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04/04/2016 22:26
01
M
I F TO AN ES
The Festival of Architecture has got off to a sombre start with the untimely passing of two of the most respected architects in the field; Gareth Hoskins and Zaha Hadid. Although very different in temperament and approach they both built a name for themselves; one by delivering radical new approaches the other by excelling at understated glamour.
limelight (pg 30) to see how they stack up in the 21st century.
Whilst Hadid’s passing came on our print deadline we pay tribute to Hoskins (pg88) by speaking to those who knew him best.
A key moment this summer will come at the Venice Architecture Biennale (pg 12) we delve deep behind the brief for Scotland’s Prospect North contribution, an exhibition which promises to reorientate all our compasses.
Hinterland (pg74) was chosen for the formal launch of the Festival calendar but whilst it succeeded in generating glowing reviews the hype generated by some electric photography didn’t quite translate into the physical reality. A job of work remains to be done to make St Peter’s relevant once more. In tandem with this Mark Chalmers offers a fresh appraisal of some other concrete marvels which haven’t benefitted from the
One structure which hasn’t made it is the infamous Church Walk blocks in Denny, now subject to a feature length Carbuncle documentary (pg 62). In many ways demolition is the easy part however as the town grapples with where it goes from here.
As ever good work continues to arrive independent of festivals and biennales and we take a look around one of the moe interesting, Lairdsland Primary (pg 56). It is shaping up to be a momentous year. John Glenday, Editor
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CONT ENTS QUARTERLY DIGEST 12 PROSPECT NORTH 19 INTERIOR DESIGN 30 GREY GARDENS 38 STEVENSON BUILDING 42 LIGHT AND LIFE 46 SCOTTISH DESIGN AWARDS 56 LAIRDSLAND PRIMARY 62 CARBUNCLE TOWN 68 HACK CONSTRUCT 74 HINTERLAND 80 COTTONOPOLIS 88 GARETH HOSKINS 94 DIRECTORY 96 PRODUCTS 04
Cover image: Hinterland, Alan McAteer
OUR EDITORIAL PANEL INCLUDES: Editor John Glenday Design & Production Amanda Dewar Advertising Manager Katarzyna Uliasz, Media Sales Executive Callum Nicholas Web Manager Aleks Bochniak Mark Chalmers, Architecture writer and photographer
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16/03/2016 12:17
06
Q U A R T E R L Y D I G E S T J A N
FISHY BUSINESS
BRIEFS
The University of St Andrews has submitted a planning application to build a £10m marine laboratory at East Sands, St Andrews. Replacing the Gatty Marine facility the new laboratory has been designed by BMJ
Peveril Securities has lodged plans drawn up by Fletcher Joseph Architects for the regeneration of Edinburgh’s Grassmarket along King’s Stables Road in the heart of the Old Town. Incorporating a hotel, homes, student accommodation, art hub and public square the scheme will open up an existing pend through the creation of a series of new routes and courtyards.
to include 2,256sq/m of research space including the UK’s most technologically advanced aquarium to investigate the oceanic effects of climate change and bolster conservation efforts.
BELLE TOLLS
LARGS GO
Glasgow Edinburgh Developments, working in conjunction with Grant Stafford Ltd, have submitted plans to build 54 apartments on a brownfield site at Bell Street, Glasgow. Drawn up by Jewitt and Wilkie Architects the scheme will include 5,000sq/ft of commercial space alongside over forty parking spaces. The seven storey brick-clad block will be offset from the street behind an entrance pavilion and rooftop terrace.
North Ayrshire Council is pressing ahead with plans to construct a JM Architects designed school Campus in Largs, within the grounds of Sport Scotland Inverclyde National Centre, following the appointment of Morrison Construction to deliver the scheme. Overseen by Hub South West Scotland Largs Campus will take shape on a steeply sloping site on uplands to the rear of the town, faced in rustic grey/white brick providing space for 2,120 pupils.
WALK THIS WAY Benjamin Tindall Architects have submitted plans to revitalise Glencoe’s Kings House Hotel, refurbishing the historic inn whilst demolishing later additions to create a new hotel wing and hostel accommodation. Black Corries Estate plan to increase the number of bedrooms from 45 to 80 whist upgrading public spaces and retaining key elements such as the popular Climbers’ Bar in time for the summer season. It is hoped to have the new hostel open prior to the summer season.
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Hoskins Architects founder Gareth Hoskins has passed away suddenly at the age of just 48 after suffering a heart attack during a fencing match. At the peak of his career Hoskins had overseen the growth of his practice, establishing a new German office and recently rebranding the studio to reflect the combined contributions of a growing team of 40, including 21 architects. For a full tribute see pg 88. Elder & Cannon Architects and Glasgow Housing Association have drawn up plans for a residential development at Paisley Road West, Glasgow. Evolving the typology laid out at the practices award winning Laurieston project the Hinshelwood scheme comprises three blocks of brick accommodation including private courtyards, landscaping and parking. The homes will be finished in facing brick with timber entrance doors and screens. CDA Architects have submitted plans for 100 homes at Waterfront Avenue, Edinburgh, on behalf of Places for People, phase one of a larger 300 home development. Finished in a palette of white and grey brick with front entrances and balconies defined by a dark grey metal-clad portal frame the scheme seeks to slot into the existing context, defined by Saltire Square. Landscaping work will be undertaken by Rankin Fraser.
07
Q U A R T E R L Y J A N D I G E S T PARK TRIBUTE
PLAY TO THE GALLERY
BRIEFS
Argyll & Bute Council is to dedicate Helensburgh’s Hermitage Park to Gareth Hoskins in a tribute to the late architect. Hoskins and Gillespies had worked closely with the Friends of Hermitage Park, a group of community volunteers, to restore the only urban park in Argyll & Bute to its former splendour. A council spokesperson advised that discussions are still ongoing as to what form any dedication might take.
Hoskins Architects have submitted a planning application for a series of extensive extensions and alterations to the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, fronted by a chamfered facade of honey sandstone. This will see an unloved 1970’s extension reconfigured to improve access from the Mound precinct and Weston Link and increase gallery space as well as a new garden facing plinth elevation to express the extension to the city.
Glasgow City Council has given the go-ahead to a £60m extension of the East End Regeneration Route, completing the four lane link between the M74 and M8/80 via the Emirates Arena and Celtic Park. The 1.4km long road will include four junctions and an 8-span viaduct over the Queen Street to Airdrie railway line before continuing under Edinburgh Road and Cumbernauld Road.
PYRAMID SCHEME BTE Architecture has showcased a £193k Pyramid viewpoint on a peninsula overlooking Loch Lomond at Inveruglas, built as part of the Scottish government’s Scenic Routes initiative. Accessed by a series of paths from the A82 the timber viewpoint takes the form of a triangular platform, glimpsed as a ‘narrow vertical stack’ upon approach from inland, with the loch barely visible through a hollowed out passageway.
SHOW OFF The Royal Highland & Agricultural Society has tabled proposals to level their current Sir Basil Spence designed member’s pavilion in order to erect a new functions suite. Clad in vacuum treated Scottish Larch
including a brick base course and projecting brick header the 3DReid design employs a steep pitched aluminium roof oversail accommodation below, studded with profiled rooflights modelled on the diagonal frame of the existing MacRobert Pavilion.
CDA Architects and S1 Developments have won permission to convert Edinburgh’s B—listed Westerlea House in the West Murrayfield Conservation Area and replace numerous ad-hoc extensions. This will include removal of a C-listed garden block to formally address mature landscaped gardens to the south with two new buildings opening up access and views through the surrounding topography. Planners are recommending that approval be granted to the transformation of the B-listed Charlotte Baptist Chapel on Rose Street into 22 serviced apartments and a pub. Designed by J.A. Leask Architects on behalf of Glendola Leisure the work will see the former sanctuary remodelled to provide bedroom space operated by the Carlton Hotel Collection with ground and basement levels given over to a gin and steak restaurant. A £20m terminal expansion at Aberdeen International Airport is to start this May under plans proposed by operator AGS Airports. The investment will see floor space increase by 50 per cent to allow creation of two new passenger lounges, an expanded baggage area, new immigration and search facilities, shops and restaurants by by 2018. Passenger numbers dipped by seven per cent last year to 3.5m although it remained the airport’s second biggest year on record.
08
Q U A R T E R L Y D I G E S T F E B
VICTORIA INFIRMARY
BRIEFS Robertson have been appointed to undertake a redevelopment of Edinburgh Academical’s ground at Raeburn Place, Stockbridge, following a competitive tender for a two stage design and build contract. The 2,500 seat stand designed by Michael laird Architects will front new pitches, training grounds, a gym and medical facilities as well as a café, shop and museum of international rugby. Plans drawn up by Norr Architects to build a new primary school in Kirkintilloch inspired by Lairdsland Primary have received the go-ahead from East Dunbartonshire Council. Situated on Newdyke Road the 300 place school will combine the existing St Flannan and St Agatha primaries on the site of the former and is scheduled to open its doors in spring 2017.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is seeking a developer to take on the former Victoria Hospital site in Glasgow’s south side following the migration of services to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
The 9.5 acre site has lain vacant since May 2015 and an application to demolish non-listed buildings on the site on behalf of any future developer has already been approved.
LESSONS LEARNT
KING’S CROSSING
Cumbernauld Academy and Theatre has been given the go-ahead after receiving Scottish government funding in a final tranche of 19 schools to be awarded cash for rebuild or refurbishment. Norr has been commissioned to build a new campus on the site of the existing school which will also include a new theatre and performance space by 2020. Adopting a ‘C’ shaped plan enclosing a public square the campus includes triple height social spaces and an external courtyard.
Moxon Architects have unveiled plans for a pedestrian footbridge across Regent’s Canal, London, to improve connectivity through the newly formed Gas Holder Park between King’s Cross and Camley Street. The 38m span bridge has been designed as a simple U-shaped horizontal beam supported at abutments either end to respect the surrounding industrial landscape. Formed from a single span of steel the hockey stick shaped bridge incorporates a curved ramp at one end to allow sufficient clearance for canal boats.
BOXY MOXY
BANKING ON IT
Morgan Sindall has commenced delivery of a £12.4m primary school at Bishopbriggs on Kirriemuir Road, on behalf of East Dunbartonshire Council. The 560 roll Norr designed school will include a nursery for 145 pre-school children and follows hot on the heels of a new primary in Kirkintilloch, both of which will share a common form with a linear arrangement of partially open classroom spaces fronting an activity space.
Marriot owned hotel brand Moxy is continuing its roll out with plans for a 230 bed ‘towel rail’ inspired hotel at Edinburgh Airport on the Royal Highland Showground site. Fronting a prominent approach road the L-shaped build will be faced in STO render and Alcubond aluminium cladding panels, the latter of which will be used to highlight a ‘corner feature section’ modelled on a towel rail. Faithful + Gould have specified a ‘towel rail’ element to serve as visual interest.
Moxon Architects have unveiled plans for a banked hillside home in Banchory, Lower Deeside, stepping up over four levels into a rolling hillside from a drystane terrace affording views across the Water of Feugh.. Strachan House takes the form of a linear sequence of volumes each at a slight angle to the next in order to frame and shelter a courtyard entrance. Each room is connected directly to the next by living spaces to reduce the need for corridors. A terraced roofline rises in step with the hill.
ARPL have been shortlisted in an open international design competition set by the RIAI to build a 600 place primary school in Dublin city centre, the practice’s second school in the city. Built around the concept of pupil clusters to create ‘small schools within a school around a social heart’ the multi-storey school will incorporate a series of cascading roof gardens.
URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
09
Q U A R T E R L Y F E B D I G E S T WHAT A PERFORMANCE
RUN OF THE MILL
BRIEFS
Collective Architecture has submitted plans for a £5m physical performance space in Glasgow, offering 12,000sq/ft of accessible space for disabled dancers, on behalf of Wasp‘s Studios. The Briggait Creation Centre will play host to circus, street theatre and trapeze artists and is the second phase of development at the site following a £6.8m refurbishment of the Briggait in 2009. Embedded within the remaining portion of A-listed market halls built in 1889 and 1904, as well as a gap site facing Clyde Street
The WBG Partnership has submitted plans for a brownfield residential development of 80 apartments at West Bowling Green Street, Edinburgh, drawn up by EMA. Forming part of a wider masterplan for the area the six storey apartment block will be faced in white and buff brick with repeated elements designed to echo the mills, foundries and warehouses once found locally. EMA observed: “The proposals will create high quality positive street frontages and, when taken within its wider framework, will encourage social interaction.
Proposals for a £20m creative industries hub at Dundee Waterfront have been unveiled by developer Our Enterprise, comprising a mix of studios, workshops, retail and co-living rental housing. Filling two blocks on one side of a new city square framed by the Malmaison Hotel, revamped railway station and V&A, the scheme will incorporate street facing ‘design, make and sell’ units with homes stacked above.
RIDING HIGH
UP NEXT
Ocean Terminal and Hodder Planning have staged a public consultation for a 28-storey (96m) hotel tower to the north east of the existing shopping mall. Aiming to capitalise on a future tram stop the Keppie scheme will allow for a new promenade to the rear of Ocean Terminal whilst mitigating some of the dead ends and service bays that characterise the site at present. Construction will not commence until a hotel operator is found.
Straiton Retail Park is to be anchored by a new 80,000sq/ft Next store after the clothing group agreed terms to a pre-let of the Jura limestone and curtain wall glazing clad build with park owner Peel. The expanded unit will be the largest Next store in Scotland when redevelopment completes this June, significantly extending the retailers existing 15,000sq/ft presence. The new store is scheduled to open its doors this June.
Nord Architecture is to switch their focus to London and Melbourne following the departure of Mark Bell and Brian McGinley from the Glasgow offi ce to form their own practice. This has led to the temporary closure of its Glasgow studio at Aird’s Lane but Nord insist that they remain committed to the city and are actively recruiting to get the team up and going again. Keppie have submitted plans for a twin hotel development constituting 393 rooms together with 35 serviced apartments at the entrance to Glasgow’s SECC complex on behalf of Chesterpeak Developments. Intended to form an urban crossroads fronted by ground floor retail and leisure the scheme will screen an existing multistorey car park with a ‘chamfered corner’ funnelling pedestrian traffic in from the city centre and west end.
CITY WHARF Axis Mason Architects have refined their proposals for City Wharf having obtained planning consent for the 603 home private rental scheme on behalf of Dandara. This will see heights reduced throughout with the tallest element falling
from 18 to 16 storeys, although overall density will remain unchanged, together with removal of a planned 1,616sq/m of commercial space. Construction will get underway in the third quarter.
Arc Architects have drawn up tentative plans to regenerate the ‘backlands’ of Cupar, Fife, on behalf of the Cupar Development Trust by 2019. Composed of 39 affordable housing, two live/work units and creative space for design industries the £7m development, as yet unfunded, would knit together the existing townscape through a combination of selective refurbishment and new build.
10
Q U A R T E R L Y D I G E S T M A R
AULTBEA A £1.65m community centre penned by ThreeSixty Architecture in the small fishing village of Aultbea has been given the goahead by Highland Council on an empty plot adjacent to the existing outdated hall.
BRIEFS Commissioned by Aultbea Regeneration Company the project was procured through a two-stage design process and will offer a multi-use sports hall in addition to a smaller space for more intimate meetings.
South Lanarkshire College has opened the doors to a low carbon teaching building at its East Kilbride campus designed by Austin-Smith:Lord. The fi rst UK building to attain a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating at both design and post-construction stages having been deemed to excel at management, health & wellbeing, energy, transport, water, materials, waste, land use & ecology, pollution and innovation.
PRAYERS ANSWERED
Halliday Fraser Munro has revealed that they are to close their Glasgow offi ce in order to consolidate their central belt staff and resources in Edinburgh. West coast employees being off ered places at the new offi ce should they be prepared to switch cities but staff unwilling to make the move or lengthen their commutes face having to fi nd alternative employment.
Sanctuary Housing have completed a £2.7m redevelopment of a former church hall in Anniesland, Glasgow, to provide 24 flats and two roof gardens in addition to a new hall. Designed by Organic Architects the Sutcliffe Road site has been given over exclusively to tenants aged 55 and replaces an unlisted church hall which the congregation could no longer afford to run.
HAPPY GILMOREHILL The University of Glasgow has held the consultation for HLM’s learning and teaching hub on University Avenue and a master plan for the Western Infirmary site drawn up by 7N. A ‘gateway building’ adjacent to the Boyd Orr is designed to improve connectivity between the Gilmorehill campus and wider west end whilst providing much needed new teaching spaces.
URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
Keppie and Hoskins Architects have opened the doors to a £15m health centre in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, delivering 7,000sq/ ft of primary and community care accommodation on behalf of the Northern Social Care Trust. Arranged around a three storey entrance atrium and external courtyard the Ballymena Health & Care Centre seeks to optimise clinical adjacencies and circulation within a cohesive and calming envelope.
Graham Construction has moved on-site with a JM Architects designed student residential scheme at Buccleuch Place and Meadow Lane for the University of Edinburgh. This will entail conversion and refurbishment of two B-listed tenement blocks in the Southside conservation area to provide an additional 384 bedrooms
11
Q U A R T E R L Y M A R D I G E S T HIGH NOON
IN THE WORKS
BRIEFS
Mactaggart & Mickel have unwrapped the latest phase of a new eco village at Polnoon, Eaglesham, a 121 home development designed by Proctor and Matthews Architects with Horner + Maclennan Landscape Architects. Embracing the principles espoused by Designing Streets the project seeks to ‘set new standards in urban planning’ through its approach to placemaking. The estate has been designed to respect the existing village and moorland..
Cooper Cromar has submitted plans to transform Aberdeen’s Broadford Works into an ‘urban village’ of 890 homes, leisure, office and retail space. An application for planning permission in principle on behalf of Ferness calls for listed industrial buildings to be retained and converted to provide a mix of private rental and student accommodation alongside selective demolition to open up the site. A soft strip of buildings slated for removal has already concluded imminent.
The latest addition to Glasgow’s offi ce stock could take the form of a 14 storey block off ering 100,000sq/ft of accommodation on Waterloo Street, following submission of a planning application by Whiteburn. The Still would see retention of the existing B-listed building dating from the 1890’s behind which a connecting tower element would be built by Bennetts Associates.
COLONIES RETURN
UNION SQUARE
CCG are to move on-site at a development of 94 affordable homes at Leith Fort as part of a joint venture between Port of Leith Housing Association and City of Edinburgh Council. The colonies-style homes will be built using a timber kit system including insulation, windows and doors to speed the efficiency and accuracy of construction. Built in accordance with a Malcolm Fraser master plan it follows demolition of the notorious Fort housing complex back in 2012. Homes and communal green spaces are expected to complete by May 2017.
Benoy have unveiled illustrative plans for a £200m expansion of Aberdeen’s Union Square shopping mall on behalf of Hammerson, including a new hotel and expanded retail, cinema and multi-storey car park. A 120 bed hotel of up to 72m would rise above a parking and retail deck on Market Street with a design inspired by Aberdeen’s maritime heritage. Subject to approval work could get underway in 2017 on the site of existing surface parking by the harbour.
HOSPITAL RECUPERATION Robertson Homes are to convert a B-listed former Inverness hospital into 56 new homes next year should it secure the backing of planners. Overseen by Bell Ingram Design the
£13m project should complete next year and entails the restoration of the fire damaged Gleann Mor House, Westercraigs, as part of a 120 acre housing development on the outskirts of Inverness.
Campaigners have called for enforcement action to be taken against the owners of an A-listed mews property in Glasgow’s west end after it was demolished without permission. 11 Kirklee Terrace Lane was built by Charles Wilson as party of the Park Circus development in the 1800s and was valued at in excess of half a million. Glasgow City Council will now determine whether to issue a notice of prosecution. Shawlands Arcade in Glasgow’s south side is set to be redeveloped following an acquisition of the 5.75 acre site by Strathclyde Pension Fund and Ediston Real Estate. The joint venture partners have pledged to remodel and redevelop the ageing complex in a bid to enhance its attractiveness to tenants and shoppers in the face of fi erce competition from out of town retail parks such as Silverburn. Dame Zaha Hadid has passed away suddenly aged 65 from a heart attack just months after becoming the fi rst woman to pick up a RIBA gold medal. The Iraqi born architect had been in a Miami hospital receiving treatment for bronchitis at the time of her death. To mark the architects passing creative agency Frame projected a tribute onto Glasgow’s Transport Museum.
12
PROSPECT NORTH JOHN GLENDAY
Scotland’s version of Daft Punk are heading south to look north
13
NOR T HERN L I GHT SCOTLAND IS TO PRESS AHEAD WITH ITS OWN DEDICATED PAVILION AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE ONCE MORE WITH A TOPICAL LOOK AT HOWTHE NORTHERN REGIONS MIGHT COME INTO THEIR OWN AS MIGRATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE PRESSURES COME TO THE FORE JUST AS BRITAIN’S PLACE IN EUROPE HAS BEEN THROWN UP IN THE AIR.
14
PROSPECT NORTH
Lateral North are upending orientational bias
For decades all roads have led south as far as Scotland is concerned but as the EU referendum draws near all that could be about to change. Dovetailing with the vote will be Scotland’s contribution to the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale an interactive map detailing grassroots community initiatives from the Highlands and Islands to Dumfries and Galloway which will attempt to turn current thinking through 180 degrees. Backed by Architecture + Design Scotland, the Scottish government, British Council and Creative Scotland Prospect North this project will bring together Dualchas Architects, research and design collective Lateral North and visualisation specialists Soluis to explore the relationship between Scotland and its northern neighbours with regard to place, culture, people and economy. A full scale modular map fabricated in the Lighthouse that can be transported in flat-pack form -presumably inspired by the Swedish approach to space saving, will illustrate the connections. For Graham Hogg, founder of Lateral North, the Nordic and Arctic regions have long held a fascination, and with an increasing number of newcomers drawn to their unspoilt natural beauty it is an attraction shared by many even if the bottom has fallen out of the oil industry. Rather than just visit these places however Hogg is keen to import their URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
better ideas and solutions for the benefit of people closer to home. Asked why the north should take precedence over London or indeed the America’s and China Hogg said: “A big part is to do with climate change and how we can help positively towards that, just as the Scottish government looks to the Nordics for inspiration we’re seeking to do the same for architecture and design. It’s an exchange of ideas and culture. We claim to be quite forward thinking on renewables but I think we’re still lagging behind. We’re still looking at fracking in Scotland when we should be looking to develop our offshore wave and tidal power.” Dualchas director Alasdair Stephen said: “In a way this is an extension of the referendum debate, we’re still thinking about Scotland’s place in the world, but rather than looking to London we’re looking to other places and there are a lot of issues common to the arctic.” A&DS chair Karen Anderson said: “From our perspective the key thing is looking at what’s happened in Scottish communities and using that as a means to have a conversation with others around the world. We’re not just interested in looking at rural areas; we’re also looking at urban communities and small towns.” These conversations will be largely conducted through >
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PROSPECT NORTH
Left - A new future will be mapped out at the Biennale Right - The road ahead remains unclear
the medium of augmented and virtual reality with Soluis deploying a drone to film various community driven projects which Venice visitors can then experience for themselves by donning their Google Glasses within a ‘virtual documentary’ in the main exhibition space. For those wedded to reality an adjacent antechamber will be given over to physical conversations and discussions concerning Scotland’s place in the northern hemisphere. Quizzed on the relevance of Britain’s ongoing debate about its place in Europe, whether on the periphery or at the heart of things, Anderson said: “It’s all about the small politics of communities rather than the big political picture. I suspect that it might have an impact on some of the other northern partners, some of whom are in and out of Europe.” For Hogg Britain’s place remains within Europe: “EU withdrawal might provide an opportunity more than anything else to start afresh but for us to stay in the EU is really important because of the connections with the Nordic countries.” Dualchas director Alasdair Stephen noted: “Whatever the result of the referendum, whether we vote to come out or stay in, there is this profound question of where we look for influence. Is England going to look inward upon itself, or URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
out to America? Is it turning its back on Europe and if it is should Scotland be looking in different places to map out a future for itself?” More than anything else the exhibition will shine a light on what local communities have achieved, accomplishments that often go overlooked in the bombast of national one-upmanship. Anderson explained: “We’ve got things like the Development Trust Association, which covers a huge number of communities, but there are very few people that have a measure of how many of them there are. This mapping approach will allow people outside that movement to see what’s going on. It’s all about showcasing just how much work volunteers and young emerging practices are doing.” “It’s about putting Scottish designers on the map but also pointing out the empowerment issues around community buy outs. We will also learn about things we don’t yet know that are happening in Europe and the world.” Explaining the concept in more detail Stephen added: “We have a limited budget so we knew we couldn’t compete with the architectural installations of other countries so we’ve focussed on how the industry is
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changing with augmented reality and virtual reality. We didn’t want people to walk around and walk out. We wanted something immersive where you could spend a lot of time. We have touch points and trigger pointe with lots of videos, animation and features determined by the budget and time constraints but which mean people will be able to spend a long time within that space and learn a lot about individual communities. “The idea is to look at micro level human interest stories, we want to bring in architecture but we also want Scottish culture and humour within the context of looking north and considering Scotland’s place in the wider world. We don’t want anything which is pretentious; we want it to be surreal and to have humour to stimulate thought, opinion and debate about where Scotland is going. “We want some authentic voices. There would be nothing more boring than having Neil Baxter talking over your headphones. Architects can be quite boring, I you’ve ever spent an evening with an earnest architect when they get too drunk you really want to kill yourself at the end of it.” Whilst the exhibition will focus on strengths and successes it will not attempt to sugar coat the very real issues which the country faces, as Stephen remarked:
“Where we are at present is not where I believe Scotland wants to be. If you look at rural communities many are in a worse position than they were 20 years ago. When I was in Skye I built my first house in my twenties but you can’t get those grants anymore so people aren’t building. I don’t think we can say Scotland is in any way a success story when it comes to community engagement because we still have huge issues with the cost of land and affordability. We’re not going to put a shine on this we’re going to be honest. We’ll be looking to the future and saying this is the sort of Scotland we want and think we can have. “Most of rural Scotland is still dying on its feet, its population is going up but that’s not because people are being born. It’s because people are moving in. That does have good aspects because in the football team I played for on Skye every single player was in the construction industry and the only reason people had jobs was because people were moving in and buying up ruins and spending £300k doing them up. “ Prospect North will run from 26 May until 25 June at Ludoteca Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in Venice before commencing a nationwide tour, showing participants that things are starting to look up.
INTERIOR DESIGN
FOR OUR LATEST SNAPSHOT OF THE INTERIOR DESIGN SECTOR WE INVITE SIX LEADING PRACTITIONERS OF THEIR CRAFT TO GIVE US THE INSIDE TRACK ON WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR THE ONLY PROFESSION TO MARRY ART, FASHION AND ARCHITECTURE. THEY SHOW THAT IN AN AGE OF GLOBAL COMPETITION GOOD DESIGN HAS NEVER BEEN MORE TO THE FORE.
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Q&A Ross Hunter, Director, Graven
Craig McKie, Creative Director of Interior Design, ICA
What has been your stand-out work of the past year? The best things that we have done in the last year are still unbuilt and still secrets! But the projects that have completed that stand out are the emerging environments for Radisson Red, a brand that we’ve been developing for around three years now. The first hotel to open will be in Brussels, with Glasgow and Cape Town following soon afterwards. We’re also very proud of our contribution to the City of Glasgow College projects, with Reiach and Hall and MLA. Elevator is just over a year old now and that has been very effective in opening up opportunities in the design of creative environments – we’re really pleased with that.
What has been your stand-out work over the past year? We had many stand-out projects last year, but probably the most satisfying was the completion of the DoubleTree by Hilton London Docklands Riverside refurbishment. The team were involved in designing every aspect of the hotel from the 378 bedrooms and suites to the Ballroom, Meeting Rooms and destination restaurant ‘Columbia’. The site has a rich maritime history and it was fun to delve into that to influence the design. The finished product is unique amongst Hilton’s London hotels and both the Client and the brand were delighted with the design, a great project on every level.
How do you achieve differentiation in a crowded marketplace? I think that the breadth of our offer differentiates us – we really understand how to evolve brands in 3-dimensions. Indeed sometimes the environments lead the branding process in advance of naming and graphic branding. Our team is very well versed in pattern making and the technology involved in manufacturing carpets and wall coverings. It’s really satisfying to design bespoke finishes that can’t be found elsewhere in the market.
How do you achieve differentiation in a crowded marketplace? We have always felt that the key to setting ourselves apart in the marketplace is to stay true to our specialist subject, Hotels. The practice was built on our ability to understand what Hoteliers and Hotel brands want, whilst at the same time knowing how best to build Hotels in an efficient and cost effective way. This knowledge spread across a brilliant team of people who continually push the boundaries of design ensures our clients keep coming back to us.
Are high property prices fostering an interior design renaissance as occupiers make do with what they have? Perhaps in the domestic market and in London but I don’t really recognise the idea that there is a renaissance going on. When was the golden age? Budgets are tighter than ever and, apart from some international exceptions, post-recession fees are still constrained. What design trends do you see for the year ahead? It will take more than a year to work its way through but you can already see the decline of bling, and the death of fake authentic neo-Finnieston-ism. Infantile Google-inspired offices are on the way out too. I think there will be a return to rationalism, and much more white. URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
What design trends do you see for the year ahead? Design has been firmly entrenched in the upcycled industrial aesthetic for a few years, particularly in the hospitality sector. I hope we are finally seeing this come to an end with a movement towards simpler softer interiors, which focus on the quality of materials. We have started moving away from bold vibrant colours to focus on a palette of pastels contrasted with dark navy and charcoal. I think mixing up Mid-century Modern with pared down Art Deco motifs to create interiors which feel more residential and sophisticated will be a feature of the year ahead.
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Graven have developed a new retail banking concept for Royal Bank of Scotland
Emma Franks, Senior Interior Designer, ISA What has been your stand-out work over the past year? The conversion of the former 104 bedroom Marks Hotel in Glasgow to a deluxe Apex Hotel. As a contemporary piece of architecture, the rippled facade and powerful oversailing roof of the existing building is immediately recognisable on Bath Street, however the more traditional interior design caused something of a disparity. The brief from Apex was to retain the existing layout but to completely update and revitalise the interior. The challenge was to work out how to improve both physical appearance and operational efficiency whilst working with the limitations of the existing building and to produce a unified and equally bold interior to synergize with the architectural language. How do you achieve diff erentiation in a crowded marketplace? We are about more than the look of the finished product. We strive to understand the client’s functional needs first and foremost and then design a solution that achieves
these as elegantly and simply as we can. We try to avoid trends or create interiors that follow fashion and believe that if we get the fundamentals right, the design will transcend short term trends. Being able to offer our clients a one stop service, taking a project from initial feasibility stage right through to the finished concept, graphic identity and dressed interior, allows us to have full control of the aesthetic and to successfully realise our client’s expectations. Are high property prices fostering an interior design renaissance as occupiers make do with what they have? Not so much property prices but a strong rise in public expectation and design awareness driving improved design at every level. This has been led by some great design in high street retail and hospitality, rippling out from London and across the country. Coupled with both the positive and negative effect of on-line media and Trip Advisor for example, our clients are increasingly aware that they need to stay ahead of their competitors and must offer an enhanced service and experience for the end user. This has certainly seen an increase in exciting and ambitious refurbishment projects with realistic > budgets to match.
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Michael Laird Architects have created a collaborative workspace environment at Building Nine, Edinburgh BioQuarter
Marie-Louise Dunk, Director and Chartered Architect, JAMstudio Ltd What has been your stand-out work of the past year? Commercially it would be the office refit we have recently completed for Aubin Group Ltd, who are based just outside of Aberdeen, in Ellon. Completed in a little over 10 weeks, involving a complete strip back to shell for the main office spaces, we are extremely pleased with the outcome, as is the client. How do you achieve diff erentiation in a crowded marketplace? High Quality design work and personal integrity. Given the turbulent times we are facing in Aberdeen at the moment, this becomes even more important – when budgets are tight we need to be careful not to get caught up in the inevitable race to the bottom, that has already started as practices become more desperate when pickings are slim. Are high property prices fostering an interior design renaissance as occupiers make do with what they have? URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
Right now in this part of Scotland, not so much – in fact if occupiers find themselves in the unusual position of being able to negotiate much better deals than they are used to! The commercial office market is presently much oversupplied, and there is a mountain of new office space being built even now. As landlords become more eager to fill empty office spaces we expect to see the downward spiral of rent, which should hopefully mean tenants might have a few quid spare to upgrade their premises when the oil price does start to recover. What design trends do you see for the year ahead? Acoustics will continue to play a big part of a trend towards everyone working in open plan, and there are some great new products coming on stream to help with sound absorption in open plans spaces. We are seeing more and more firms offer flexible working to their staff, and this isn’t limited to them being able to work from home – more so by allowing staff to have a good variety of work spaces that they can choose from depending on the task they are trying to achieve. In terms of finishes, strong contrasting colours and materials still seem to be a favourite theme – no change there for us - the brighter and stronger the better!
