Placement Report 2010
Placement:
03 March 2010/ 10 September 2010
Address:
Sanei Hopkins Architects
300 Aberdeen House
22-24 Highbury Grove
London N5 2EA (UK)
Telephone:
0044 (0)207 704 1901
E-mail:
amir.s@saneihopkins.co.uk
Website:
www.saneihopkins.co.uk
Mentor:
Amir Sanei
Practice Profile:
Small practice in Islington, North London. The practice consists of the two Directors,
Amir Sanei and Abigail Hopkins, two part I students and myself. The projects undertaken at the practice range from small residential to medium sized commercial, and vary heavily in budget and programme. Although there have been competitions abroad, the projects currently being developed and built are all in England, from London to Swanage, Derbyshire and Suffolk. The practice has a strong feeling of sensibility and consideration towards the client, making the development of a project very challenging and extremely interesting. There is a familiarity in both the size of the practice and the treatment between members of the office, always respecting though the hierarchy within it. Targets for the placement:
My targets when I started work in Sanei Hopkins were mainly two: first of
all to make the most of the enormous advantage of having experienced architects working so close to me and with me, not just about the practice of architecture but also the running of a practice and the ethos of a small office; in second place I wanted to develop a firm base of knowledge in the development, drafting and understanding of a project, specially the ones that get built and have a intrinsical complexity in them.
Being now at the end of my placement, I feel I have completely and exceedingly accomplished
those targets. I feel now confident in myself when doing a survey, developing the first stages of a scheme, doing detailed drawings or even talking to clients, engineers and suppliers. It has been an extraordinarily complete experience, and all the challenges that I now see I managed to overcome give me the necessary confidence I will need in the upcoming year in University.
Carolina Saludes cs337@bath.ac.uk
Professional Placement 2010
Placement at Sanei Hopkins Architects, London
Project Information
The residential project at Western Esplanade, located by the seaside
in Hove, near Brighton, is a design challenge due both to its brief and to its size. The clients, a couple with a deep love for contemporary art, commissioned a house that would be home for themselves and for their extensive art collection. The site given, however, is considerably smaller than their pervious house, which is located on the side of the new site. Effectiveness of design and the multiple use of the architectural elements has made it possible for all the requirements of the clients to be met, whilst creating the most space possible for exhibiting the art works.
The proposal, consists of three floors destined to the clients en suite
bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, a study, a room for the children and grandchildren and storage space in the basement. On the outside there is a terrace
The site, occupying the once garage of number 2.
Survey South Elevation at 1:200
Two of the big sculptures, exhibited outdoors.
Survey North Elevation at 1:200
Some of the artwork inside the client’s current house.
Survey North Section through site and side buildings at 1:200
and on the rooftop there is open space for the exhibition of art.
To maximise the use of surfaces for paintings, pocket sliding doors,
mirrored folding louvres and double walls have been designed, elements which can also be used to enclose or open different spaces in the house. There is also a very clever use of the triple height space of the stairs, which is to have sculptures hanging off the timber beams, and paintings on both sides.
As for September 2010 the project has gone through planning per-
mission and is almost ready to go into tendering, with a preliminary budget of
Western Esplanade, Hove
600,000 gbp.
Detail of bespoke ceiling beams
Tasks undertaken
The role I played within the project was to help take the design, which was still being developed, into tendering stage. I did this by adapting the proposal to the survey drawings done by a professional surveyor. Various disagreements with the next door neighbour meant we had to be very careful when drawings the boundaries of our own site, so all the survey drawings had to be millimetre right in order for the design to go forward.
This project was really useful to me as it taught me how to read and interpret a survey drawing, and how to produce accurate and useful information from it. It also taught me how a project grows from a proportionate but still inaccurate
stage into a complete project ready for tendering. I was lucky enough to witness the long process of refining and adapting the design of a proposal until it meets all the desires of the client and the aspirations of the architect. The persistence and deciSurvey East Section through site at 1:200
Survey West Section through site at 1:200
sion necessary to undertake this have been very inspiring to me, even when I was no longer involved in the project.
