Category: Uncategorised

Hub are delighted to have gained Planning approval for 13 new houses, including 5 affordable homes, in Hertsmere. Approval followed an extensive pre-application process with the Local Authority and Local interest Groups. The end result is a proposal that delivers high quality design, based around a farmstead style development, using materials and design precedents that will enhance the character of this Green Belt site. The house type form, architectural detail and materiality have evolved through the Planning consultation process. The house designs are “L” shaped plan forms and grouped in pairs to create an enclosure of external space similar to that found in rural farmyards. 

Great to see work progressing on site in Radlett at Abbeyfields, now named Hillside Homes. The groundworks are complete, frame and block work rising fast and the brickwork laid at ground level. The distinctive palette of materials has been selected as a contemporary reflection of the local Arts and Crafts vernacular. We look forward to seeing this building progress to completion later this year.

Construction has started in Allum Lane, following Planning Approval gained in 2021. The innovative Architecture for this project sets a new precedent in response to Hertsmere Council’s climate change initiative. In Recognising Hertsmere’s sustainability objectives and working alongside Love Studio as Environmental consultants, measures were adopted to reduce CO2 emissions. Active travel and electric vehicle use will be promoted through the provision of cycle parking spaces and electric vehicle charging points. Additionally, air source heat pumps, heat recovery ventilation systems along with water and energy saving strategies have been adopted. 

Located in a pretty Conservation Area in the heart of the Hertfordshire Village of Shenley, this project involved the change of Use of the former Locally Listed King William Public House to six 2 bedroom flats. Our proposal included the retention of the original half timbered front elevation and the side gables with characterful Tudor style red brick chimney stacks.  To expand the space at first floor level we added a further side gable complete with new chimney stack to the rear of the building creating visual interest and enhancing the distinctiveness of the building in this historic setting.

At HUB, we like to design with the “bones” of a final interior designed scheme in the background throughout the project. This ensures that opportunities are not lost further along the line and enables our clients to thoroughly understand the design choices from the outset.

The brief to gain Planning Approval to reconfigure and update an existing mews house on Pavilion Road included structural alterations and a full internal remodeling. With input from M&E designers Slender Winter Partnership and Elliott Wood, HUB analyzed the site at an early stage and illustrated a set of 4 design options with sketch up models and precedents, so that the client could consider the opportunities that the site presented and decide their preferred plan for design development. At this early feasibility stage the illustrated options enabled the client to consider the furniture, circulation, storage, lighting and so on. 

The client’s preferred scheme was then developed by HUB in to a full set of working drawings for Stage E tender.

HUB are delighted that the project is now on site in the careful hands of ….. and project manager Luke Makari of Walton Wagner.

In response to the changes that 2020 has brought, we have opened our second office in the Midlands, currently located in the Basepoint, Evesham. Hub’s London team are relocating to a smaller London office in Marylebone. We have a planning application pending for the conversion of our barn at Aldington Manor, where the Midlands team will move in 2022. 

From 1st January 2021, we can be contacted on the same phone number: 02073282576

and at Unit 25, Basepoint, Evesham, WR11 1GP

From 1st February 2021, our London office will be located in 1 Burwood Place, London, W2 2UT

& in case you are wondering what we have been up to recently……..
In 2020 Hub has gained Planning Approval for 55 new homes and await approval for 30 more homes in London and the home counties.
A further 100 new homes are on the drawing board at Feasibility stage.
We have achieved Planning Approval for 4 units built over the Deco building at Warren Street station in Central London.
We have designed and gained Planning Approval for a new HQ office building in Hertfordshire Green belt and designed the fit out of a Grade 2 listed Mayfair office. We have designed and project managed the site stages of a grade 2 listed house in Worcestershire.
Our Part 1 Architects have entered a competition to re-design Finsbury circus. Currently we are appointed as Architects for a substantial new build home in London’s West End. 

It’s been an extraordinary year and we are enormously grateful for the professional, and flexible resilience of our team at Hub and all those that we have worked with in 

2020. We look forward to an exciting year ahead and to working with you.

For one of our latest and newest projects, we have been tasked to create nine ‘vernacular and traditional style’ apartments in a new private housing development. With this in mind, we ventured out and enjoyed an inspirational field trip to the Red House in Bexleyheath.

Red House is the only house by the designer William Morris, who employed his friend, the architect, Philip Webb to create a rural family home, within commuting distance to central London. Morris found his inspiration within the Medievalism and Medieval-inspired Neo-Gothic styles, which are heavily reflected throughout the building and it’s interior design, making it an early example of the of what came to be known as the Arts and Crafts movement. Morris was helped with the decoration of his new home by his close friend, the painters Edward Burne-Jones, who created various stained-glass windows and wall murals, as well as embroidery by Janey and Bessie Burden.