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Lisa Morgan, Director, Morgan McDonnell Architecture Ltd What has been your stand-out work of the past year? We have worked on many exciting projects over the past year from office reception refurbishments, to a number of bars and also high end residential developments, so it’s difficult to select one single project. However a couple of stand out projects that have been received particularly well by clients and purchasers are The Beer Kitchen, Edinburgh for Innis & Gunn and Woodcroft in Morningside. We worked on the Interior design of both of these very contrasting schemes which were for great clients who we are continuing to work for. The real joy in a project comes when you get to see people enjoying what you have designed! How do you achieve diff erentiation in a crowded marketplace? Our job is to design interesting, unique and well considered solutions for each and every client and so by working closely with our clients and developing strong relationships we can produce some fantastic interiors. This allows our clients in the residential sector to sell properties quickly. In the commercial world we produce environments that nurture and foster a happy workforce and in the leisure market, we are able to create vibrant bar and restaurant spaces which are busy every night of the week. Are high property prices fostering an interior design renaissance as occupiers make do with what they have? The popularity of interior design shows on tv and the accessibility of interior products and furniture at very reasonable prices on both the high street and the internet, encourage private home owners to take an interest in updating their homes. If you employ talented designers then you can achieve a lot at a competitive price. We pride ourselves on being clever with design to maximize the finished result within budget. If you understand what your commercial or private client wants and needs, then you can design a solution which saves them the upheaval of moving workplace or home. What design trends do you see for the year ahead? Interiors are such a massive market now that we are constantly exposed to new products in everyday media not just trade publications. The big trends will continue to be unusual finishes for floors and walls, with eco and reclaimed products influencing this trend also, 3D tiles in a variety of shapes. The scandi and mid century vibe is still continuing to be strong, showing no sign of
disappearing, however we predict the industrial aesthetic may develop to become more luxurious and refined but still showing it’s hard edge. Technology in products will only get stronger where operating your entire home’s technology via your iphone will become common place. Kenny Fraser, Director, Michael Laird Architects What has been your stand-out work of the past year? Over the past year we have been working on a very exciting, multi-practice collaboration project with RBS at their Gogar HQ in Edinburgh. MLA were part of the team that designed the Gogar Campus over a decade ago and a design practice very rarely gets the chance to revisit one of their stand-out projects from the past and enable the buildings and their spaces to adapt and evolve to the users’ current needs. Budgets and timescales are tight but the project has involved RBS engaging their staff at every stage to fully realize the potential of their HQ building ensuring a flexible, innovative, inspirational and collaborative workplace to suit their ever changing requirements. The first of these workplace projects is now complete (which Scotland’s First Minister recently opened) and we look forward to RBS unveiling the remaining projects throughout 2016. Are high property prices fostering an interior design renaissance as occupiers make do with what they have? I wouldn’t call it a renaissance and, in our experience, not really linked directly to property prices but there is certainly a drive towards organisations looking inwards and seeking out exciting opportunities within their existing properties. They are also taking the time to listen to their staff and re-evaluate how they work within those buildings. At MLA we firmly believe that this holistic ‘taking a step back to look’ approach is crucial in the reworking of any workplace environment and can ultimately create a happier, more productive, workplace. Design trends for the year ahead. Freedom and choice in the workplace continues to grow as the dominant design driver for us at MLA. The ongoing, seamless integration of communications technology into our buildings and more importantly, the furniture provides us with very exciting opportunities. It is now possible to create a myriad of carefully considered worksettings (away from the typical workstation) tailored to suit the many, varied workstyles of any individual, team or organisation throughout their working day (with reliable connectivity).
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Graven 175 Albion Street Glasgow G1 1RU Tel: +44 (0)141 552 6626 info@graven.co.uk www.graven.co.uk @GravenHQ Graven is a cross-disciplinary design consultancy specialising in branding, interior design, graphic design and communications design. For 30 years the multi-award-winning studio has been working internationally designing brands across all dimensions including interior and exterior spaces. Graven has a proven track record working collaboratively with architects, contractors and developers delivering integrated design solutions on complex projects. Local work includes social/leisure environments for Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, Crieff Hydro with Denholm Partnership, Drygate, Martha’s, The Corinthian, The SSE Hydro, Tinderbox, workplace environments for BBC, Clydesdale Bank, Elevator, IFDS, Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Life, G1 Group, RBS, Standard Life, Student Loans Company, educational environments for University of Strathclyde, University of the West of Scotland, City of Glasgow College City Campus and Riverside Campus with Reiach and Hall and MLA, Kirkintilloch Community Hub with Anderson Bell Christie, Seventeen Acres student accommodation with Stallan-Brand and the redevelopment of Kelvin Hall with Page\Park. International work includes hotels in USA, Middle East and Ghana as well as designing British Airways hospitality lounges worldwide. Graven uniquely combines a highly creative approach to workplace, educational and hospitality environments with in depthbrand expertise, pragmatism and analytical processes. The cross-over of 2D and 3D expertise helps to connect building users to their environments and delivers spaces that people like to spend time in! Services • Branding and place branding • Interior design • Graphic design • Communications design • Signage and wayfinding URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
Top - Centre for Entrepreneurship, Elevator Aberdeen Above left - Banking Hall, 36 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh Above right - 3D visualisation for Radisson Red Photography © Renzo Mazzolini Photography
Project: Elevator, Client: Elevator, Location: Aberdeen Graven designed a £1 million state-of-the-art “business accelerator” environment in Aberdeen for Elevator. Graven created the brand name ‘Elevator’, and accompanying visual and environmental brand providing an exciting, original and flexible working space. Graven transformed a typical, bland office into a dynamic interior arranged around a wedge-shaped central structure containing shared meeting spaces and equipment. Project: 36 St Andrew Square, Client: Royal Bank of Scotland, Location: Edinburgh Graven worked in collaboration with MLA to deliver the extensive restoration and refurbishment of the flagship RBS Banking Hall at 36 St Andrew Square in Edinburgh. The proposals are respectful to both the well-loved exterior and highly ornamental interior of the building and designed to enhance its historical features using high-quality materials and sympathetically designed details. Project: Radisson Red, Client: Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group Location: Worldwide Graven has been developing brand approaches for Radisson Red, delivering new concepts globally and are now in the process of designing and delivering the first Radisson Red Hotel to open in Brussels, with other locations currently under development including Cape Town and Finnieston Quay in Glasgow.
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ICA Email: info@weareica.com Web: http://weareica.com/ Twitter: @weareica Tel: 0141 552 2194 We are a 50 strong studio, dedicated to hotel design and delivery. With our head office in Glasgow’s Merchant City and an office in London we work throughout the UK and internationally. The ethos of the practice is derived from the three Directors who founded our studio; combining their individual strengths in design, technical expertise and business acumen to create a strong well rounded team. Our Architects and Interior Designers approach design in a holistic manner, working collaboratively to produce design that is fresh, creative and well considered.
DoubleTree by Hilton, London Docklands Riverside. Rotherhithe ICA were responsible for designing every aspect of the hotel from the 378 bedrooms and suites to the Ballroom, Meeting Rooms and destination restaurant ‘Columbia’. The Thames port of Rotherhithe has had a far reaching influence across the globe. A centre for shipbuilding, exploration and world trade since the Mayflower started its journey to America there in 1620 until the last ship was launched in 1870. Nods to the rich maritime and trade history of the area are woven throughout the interior design, fitting perfectly with the ethos of the DoubleTree brand, which focuses on giving each hotel its own local story creating a truly unique product within the Hilton framework. The restaurant is housed in a Grade II listed warehouse building whilst the majority of the bedrooms are housed in modern blocks built in the 1980s making it important to ensure the design was sympathetic to both styles of building without losing the overarching narrative. ICA established close working relationships with the client, brand and design team steering the project until the new hotel was launched in May 2015. Guest, Client and Brand feedback has been very positive and the hotel has been nominated for a design award.
Services Architectural services Interior Design Services Hotel Consultancy Hotel Brand Prototype Design
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INTERIOR DESIGN
ISA 4-5 Blenheim Place, Edinburgh EH7 5JH Tel: +44 0 131 229 6444 1 Seething Lane, City of London EC3N 4AX Tel: +44 0 207 977 9590 Email: mail@isarchitects.co.uk Web: www.isarchitects.co.uk ISA, formerly Ian Springford Architects, is based in Edinburgh with work throughout the UK. The practice works on a broad range of building types but is best known for its expertise in complex conversions and refurbishments of historic and 20th century buildings. ISA has a particular track record in the hotel sector and offers a coordinated architectural and interior design service. This unified approach to interior and exterior allows ISA to resolve technical, operational and logistical challenges for clients in a sustainable and cost effective manner. Services: Full architectural and interior design services from feasibility to completion Planning and risk assessment Project management, coordination and design of FF&E and branding. Hotel & Leisure Residential Commercial
URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
Apex City of Glasgow Apex City of Glasgow is a sympathetic conversion of the existing eight storey Marks Hotel in Bath Street into a deluxe 4-star product. Works involved a full interior refurbishment, plus external fabric repairs and upgrading of building services. The challenge for ISA was to strip back the dated interior and reconfigure the dark public spaces and warren of corridors to produce a light and unified interior that matched the strong architectural language of the external building. The previously divided restaurant and bar has been opened up with changes in tone to create a definitive boundary between the lighter front brasserie and the cosy intimate lounge area, rationalising the existing low level ceiling to the rear. Sloped glazing on the Bath Street elevation results in light, airy bedrooms. Simple palettes of grey tones and textures were complimented with oak furniture and a splash of bold colour to enhance the bedroom schemes and the double-height duplex suites. Textured grey tiles, with hints of mustard and oak in splashback reveals enhanced existing bathroom pods, while extended vanity basins and clear glass shower screens maximised the small space, creating an uncluttered feel. The continuation of textured patterns and key colours is evident throughout the hotel, in fabrics, furnishings and carpets, with patterns repeated in the bold feature graphics on each level.
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JAMstudio Country Office: The Steading at Moss Side, Fetternear, Inverurie, AB51 5JX City Office: 5 Golden Square, Aberdeen AB10 1RD www.jamstudio.uk.com Email: info@jamstudio.uk.com Tel: 01224 646450 Twitter: @jamstudio_ltd
Aubin Group Full office refit for their HQ in Ellon. The project was completed in around 10 weeks. The brief was funky not fancy, with a particular focus on improving acoustics within the existing office spaces and dealing with a number of ergonomic issues, not least of which was a client who was 6ft8 tall! He was delighted with his sit/stand fully height adjustable desk! Wilkhahn Full refit of ground and basement level office space in the heart of London’s Clerkenwell for International German furniture manufacturer. The project was completed in a little over 6 weeks. JAMstudio were appointed lead consultant/architect and undertook both the interior design including joinery packages together with space planning for the project. The interior brief was to be light, bright and flexible, to allow them to showcase an ever changing range of products. Douglas Dickie Full refit of retail space for existing Optician practice, in Aberdeen. The brief was to open the retail space up to make it more client friendly and easier to see the full ranges of products in stock. The project was completed on site in a very tight timeframe of 3 weeks. JAMstudio were appointed lead consultant/architect and designed the interiors including joinery packages together with space planning for the project and full contract administration services.
Top - Aubin Group Above left - Douglas Dickie Above right Wilkhahn ALL IMAGES ŠNEALE SMITH
JAMstudio is an award winning RIBA & RIAS chartered architectural practice based in Aberdeen & Shire. We are passionate about great design and its power to create amazing spaces, whether for a one off family home or for an inspirational workplace. Whether you need to expand your office or design a new distillery, we have a vast array of experience in the commercial building sector. Our Commercial design services include architectural and interior design, furniture procurement and project management. Our expertise in residential and house design means we are very well placed to assist on domestic projects of any size. This has been reflected in a number of awards, both regionally and nationally, as well as numerous recommendations from highly satisfied clients. Services All aspects of Architectural and Interior Design for any size and category of project both commercial and residential, including feasibility studies, planning and warrants, project management, 3D visualisation, specialist conservation and listed building projects, sustainability reviews and passive house design.
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Michael Laird Architects 5 Forres Street, Edinburgh EH3 6DE Tel: 0131 226 6991 Email: edinburgh@michaellaird.co.uk 53 King Street, Glasgow G1 5RA Tel: 0141 553 5867 Email: glasgow@michaellaird.co.uk Web: michaellaird.co.uk MLA is an award-winning architectural practice with a strong reputation for high quality, enduring design of buildings and spaces. We are drawn to understanding how people use their environment and how buildings and spaces influence our sense of well-being and happiness. A long term and sustainable view influences our decision making at every step of the design process. We promote a creative, collaborative and proactive approach, in order to maximise the best possible solutions, adding value and expertise at every stage of a project. Above all we listen and seek to understand the specific needs of every client and project brief. Services Workplace and Interior Design Services: • Workplace Consultancy • Concept Design and Feasibility studies • Interior Design • Space Planning • Building Use Analysis • Furniture Design and Consultancy • Project Delivery
URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
Collaborative Workplace Environment for the Farr Institute / ADRC / IPHSI for Scottish Enterprise Opened in 2011, Nine is a 90,000sqft speculative (BioIncubator) laboratory and office development for Scottish Enterprise at Edinburgh’s BioQuarter. In 2013, Scottish Enterprise commissioned the team to design a collaborative workplace environment for the Farr Institute on the top floor of Nine. The Farr Institute, the final phase of which opened for business during 2015, is a consortium of seven organisations; the Universities of Dundee (lead institution), Edinburgh, Glasgow, Strathclyde, St Andrews and Aberdeen and NHS National Services Scotland. The role of this new organisation is to carry out groundbreaking research into information handling in the life science and health sector. During the very early design discussions, two similar organisations were beginning to show interest in joining the Farr Institute on the top floor, the Administrative Data Research Network Scotland and the Institute of Population Health Sciences & Informatics. It therefore became imperative that the adopted design principles were flexible and open-ended to ensure these organisations could be easily incorporated into what became known as the Farr ‘Research Hotel’.
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Morgan McDonnell Architecture Ltd 5 Advocate’s Close, Edinburgh EH1 1ND Tel: 0131 332 4200 Email: mail@morganmcdonnell.co.uk Web: www.morganmcdonnell.co.uk Twitter: @MM_Architecture Morgan McDonnell Architecture is a multi-award winning Architecture and Interior Design practice based in Edinburgh. Established in 1996, we will celebrate 20 years in business in 2016. As recipients of the prestigious RICS Scottish and UK Project of the Year awards 2015 and the RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award 2014, we pride ourselves on creating intelligent and interesting design solutions for our clients. We work to deliver the finest possible Architecture and Interior Design to make our clients’ buildings the best they can be. We continue to work with all our clients on repeat projects.
Woodcroft, Client name: Queensberry Properties Location: Pitsligo Road, Edinburgh EH10 4RY Woodcroft is a residential development in the heart of one of Edinburgh’s leafiest suburbs, Morningside. The site is divided into 3 phases, the first phase of 81 units consists of 6 townhouses and 21 apartments. Our client Queensberry Properties wanted an Interior Design solution that would exploit these properties to their fullest potential, creating both luxurious well appointed homes with a design edge to ensure they stood out from the competition. The interior scheme has been designed throughout to enhance the spacious feel of the architecture, where floor finishes flow from one space to another and glass doors to the main spaces allow views both through, and out to the leafy surrounding gardens. The design of the contemporary Leicht kitchens in a bold dark graphite palette was streamlined to allow the kitchen to become part of the living space without compromising the relaxed feel of the home. Bathrooms and ensuites followed the same ethos with Villeroy and Boch sanitaryware and freestanding limestone baths in the master ensuite, the purchaser was always kept in mind when designing, to ensure every last detail had been accounted for. The spaces are beautifully lit by natural light from the large floor to ceiling windows, this is seen nowhere more so than the master ensuite within the Townhouse, which recently won the ‘UK Designer Award for Best Bathroom in 2015’.
Services Redevelopment Refurbishment Residential Interior design Commercial Conservation Masterplanning Sustainability House extensions/renovations
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GREY GARDENS MARK CHALMERS
CONCRE T E F EATS WITH ST PETER’S SEMINARY IN THE PUBLIC SPOTLIGHT FOR HINTERLAND, SEE PG 74, BRUTALISM IS NOW BACK IN THE LIMELIGHT, PROMPTING ARCHITECTURAL JOURNALIST MARK CHALMERS TO LOOK AGAIN AT A MUCH MALIGNED STYLE THROUGH THE LENS OF HINDSIGHT. ALONG THE WAY CHALMERS REVISITS PETER WORMERSLEY’S BUILDINGS AS WELL AS CARDROSS AND CUMBERNAULD WHILST FINDING TIME TO REVIEW GREY GARDENS - A DUNDEE CONTEMPORARY ARTS EXHIBITION SEEKING TO ‘REHABILITATE’ BRUTALISM IN THE EYES OF THE PUBLIC.
