Month: November 2017

HUB have successfully obtained Planning & Listed Building Consents for a Grade II* Listed Building which will become a large family dwelling at Portland Place, London. The building is situated within the Harley Street Conservation Area in Westminster & the house was designed by James Adam. For more details on the building and extent of our work see our Portfolio section related to Portland Place http://www.hubarchitects.co.uk/portfolio/portland-place/ .

 

Due to further design development phases that HUB undertook after the original planning consent, HUB had to seek Planning & Listed Building consent to ensure that the design development refinements, coordination developments and further adjustments that were put in place to allow for the adequate integration of further client requirements. Some of the newly approved works included but were not limited to: additional excavation at basement levels to facilitate a workable services strategy between the existing building & the new basements, the addition of photovoltaic panels on the main roof level to provide a sustainable energy source for the building, to vary fenestration requirements to new extension doors, creating a better link between the main house and the newly proposed roof terrace and including other internal adjustments. We are thrilled with this result, as it will enable the progression of the next phase of works which is exciting.

 

 

by J. Creighton (HUB Architect)

The idea of putting together a blog post on my life in the broader culture of architecture, outside of the immediate issues encountered in the daily life of the office, poses a few challenges. In common with quite a few parents, my weekends, that once saw me looking at interesting buildings and exhibitions, are generally spent on a circuit of playgrounds both close to my home and further afield.

A favourite playground for both me and my 3-year-old son, is the one in Avondale Park, in North Kensington.  It’s well-equipped and -maintained and he has learned most of his balancing and climbing skills amongst its various attractions. It’s a beautiful spot, too, with well-kept trees and shrubs.

The Park was officially opened on 2^nd June 1892. It was part of a project by the Kensington Vestry to make a healthy environment out of an area which had been brickworks and piggeries- in 1856 there had been 1,041 pigs belonging to a population in great poverty and beset by smallpox and cholera. One of the kilns was rebuilt in 1879 and is still sitting on the other side of the road to the Park, to bear witness to the potteries which had characterised the area.¹ On Charles Booth’s map of prevailing socio-economic conditions (the ‘poverty maps’ of the 1890s) Avondale Park is marked as a ‘Recreation Ground’ and flanked on two sides by the black ink denoting the ‘Lowest Class’²

It’s a really interesting spot for people-watching in the present day. It’s on a kind of demographic fault-line between the big houses and lanes of desirable little mews dwellings, stretching back from the north side of Holland Park Avenue, and the large-scale developments destined to house those with more modest incomes to the north of Avondale, some of which date back to the conception and construction of the Westway in the 1960s and the slum-clearance programmes which enabled that project. The parents and grand-parents with their children come here equally from those estates, which include the ill-fated Grenfell Tower, as from the much wealthier households to the south and that adds to its considerable charm.

The bent-cedar clad pavilion incorporating a kiosk café, public toilets and baby-changing facilities was recently completed following an architectural competition held by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Amongst the quite dense low-rise development in the streets behind Avondale Park to the east, before the buildings rise up towards Notting Hill Gate proper, there is a new development, Walmers Yard, designed by the educator and mostly ‘paper architect’ Peter Salter. This has been widely celebrated in the press as a significant project as it celebrates unconventional techniques and materials in a delicate small-scale setting.

 

The BBC’s Secret Life Of Streets had an episode on the nearby Portland Road (link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01kcpfh) which was fascinating and told a compelling story of the area, but doesn’t seem to be available to watch on the iPlayer at the time of writing.

 

1. From the Survey Of London vol. XXXVII, ‘Northern Kensington’, published in 1973
2. As reproduced in ‘The Story of Notting Dale’ by Sharon Whetler, Kensington & Chelsea Community History Group, 1998

 

by M. Jardine (HUB Architect)

Researching architectural lectures in London, we have stumbled across the Bartlett International Lecture Series and found ourselves drawn to Moon Hoon’s, Doodle Constructivism. Undoubtedly, anyone was prepared for what was to come. Moon Hoon, born in South Korea, studied architecture in Korea and the USA and has become one of the boundary-pushing architects of our time. Saying that he is unconventional is an understatement. In both his designs and presentation style, he exudes an extraordinary mind, playfulness, an exceptional open-mind and wackiness, that was somewhat unexpected. He captivated his audience with his ‘childlike’ approach to his projects, transforming his ‘doodles’ into pieces of art, giving life a refreshingly upbeat makeover. It is hard to believe that anyone has left a lecture feeling so uplifted and inspired too often, thanks to Moon Hoon’s ‘fruity’ and most definitely naughty presentation style.

 

It is encouraging to see that South Korean clients are actively seeking alternative architecture, breaking away from conforming boundaries. Historically, expansion of cities has somewhat been lacking distinction, focusing cheap and quick to build bedroom communities. With architects, almost to a man trained in the United States, were bringing back American designs in addition, disregarding traditional building techniques and local vernacular styles. Moon Hoon has most certainly contributed to changing the general approach, incorporating traditional building styles with his futuristic twist, as seen in the Wind Museum.

 

A question that arises quite quickly is to what the longevity of his designs will be, whether they will withstand the test of time. It is apparent that Moon Hoon has managed to tap into the playfulness character of Korea and has successfully built a strong fan-base. It will be interesting to see whether his influence will change his home counties approach to architecture for the future and whether he will be able to infect the rest of the world with his distinctive design style.

 

by K. Horn (HUB Office Manager)