Survey Ground Floor Plan at 1:200
Survey First Floor Plan at 1:200
Carolina Saludes cs337@bath.ac.uk
Proposed Plans and Sections at 1:400 (included for information only)
Project Information
Highmeadows is an extensive land in the count of Suffolk, in the Peak
District. The clients, a wealthy couple with two children, bought the existing house and its surrounding area to erect a new house for them and their future guests. The proposal, nicknamed ‘High Meadows’, is a large villa with accommodation for the four members of the family and a maximum of six guests at a time. It follows a very clear brief: to create a new home for the family and a connection with the surrounding landscape through the most environmentally friendly design.
The building has an area of around 300 sqm and consists of eight
en suite bedrooms, living room and kitchen, a playroom, a study, a gym and swimming pool, a garage and a landscaped garden. The building curves with
Ground Floor View
the landscape, creating soft curves that guide the inhabitant in and out of the landscape like a wave. To harmonise as much as possible, it consists of just two storeys, and will be clad in the local stone to merge fully with the Derby shire landscape.
The project was commissioned in the middle of 2009 and went to
planning at the end of July 2010. As for September 2010, the application has
Detail of bespoke ceiling beams
been validated by the Peak District planning council, and the project has a budget of around 3 million gbp. The design being almost complete, it only needs
High Meadows, Derby shire
validation to be ale to go into tendering stage.
First Floor View
Existing house on site
Proposed house on site
Roof View
Detail of bespoke ceiling beams
Tasks undertaken
The tasks I undertook for the project were mainly two: firstly to produce a
consistent 3D model of the proposal to be used by a professional CGI company; then to help with the preparation of the drawings to go for planning permission.
The 3D model shows the complete proposal, including the main and adjoin-
ing buildings and the landscaped garden designed around it. The model was developed in conjunction with some parts of the design, and the images produced from it will be used both by the client and by the practice itself.
The process of preparation for planning taught me a lot about the big amount
of background work that goes into medium sized projects, and how difficult it is to coordinate the work of so many consultants, surveyors and engineers. I have also learnt about the importance of following ideas through and testing them on a 3D model, modifying it until a satisfactory solution is found.
North view of the proposed house
Carolina Saludes cs337@bath.ac.uk
South view of the proposed house
Project Information
The Swanage Pier Head project, located in the Jurassic Coast in
South England, is a very special one. It was commissioned almost three years ago by the client, a chef living with his family in the old customs house in Swanage. The intention was to make use of the big site they owned around their house, and which happens to be one of the key sites of the town’s seafront. The brief was to design a mixed commercial and residential building that would provide a number of families with a view of the coast and two new catering facilities, one a café and the other a restaurant to be owned by the client.
The proposal consists of two buildings, each three-storeys high,
distributed in commercial space on the ground floor and residential space on the top two floors. The building was split into two to allow the old customs house to keep its view of the bay, which in turn provides public space for the visitors of the restaurant and café.
The Swanage community is highly sensitive to the development of
this site and the town in general Therefore, the council expressed its interest in presenting the project to representatives of the council, the press and the public. This would allow the inhabitants of Swanage to have an input in the design and use of the site, and also it would facilitate them having enough trustworthy in-
Basement Plan of the proposed scheme at 1:1000
formation about the proposal. The public consultation took place the 1st of July 2010 and was a great success.
The project will have a budget of 3.5 million gbp, and as for Septem-
Pier head Project, Swanage
ber 2010 it is on its way to go to planning.
North Section through the building at 1:500
The site, with the town of Swanage in the background
Ground Floor Plan of the proposed scheme at 1:1000
Tasks undertaken
For this project, my main role was to collaborate in the development of
accurate and descriptive drawings of the proposed scheme so they could be presented to the Swanage community. In order to do this, I undertook a series os tasks over a period of six weeks.
First of all the whole office went on a site visit to Swanage, where I was
able to take all the necessary pictures and get a better knowledge of the scale and environment of the project.
After that my colleague and I went through the process of collating all the
information gathered in surveyed plans and pictures to develop accurate and clear survey drawings, including plans, sections and elevations of the site. In addition to this, we drafted two panoramic views of the site against the whole of the town of Swanage, so as to show the context of the existing building and our scheme.