And there it was, our inspiration. Based on the style of the area and surrounding properties, we are lending this project elements of the Arts and Crafts movement in our choice of locally inspired materials, design features and contextual approbation details. Hopefully we will be able to share the approved concept with our followers very soon.

By D. Placek (HUB Architect) & K. Horn (HUB Office Manager)

On yet another grey winter day, we decided to make the most of it and visit at long last the RA for the much-anticipated Charles I: King and Collector exhibition. And as usual the RA did not disappoint.

King Charles I accumulated a sheer extraordinary collection of art in his lifetime, joining “at the time classics” such as Titian, Mantegna, Holbein and Dürer under one roof. He was however also a great supporter of contemporary artists, in particular Van Dyke and Rubens, and commissioned many pieces of himself, the royal family and the court. Charles was so taken by Van Dyke’s work, that he eventually appointed him to be the Principal Painter in Ordinary in 1632, bringing Van Dyke’s contribution, to the fast expanding art collection, to forty portraits of King Charles himself, as well as about thirty of the Queen.

The sheer scale and richness of the collection is spellbinding, even though it only allowed for a small glimpse into the expanse of the original collection, with is estimated to have contained 1740 paintings. Nonetheless, have we not only been able to marvel over the works of some of the greatest artists of the time, but have also been witness to the reunion of over 100 pieces of art, sculptures, paintings, exquisite miniatures and extraordinary tapestries, since their sale after the Kings death in 1649.

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/charles-i-king-and-collector

By K. Horn (HUB Office Manager)

We are now recruiting for a highly motivated and talented Senior Architect and Part II Architectural Assistant to join our team in Queens Park, NW6 and our Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham offices.

About you:

• You have a minimum of 5 years professional UK experience (2 years for Part II Assistants and Technologists)
• You can demonstrate strong technical knowledge, construction detailing and job running experience
• You will have a solid understanding of UK Building Regulations
• You have experience working on RIBA Stages 1-7 (Stages 3-7 for part II role)
• You are experienced in writing NBS Specifications
• Proficiency in Vectorworks is an advantage
• You are experienced in using Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)
• You have 3D modelling experience using SketchUp
• Your standards of accuracy, presentation and communication with internal teams and external clients are very high
• You will have a positive outlook and be articulate with an ability to think responsively and clearly
• You can analyse problems carefully and create successful solutions
• You have an ability to work independently as well as with the team
• You have experience working on a variety of residential projects including high-end residential schemes.
• You are flexible to travel and work from both our offices in London & Birmingham, depending on the businesses requirements

What we offer:

• A competitive salary.
• As an office we offer regular CPD’s and are committed to the well-being, health and development of our staff.
• Regular team evenings, attending lectures and exhibitions.

Salary dependent on experience.

No agencies or phone applications please.

Due to the high volume of expected responses, only successful candidates will be contacted.

To apply, please state which position you are applying for and send your current CV and A4 format portfolio of recent work (max size 5MB) to info@hubarchitects.co.uk.

The Dengie Peninsula is a territory bounded by the waters of the Rivers Blackwater and Crouch and the North Sea, on the Essex coast.  There’s a very particular walk, where you park the car in Bradwell-on-Sea, and head out on a road amongst farm buildings and a static-caravan site, until the road becomes a track and takes you to a venerable masonry box overlooking the sea.

This is the Chapel of St. Peter on the Wall, and it is one of the most ancient buildings in continuous use in England. It was built around 654AD on and most probably from, the remains of an abandoned Roman fort. Remarkably, it’s still used as a place of worship today, although we’re told it has done duty as a barn at various points in the intervening centuries. When our vision adjusts to the gloom inside, the interior is as fascinating as the exterior, with dozens of clues as to the reconfigurations, renovations and repairs that it must have undergone.

Back into the fresh sea-breeze, the path bends around as coast becomes estuary. The route is dotted with the remains of concrete machine-gun posts from the Second World War that have now become indistinguishable from the various interventions that now defend the waterline from the highly present cycles of erosion by season and tide, rather than the mere possibility of human aggressors.

The bird life is abundant in the watery landscape that we walk through, and we see curlew, sanderling, a kestrel, redshank, cormorant, little egrets, lapwing and grey heron. The palette of the water, the scrappy vegetation and the sky draws our sight outwards. Our eyes relax and a beam of sunlight suddenly illuminates the beach on Mersea, far away on the other bank, in a strip of golden yellow.

