Month: September 2017

Open House London this year celebrated its 25th anniversary. It is an annual event taking place one weekend each September offering a unique and free opportunity to access over 800 buildings across every single London borough, many of which aren’t usually open to the public. The buildings are varied ranging from historic and modern landmarks, the latest Sky scrapers in the City of London, to private residences in local neighbourhoods.

Open House was created to give visitors the opportunity to visit and argue for a higher quality of design in our built environment, both architecturally and in terms of urban design. In the early days Open House London had only 20 properties across 4 boroughs, but now Open House has grown beyond London to participate in 33 cities across 5 continents.

Since the list of places to visit is lengthy, it can be worth focusing on one part of London to reduce travelling times between buildings, and this year I focused on Battersea in the borough of Wandsworth. I saw some amazing residential schemes that focused on redevelopment, refurbishment and extensions to existing properties. The schemes explored materiality, and maximising the spacial potential of each site.

In contrast, to round the day off, I visited Foster + Partners’ architectural studios on the Thames riverside. This was a great opportunity to see a famous practice that specialises on the very largest projects around the world, and this year is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

I encourage you to visit London Open House one September to see some of the buildings opening their doors, it is a unique opportunity to explore London’s best architecture.

by P. Knudsen (HUB Architect)

Dubbed ‘the scientific search for the soul’ within a Western consumer culture where the mind and body are understood as separate entities, the revolutionary data enlightening those in the cognitive and neuro-sciences is beginning to provoke paradigm shifts within the architectural profession, through academic institutions such as The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture and literature from respected architectural theorists such as Alberto Perez-Gomez and Juhani Pallasmaa. The practical knowledge base provided the architectural community through this collaborative nature between both architects and neuroscientists, is allowing us to better understand how architectural settings influence human experience and how the human mind (and its instrument, the brain) react continuously to these settings. According to John Paul Eberhard, author of Brain Landscape: The Coexistence of Neuroscience and Architecture, this research is elevating our understanding of “how classroom design affects the cognitive processes of children, how the design of hospital rooms could impact the recovery rate of patients, how working environments likely impact the productivity of white-collar workers, how sacred spaces install a sense of awe in those who worship there, and much more.”

“The brain controls our behaviour. Genes control the blueprint for the design and structure of the brain. The environment can modulate the function of genes, and ultimately the structure of our brains. Changes in the environment change the brain, and therefore they change our behaviour. Consequently, architectural design changes our brain and our behaviour.”- Dr. Fred Gage (Salk Institute’s Laboratory of Genetics)

Read Emily Anthes’s thought-provoking article to discover compelling details of scientific experiments and architectural manifestations making an impact on people’s lives…

by H. Tailor (HUB Architect)

by H. Tailor (HUB Architect)

You don’t need to leave London to discover National Trust treasures! We have visited the National Trust Osterley Park and House … Surrounded by gardens, park and farmland, Osterley is one of the last surviving country estates in London. Once described by Horace Walpole as ‘the palace of palaces’, Osterley was created in the late 18th century by architect and designer Robert Adam for the Child family to entertain and impress their friends and clients.
Today the house is presented as it would have looked in the 1780s; enter the house as the family’s guests would have via the impressive stone steps leading up to the portico. You may see the Osterley Park in TV series or films like Batman ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.
Currently we are happy to work on the conversion of beautiful Adam’s house in Central London.

by D. Placek (HUB Architect)

The Serpentine Pavillion has become one of the most iconic events in London’s Summer diary. Every year the fore-space of the main Serpentine Gallery sees the installation of a new and temporary structure. A place for congregation, shelter and above all, somewhere that raises questions while we pause to rest.
The invitation to create a Pavillion is issued to Artists and Architects, who working with Engineers are able to create their own personal iteration of this annual landmark.
This year saw the Burkina Faso Architect, Francis Kere bring his homage to gathering spaces in Africa.
“The tree was always the most important place in my village,” he says, describing the inspiration for his design. “It is where people come together under the shade of its branches to discuss, a place to decide matters, about love, about life. I want the pavilion to serve the same function: a simple open shelter to create a sense of freedom and community.”
Instead of offering shade from scorching sun, Kéré’s London canopy is configured with rain in mind, designing the shallow saucer to funnel water into a central opening, where a ring of slender steel trusses will support the great wooden bowl. The space is circled by a series of curving blue wooden walls, in an African textile-like pattern, “I’m coming to London,” he says, “so I wanted to show myself with my best clothes.”
Unlike his normal Palette of mud bricks, often assembled by unskilled workers, Kere has translated his hometown materials to explore the opportunities London offered.
“I told myself, ‘Francis, don’t try to change yourself for this commission’,” he says. “Remain true to how you started, but do a little bit more. Here I have the chance to work with amazing engineers, so we can make the steel very thin and have an impressive cantilever.”
Eventually the Autumn will bring the closing and dismantling of the Pavilion, this is as important a part of the process as the assembly. It is important to remember that the brief is essentially for a Summer stage set that will gather crowds and promote thoughtful conversation. Like all the best gatherings the Conversation must move on and make way for other thoughts and ideas.
What of the structure once it has been dismantled. Usually the Pavillions are sold on to a collector but in this case Kere has other plans:
Staying true to his ethos and commitment to enhance and improve the lives of his home land Kere says, “The participation will happen when people come to take ownership of the structure, but I am working with partners to see if it can travel, and maybe end up in Africa as a museum or library.”

by K. Spence (HUB Director)

Well these examples by some seem to suggest this, as seen in an article published on “dezeen.com” and The Guardian. It features the use of innovative Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) in construction, which has pushed the boundaries in UK, Mainland Europe and Australia. Whilst the use of CLT is gradually breaking ground- time will determine how fast it will take to reach the heights that concrete and Steel have attained. Until then, note these examples of successful use of CLT in modern Architectural design; and do watch out for further updates on CLT.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dezeen.com/2015/11/09/cross-laminated-timber-construction-architecture-timber-age/amp/

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jun/21/tall-timber-the-worlds-tallest-wooden-office-building-to-open-in-brisbane

by N. Avan-Nomayo (HUB Architect)