When the survey drawings were ready we drafted the proposed draw-
ings, me concentrating on the elevations and the sections of the scheme. Both existing and proposed drawings were then used to create a booklet and a series of panels to be exhibited next to a model made specially for the occasion by a modelFirst and Second Floor Plans of the proposed scheme at 1:1000
Roof Plan of the proposed scheme at 1:1000
making company.
The experience of a public consultation has been extremely valuable to
me and I hope I will be able to apply what I learnt in University.
Carolina Saludes cs337@bath.ac.uk
West Section through the building at 1:500
Pier head Project, Swanage
East Elevation of the proposal at 1:500
West Elevation of the proposal at 1:500
South Elevation of the proposal at 1:500
North Elevation of the proposal at 1:500
West Panoramic view of the proposed scheme and the Swanage Bay
Public consultation 2010.07.01
Boards and model before the start of the presentation
‘Comments’ papers for the public
The crowd right before the presentation
Model showing proposal and the seafront
Model close-up
Carolina Saludes cs337@bath.ac.uk
North Panoramic view of the proposed scheme and the town of Swanage
Project Information
Parkgate Road is a Residential Project in a two-storey brick building
in Battersea, London. The client, who is the owner of whole building and some surrounding properties, approached the practice with a project to convert the site, which is on the first floor of the building, from an office into a spacious highspec penthouse.
The practice’s response to the brief was sensitive to the client’s
needs. The proposal consists of stripping out everything that there is now, lift the roof a few meters and add a new level to the property. By doing that, the loft would enjoy a master bedroom and several en suite guest rooms, a large kitchen-living area,a study, a private gym, an atrium and a terrace.
One of the difficulties of the project lies in the lack of previo
Site Plan at 1:500
us CAD drawings of the building, and the huge design constraint that is the fact that the other part of the building already has a penthouse with a terrace, whose views have to be preserved by all means. This also applies to the North face of the building, which is almost attached to a more modern development. There were, however, previous planning applications that we could refer to in case of doubt.
Although the project is in relatively early stages of development, a
planning application has been sent through to the Wandsworth Council, and as for September 2010, has been validated and is being studied by the council.
49 Parkgate Road, London
Interior view of the site
The building at Parkgate Road, showing the South and East facades
Existing Floor Plans at 1:200
Proposed Floor Plans at 1:200
Tasks undertaken
For this project I have enjoyed a fairly hands-on involvement with various
parts of the first stages of development.
Because of the lack of accurate drawings of the existing building, I had to
go to site an produce a complete survey to my best standard, so we could use the measurements for our proposal and the planning application. This was extremely useful in realising my weaknesses when mapping and analysing a site, and has definitely made me change the way I approach a site visit.
Following the survey, I had to produce accurate drawings of the site, in-
cluding location plan, plans, section and elevations. This wasn’t easy as the building Existing East Elevation at 1:200
Existing East Section at 1:200
Existing North Elevation at 1:200
has many irregularities and there isn’t much information, which had to be compromised to achieve a credible set of drawings. These were formatted and included in the planning application.
With the survey drawings as the base, I drafted the proposed scheme,
which also included plans, section and elevations, and from those I produced a quick Sketch up model to show the lifting up of the roof and the general arrangement inside the penthouse.
All of the information was then arranged, formatted and annotated, so it
could be included as part of the planning application.
Although small, this project was a huge challenge, as it taught me how
easy it is to make wrong assumptions when there are no survey drawings at hand. It has taught me an invaluable lesson, which is that precision comes from a methodical and strict attitude towards the drawing, which will render it truthful and ultimately
Proposed East Elevation at 1:200
Existing South Elevation at 1:200
Proposed East Elevation at 1:200
Proposed North Elevation at 1:200
Proposed South Elevation at 1:200
Carolina Saludes cs337@bath.ac.uk
valuable.
Project information The ‘Stars’ Gym scheme is a commercial project in one of the units of the ground floor of the Albion Riverside building in Battersea, London. The site is a part double-height unit previously used as an art gallery. Our mission since the project started in April this year has been to make the space into the most specialised and best equipped martial arts gym in London.