Soon two large structures loom into view. They are uniform, in smart grey corrugated metal cladding which is more-or-less legible against the stormy clouds as they pass behind them. They house the twin Magnox reactors, in their original buildings, of the Bradwell Nuclear Power Station, which was switched off in 2002 after 40 years’ service providing electricity to Southend, Colchester, Chelmsford and beyond. It’s been being gradually decommissioned since then, and the reactor buildings were over-clad as part of this process. The power station was sited here due to the low agricultural value of the land on an old military airfield, and the plentiful cooling water from the sea.

It takes a long time to approach and appreciate the old power station on foot, and when you’ve passed it, you’re almost at Bradwell Marina (reputedly developed by Roger Moore, Bobby Moore and Sean Connery in the 1960s) before a return to the village and a warm pub in the fading daylight.

There’s a strange and rather alarming set of relationships in time, between these two very substantial and presently coincident found-objects in this timeless, bleak and beautiful estuarine place: a Saxon house of worship that has borne witness to 1,300 years of man’s activity in the landscape; and a curious temple to physics which could take twice its active lifetime to fully and safely decommission, and which was in addition to generating electricity intended to produce Plutonium isotopes for nuclear weapons, with radioactive half-lives of over 24,000 years.

By M. Jardine (HUB Architect)

HUB have just secured planning permission for a two storey front extension for a detached property in Stanmore.

On Monday 5 February 2018, members of HUB Architects attended an evening debate about the Mayor’s new London Plan, which is being prepared to set out the key policies to guide London’s spatial development for the next 20-25 years, addressing major challenges such as the provision of housing and sustainable transport for the growing city. The London Plan is a strategic plan that shapes how London will evolve and develop. All planning decisions should follow London Plan policies, and it sets a policy framework for local plans across London. The draft version of the plan was issued for public consultation in December 2017.

During the evening the main issues being discussed from the draft London Plan included how we should shape the London of the future to create a high-quality environment where people want to live, how we should plan for major growth, accommodating an increasing population, delivering more and better-quality housing, enhancing green and public places, supporting businesses and providing efficient and sustainable transport to move around the capital, whilst protecting London’s rich heritage and existing communities.
Jules Pipe, Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills and James Murray, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development and other GLA representatives of each party were joined by panels of built environment professionals including Ben Derbyshire President of the RIBA and other leading commentators, to discuss what the new London Plan means for the future of London.
Up to 1,000 Londoners, including professionals, academics and community representatives attended the evening to engage through Q&A sessions and regular online polls throughout the evening to contribute to the debate.
The Mayor’s policy is 520 pages long and sets out his vision is for growth that is to be driven by increasing housing numbers whilst maintaining a high quality of design and refusing poor design. The development is to be economically sustainable, socially inclusive with a commitment to building 50% of new homes being affordable, and to be zero carbon by 2050. The vision is for a more socially integrated city focusing on health, a high quality of design, vibrant culture, providing jobs to existing communities, excellent data communications and sustainable mixed use developments. There are 47 places highlighted for growth and 9 growth corridors.
Good design quality in housing is to be set out with specimen designs including for the height to width ratio of streets, and the ratio of fenestration to walls. Place making and community engagement will be at the forefront, encouraging good neighbourhood design and public realm between buildings and active ground floors. Increased densities will be encouraged in places with good public transport links, including in the suburbs, and car free developments and densification will be possible where development is close to good public transport (PTAL 0-1). It was highlighted that Brown Field sites often require expensive cleaning up processes before development can occur and can be expensive if bridges are required to access the site, but surely houses in places where they are wanted closer to Central London is preferable to building new homes tucked some distance away from London in the Green belt that only adds more journeying.
The London Plan proposes developing 65,000 houses per year, which the Mayor proposes will not involve developing the Greenbelt, and will be feasible through optimising the density of development. A £250 million fund is to be set up to bring more land forward for housing. There would be a vision for development of housing in areas, such as the Old Oak Common site in West London, which would include a transport interchange for Cross Rail, the Great Western Railway line and HS2.
The RIBA President discussed the crisis in quality of design that has occurred with Design and Build procurement, which has caused problems in the life of buildings, and the need to reach a quality outcome. He was in favour of suburban densification in the 20 London Boroughs highlighted, with design codes and design reviews to ensure a high quality of design.
The new draft London Plan can be downloaded from the following link (copy and paste into your browser): https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/london-plan/new-london-plan. Consultation on the London Plan is currently open to all. All comments must be received by 5pm on Friday 2 March 2018 and can be made online at www.london.gov.uk/new-london-plan. There will be an Examination in Public in Autumn 2018 and then the final version of the London Plan will be published in 2019.

by P. Knudsen (HUB Architect)

A great Blog by Fine & Country about “How To Use Art To Influence Your Interior Design” featuring our very own Kate Spence http://www.fineandcountry.com/uk/blog/post/1515411767/how-to-use-art-to-influence-your-interior-design

Making the decision to undertake the final element (for most) of your architectural studies is a giant leap in the right direction towards finishing the lengthy career development also known as architectural education. In most cases the process of navigating all the ‘Parts’ (if UK educated or educated at an RIBA accredited school world-wide) is typically a little more drawn out than the minimum timeframe requirements – primarily as life happens.