Blame Reyner Banham … The architecture critic’s final books, A Concrete Atlantis and Scenes in America Deserta, are by turns introspective and lyrical – but he made his name with forceful ideas in, Theory and Design in the First Machine Age and The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic. In 1966, the latter introduced Brutalism to the wider world. Until an idea gains a name, there’s nothing to identify with or react against. Soon after it became Brutalism, this architecture became synonymous with the “brutal” environments of run-down tower blocks, megastructures and deck-access housing. However, its origins lie simply in the French phrase - béton brut – or raw concrete. Brutalist buildings prove that concrete is the universal material. You can build walls, beams, columns, floors, roofs, shafts and stairs from it. Concrete is load-bearing, fire-proof, it can be made waterproof, and you can sculpt it; it can also take any surface from smooth polish to heavy rustication and bas relief. In the popular mind, New Brutalism is a movement from the 1960’s, but its starting point for some are Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitations of 1950’s. For others, it sprang from the “Nybrutalism” coined by Hans Asplund in Sweden at the end of URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
the 1940’s. In fact, by the time Banham’s book was published there were almost two decades’ worth of buildings which might fit the description, so Banham knew it wasn’t a passing fad. 1966 may have been Brutalism’s high water mark, but this generation of buildings has now reached the age when architecture suddenly disappears in a cloud of dust. The High Tech buildings which followed them will be easy to demolish – but the Brutalists built to last and demolishing concreteframed tower blocks takes a great deal of effort and Semtex. Basil Spence’s Hutchesontown “C” towers in the Gorbals were among the first to go, in a controversial explosive demolition which took the life of an onlooker in 1993. At that point, Brutalism was so far out of favour that noone seemed to care about preserving either the buildings or the legacy of those who designed them. Two decades later, the Twentieth Century Society has recognised the best of what remains, a number have been listed and wider interest has grown around a number of websites, books and exhibitions. “Grey Gardens” opened recently at Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) – a new exhibition which explores how concrete architecture from the 1960’s relates to the landscape. It’s an introduction to Scottish Brutalism, using examples drawn >
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Andrew Melville Hall, St Andrews, was on the cutting edge of Brutalist design
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Left - Lubreoch Dam evokes a medieval fortification in the landscape Middle - Twin valve towers jut into the sky Right - Cumbernauld’s much maligned town centre has suffered the indignity of selective demolition to fix some of its design flaws
from Peter Womersley’s work around the Borders, St Peter’s Seminary at Cardross and public art in New Towns such as Glenrothes. It contrasts them against more exotic fare, such as Carlo Scarpa’s Brion Tomb and Edward James’s sculpture garden at Las Pozas. The exhibition forms part of the 2016 Festival of Architecture and although it sidesteps the social and political fall-out of Brutalism, it does demonstrate how muscular concrete was softened through its relationship to the landscape, particularly in the case of houses by Peter Womersley and Morris & Steedman. As you enter the main gallery at DCA, Womersley’s Bernat Klein Studio is the first thing you see. Restoration of the studio appears to have stalled again, but Womersley remains an enigma which has attracted a small band of dedicated fans. They’re less vocal than the champions of Cardross who were taught by Andy and Isi at the Mac, but their forthcoming rewards are a Womersley exhibition and book, due to appear later in the year. The working drawings for the Bernat Klein Studio are fascinating, and force us to look at Womersley in a new light. Dyeline prints from November 1970 show that the studio’s core and floor structure are in-situ concrete, but the columns URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
and balustrade panels are precast. Look more closely and you discover that the gable trusses were changed to steel hollow sections during the design process: so form-making came first for Womersley, well ahead of any sense of purism about materials and process. Grey Gardens culminates during April in a Salon, which will be held in a well-known architect’s former house in a Dundee suburb. There we’ll have the chance to see how the early 1970’s have been carefully preserved, and perhaps find out whether the original spirit of Brutalism survives. Grey Gardens, along with the www.scotbrut.co.uk website; Owen Hatherley’s essay “The Brutishness of British Modernism”; Jonathan Meades’s documentary “Bunkers, Brutalism, Bloodymindedness”; and Jon Grindrod’s book, “Concretopia”, presents Brutalism with a matter-of-fact simplicity. The graphics are simple with flat colours and clean typography, sometimes accompanied by Isotype pictograms of stick figures cycling, walking or dropping litter in bins. All very Sixties. Retro-philia is a powerful force among curators and commissioning editors; perhaps it was inevitable that Brutalism would be re-evaluated. When younger architects discovered it for the first time, they found little to document what it was and what it stood for, apart from a few
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books which were contemporary with the buildings. For that reason, Brutalism is a loose school. If there is a Brutalist canon it probably includes the Barbican in London, Park Hill in Sheffield and the “Get Carter” car park in Gateshead. In Scotland, Cumbernauld Town Centre, the Hunterian Gallery and Leith Fort are among the bestknown. Nonetheless, there are truer examples of the original, Reyner Banham, sense of Brutalism: unadorned concrete with an off-the-shutter finish. Three in particular spring to mind, each one a long way from Brutalism’s usual suspects located in the Comprehensive Development Area (CDA) projects of Glasgow city centre and New Towns spread across Fife, the Lothians and Lanarkshire. First are the hydro schemes in Highland Perthshire, especially Lubreoch Dam in Glen Lyon and Errochty Dam near Calvine, which were designed by civil engineers, with Robert Matthew’s guiding hand hovering over them in the case of the Lyon scheme. There, the architecture grows seamlessly out of massive concrete buttresses which themselves spring from the mountainside. Concrete literally emerges from rock. The reservoir at Errochty is impounded by a diamondheaded buttress dam: at sixteen storeys high and almost threequarters of a kilometre long, it is one of the largest in Europe.
It consists of half a million tons of concrete, and must be considered a true “Fitzcarraldo” undertaking in such a remote, snowbound spot. The ancillary buildings designed by James Shearer are pure Brutalist, sometimes reminiscent of Sigurd Lewerentz’s final projects around Stockholm. The valve towers which grow from Lubreoch Dam rear up high above the glen floor and have glass penthouses, using the same patent glazing which James Stirling used at Andrew Melville Halls in St Andrews during his own Brutalist period. Here, Robert Matthew used rough-cast glass to reveal the forms of motors and winches which control the massive drawoff valves. Béton brut somehow seems more apt for these structures set into the Breadalbane mountains, then for student halls of residence overlooking a golf course. Part of Brutalism’s attraction is that in-situ concrete is a plastic material, limited only by the dexterity of the formwork joiners. At Lubreoch, curved, cubic and faceted geometries are resolved seamlessly. You can achieve almost any form, and the style’s critics miss the point that visual concrete – just like stone and timber – weathers naturally. If detailed correctly (the Concrete Society can help with this), pattern staining and black streaks can usually be avoided. Secondly, although the preservation lobby seized on >
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GREY GARDENS
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The insect-like entrance to the Dollan Baths, East Kilbride
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St Peter’s and after twenty years of effort it looks like the seminary will be preserved by arts organisation NVA, William Kininmonth’s North British whisky bonds in Edinburgh were demolished a decade ago. The irony is that while the seminary suffered from leaks, cold bridges and was problematic almost from day one, the bonds were built to last and their occupants never complained. The bonds comprised a series of massive concrete buildings with small barred windows, and high above, sculptural roofs floating over a glazed clerestorey. The exciseman must have smiled as he drove down Gorgie Road, because their form celebrated their function. Each bond was an impregnable keep for whisky to sleep in over 12 or more years, undisturbed by thieves and cask-tappers. As Malcolm Fraser wrote at the time, the bonds were modern fortresses which said as much about post-War Scotland as Edinburgh Castle says about medieval times. But public opinion chose not to see that, there was no preservation campaign, and Forrest Group demolished them for a Sainsbury’s superstore. That emphasises Brutalism has an image problem – or perhaps, that the bonds were the “wrong kind of Brutalism”… Finally, concrete has become a metaphor for everything that’s wrong with 1960’s housing: run-down, dysfunctional, inhumane buildings which became so-called “sink estates”. The frightening concrete labyrinth of Thamesmead became the backdrop for Stanley Kubrick’s film of “A Clockwork Orange”, and the social engineering at its heart received a bad name from which its house style, the New Brutalism, has never recovered. Despite that, the unique treatment of George McKeith’s Castlehill tower blocks in Aberdeen avoids many of the problems that plain concrete suffers from. Virginia Court and Marischal Court sit behind the Salvation Army Citadel in the Castlegate and command Union Street. Granite rubble was cast into the spandrels, like raisins in a clootie dumpling, to give it a grain that breaks up the streams of rain which would otherwise stain the panels with dirt from the atmosphere. Most Brutalist schemes – the CDA’s, New Towns, Hydro schemes and tower blocks – were commissioned by the state. So this is political architecture, aligned with the progressive social policies of the post-War years. The paradox is that these supposedly utopian schemes (although their designers never described them as such) became dystopian. In re-appraising Brutalism, most authors have acknowledged its deficiencies while pointing to the larger, societal, reasons why some buildings were doomed from the day they were commissioned. Perhaps architecture wasn’t entirely to blame. Is it just coincidence that the collapse of Socialism in the 1980’s also saw a movement against Brutalist architecture in Britain? Home ownership and community architecture sought their own expression in romantic rationalism and the neo-vernacular. The monumental and the concrete were rejected in Scotland, URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
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Clockwise from top left - Bernat Klein Studio High Sunderland, by Peter Womersley; Porthill & Seamount Towers; Owen Luder’s Trinity Square car park, Gateshead & the North British whisky bonds at Westfield Road, Gorgie, by William Kininmonth
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STEVENSON BUILDING JOHN GLENDAY
ECD Architects sought to raise the bar at their latest development URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
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THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW’S CAMPUS MASTER PLAN MAY NOT YET BE FINALISED BUT WORK TO REVITALISE THE ESTATE IS ALREADY UNDERWAY. ITS MOST RECENT ADDITION, THE STEVENSON BUILDING, OFFERS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE WITH A HOST OF BARS AND A FULLY EQUIPPED GYM. HERE WE SEE HOW IT WORKED OUT. PHOTOGRAPHY BY MCATEER. For most people already struggling to stay good on their New Year’s resolution to get down to the local gym the completion of a £13.4m extension to the University of Glasgow’s Stevenson Building promises to make those promises easier to fulfil – even if it also comes complete with three bars. Built on the site of the original Hive nightclub, a tatty post war extension slumped incongruously next to the grandeur of the B-listed Glasgow University Union (GUU), the new build seeks to serve as a gateway to the rapidly evolving campus environment, subject to an ongoing master plan, whilst physically connecting the union to the university’s sporting facilities – previously confined to the pre-existing Stevenson Building. ECD, in conjunction with Page\Park, were constrained by an imperative not to overshadow the GUU whilst still squeezing in enough floor space for four bars, a full-size basketball court, studios, cardiovascular and muscle training facilities - no small ask particularly with the need to marry up level differences between the various sections, something that couldn’t be achieved in all areas due to the need to maintain adequate ceiling heights. To maximise floor space a new ceiling has been installed across a former interior courtyard to create an additional bar and plant room, extending from the outside wall of the GUU to some of the last vestiges of the old Hive building which demarked the former car park which has now been over clad. ECD director Alistair Cameron told Urban Realm: “This was a light well in the middle of the building, an external space. When I came in and saw the drains I thought this could almost be a back alley, there’s a band and DJ area and the walls are used for graffiti to keep everything industrial. We weren’t going to put down flooring and keep the concrete that was there but health and safety were worried it was too slippy. It’s a bit more grungy in feel with corrugated iron on the bar and stainless steel shelves.” Taking Urban Realm down into the new nightclub Cameron said: “They got their own sound guys in and you want to hear this thing when it’s going, ridiculous. When we turned the speakers on I thought ‘no-one’s getting that close’, I think it >
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DESIGN FOR DEMENTIA WITH DEMENTIA RATES SET TO RISE IN COMING YEARS BRE DEMONSTRATE HOW TO BUILD HOMES WHICH CAN MINIMISE THE NEED FOR CLINICAL CARE. Changing demographics, an ageing population, growing pressures on health and social care services, and a national housing shortage, make for an interesting mix of challenges which touch all elements of society and industry sectors. This has led to greater focus being placed on designing, refurbishing and creating dwellings which can support occupants at every stage of their lives, and through illness and changes that are part of the ageing process. It is estimated that some 850,000 people in the UK suffer from Dementia and 70-80% of people living with dementia continue to live in their own homes rather than in any specialised form of housing. With 1 million sufferers of Dementia in the UK predicted by 2025, this is a trend which requires some careful thought in how we develop homes, communities and towns. Over the last two years there has been a national movement towards developing dementia friendly communities and cities with pilot sites across the UK attempting to make towns and cities more accessible and understandable to enable people with dementia to live more independently for longer. This is a broad concept which involves transport, housing, local amenities, shops and businesses and includes training and awareness raising. Recent research carried out by Dr Rob MacDonald (Liverpool John Moores University) and Bill Halsall (Halsall Lloyd Partnership) has focussed not only on adaptations or design features for domestic buildings, but extends to the street, community and town level. Working closely with clients and healthcare professionals, this research has recently been published* and provides thought provoking information on how we adapt our housing and communities to those suffering from Dementia. BRE is collaborating with Liverpool John Moores University and Halsall Lloyd Partnership on the development of a ‘Dementia Home’ demonstration at the BRE Innovation Park (Watford). This dwelling will feature the design concepts developed through
DAA group members participating in the design of the ‘Design for Dementia’ bungalow
the research and will provide an interactive space for healthcare professionals, developers, practitioners and users to visualise design concepts and new technology. In parallel, a ‘Dementia friendly’ refurbishment will be established at BRE’s Innovation Park in Ravenscraig. Working closely with Alzheimer’s Scotland and the University of Stirling, BRE will demonstrate design principles that can be applied to existing dwelling to provide safer and healthier environments for those suffering from Dementia. Creating these examples of design best practice will raise awareness across the sector and provide a unique forum for discussing and debating healthy solutions for the vulnerable within our society. *’Design for Dementia’ (2015) published by Halsall Lloyd Partnership
Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, Glasgow, G75 0RZ Tel: 01355 576200 Fax: 01355 576210 Email: eastkilbride@bre.co.uk
STEVENSON BUILDING
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Clockwise top left - The new look Stevenson dwarfs the former nightclub; a plethora of bars ensure plenty of options for those looking to slake their thirst after a workout; A full size basketball court has been included; A street facing cafe enlivens the Gibson Street facade
could have been used at T in the Park.” The spiritual successor to The Hive began life as a blank canvas upon which the students quickly made their mark, as Cameron recalled: “We did a community consultation and got all of the consultants with posters and we got about 10 folk in, all students. All they said was have we have to have a podium.” Elsewhere a Jack Daniels themed bar has been carved out of the former GUU toilets by interior designers 999. Cameron explained: “The space was there but we didn’t have the budget but because they got Jack Daniels to sponsor it they got money for brick slip walls and timber. We used Jack D bottles for the light fittings so it looks the part.” Rounding out the quartet of new watering holes is a remodelled snooker hall located on the top floor of the original GUU which sees an island bar inserted into the centre of the space. External elevations contain cantilevered sections and other projecting element, ‘the more the engineer whined about it the more enjoyment I got’ Cameron admitted. These flourishes also serve to break up the mass of the building, which is a good two storeys taller than its historic neighbour, so we’ve set it back and from this angle you don’t really see it.” Picking out a key element of the design, a series of chimneys marching down the northern elevation, Cameron
added: “We were looking at the chimneys on Gibson Street which are integral to the Glasgow streetscape so we tried to work that in with columns between big glass panels. It’s got a function as well because all the service ducts for the air conditioning are running up there to free up the floor plates and its drawing air through the building. The only problem is the contractor didn’t order enough stone and the last three layers are obviously a different part of the quarry. That’s an argument still to be had.” Soft landscaping work to Gibson Street will entail tree planting, yew hedging boxes together with ornamental grasses to frame new ashlar stone paving and public seating. Sport facilities are now also massively expanded with an open plan cardiovascular workout area offering students and the wider public an array of state of the art equipment designed to ensure anyone who sets foot inside will soon break into a sweat. This activity is more than apparent to drinkers below as the muffled thuds and bangs of dumbbells hitting the floor which reverberate through the structure. Teething troubles aside the extended Stevenson Building fits into the surrounding streetscape without breaking a sweat, no mean feat for a building of this scale in the middle of a conservation area.
