RECENT WORK: Competitions, Tenders, Feasibility Studies...




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July 2009: Boscombe Beach Huts

May 2009: Wellesley Road and Park Lane International Competition

February 2009: Godalming Housing Competition

December 2008: Stonehenge Visitor Centre Competition

October 2008: Housesteads Visitor Development and Infrastucture Scheme Competition

June 2008: Cambridge Conservation Campus - Feasibility Study

We recently entered a competition to design four beach huts for disabled users in Boscombe.

The 'slide and fold' design we proposed would be built with pre-fabricated laminated timber panels or reclaimed sleepers stacked up to make walls.

A green sedum roof visually merges the structure with the plants and flowers growing on the cliff behind.

Sliding and folding timber doors and timber screens that fold upwards create a large inside/outside place for activities such as a meal with friends.

Our submission for the International Wellesley Road and Park Lane Competition proposed a new road layout, with a well designed street level that would create useful public spaces and a vibrant, safe, greener corridor.

In our design, the new Wellesley Road has three main rhythms, of trees; of domestic buildings, to bring living life into the area; and of landscaped gardens. These four gardens would reconnect Croydon across the road. Running from north to south: garden one is designed as a pine clad hill, garden two takes the form of an apple orchard, garden three takes the form of a trompe d'oeil avenue and garden four is a tropical garden.

At the southern end of the road, a new tower terminates the axis of the boulevard and is visible down its whole length. The current underpass is closed to traffic and turned into a pedestrian accessed art space, lit from above by an expressive rooflight.

Our design for the Godalming Competition looks afresh at how to plan standard units to make the best use of natural light throughout the apartment, from entering the front door to the habitable areas.

A typical floor comprises 4 apartments sharing a common stair and lift. The living and sleeping areas of each flat are separated by a strip containing a front porch, hallway and external balcony. This brings light and views into the communal circulation space and daylight deep into the flat plan. The undulating facade allows us to accommodate rooms that don't require sunlight (bathrooms/ensuites) in the heart of the plan whilst placing the living rooms where the plan is shallow, thus allowing light to reach deep inside them.

The 228 flats are grouped into a series of drums, linked by an undulating facade clad in warm, local, Surrey red bricks. This breaks down the massing of the building into a series of circular pavilions which step up from 3-storeys, next to exisiting suburban houses, to a 9-storey landmark tower at the 'head' of the scheme.

Our proposals for new visitor facilities at the World Heritage Site of Stonehenge aimed to unlock the dramatic potential of a visit to the site.

Three sites for a visitor centre building were proposed, but our preferred option was at Fargo where a new building might nestle in a woodland screen, offering a single framed view of the stones and setting visitors off on circular walks. Gentle valleys and rolls would be used to create a dramatic approach walk and the journey to the monument would unfold as a wonderful story of Stonehenge in its context.

The visitor centre would be a passive solar building, sitting with its major public facade to the south. A timber glulam and crosslam combination would create a comforting, undulating timber canopy over the activities of the building and the building itself would act as a gateway to the Stonehenge landscape.

Housesteads Roman Fort is a World Heritage Site located near Hadrian's Wall and is the most complete and best preserved Roman fort in Europe. We were shortlisted in a competition launched by the National Trust and English Heritage to create an improved visitor experience with new visitor facilities and interpretation.

We put forward a proposal that would encourage visitors to explore more of the context of Housesteads, forming linkages with other sites on Hadrian's Wall, and designing the experience to work for different levels of engagement. The visitor centre would be of a sustainable, low-energy design and would act as a gateway to the site; orientating all visitors from their departure point and giving their routes through the landscape and archaeology meaning and significance.

Upon entering the building each visitor is given a view of the ancient fort on the horizon and a glimpse down into the museum's exhibits below. The scheme also houses a shop lit by rooflights and a double height cafe with south facing external terrace.

In June 2008 we completed a feasibility study for a new Conservation Campus at the University of Cambridge.

This is to be the University's first building in the new BREEAM 'Outstanding' category and is currently rated 96 out of 100.

The project aims to build synergies and new avenues of research and understanding in the area of conservation, bringing together University facilities for research and the teaching of Conservation studies, with office facilities for like-minded independent non-governmental organisations.

The proposed design is for a single building that will foster collaboration, with all the working spaces arranged either side of an open, top-lit atrium to give a feeling of togetherness, as well as to allow as much natural ventilation as possible.