The clients, a team of five businessmen and martial arts champions,
approached the office with a very clear brief: to design a resilient yet elegant enough scheme that would make the most of the rented space, and to do so in a financially profitable amount of time. The project has therefore developed in a very different way to a standard residential project, not driven by the personal preferences (sometimes whimsical) of the client, but rather by a very tight and
South East facade and main entrance to the site.
Detail of concrete formwork ( taken at site visit)
well programmed schedule. This forced us to be as efficient as possible with our time, developing the design as the strip-out of the old gallery was taking place.
The proposed scheme for this gym consists mainly of two kinds of
spaces: one for exercising,with weight, fitness, boxing and wrestling areas; and another for relaxing, including changing, shower, treatment and sauna facilities. In addition there will be a small office for the members of staff and a reception
Location Plan at 1: 750
area near the entrance. To make the most of the space available, a mezzanine will be added in the double-height space. This mezzanine will be an exposed steel structure, and both the ventilation and air-conditioning for the gym will be
‘Stars’ Gymnasium, London
exposed, creating that raw, masculine look.
As for September 2010, the planning application (which I was in
charge of developing) has been accepted, the strip-out of the gallery has been done and the construction of the mezzanine level will happen shortly. Main double-height space with old gallery party walls.
Detail of suspended ceiling (taken at site visit)
Albion Riverside Building survey plan at 1:500
Bruce Lee was one of the inspirations for the concept development
Single-height back of the site, through the door.
Detail of glass facade (sv)
Tasks undertaken
This project is the one with which I have had the biggest involvement dur-
ing this placement. From the earliest stages in April until now in September, when it is almost ready to go for tender, I have had the opportunity to participate in many new and challenging parts of the project, which have taught me a lot about the development of a proposal and the running of a practice.
First of all, I got to do a quick site visit to the Albion Riverside Building, so
I could take a few measurements for the drawings and also take detailed pictures for the future 3D models. This was very interesting as it was my first site visit with work. Suspended ceiling being stripped out.
The information I gathered, added to the drawings provided by Foster
and Partners, was the basis for an early set of development drawings, including existing and proposed elevation, plans and sections. The information was also the base for an early Sketch up model showing the shell of our site.
These drawings were formatted and included in the planning application
for Wandsworth Council, which approved it a few weeks later. After this stage, we were able to go into more detail, and so researched and prepared survey drawings of the ducts and cables of the existing site. We developed the appropriate drawings for the strip-out to take place on site, and meanwhile developed more and more detailed plans and sections of the scheme. The Sketch up model was completed in parallel, so we could always have 3D views of the ideas, and has developed to be a full detailed model showing steel structure, air-conditioning units and an increasing amount of detail on each of the spaces. In addition to all this, three physical models were made by me and my
colleague for the different stages of the development process, so they could be shown to the client and the strip-out contractor. Chip wood panels taken out from walls.
I have learnt a great deal about the development of a real project, and
specially about how to tackle the uncontrollable changes of plans that happen every day. If done well, these not only don’t affect the project, but improve it and compliment it. It has been all in all a fantastic experience.
Strip-out plan, with the instructions for the contractor, at 1:200.
Site almost completely free of rubble.
Carolina Saludes cs337@bath.ac.uk
Ground Floor and Mezzanine Level Plans
‘Stars’ Gymnasium, London
at 1:200
Reflected ceiling plans of the proposal at 1:200
SECTION AA’- Elevation of the Mezzanine level at 1:200
SECTION CC’- Double-height back wall Elevation at 1:200
SECTION EE’- Section through mezzanine and treatment room at 1:200
SECTION FF’- West Section through Mezzanine level at 1:200
Carolina Saludes cs337@bath.ac.uk
SECTION BB’- Section through Mezzanine level at 1:200
SECTION DD’- Section through entrance corridor and changing rooms at 1:200
‘Stars’ Gymnasium, London
View of the mezzanine, with the exposed steel structure, ducting and air-conditioning.
View of the general arrangement of the scheme, including some hints of materiality.
Front facade, with the new proposed set of logos presented by the client.
View of the changing rooms and showers, with the entrance to the sauna at the back.
The model seen in its entirety.
Front facade view with glimpses of proposal.
Carolina Saludes cs337@bath.ac.uk
View of the double-height space with the gym logo.