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LIGHT AND LIFE JOHN GLENDAY
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A LONG LOST TRADESTON LANDMARK IS SET TO BE RESURRECTED COURTESY OF A PUBLIC APPEAL TO ERECT A FIBRE GLASS COPY OF A CONCRETE FIGURINE NOW LOST TO HISTORY. ITS TALE RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TREATMENT OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT AND DECORATION SO OFTEN JETTISONED TO CUT COSTS BUT BILL RITCHIE OF ATELIER TEN HAS OTHER IDEAS. HERE WE DETAIL HIS CRUSADE TO PUT RIGHT A MISTAKE FROM THE PAST.
One of the great tragedies of Glasgow is the slow erosion of architectural ornament from buildings which may at first glance appear to have survived the ravages of time relatively intact, with such details often swiftly passing from memory unremarked upon. One of the most striking examples of this is the Light and Life statue which once graced the central dome of the former Co-operative Society warehouse on Morrison Street, since converted into apartments. Unceremoniously cut down in 1996 almost 100 years after it was first put in place in 1897, its whereabouts unknown, following the discovery structural defects in the gold leaf clad cast concrete statue - all that remains to tell of its past life being a 5ft steel stub jutting forlornly into the air. Now however Glaswegians are being asked to stand up and be counted for a community fundraising drive to enable a fibreglass replica of James Alexander Ewing’s ‘Light and Life’ neoclassical figurine is to stand tall once more, exactly 20 years after it was removed. Led by Bill Ritchie, director at Atelier Ten, the crowd funding effort is seeking £28,500 in order to fund a copy currently being crafted by artist Kenny Mackay. Launching the appeal Ritchie commented: “Some of you URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
may have noticed that the two, huge, former Scottish Cooperative Wholesale Society buildings in Morrison Street, beside the Kingston Bridge in Glasgow, have been covered in scaffolding for the last few months while their roofs are being renewed. “What most have sadly forgotten is that the westernmost building most famously featured a gold clad twelve foot tall Neoclassical style statue which adorned the central dome. The ‘Light and Life’ statue, created by James Alexander Ewing in 1897, stood 150ft above street level and used to be a welcoming sight across Glasgow. “On seeing the scaffolding on the building back in October, I thought immediately of the statue and a unique opportunity to reinstate this Glasgow landmark. I contacted Glasgow City Heritage Trust who advised that every penny of grant funding had been allocated to the ongoing roof repair and it was unlikely that anything could be done before the scaffolding was removed. Robin Webster was kind enough though to put me in touch with the renowned artist Kenny Mackay who had already drafted plans for a replacement. Kenny’s more famous work includes the statue of Donald Dewar at the top of Buchanan St, the timorous beasties manifestation outside Princess Square >
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Artist Kenny MacKay sees eye to eye with Ritchie on the restoration
LIGHT AND LIFE
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Left - The statue was already gone by the time residential conversion work began Right - Ritchie is in a race against time before scaffolding is removed
and the James Braidwood statue on the Royal Mile.” As Urban Realm went to press the project had raised £3,840 toward its £28,500 target with a deadline for pledges set for 18 April. Anyone stumping up a contribution of £100 or more will be immortalised in the form of a plaque displayed in the foyer. Ritchie added: “Many individuals have generously offered their time and materials to get this project to this stage. Atelier Ten’s in house lighting designers have created a concept to illuminate the statue, whilst our friend Angus at Cartwright Lighting Associates has provided the LED luminaires which will illuminate the statue from the base. Emtec have offered their time and materials to install the lighting whilst John Bethune at structural engineers Woolgar Hunter has created a solution to ensure that the
statue has a steadfast home. “We would like to reach out to our local community to help support the reintroduction of the statue and be part of the architectural footprint of our city. With the generosity of those mentioned above, the cost of the project is now reduced largely to materials including the steel and clay employed to create the mould, the resin skin and of course a 23 carat gold leaf covering.” Though planning permission is already in place the project team are now engaged in a frantic race to complete the statue before the removal of scaffolding later in April upon completion of ongoing roof repairs. The resulting initiative proves that even for buildings in their second century of life time never stands still and that it is not too late for those who care to stand up and be counted.
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SCOTTISH DESIGN AWARDS JOHN GLENDAY
THIS YEAR’S COTERIE OF SCOTTISH DESIGN AWARD ENTRANTS MAY BE A DIVERSE BUNCH BUT THEY ALL HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON; AN ASSIDUOUS ATTENTION TO DETAIL. HERE WE PREVIEW SOME OF THE CHIEF CONTENDERS FOR A PRIZE AHEAD OF THE FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE WINNERS ON 25 MAY. WHATEVER THE OUTCOME OF THAT PROCESS THE PHOTOGRAPHS PRESENTED HERE SHOW THAT EVERYONE IS ALREADY A WINNER.
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©MARK O’CONNOR
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The Zinc House by LJR+H chartered architects proves that metal doesn’t have to be heavy
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SCOTTISH DESIGN AWARDS
The Hunter Health Centre by Reiach & Hall in East Kilbride employs warm brick similar to that of nearby St Bride’s Church
With the 19th Scottish Design Awards looming Urban Realm takes a look behind the scenes at the judging process as deliberations got underway for the showpiece event, with 90 submissions this year it proved a tough ask to obtain consensus for awards, nominations and commendations. Sitting in on the process we take a look at what it takes to be successful on the awards circuit with some pointers delivered straight from the judges. Reliant on the quality of the images some tips for success. It’s always surprising how many schemes are submitted without floorplans, or even accompanying text. Judging chair Heinz Richardson, board director at Jestico + Whiles URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
added: “I will be looking for design that pushes the boundaries, addresses issues of sustainability and strives for excellence. Clarity of communication will be key. “If you spend five minutes on 90 schemes it’s an awful lot of time, you have to cut to the chase. If you just bung a lot of photos together, without any story behind it, then there’s nothing to say how well any of these have performed in terms of their budgets or anything like that. In the limited time available you’ve got to get through to what the idea is and what makes this project special. “One of the difficulties of judging things like this is that you’re doing it on the basis of what people submit. On
a very superficial level presentation is critical when you’re reliant on how well the project is communicated.” Duncan Swinhoe, managing principle at Gensler told Urban Realm: “It’s difficult when you don’t have the key drawings. We try to focus on how design affects human behaviour and how it can enhance it. It’s trying to get down to the purpose of the programme and the use and have that drive the architecture. An interesting quote I heard which is that ‘form follows friction’ This idea of creating a narrative and an experience and wrapping the design experience around that and moulding it into the programme.” Amongst an eclectic mix of submissions to go before the judges this
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Architectural submissions in alphabetical order are: 1 West Regent Street, Ryder (commercial) 110 Queen Street, Cooper Cromar (commercial) All Saints Green, Carson & Partners (residential) Annan House, Cooper Cromar (commercial) Balmwell Terrace, ISA (affordable) Balyett Stranraer Gateways, AHR (low cost) Bloomfield House, Marc Kilkenny Architects (commercial) Braehouse, Manson (residential) Carnwath Primary, Morgan Sindall (education) Carson & Partners office, Carson & Partners (commercial) Centre for Virus Research, Sheppard Robson (health) City Link Festival, Here + Now C.I.C (regeneration) City of Glasgow College, Michael laird & Reiach & Hall (education) Cramond Primary, HarrisonStevens (education) Dollar Academy Modern Languages Building, Page\Park (education) East Shore Student Residences, Carson & Partners (residential) Glasgow Fort (phase 2), Cooper Cromar (retail) Glasgow Women’s Library, Collective (regeneration, culture) Grandholm Mill, Aberdeen, Tinto Architecture (commercial) Harraby Community Campus, Atkins (education) Hunter Health Centre, Reiach & Hall (health) Laggan Locks, North Laggan, Sean Douglas & Gavin Murray (low cost) Lairdsland Primary (see pg 56), Walters & Cohen (education) Paisley Community Safety Hub, Collective (commercial) Parc Craigmillar, HarrisonStevens (regeneration) year were a timber pyramid, seasonal canal kiosks and a school which has banished all corridors. Penny Lewis, masters studio tutor at Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and the Built Environment commented: “Today architects are working in a very difficult climate in which constraints on budget and time are often the main considerations in the commissioning of new buildings. In this context architects that struggle to produce work that is programmatically, formally and spatially rich should be rewarded.” Winners of the 2016 Scottish Design Awards will be revealed on the Urban Realm website on the evening of the 25 May following a gala dinner at the Radisson Hotel, Glasgow.
Parkview, Page\Park (residential) Portsoy Boat House, Brown + Brown (regeneration) Pyramid Viewpoint, BTE, (public) Ronald McDonald House, Govan, Keppie (health) Saunders Centre, Glasgow, Page\Park, (education) Sighthill Glasgow, Collective (affordable, regeneration) Somerset House extension, NOMAD RDC (education) St Bride’s Primary, Stallan Brand (education) St Enoch Subway Station, AHR (regeneration) Suburban House extension, Edinburgh, Capital A Architecture (low cost) Sumburgh Head Lighthouse, Groves-Raines (public) The Kettle, Roots Architecture (low cost) Tigh na Croit, HLM (residential) Zinc House, University of Dundee & LJR+ H (residential)
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SCOTTISH DESIGN AWARDS
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01 - Lagagn Locks, North Laggan, by Sean Douglas & Gavin Murray 02 - Sumburgh Head Lighthouse by Groves Raines Architects 03 - Centre for Virus Research, University of Glasgow, Sheppard Robson 04 - Dollar Academy Modern Languages Building, Page\ Park 05 - Paisley Community Safety Hub, Collective Architecture 06 - Bloomfield House, Dublin, Mark Kilkenny Architects
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IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY… NESTLED IN A BEAUTIFUL WOODLAND SETTING, ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY’S NEW NURSERY WOULD CERTAINLY BE A WELCOME SURPRISE FOR ANY YOUNG EXPLORER. Designed by BMJ Architects, the space makes the most of the natural wilderness on its doorstep by blurring the boundaries between inside and out. Strong visual links have been created between internal and external spaces, encouraging the children to enjoy hands-on learning in an outdoor setting. Carefully considered design features include an internal open street linking play spaces, ‘hold-open’ devices on doors and de-scaled elevations, all of which encourage children to take ownership of their environment. Meanwhile, Narnia doors and playful signage bring a fun element to this unique space. Chameleon sheet metal cladding panels create an inviting entrance to the nursery, while the use of Scotlarch timber cladding helps to synthesise the building with its woodland context. Of course, the best design must be functional as well as beautiful, and the finished building boasts a Passivhaus construction and high performing Val-UTherm kit, resulting in EPC A+ rating. The finished building not only offers a warm and safe space for staff, parents and children, but an inspirational home from home for inquisitive young minds.
Architect: BMJ Architecture Product: Scotlarch timber cladding Profile: RW102 Photography: Courtesy of BMJ Architecture
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GOT A QUESTION CALL US, ASK AN EXPERT
Russwood Ltd, Station Sawmill Newtonmore, Scotland, PH20 1AR T: 01540 673 648 E: mail@russwood.co.uk www.russwood.co.uk
09/03/2016 14:08
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01- Harraby Community Campus, Atkins 02 - Tigh-na-Croit, Gorstan, HLM 03 - Balmwell Terrace, Edinburgh, ISA 04 - City Link Festival, Here + Now C.I.C
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NEW HEADQUARTERS FOR THE SCOTCH WHISKY ASSOCIATION Akp were delighted to act as the principal contractor for a prestigious fit out project at the Scotch Whisky Association’s new corporate headquarters in the Quartermile, Edinburgh. They were moving from their traditional premises in Atholl Crescent in the New town to this exciting new building. The move itself was initiated to provide staff with a better working environment and showcase the industry as up-to-date and progressive but still rooted within its traditions. The Scotch Whisky Association’s role is to advance the global interests and profile of scotch whisky, their members and of the industry as a whole. The new offices gave them a modern building giving them room to expand in the future. The main office space was designed as open plan with a wide variety of meeting rooms, breakout areas and seminar settings. This gave the client a flexible modern working environment catering for their existing and future needs. This included building several smaller offices,
kitchen, communication room and a new boardroom with special acoustic and double glazed partitions for sound integrity. Mechanical & electrical work consisted of special ventilation and feature dimmable lighting throughout. The kitchen and breakout zones were designed as relaxing areas. A large element of the project was bespoke joinery including a special reception desk and a feature display wall with graphics depicting the routes of the whisky trade. This glass and LED lit wall will be used to display the various types of whisky manufacturers that the company represent. The reception area included a bespoke reception desk, coat store and feature lighting. The offices were finished with high quality flooring and decoration. The project was built under SKA rating to ensure flexible, environmental offices. We were delighted to be working with the design team of Jones Lang LaSalle, Michael Laird Architects and rsp consulting engineers on this extremely prestigious project.
akp Scotland Limited, 3 Redheughs Rigg, Edinburgh EH12 9DQ Tel: 0131 516 7705 Email: enquiries@akpscotland.com Web: www.akpscotland.com
SCOTTISH DESIGN AWARDS
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01- Parkview, Dundee, Page\Park 02 - 1 West Regent Street, Glasgow, Ryder 03 - St Bride’s Primary, Cambuslang, Stallan Brand 04 - Sighthill, Glasgow, Collective Architecture 05 - Saunders Centre, Glasgow, Page\Park
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LAIRDSLAND PRIMARY JOHN GLENDAY
IT’S SET NEW STANDARDS FOR SCHOOL DELIVERY IN EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE BUT WHAT IS IT ABOUT WALTER & COHEN’S WORK THAT HAS SEEN IT BE SO WELL RECEIVED? URBAN REALM GOES FOR A WANDER ROUND THE CANALSIDE PRIMARY TO FIND OUT.