This final challenge, better known as Part 3 is a true test of your capabilities to manage one’s time as efficiently as possible & it is here where you gain an influx of knowledge. The key is to assess applied knowledge and skill in relation to professional conduct and competence to practice as an architect – the prospectus based on the RIBA/ARB criteria, which are frequently updated in order to cover contemporary issues in practice as well as keeping afresh with current legislation and developments.

Once conquered, the achievement of Part 3, brings a myriad of responsibilities in relation to ethics, codes of conduct and most importantly CPD monitoring. The continual process of learning will never be foreign to a qualified architect. All for the better, being it for our future clients, our own professional development, running a successful practice, to maintain ones’ professionalism and protect the architectural profession, which is paramount. I’m glad to have reached this goal, now onto the next challenge that awaits.

I would highly recommend The Bartlett Part 3 Professional Studies course, they positively go above and beyond the minimum requirements which is incredibly beneficial.

by  J. Creighton (HUB Architect)

An inspiring and stimulating presentation characterized by radical innovation and initiatives dedicated to providing humane responses for the capital’s ever-deepening housing crisis. The East End Preservation Society’s C. R. Ashbee Memorial Lecture for 2017: Hope in the Housing Crisis, held at the historic Shoreditch Church, showcased three sustainably idiosyncratic, ‘grassroots’ communal concepts and pragmatic models which may potentially become active answers to questions that lie at the heart of London’s housing crisis. Summarily described below are the ethos of the three organizations behind the dynamic and remedial schemes, that builds a framework for this heated topic with necessary sounds of urgency and imminent change.

 Older Women’s Cohousing Community (OWCH)

The OWCH were winners of an award for the twenty-five-apartment communal-development for woman aged fifty and above, located within the borough of Barnet, emphasizing the necessity to maintain self-independency and cultivate shared spaces and strength amongst elderly woman.

“We are a group of twenty or so women, almost all of whom live alone. We come from a variety of backgrounds and cultures and our ages range from the mid-fifties to around eighty. Although we are all very different and have our own particular interests, family connections, work – some of us are still working – or health difficulties or disabilities, what we all share is a determination to stay as self-dependent and active as we can as we get older.”

http://www.owch.org.uk/about-us/

Naked House

Creating minimalist spaces for diverse tenants to uniquely influence and manipulate their own private habitats, Naked House is building twenty-two homes in Enfield that is devoid of segregating room partitions and obstacles that in essence minimizes construction costs and effectively provides economically friendly dwelling spaces.

“Naked House is a not-for-profit housing developer. We build genuinely affordable homes for people on modest incomes. Our multi-award winning approach strips back design to the bare essentials creating homes that are yours to make.”

http://nakedhouse.org/about

Rural Urban Synthesis Society

A synthesis between sustainability, community and affordable self-build homes, this member-led Community Land Trust is developing thirty-three high quality homes in Lewisham that embrace a centrally shared communal space. The model advocated is one of aesthetical beauty, low-energy consumption, self-governance, and community stimulation within regenerated vacant sites.

“The Rural Urban Synthesis Society (RUSS) is a members-led Community Land Trust based in South London, founded in 2009 with the aim of creating sustainable community-led neighbourhoods and truly affordable homes right across London. We have a busy calendar of events led by our 600+ members and an ambitious development plan. Our mission is to reduce our communities’ dependence on fossil fuels, increase food security, encourage bio-diversity and provide affordable housing for Londoners.”

https://www.theruss.org/about/

by H. Tailor (HUB Architect)

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)

We are proud to announce that we have joined the supplier directory of The Listed Property Owners Club https://www.lpoc.co.uk

We are looking forward to a close collaboration and to share our expertise with past and future projects in editorial features within printed and online publications.

On a late night visit to the Tate Modern we discovered a small but thought provoking exhibition by Mark Rothko, an American painter. The series of paintings found at the Tate resemble a popular, contemporary art style collective that uniquely combined a solemn and meditative atmosphere. The imposing and bold colours captivated us and we were quickly lost in deep thought.

