of this project could possibly be.. Stay tuned.

Updated Resume

Click on the resume tab to see ^^^

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!!