PUSH I NG T HE BOAT OUT It’s set new standards for schools delivery in East Dunbartonshire but what is it precisely about Walters & Cohen’s work that has been so well received? Urban Realm takes a tour around the canal side primary to find out. Speaking to Urban Realm Michal Cohen of Walters & Cohen said: “We started this in early 2000 by looking at the way people learn and what kind of spaces that needed to happen in, We were involved in the exemplar process in England and then in 2011 we got a call from the Scottish Futures Trust to say they were running a competition for a reference scheme, was it something we were interested in tendering for? It was very different to England where they said ‘here is an accommodation schedule, tell us what is going to be happening in education in the 21st century’. What they did here was they said ‘here is the curriculum for excellence, what kind of spaces do we need?’ It was very open, they just said what kind of areas can be scalable and laid out the workspace parameters.” Walters & Cohen went head-to-head with Reiach & Hall to land the commission with East Dunbartonshire Council came on board in an effort to move away from the limitations of the old school, marooned by a sea of tarmac. The local authority was ultimately so pleased with what they got that they agreed to build it out. Cohen added: “They wanted to see that within the > URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
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Walters & Cohen have shaken up the playbook for schools delivery
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LAIRDSLAND PRIMARY
Left - Michal Cohen chats to the most important people at Lairdsland Right - A stacked profile was settled upon to maximise civic impact
curriculum for excellence they could build schools within the current metrics and costs, which at that stage (2010/11) were around £2,350 per sq/m for seven and a half sq/m per pupil, more than the comparable standards for building in England. The Scottish Curriculum for Excellence standards are really clever in encouraging independence where learners are selfdirected to a certain extent and work in teams. When you see it played out it’s much more about doing rather than sitting and being spoken at. “We decided to go with a two storey option; I often find that an additional storey gives a feeling of progress and space. It also allows the school to be more cohesive internally instead of a sprawling space. The school came from somewhere with no space at all and they need green. There is no green roof or photovoltaics, it was all a balance between affordability and sustainability. “When we started designing it one of the first things we did with the parents and governors was to discuss where the school should be positioned. We could have put it closer to the road for visibility but it would overshadow the playing fields and the nicest part of it which is the canal. This was the most important element for us, to engage with the canal, health and URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
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safety aside. If we were in Europe we’d put decks and things out into the water. There’s a low fence but only so the outdoor learning area can be used by pupils independently. From the first floor deck you feel so close to the canal so you can stand in the building and experience the canal without being outside.” The canal side elevation has been conceived as a ‘window advertisement’ for the school and its work with picture windows showcasing pupil art and offering canal users a glimpse of life within. Clad in render and larch the build seeks to harmonise with the neighbouring offices of East Dunbartonshire Council. Cohen remarked: “There are some local authorities in London that won’t let us clad buildings in timber because they’ve had bad experiences under cheap design and build contracts where it hasn’t weathered well. What’s really interesting is that some of the oldest buildings in this country are timber and they’re perfect. The building sits with the new council buildings so the scale had to be appropriate. It’s a little public enclave with a different scale and materiality to the surroundings.” Guiding Urban Realm to the public front of the building Cohen pointed to custom murals which have been integrated into the fixed fabric of the school. Cohen said: “We wanted to avoid a completely flat site and we had a lot of soil that was going to cost an awful lot to cart away so we decided to come up to this level so it’s not a flat pancake site. We were able to separate the parking from the visitor entrance, although we’ve got more asphalt than I’d like. What’s really nice is that although the budget was tight we still managed to get good planting from Igloo Landscape to make sure that when the school opened there would be flowering plants. During the whole build
process there was a swan’s nest close to the site but not only did the swan come back but it had cygnets.” Outdoor spaces were critical to the success of the design with the architects pushing for their inclusion against a sceptical client and end users concerned as to their usability in the depths of a Scottish winter (or indeed Summer). To get round this South African born Cohen included outdoor spaces both north and south, ensuring that at least one side is sheltered from the prevailing wind. Cohen shies away from the term ‘exemplar’ when describing her practices work, referring to the project as a set of ideas, centred on the minimisation of wasted space and corridors. She said: “We have a corridor and classrooms with learning happening in formal and much less formal situations. The communal spaces are shared between all the classrooms on each floor so there is a movement between the classroom and the informal spaces including the smaller spaces for one to ones and the outdoor spaces in the summer. There are no doors between the classrooms so it’s really easy to move and the acoustics are brilliant, we didn’t want any space to be solely circulation so the toilets open onto each classroom. Tables can be pulled apart for little one to ones or pushed together and there are also little amphitheatre seats for group learning. “ Each classroom has a dedicated outdoor space with decks on the first floor, although Cohen insists that there is no modular building utilised here: “I have a real passion that that kind of standardisation is wrong. In the teaching areas it probably is scalable but what happens on either end. The way it looks and integrates with its surroundings is fundamental. I don’t think >
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Activities spill over from the classroom into shared access spaces, eliminating the need for corridors
you’d always have that luxury. We’ve been designing schools for 15 years, we have an innate feeling for the right kind of formal and informal space size. You can give or take 10sq/m and it’s not wildly different. Everybody is anxious that things don’t get out of hand with regard to costs but it’s also about maintaining the schools. You’ve got to be careful that what you’re putting in is right for learning and is not going to be expensive to maintain.” Facilities on offer include a full size sports hall opening out to an external terrace, as Cohen remarked: “… maybe it didn’t need to be quite so high, but it made sense from the volumes. These double doors open up into the hall so that it feels like one completely open space all the way up with younger pupils on the ground floor; everything opens out onto informal learning areas. We always try to double up on the use of things so the cooking kiosk acts as a space for functions in the hall and the stairs can be used as a little theatre. We’ve used this type of staircase before, the first school we ever did it in was down in east London and the y used this as a permanent gallery so they always had different works of art.” A series of wet spaces and partition walls for subdividing the cavernous main hall for more intimate purposes, such as music lessons, are also included. “There are no nooks and crannies it’s all useable floor area”, explains Cohen. Children like URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
to sit on the floor so why not give them space to do so in those areas? I love looking out at the view of the canal and the hills covered in snow, or with swans under the trees in full leaf.” Interior spaces are painted bright red at the behest of pupils inspired by the Jolly Rodger, the boat berthed just outside in the marina, as Cohen explained: “The pupils said we’ve got to do it on the colours of the boats in the marina. This contrasts with the sober classical form of the collonaded exterior. With all this open plan space acoustic performance was a priority for the architects, who worked hand in glove with their sound engineers to get the right amount of absorption in every space. Cohen said: “It’s incredible the difference in sound, you don’t close those doors at all now. Cohen concludes: “It’s a public building on the most extraordinary stretch of water, I don’t think we’ll ever do another building which has water on two sides. It’s a community, there are about 300 pupils here, but it’s not noisy and that’s the most brilliant thing about it. It feels right.” It was the canal which made the town and now the town has come back to its canal, embracing the scheduled ancient monument with a solution that is as snug as it is imposing and ensuring that Kirkintilloch no longer turns its back on its greatest asset.
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Clockwise from top - One pupil commutes to school by boat; Walls have been torn down to create expansive open plan learning areas; Full height glazing reaches out to the canal; authorities sought to create a radically new environment
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CARBUNCLE TOWN JOHN GLENDAY
ROAD
MO V I E
AHEAD OF THE RELEASE OF A NEW FILM DOCUMENTING THE CARBUNCLE AWARDS WE PAY A RETURN VISIT TO DENNY TO SEE WHAT HAS CHANGED FOR THE BETTER AND WHAT STILL NEEDS TO BE DONE IN THE ONLY TOWN EVER TO HAVE GONE OUT ON A LIMB TO REQUEST THE INFAMOUS PLOOK ON THE PLINTH.
The Carbuncle Awards have been on the go for over a decade now, hitting the headlines in towns as diverse as Cumbernauld, John ‘o’ Groats and Aberdeen but the story behind these visits has gone untold - until now. Film maker and cinematographers Adam Barnett and Ann of independent production company Out of the Blue have been following Urban Realm for the past five years to bring all the grit and grime onto the big screen via the world’s worst road movie: Carbuncle Town. This fly on the wall documentary tracks the Carbuncles team from the early nominations through to the media scrum at the final Plook handover. Barnett stated: “Carbuncle Town is a film about people and buildings, and why you should never underestimate either. In this documentary we delve into the gritty, poignant, and often humorous world of places tarred with the title, ‘the most dismal town in Scotland’! “What emerges is more than a lampoon at urban rejuvenation. This affectionate story brings sharply into focus the rough and tumbles of local politics, from the professionally motivated to the plucky amateurs, unafraid to speak their minds. Characters emerge that are rarely celebrated in everyday life, people who are fighting to bring back dignity to their town centre and its residents. Are they fighting a losing URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
battle? Or could the Carbuncle award ultimately help to save their towns? Above all this film shines a light on the huge chasm between those who make town planning decisions, and the people who have to live with the consequences.” Prominently featured in the film is the fate of Denny, Falkirk, which to this day stands as the only award ‘winner’ to have voluntarily accepted the Plook on the Plinth trophy after being originally cast as a runner-up. Brian McCabe, an independent councillor for Denny and Banknock at Falkirk Council who took a lead role in that decision, told Urban Realm: “I don’t think we’ve moved on in terms of improving the town centre but the Carbuncle was definitely a positive thing because it engendered a community spirit. A lot of people, particularly in the administration, felt it was a disgrace that we were bringing this embarrassment to Denny but quite the reverse the Carbuncle was actually a positive thing to bring together the community spirit. Unfortunately we don’t have the town centre to match that community spirit. “I’m going to get in touch with Nicola Sturgeon to personally intervene because we’re being treated abysmally by Falkirk Council.” Of chief concern to McCabe are plans for a second phase of development on the site of the notorious Church Walk blocks, >
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Left - Demolition was a long time in coming Right - The documentary has been five years in the making
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CARBUNCLE TOWN
Above - The rhubarb and custard blocks received their just desserts Below - A bemused Alex Neil, cabinet secretary for communities, surveys the Plook
demolished in the aftermath of the 2010 award. At present County Properties, are bidding £433k for the land necessary to build a 15,000sq/ft B&M store, with the caveat that should any untoward soil conditions be uncovered then these costs would be subtracted from the purchase cost. McCabe said: “The council and the developer of phase one had to pay something like £1.3m for the road. Developers for phase two had said they weren’t paying a £700k contribution because it would put the purchase of the site, which is only worth £500k, into negative equity. So the council decided it would pick up the tab. That for me has set up a loophole for every other developer to say they can’t afford it. So straightaway the road, which was always on the never-never, is now even further in the never-never. McCabe railed: “It’s basically a big warehouse. It’s a retail park solution stuck in the middle of my town centre and there is no integration between the phases. I’d hoped to stop Craig’s Chalet (an Alpine-like retail addition named in dishonour after council leader Craig Martin) which is now in the process of being built. What I have to do is stop the building of a shed. What happens if B&M say we’re not interested? We then have a shell.” Denny’s travails have been compounded by a lack of vision in pushing forward an ambitious regeneration rather >
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Denny has taken a hammering in recent years
than a scant reorganisation of retail units. It is a mystery why the council has not attempted to replace some of the homes that were lost, McCabe added: “People would even prefer just leaving it for a couple of years to see what can be done. Falkirk Council is desperate to get up and running with this so they can market phase one based on developments in phase two. They’re running scared that they cannot lease it, the only tenants they have at the moment are the library, Café Anton the two chemists and Lloyds TSB. “I met Malcolm Fraser on a couple of occasions, the town centres guru personally appointed by Nicola Sturgeon to look at town centres, when I tried to get Malcolm to engage very nice guy, sympathetic but he said I can’t get involved. If the Scottish Towns Partnership had any sense they could have used Denny as a role model for a town on its knees with derelict blocks knocked down serving as a blank canvas. I’m sure Denny could have become a role model, as it is it has become a shit model.” Denny’s long drawn out battle to secure much needed regeneration highlights the challenges that exist in adapting to 21st century life, something that the addition of a B&M is unlikely to help with. As the same chain is available to shoppers in Larbert, Stirling and Glasgow there is little reason for people to make their way to Denny specifically. This was an opportunity for Denny to create some home grown businesses that can’t be found elsewhere. Ultimately nobody is going to go to Denny for a B&M store and it’s that lack of vision which highlights the deficiencies attached to apparently just crossing your fingers and hoping something lands on your lap. Ultimately what Carbuncle Town shows is that whilst the specific circumstances blighting many areas may differ the solutions are often remarkably similar, boiling down to a strong community buy-in, leadership and a robust economic background – raw enthusiasm alone is not enough. URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
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Denny hopes to claw back ground from regional rivals
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HACK CONSTRUCT RYAN TENNYSON
THE FIRST HACK CONSTRUCT EVENT TO BE HELD OUTSIDE LONDON HAS BEEN HELD BUT DID IT ACHIEVE? HERE HERE RYAN TENNYSON OF BIM TECHNOLOGIES OUTLINES WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE TECH COMMUNITY JOINS FORCES WITH CONSTRUCTION PROFESSIONALS OVER ONE WILD WEEKEND OF BEER, CODING AND SOCIALISING.
The concept of hackathons being a means to unlock new ideas and digital solutions in the UK construction industry is relatively new, but such events have helped fuel and fast-track innovation and start-ups in the tech industry for close to a decade. It is evident the construction industry is becoming increasingly digitised, which necessitates wider engagement with people having very different, diverse skill sets and experience, in order to deliver new digital tools and software solutions. Construction hackathons are a means to create such engagement in an open environment, with benefits being twofold; exposing talented software developers, data scientists, web designers and gamers to opportunities in an alternative sector, whilst giving industry professionals a glimpse into what can be achieved through involving different people, technologies and skillsets. Hack_Construct, Scotland’s first construction focused hackathon, recently took place at the Whisky Bond, Glasgow over the 26th – 28th February 2016, at the instigation of Darren Lester, founder of SpecifiedBy, and Ryan Tennyson, an associate at WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, and member of the CIC BIM2050 group. Prior to this event only two other UK construction > URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
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Left - Laptops at the ready attendees crack a series of data driven challenges Right - The initiative builds relationships between tech and construction
hackathons had been held in London in 2015, both funded by Innovate UK and the Digital Catapult Centre. Supported primarily by The Construction Scotland Innovation Centre and the Data Lab, the Glasgow Hack_ Construct event kicked off on the Friday night with Ryan and Darren outlining the programme, challenge partners and themes to a crowd of around 65 participants and invited guests, some travelling from as far as Dublin and London. A few of the partners in attendance launched their challenges live, whilst others based in London and San-Francisco recorded launch videos, and pre-loaded data onto the dedicated Hack_ Construct Slack channels (a free web based communication app) and Google doc drive. The four main partnering organisations and challenge themes were: Mind the GAP by Innovate UK - Exploring the building performance gap utilising open data from the Building Data Exchange (BDX) Flux.io by Google X - Creating seamless exchange of data across platforms with the new Flux SDK released publicly for the first time anywhere in the world at this event. Quartz Project - An open database of composition, health hazard and environmental impact data for building products, supported by Google and Flux. Geni Loci - Challenged to develop a digital built heritage URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
solution to satisfy multiple user needs, linking existing silos of information and new content, using cloud based database environments and latest gaming technology. During pre-build up and at the launch, the Hack_Construct ethos and objectives were simply outlined which helped establish the right event atmosphere and outputs. Namely to create open, digital solutions for today’s real world, construction industry problems; establish an open platform for knowledge transfer and development of new eclectic and professional networks across diverse industry sectors and develop a framework which supports AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) in terms of digital upskilling, innovation funding and advanced technology development. By Friday close the attendees had begun to naturally form into five mixed industry groups in different areas of the event space, to each develop initial discussions and ideas around one of the four challenges themes. Some enthused discussions carried on into the night on the dedicated challenge Slack app channels. Day two kicked off with over 45 attendees at the venue by 9am, powered by Scottish Stoats porridge products and a steady flow of caffeine. Over the course of the day it was interesting to note how the dynamics and roles within each team varied, and consequently evolved. A few teams identified a construction industry need or problem early on and started
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to consider how existing software could be adapted to develop possible solutions, whereas others, primarily the tech heavy teams, started to develop software code to analyse the quality and consistency of challenge data first, which then started to identify industry gaps, trends or problems. Each approach was neither absolute nor incorrect, but to a degree influenced and choreographed by collective background and experience strengths within each team. Throughout Saturday cross- industry mentors spent time with each of the five teams to soundboard the developing ideas, offer experience and advice, and ensure a practical and balanced approach was undertaken. The teams worked solidly to late evening, and over pizza and beers each presented their challenge ideas and hopeful solutions by the final Sunday presentations. By midday Sunday the teams were finalising their presentations and testing new alpha code and software. Some delegates had worked into early hours off site to develop data analysis software, a phone/ tablet app and a cloud based user dashboard. Final presentations and judging followed an interesting talk by Roman Popat, the weekend in-house data scientist from the Data Lab. Entitled ‘Combinatorial Communication’ he discussed data interpretation and analysis in other industries, highlighting techniques, including the utilisation of simple software, to present data in highly powerful
and informative ways. The judges panel representing a cross industry mix of experts from WSP | PB, Construction Scotland Innovation Centre, Innovate UK, The Data Lab and SpecifiedBy, carefully considered and questioned each of the five teams proposals for ‘Best Team’, ‘Best Tech’ and ‘Best Overall Innovation’ awards. The final proposals by five teams; inFlux, Gap Max, RDD (realtime design dashboard), Geni Loci and Quartz & All, were varied, covering different industry aspects and problems. inFlux, which won the Best Team award, developed a concept web/ app based platform for capturing data information at the early stages of a project. Using the Flux tool, models biodirectionally linked to databases could self-develop massing layouts at concept stage, or populate FM datasets straight from the model at pre-handover stage. Both the RDD (Best Tech Award) and Quartz & All teams utilised the Quartz database to develop software applications that could be used to identify and reduce proportional levels of hazardous materials in products at design stage, and to manage the Health & Safety process of product installation during construction. The challenge was to develop a digital built heritage tool that satisfied multiple user needs, linking existing silos of information and encouraging new content, using cloud based database environments and latest gaming technology. The judges were impressed by this team’s collective enthusiasm, >
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Left - Architect Natasha Huq was on hand to dole out advice Right - Delegates take a well-earned screen break
experience and skillsets, which over the course of the weekend developed a concept solution into a potentially marketable platform, complete with supporting technology and integrated apps. Post win there have been discussions with Innovate UK and Construction Scotland Innovation Centre regarding funding opportunities to further develop the solution. The challenge setter and group leader, Natasha Huq Architect, is aiming to trial the platform in an ongoing project with Edinburgh Old Town Development Trust, as part of the community engagement element of the Edinburgh World Heritage “Twelve Closes Project”. Natasha notes: “We’d like to see recent developments in technology being applied in an accessible and useful way to encourage ongoing community engagement and bring alive the stories of the Closes, not just for tourists but for everyone interested in our built heritage.” Overall the first Hack_Construct event was a ultimate success in many ways, with new code and software developed during the event openly available via Github.com, and innovative concept solutions being developed further with potential funding, into new digital tools for industry. Stephen Good, chief executive of the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre, a key partner of the event, said: “The Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC), one of 8 innovation centres in Scotland mainstreaming collaboration URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
between industry and academia, is supporting Hack_Construct as it recognises the potential for hackathons to unlock innovation, explore novel ideas and create new platforms to engage academia & industry around common challenges. This hackathon, the first of many, has the opportunity to unlock the construction industry’s latent innovation potential and we’re excited to see where this approach could take the industry in the future.” Since the event the founders have had very positive feedback from the attendees, sponsors and the challenge providers, and are in discussion to deliver similar open source UK construction hackathons later in 2016. Both are currently developing options and exploring potential funding avenues to develop Hack_Construct (www.hackconstruct.com) into a wider cross industry and network platform to promote open innovation and help accelerate the production of new digital tools for the AEC industry. Acknowledgements Key Partner: Construction Scotland and Innovate Centre Supporting Partners: The Data lab, Innovate UK, KTN, BIM 2050 Sponsors and Supporters: WSPB | PB, SpecifiedBy, S1 Jobs, Venturefest Scotland 3D printed awards: Hobs Studio
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HINTERLAND JOHN GLENDAY
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IT HAS LAIN SHROUDED IN DARKNESS SINCE THE LATE 1980’S BUT NOW ST PETER’S SEMINARY HAS BEEN THRUST BACK INTO THE LIMELIGHT FOR NVA’S LATEST MEDLEY OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE. WE LOOKS OVER THE RESURRECTED RELIC TO SEE IF AN OLD FAVOURITE HAS BEEN SHOWN IN A NEW LIGHT, OR WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER LEFT IN THE DARK.