The UK’s most prestigious architectural award, the RIBA Stirling Prize, is an award given each year for the UK’s best new building. The award is given to the architect of the building thought to be the most significant for the evolution of architecture and the built environment. The prize is judged on a range of criteria including design vision, innovation and originality, capacity to stimulate engage and delight occupants and visitors, accessibility and sustainability, fit for purpose and the level of client satisfaction.

A shortlist of 6 buildings was announced in July 2017, and subsequently an evening was held on Thursday 12 October 2017 for the architects themselves to present their work to the audience, and answer any questions. Members of the HUB team attended this insightful evening, the following is an overview of the evening and of the project shortlist:

• Barrett’s Grove, Stoke Newington, East London, by Amin Taha & Groupwork. This is a slender brick-clad and wicker-balconied development of six apartments. Inside, the building holds a series of generously proportioned, well-lit apartments; each with a wicker basket balcony. The staggered hit-and-miss brick skin of the façade makes a larger-than-usual pattern, which fits the tallness of the overall building. Wrapping the skin up and over the roof, emphasizes the simplicity of the building’s form.

• British Museum World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre, Bloomsbury, London, by Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners. This is an extension on the north-west corner of this historic building. It consists of five vertically linked pavilions, and houses a new exhibition gallery, laboratories and conservation studios. The exhibition spaces allow large objects to be exhibited that would not be possible elsewhere in the museum. Objects can be delivered at street level in lorries which are taken by a platform lift to lower floors. A system of fritted glazed horizontal panels allow controlled light into the building, allowing curation of precious artefacts in a naturally lit environment.

• Command of the Oceans, Kent, by Baynes and Mitchell Architects. The striking redevelopment of Chatham Historic Dockyard includes a visitor entrance clad in black zinc that knits together the historic fabric to either side. The decision to use black cladding rather than a white structure, which would match existing, and the decision not to mimic the pitch of the existing roofs, was a bold move in conservation terms and very successful. The modest entrance is immediately obvious to the visitor on arrival in the large car park, and yet it seems to disappear and becomes subservient to the adjacent listed structures.

• City of Glasgow College – City Campus, Scotland, by Reiach & Hall Architects and Michael Laird Architects. An immense new college campus (more than 60,000m2) in the heart of Glasgow, bringing together facilities and teaching previously housed in 11 separate buildings across the city. It brings together six major faculties in 300 high-tech classrooms, multi-purpose lecture theatres and specialist teaching facilities. Its internal spaces are designed to encourage both the formal teaching processes and informal chance encounters. The materials palette and form of the building are deliberately restrained to generate something of skill, clarity and elegance, on the grandest scale.

• Hastings Pier, East Sussex, by dRMM Architects. A vibrant community-led restoration of this fire-damaged historic pier, that facilitated a contemporary and appropriate new 21st century use. The serviced platform is designed to accommodate a whole host of uses, from music concerts, to international markets. The decision not to place a building at the end of the pier, is an extremely powerful move. The large open space provides a sense of calmness and delight, with a strong connection to the sea and the seafront. The new visitor centre replaces the weakest section of the damaged pier is a relatively simple structure clad in timber which was salvaged from the original fire-damaged pier. This helps to create a strong feeling of place and belonging.

• Photography Studio for Juergen Teller, London, by 6a architects. This is a new photography studio in west London.The project comprises a series of three buildings and gardens to form a new studio, offices and archive for photographer Juergen Teller. The brief was for a light-filled, flexible, informal and welcoming set of spaces; with a natural flow and sociability. The project exploits a constrained long and narrow industrial plot at the edge of Ladbroke Grove; its only face nestles between cheap developer housing, an industrial estate and the Westway. With few views possible out of the linear site, daylight is introduced through three courtyard gardens designed by Dan Pearson, and a grid of exquisitely thin concrete beams spanning the length of the 60m site supporting north facing roof lights which fill the space with filtered light.

The award ceremony will take place in The Round House at Chalk Farm, London on Tuesday 31 October 2017 when the prize will be awarded by the RIBA to the winner. The jury for the 2017 RIBA Stirling Prize will be chaired by the new RIBA President Ben Derbyshire. For further information go to www.architecture.com or call the RIBA on 020 7307, email events@riba.org.

by P. Knudsen (HUB Architect)

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)

We have come across this little architectural gem in Compton. Watt’s Chapel, designed by G. F. and Mary Watts.

by K. Horn (HUB Office Manager)

We are very pleased with the results of our Wyfold Road project. Please have a look at our residential projects portfolio for the full image selection.

Work is nearly complete on our interior refurbishment of a 1950s end of terrace house in a conservation area overlooking Hyde Park.