HINTERLAND News that the future of Gillespie Kidd & Coia’s modernist masterpiece St Peter’s Seminary has been secured following the award of a £4.2m grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Creative Scotland has been well received, not least by public arts body NVA and its partners; Nord and Avanti architects alongside landscape architects ERZ, who have spent the past eight years getting the project to this stage, so has it been worth the wait? The grant funding will enable NVA to press ahead with an ambitious plan to transform the crumbling structure, purpose built as a college for students of theology, into an arts and heritage destination following the sell-out success of the public art event Hinterland. Marking not only a half century since the modernist masterpieces construction, but also the 150th anniversary of the construction of the original baronial mansion which once stood on the site, the timely cash injection will enable the site to be sensitively restored and consolidated to provide a venue for events, performances and other activities. The 10-day public art event welcomed 7,500 people over the course of its run, as NVA seeks to broaden the site’s appeal beyond architectural anoraks by bathing the brutalist structure in monochromatic light and specially commissioned music to signal the commencement of work to partially restore the building by 2018.
© ALAN MCATEER
Left - Past explorers have left their mark
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Asked about the naming strategy behind the event NVA’s creative director Angus Farquhar said: “Hinterland is usually the area behind a coast where there is lower population. We try to translate from the German as ‘behind land’ or ‘backwater’. From here it’s a slightly ironic usage because the reality is there is a lot going on here and it used to be populated, we’ll be bringing that population back. “The other connection was the classic Denis Healey putdown of Margaret Thatcher where he looked at her imperiously and said ‘she has no hinterland’. Hinterland is all of the knowledge that gives you breadth of character beyond your specialism. Healey said Thatcher was a train on a track, it was all politics and power. Famously she couldn’t even choose music for Desert Island Discs, picking ‘How Much is that Doggy in the Window’. For me Hinterland represents a place where you can gain wider knowledge. Drawing a cross section of visitors from around the UK and beyond, including 600 locals from the village during a free preview night, not just the usual suspect architectural anoraks). “I think that would account for about four per cent of the audience,” Farquhar laughs: “It’s a very diverse group of people who come and see us. I can only typify it as people who are open minded and up for a bit of adventure.” Farquhar is less amused at comparisons with other recent light shows such as the Enchanted Forest, pointing
Middle - Glowing peepholes invite the curious Right - A swinging chalice reminscent of a thurible took centrestage
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out that NVA were amongst the first to pioneer the concept and arguing that they’ve yet to be bettered. “That’s a really, really insulting thing to say,” Farquar notes: “The Enchanted Forest started as a pastiche of the paths that we did in 2000. We wrote the book in terms of outdoor public artwork and there have been many weak copies since. If you look at the production values and aesthetics of these works they are just cheap illuminations of nature. Our work has seriousness, purpose and intent. It’s not a light show we are public art with light as one of our mediums.” This saw NVA commission a choral work composed by Rory Boyle and performed by St Salvator’s Chapel Choir from the University of St Andrews that accompanies key scenes, drawing inspiration from 19th century chanting as well as more modern traditions to offer a modern echo of the site’s sacral history. Meticulously synchronised with a sequence of projections and light installations, prepared by Glasgow arts collective 85a, these comprise the sole live elements of the event to accompany the bespoke elements within the space. As a building in transition the seminary remains in a raw state but this only serves to accentuate what is an incredibly dynamic space to explore by night. Farquhar said: “Some people find the space beguiling, others threatening. I’ve learned never to second guess how an audience responds it’s very much down to the individual with this type of work. We’ve
declared this work as a manifesto which shows what can be done with the space. It’s in our minds that when we commission future work people respond to what is there. If it’s a blockbuster show that can be shown in any black box in Glasgow there would be no point in staging it.” As a temporary work none of the Hinterland installations will be retained however a series of further interventions is planned through to 2018 to ensure that the complex retains its interest throughout work to stabilise and conserve the structure. “I often think that when buildings are behind hoardings they are actually at their most interesting”, said Farquhar. “I remember seeing pictures of Andy Scott’s horses when they were half built and thinking they were in some ways more interesting in that semi-state. I like to give the public access when things are closed off and get away from that culture of risk where everything has to be sanitised and put carefully in its place before you can have an experience. We also wanted the public to grow with the site so that by the time it’s opened it ‘s laid its parts out on the table and invited people to consider its future.” This approach spared visitors from having to don their own hard hats to satisfy health and safety although visitors were handed torches to avoid any unintended trips, with visitors given the freedom to wander round the set route at their own speed. >
HINTERLAND
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Left - The brutalist masterpiece has been given a fresh lease of life Right - Evocative spaces cluster within the seminary’s damp spaces
Farquhar concluded: “In terms of the aesthetic approach it draws on industrial heritage, rumination, graffiti, and the one overt reference we make is to the birth of modernism, referring back to Malevich and supremacism and we’ve creating one really bold, coloured moment where we bathe the building in colour in homage. Much of the rest is very monochrome.” Speaking in the wake of the latest funding announcement John Allan, of Avanti Architects, said: “At last, after ten years of engagement with the monumental challenges presented by St Peter’s, we can move from words to deeds. “Now we can embark on the task of making St Peter’s a permanent and inspirational venue for creativity, learning and debate. It will surely be the outstanding heritage rescue project of our time.” Brian McGinlay, Nord consultant and co-founder of McGinlay Bell Architects, was equally effusive, saying: “The development project over the past two years in particular has been faced with many obstacles and challenging hurdles on the way but has always been highly rewarding. “To the building, the recent environmental cleaning & vault stabilisation works has realised the projects initial milestone. Truly fascinating and technically innovative in its process we have worked closely and carefully to uncover this ‘almost lost’ modernist & international architectural masterpiece making URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
once again safe & accessible for all to experience this incredible crafted & sculpted structure.” Both architects will now set about transforming a tripleheight chapel into a 600 capacity venue and convert a former crypt into an atmospheric exhibition space – all the while maintaining open access to the site by the public. Beyond the brutalist landmark the 104 acre estate within which it sits will also be revamped by ERZ, with paths reinstated, bridges restored and a Victorian walled garden brought back into use. Rolf Roscher of ERZ chimed with these thoughts, adding: “St Peter’s seminary and its associated landscape may reasonably be regarded as Scotland’s most significant lost cultural landmark. “The physical history of Kilmahew / St Peter’s demonstrates an accumulation of very different perceptions of landscape as it has been successively reshaped over five centuries. The ideas manifest in the ruined modernist seminary buildings make this a unique place to explore the role of public space at the start of the twenty-first century.” Whilst seminary architects Andy McMillan and Isi Metzstein of Gillespie Kidd and Coia sadly couldn’t be at the launch they will surely have been looking down on the celebrations, no doubt satisfied that this an architectural space so unlike any other in the UK is in safe hands.
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COTTONOPOLIS JOHN GLENDAY
WITH MANCHESTER NOW A HOT BED OF CONSTRUCTION AT THE HEART OF THE SO CALLED NORTHERN POWERHOUSE WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE CITY’S LAST SPELL IN THE ASCENDANCY COURTESY OF PHOTOGRAPHER DARREN HOLDEN, WHEN THE RISE OF THE COTTON INDUSTRY STUDDED THE LANDSCAPE WITH A PLETHORA OF MILLS
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COTTONOPOLIS
Top Left - Many mills serve as time machines unchanged since their doors closed for the last time Top Middle - The wrecking ball is the sad fate awaiting some mills Top Right - It is the smallest details that sometimes possess the greatest beauty
The cotton mills of North West England have long cast their shadow across the area’s history but as Manchester’s days as a boom town return can developers cotton on to the potential for these remnants of yesterday’s textile industry to serve as tomorrow’s development opportunity. Capturing these enigmatic structures in transition photographer Darren Holden has made it his life’s work to document these decaying buildings, capturing a moment in time and granting them a degree of immortality in the process. With Manchester now the focus of the government’s northern powerhouse agenda public and private cash, businesses and people have been pouring into the city, giving it something of a second wind amongst the clutch of British conurbations seeking to replicate London’s success. Amidst this change Holden remains drawn to the sheer scale, sense of decay and the history embodied in the brick walls of these romantic ruins as he seeks out spaces which, for most, lie tantalisingly off-limits, their innards having given out to the ravages of nature and neglect. Emerging from behind the lens to explain what draws him again and again to these crumbling spaces Holden told Urban Realm: “I was born and raised in Reddish, Stockport, a town dominated URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
by at least six large textile mills including Houldsworth, Victoria and Broadstone - a double mill with two engine houses which was the largest of its kind when built. Sadly one part of the mill and engine house was demolished in the 1960’s but this mill stood right in front of our house and I loved gazing at the detail of the windows and the copper dome. “As a child I loved to play in the derelict parts of these mills and would often spend hours just exploring. It wasn’t until I went to school that my interest really took off. We were lucky enough to have a photography course and that’s where my passion for shooting the mills started. These mills had been empty for so long that access wasn’t an issue, lots of kids made it easy to venture in and document a world that few got to see. The thing that fascinated me was that a lot of these mills simply closed their doors when the people left. Evidence of this was everywhere from old coats and personal belongings to family photos and mugs left on desks. I’m fascinated by the people who worked at these mills, so much life and community has now gone forever. “In the early 2000’s I started to venture into the city of Manchester to explore more of the mills. The regeneration of the centre had started and a lot of mills were being converted >
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Bottom Left - Rusting spindle wheels turn no more Bottom Middle - Mill workers sought beauty elsewhere Bottom Right - Mouldering files lie forgotten and untouched
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COTTONOPOLIS
Above - Monstrous tangled machinery lies useless at the base of this former mill Below - Even the most functional spaces are grand in execution
into New York style apartments with exposed brick and beams, I even lived in one myself for several years but the apartments had no community; people just wanted to keep to themselves in their little very expensive boxes. Don’t get me wrong I love to see the mills converted and heritage and buildings regulations make it very hard for developers to knock them down there’s nothing worse than a mill burning down, too many mills burn down making it too much of a coincidence. The real sad part is the more you move out of the centre the worse it gets, developers can’t afford to convert mills out of town and the council won’t pay for demolition so many are left to rot.” Asked whether we take better care of our shared mill heritage today than in the past and whether derelict spaces are on the rise or decreasing, Holden said: “I think it’s safe to say that heritage in the 1970 and 1980s,shortly after URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
Right - The grandest mills served as status symbols for their owners
most of these mills closed down, was non-existent. Many became a target for vandals and metal thieves and became unloved. It was only in the 1990’s that regeneration made these mills sought after as a desirable place to live and work. I love to see these mills converted to living space and most are done with consideration of their history and look fantastic when complete. This is why I love the mills, they were all about statement and who could make the most beautifully tiled and decorated engine house. Very few still have the engines but the ones that do have now been restored. Most engine houses never saw than a handful of people so why go to all the expense of the ornate tiles? Because the owner wanted a statement of money and power at the heart of the mill, it mattered what it looked like not just on the outside but the inside too. In fact most mills do look better on the inside and one of my favourites is Swan Mill No >
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Nature has been busy recolonising abandoned spaces
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COTTONOPOLIS
Left - This cotton spinning loom has fallen silent Right - Holden seeks out the inner sanctum of these hidden spaces
3 in Bolton. The thing that makes it so special is the corners are curved, there are no right angles. It has some beautiful detailing with swans on top where the drain pipes are. They aren’t very visible but stunning none the less. They were the Beetham towers of their day and I would like to think they will still be here in another 100 years. “Whilst I see the mills as a romantic place to work and explore I doubt I would feel the same way a century ago when the noise, dust and heat must have been unbearable. It’s only now that they lie silent that they have become romantic. I look at them as works of art not the beating heart of the industrial revolution giving thousands of people work. They represent towns such as Bradford URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
or Oldham that now have massive unemployment and social problems, problems I’m sure were there before but are now worse. As a photographer and explorer I tend not to dwell on this too much, I come to document and search for the hidden places which no-one wants to leave their offices for. Why would they? Maybe it’s the different light just to see if things have changed, mostly it’s just because I love to walk around these old mills knowing that there’s no one else there. “It’s about exploration and finding long lost personal belongings or documents. I found the original blueprints for a mill under demolition dating from 1905 from Stott & Sons, the most famous of all the mill architects. If it
wasn’t for me looking in dusty old room they would be lost forever. Normally explores do not take from sites but as the mill was under demolition I kept a lot and gave the owner some too. The best thing I come away with is the knowledge I was more than likely the last person to document that mill before demolition. For the people living next to it, good riddance for me a way of keeping what’s left of quite possible the industry that began the industrial revolution and made the North a power house to be reckoned with. “I don’t think we will ever see that kind of scale again but things need to move on. They served the purpose of an industry long gone. It’s only now that some mill owners are trying to save this
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heritage, not for tourists but as a genuine business. A few mills are getting back into making fine fabrics, not just cotton but other materials too, they are aiming at the high end of the market selling their fabrics across the world. Only time will tell if they are successful and the north still has something to offer the world in terms of the textile industry.� Whilst the mills of Manchester no longer thunder to the sound of pistons and steam they do still reverberate in the wider consciousness of those who live and work in their shadow. That they should long continue to do so rests on the shoulders of the passionate few who are prepared to give their time to promotion these forgotten wonders to a broader audience.
Holden steps where others fear to tread
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GARETH HOSKINS
LAST RESPECTS THE UNTIMELY DEATH OF GARETH HOSKINS HAS SHOCKED AN INDUSTRY STILL IN MOURNING FOR ONE OF ITS BRIGHTEST STARS. HERE WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE LIFE AND WORK OF AN ARCHITECT AT THE PEAK OF HIS CAREER THROUGH THE ACCOUNTS OF COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS.
The sudden parting of Hoskins Architects founder Gareth Hoskins at the age of just 48 on 9 January is still sinking in for many but the architects built legacy lives on. An architect at the peak of his career Hoskins had overseen exponential growth of his practice, establishing a new German office and recently rebranding the studio to reflect the combined contributions of an ever growing team. The practice had only just submitted its proposals for the Scottish National Gallery expansion following a protracted and ultimately unsuccessful battle to convert Edinburgh’s Royal High School into a hotel and is building a new pavilion at Helensburgh’s Hermitage Park to stand as testament to him. A member of the practice said: “We have a great team of people at Hoskins Architects, and through this difficult time this has been all the more comforting. The success of the practice is based on the strong values and ethos instilled by Gareth Hoskins. We share his philosophy and are determined to build on Gareth’s legacy.” Here we bring together contemporaries in the field to look back at Hoskins life and work. URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
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GARETH HOSKINS
Left - The Bridge Arts Centre, Easterhouse, created a new heart for a peripheral housing estate Right - The National Museum of Scotland won praise for its reinvigoration of a cultural treasure
Paul Stallan, design director, Stallan Brand A conceptual project undertaken by Gareth’s studio that our team admired was the practices Renaissance Museum in Nizwa, Oman. We understand the Renaissance Museum was briefed by the Omani Government’s Estates Team which is interestingly run by a Scottish architect and graduate of the Glasgow School of Art. Like Gareth our studio have also worked in Oman for the very same client. Unfortunately I never got around to talking to Gareth about with his experiences working on the design. I know our team fell in love with the Omani people and their beautiful country. Oman has a stunning and varied landscape and complex culture very different from neighbouring countries like the UAE and Saudi. I know Gareth would have relished the opportunity and dreamed of building out this treasure museum. In design terms Gareth’s architectural work responds in an uncompromising way to the projects incredible context with restraint and sensitivity. The design presents a massive monolithic ‘jewel box’, a structure that seems to float above and at the end of a very long sculptural wall, the proposal existential and as poetic as the desert plain itself. Gareth and his teams architectural vision was enigmatic, completely modern and yet timeless in its sheer materiality. I URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
can only assume that it was the ‘modern’ that was prevented the studio from winning the project outright. We came a similar second on the new Oman Parliament project. Unfortunately the Omani Government and the Sultanate of Oman prefer a more ‘traditional modern’. Gareth personally had great buildings still to do out with Scotland. In this respect Scotland has not enough good architects exporting their skills. I especially admired Gareth’s commitment to expand his horizons yet base himself in Glasgow. Gareth set high standards for all of us to aspire to.
Roy Milne, retired director, Michael Laird Architects Gareth first joined MLA for a short period to make sure that his ambition to train as an architect was “the right thing to do” - as David Cameron and his cohorts are so fond of saying. That was probably in 1985 but I’m not sure. Gareth studied architecture at the Mackintosh in Glasgow. He worked for us during at least one of his summer vacations and he also spent his “year out” with us. Gareth made a real impression in the office as a bright, young enthusiast, always keen to contribute. Brian Lightbody remembers him having an idea as a student for a ‘habitable’ bridge between Alaska and Russia across the Bering Sea. Even as a student, he
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was never short of ambition and there was no doubt in our minds that he was headed for the top. We helped him out when he was leaving Penoyre and Prasad and setting up in practice on his own in Scotland in 1998. He had won the competition for the Saughton Prison Visitor Centre and, in response to a request from the Prison Service who were slightly concerned about his having been in practice on his own for such a short time, we agreed to support him. I “rode shotgun” with him in the early stages of the project. However, it soon became clear that there was no need for a mentor and the client was happy for Gareth to fly on his own. He was very impressive in his ability to communicate with the client in those early stages of the project. The completed project was well received by the Prison visitors and acclaimed by the architectural pundits. Gareth was a very modest man. Although I had been at the Doolan Award Ceremony and spoke to him shortly after he won the Doolan Prize for the Museum, I also wrote him a letter of congratulation. I made a point of saying that, in congratulating him, I also wanted to congratulate his team - without whom he couldn’t have done the job. When I met him some months later at an RIAS convention, he sought me out to thank me. He wished, he said, that more people would realise that the success of the
practice wasn’t just down to him. A really gentle, kind, thoughtful and generous man with an enormous talent for architecture. I believe that his practice organisation skills were second to none. Apparently he had at least two full time members of staff who did nothing else but network, search for projects, research possibilities and prepare the ‘pitches’. His ambition was without limit. Wow, what a guy! I last saw him on one of the open days at the Royal High School. I tackled him about working for ruthless developers on such an impossible site, but he told me that he really did think that he could make a difference to the project. An optimist to the last.
Richard Murphy, founder, Richard Murphy Architects I first became aware of Gareth as an exceptionally well organised student when I was organising an exhibition of architects’ installations in the Mackintosh School of Art by internationally famous architects in 1990. Gareth organised Ted Cullinan’s contribution; a shower in the director’s office still there today I believe. Next I quickly became aware of him when he returned to set up practice in Scotland. Indeed he once told my friend Murray Grigor that it was my early modest success here that convinced him to come back; and with what extraordinary results! >
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GARETH HOSKINS
The Sandy Road Clinic, Glasgow, was one of Hoskins Architects first buildings URBAN REALM SPRING 2016 URBANREALM.COM
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I guess, in architectural practice, we became friendly rivals, with the emphasis on friendly. I noticed we beat him in competitions; he beat us in interviews, although recently he seems to have swept all before him! He had great architectural talent but, in particular, I was in awe of his organisational, networking and PR skills. He seemed to know everyone and know everything that was happening. My impression of him was that he had a 25 hour working day coupled with a boundless ambition. In fact, I was amazed to discover that he actually had time for a hobby and one with such a tragic conclusion. He was, in Isi Metzstein’s perceptive definition of an artist, someone who was “driven” and I admire that characteristic enormously. Recently we had begun to work together on the contributions that the Royal Scottish Academy could make to the Festival of Architecture and it is his energy, generosity and ambition for the RSA where I shall miss him the most.
David Page, head of architecture, Page\Park If you look back in time, you will find the architectural culwture of any period is enhanced by the striving of a cluster of architects, fuelled by an aspirational relationship to each other. Think of Greek Thomson, John Honeyman and JT Rochead in the mid-19th century, Keppie, Mackintosh, Salmon and Burnett at the turn of the 20th, MacMillan and Metzstein, Morris and Steadman, Robert Mathew and Reiach and Hall in the nineteen sixties. Of our time Gareth Hoskins and his team sits at the pinnacle of contemporary practice as an architect who could take the prosaic and inspirational projects and treat them with the same visionary dexterity. No more so than in the work for the NHS and a particular favourite for its unbelievability at the time, the Community Centre for Health in Dumbarton Road. Unbelievable because somehow Gareth found a way to create a bright, liveable and exuberant enclosure for health, the sort of thing we aspired to and were delivering in cultural buildings due to the lottery – but in a National Health Service Building! Looking back now, that spirit has become engrained in current thinking but those first steps were pioneering. The practice will carry on that legacy, but nonetheless there is an empty seat at the head of this generations table.
Jude Barber, director, Collective Architecture I experienced my first Gareth Hoskins Architects’ building on moving to Glasgow from Edinburgh in 2004. At the time, our office was based in Partick and the 3, which opened in 2002, sat proudly on the main road. The building offers a bold street presence and makes a positive impact within its tenemental street setting. I was struck by the building’s quality, strength and openness both internally and externally. It was also evident that this building would positively promote an awareness of healthcare within its local community. The Sandy Road Clinic must have been one of the practice’s first civic buildings. It therefore sticks in my mind as a symbol of the incredible work that was yet to come.
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DIRECTORY LISTING 3D VISUALISATION RM Visuals Tel: 7507801821 Email: Info@rmvisuals.co.uk Web: www.rmvisuals.co.uk 3/2 76 Mansion House Gardens Glasgow G413DP Contact: Ross Marshall ACOUSTIC CONSULTANTS RMP - acoustic consultants Contact: Richard MacKenzie Tel: 0845 062 0000 Email: rmp@napier.ac.uk Website: www.rmp.biz ARCHITECTS
Austin-Smith:Lord LLP Tel: 0141 223 8500 Email: graham.ross@austinsmithlord.com iain.wylie@austinsmithlord.com glasgow@austinsmithlord.com Web: www.austinsmithlord.com JAMstudio Tel: 01467 641670 Email: info@jamstudio.uk.com Web: www.jamstudio.uk.com jmarchitects Tel: 0141 333 3920 Email: gla@jmarchitects.net Web: www.jmarchitects.net John Renshaw Architects Tel: 0131 555 2245 Fax: 0131 555 5526 Email: jr.architects@btconnect.com HLM Architects Tel: 0141 226 8320 Contact: Lorraine Robertson Email: lorraine.robertson@ hlmarchitects.com Web: www.hlmarchitects.com McLean Architects Tel: 0141 353 2040 Email: arch@mcleanarchitects.co.uk Web: www.mcleanarchitects.co.uk Michael Laird Architects Tel: 01312266991 Fax: 1312262771 Email: marketing@michaellaird.co.uk Website: www.michaellaird.co.uk 5 Forres Street Edinburgh EH3 6DE
Stewart Associates Phone: 01475670033/44 Fax: 1475673103 Email: info@stewart-associates.com Website: www.stewart-associates.com ARCHITECTURE & MASTER PLANNING Hypostyle Architects Tel: 0141 204 4441 Contact: Gerry Henaughen Email: glasgow@hypostyle.co.uk Web: www.hypostyle.co.uk BUILDING CONTRACTORS Muir Tel: 01383 416191 Web: www.muir-group.co.uk BUILDING PRODUCTS SUPPLIER Marmox Tel: 01634 835290 Fax: 01634 835299 Web: www.marmox.co.uk Caxton House, 101-103 Hopewell Drive Kent ME5 7NP Principal Contact: Grant Terry BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT SERVICES Drew Elliot Associates Tel: 07769 670 080 Email: drew@drewelliot.co.uk Web: www.drewelliot.co.uk 44 Broomieknowe Park, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian EH19 2JB CONSULTING STRUCTURAL & CIVIL ENGINEERS David Narro Associates Tel: 0131 229 5553 and 0141 552 6080 Contact: Amanda Douglas (Practice Manager) Email: mail@davidnarro.co.uk Web: davidnarro.co.uk ikm consulting Tel: 01324 878822 Email: neilp@ikmconsulting.co.uk/ scott@ikmconsulting.co.uk Web: www.ikmconsulting.co.uk Park House, 39 Bo’ness Road, Grangemouth, FK3 8AN Contact: Neil Pearson/Scott Rae
Scott Bennett Associates Tel: 1383627537 Contact: Robert Storey Email: rstorey@sbag2.com Web: www.sbascotland.com 19 South Castle Drive Carnegie Campus KY11 8PD Will Rudd Davidson Tel: 0141 248 4866 Contact: Brian Walker Fax: (0)131 557 2942 Web: www.ruddconsult.com/ 43 York Place, Edinburgh EH1 3HP CLADDING RHEINZINK Tel: 01276 686725 Fax: 01276 64480 Email: info@rheinzink.co.uk Web: www.rheinzink.co.uk Wyvern House, 55-61 High Street FRIMLEY GU16 7HJ FIRE ENGINEERS Astute Fire Ltd Tel: 0131 4458607 Contact: Adam Bittern Email: adambittern@astutefire.com Web: www.astutefire.com LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS City Design Cooperative Tel: 0141 204 3466 Contact: Chris Rankin Email: mail@citydesign.coop Web: www.citydesign.coop ERZ Architects Tel: 0141 552 0888 Contact: Rolf Rosher Email: info@erzstudio.co.uk Web: www.erzstudio.co.uk LDA Design Tel: (0)141 222 9780 Contact: Kristin Taylor Email: kirstin.taylor@lda-design.co.uk Web: www.lda-design.co.uk rankinfraser Contact: Chris Rankin Tel: 0131 226 7071 Email: mail@rankinfraser.com Web: www.rankinfraser.com
LIFTS STANNAH Tel: 0141 882 9946 Contact: Graham Barr Email: liftservices@stannah.co.uk Web: www.stannahlifts.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHY NEALE SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY Tel: 7919000448 Email: mail@nealesmith.com Web: www.nealesmith.com Tom Manley Photography Tel: 07729 202402 Email: info@tommanleyphotography.com Web: www.tommanleyphotography.com SPECIALIST SUPPLIER OF SUSTAINABLE TIMBER Russwood Tel: 01540 673648 Email: mail@russwood.co.uk Web: www.russwood.co.uk STONE Tradstocks Natural Stone Tel: 01786 850400 Fax: 01786 850404 Email: info@tradstocks.co.uk Web: www.tradstocks.co.uk Contact: Laura Birrell Dunaverig, Thornhill Stirling FK8 3QW SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT BRE Scotland Tel: 01355 576200 Contact: Laura Birrell Email: birrelll@bre.co.uk Web: www.bre.co.uk TILING Porcelain Plus Tel: 01236 728436 Contact: Moira Pollock Email: moira@porcelainplus.co.uk Web: www.porcelainplus.co.uk WORKPLACE INTERIORS The Works by Saxen Tel: 0845 652 0454 Fax: 0845 652 0454 Email: info@saxen.com Website: www.saxen.com Riverbank Mill, 2 StoneyGate Road Newmilns KA16 9BN
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North England Build 2016 launches New Skills Hub Last week, Chancellor George Osbourne announced major new commitments to construction projects across the UK. In addition to giving the go ahead for the £27bn development of Crossrail 2 in London, a green light was given to significant infrastructure projects across the North of England. Schemes such as HS3 between Leeds and Manchester, the widening of the M62, upgrades to the A66 and A69 in the North Pennines and a look into the feasibility of a Trans-Pennine tunnel linking Sheffield and Manchester, were all backed by the Chancellor. Although much is still at planning stage, the 2016 Budget clearly indicates a long-term plan to improving infrastructure across the UK. However, with projects such as Crossrail 2 not set for completion until 2030, it will be the next generation of construction industry professionals who will be tasked with delivering the projects through to their conclusion. With such large scale projects in the pipeline, more and more jobs are set to be created; and with more and more jobs being created, naturally there will be greater demand for skilled new industry professionals. National Federation of Builders’ Chair for the North West region, Clare Watson, stated “While it is important to maintain the skills needed to preserve our traditional buildings, it is equally important to keep an eye on skills needed for the future. There is a huge amount of talent in the north west. Improving transport and infrastructure will not only improve business prospects, it will increase social mobility and widen the opportunities available in construction for the next generation.” The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) revealed recently that in the period up to 2020, there could be as many as 22,500 new construction jobs created in the North West alone. Despite the perceived skills shortage in the industry, recent trends suggest apprenticeships and vocational training courses are growing in popularity with construction firms taking on apprentices up by a third in the past year, according to new research released last week during National Apprenticeship Week. With a renewed focus on creating jobs within the industry and a skilled workforce to support it, North England Build 2016 will be launching the new Skills Hub zone. The Skills Hub will bring
together some of the UK’s leading universities, recruiters and construction companies to provide students, job seekers and career movers with a unique opportunity to meet and network with industry insiders offering the best possible advice for a career in construction. Francesca Berriman MBE HonDTech, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technolgists (CIAT) and official partner of North England Build 2016, said “The skills necessary now, and in the future, to sustain the Government programme of construction work provides the industry the opportunity to showcase the variety of careers available within the built environment/construction sector; the industry is a dynamic and innovative one to choose and as such CIAT is delighted to be supporting the Skills Zone Launch. The discipline of Architectural Technology is a young, creative, vibrant and exciting one and a respected career to choose. It provides practitioners the chance to lead projects from the initial design to the final sign-off of a completed building; that is a real achievement.”
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PRODUCTS
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Watson Batty Architects turn 40
BUFCA marks 30 years leading the sprayed polyurethane foam industry
Watson Batty Architects is celebrating their 40th anniversary with a string of new business successes and new recruitment drive to increase its teams in Leeds and Loughborough. The practice is currently on track to achieve turnover of £4m by 2020 after attaining average growth of 20% in recent years.
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SCOTLAND THE BRAVE The latest changes to Section 6 of the Scottish Building Standards represent a 43% uplift over the 2010 Standards, significantly leapfrogging the requirements of both England and Wales. To help specifiers and contractors to deal with the changes, industry body EPIC has produced fresh guidance on the new requirements and how they may be complied with.
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Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) and the Royal Hospital for Children (RHC) scoop international MIPIM award for Best Healthcare Development
MAPEI LAUNCHES NEW ADESILEX P9 EXPRESS TO ITS TILING ADHESIVE RANGE
An £842million Glasgow hospital designed by architects, IBI Group and constructed by Brookfield Multiplex in collaboration with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Board, has won the international MIPIM award for best healthcare development. Set within therapeutic parklands the design uses excellent standards of natural light, space, height, materials and technology, which create a ‘hotel like’ adult acute environment and a colourful children’s facility.
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A 1960’s bungalow is expected to become Jersey’s first EnerPHit certified home thanks to an extensive refurbishment, featuring the Kingspan TEK® Building System.The owners prepared a sensitive redesign and extension of their own property, set within Jersey’s Green Zone conservation area. The final home combines a range of traditional materials, with the high performance building envelope specification essential to meet the voluntary Passivhaus EnerPHit standard.
Tel: 01245 491857 Email: nicola.hanley@homestylepr.com / sarah.mills@homestylepr.com Web: www.homestylepr.com
Tel: +44 (0) 1544 387 384 Email: literature@kingspantek.co.uk Web: www.kingspantek.co.uk
TO ADVERTISE IN URBAN REALM PLEASE CONTACT CALLUM NICHOLAS ON 0141 356 5333 OR EMAIL CALLUM@URBANREALM.COM
Innovative solutions for automatic doors
Flat is back
Dan Development Chemist
Cutting edge performance. Developed and rigorously tested over 18 months, our new flat roofing range offers solutions with cutting edge thinness and thermal performance. You can thank Dan and our product development team for that. Plus, like all Celotex products, they come with online tools, support and aftercare.
#flatisback
celotex.co.uk
Flat Roofing … by Celotex