RIBA MARCH 2022 Compressed

RX Architects’ salt-free home on the sand The RIBA Journal
March 2022
Young renters join Mecanoo’s Kampus
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Profile: Adam Khan Architects
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68
RICHARD CHIVERS
MIKHAIL RICHES
LEWIS KHAN
Picture postcard Studios Q&A Sustainability Photograph Review
07 16 39 51 61 72
A glimpse of history Community input Stuart Coleman of Suppliers are key to How Jack Young saw Owen Hatherley’s
in the making at informed The Hithe, Coleman Anderson responsible design – Holmefield House swashbuckling tour of
Fredrikstad in IF_DO’s demountable on why the how do you manage upstage Trellick Tower modern buildings
Norway office scheme for practice is backing that?
meanwhile use apprenticeships President Review
House Architects’ 63 74
08 Housing Housebuilding account We’re busy – come An insight into the
RX Architects’ 22 40 56 and join in, says Simon pivotal part windows
house on the beach at Apparata’s A House Mikhail Riches and One architect’s Allford play in Japanese design
Camber Sands keeps for Artists lays out its BDP are helping York account of the
the elements at bay philosophy for living council build target thinking and making Opinion Future writers
600 homes of an infill house in 65 77
Museum Kampus, Hackney, east London Will Wiles probes the Write a piece on your
12 Manchester Sustainability myth of the tyrannical burning issue and
HAT Projects 28 46 architect we’ll publish it
breaks the fetters Mecanoo and shedkm Client discussion
of Ely Museum’s have transformed a tackles the difficulties Eye Line Obituary
site with a sensitive former university site of achieving 67 79
refurbishment into a verdant housing sustainable buildings Our annual drawing Creative engineer
scheme competition, Eye Line, Max Fordham, whose
is open for entries inquiring mind knew
no boundaries
Profile
Dropping in something like this could make 68
Building users rather
Letters
81
life decent and take away some of the pain than critics are what Home, beauty, bricks
motivateAdam Khan
On the cover from the situation of shared bathrooms Architects’ designs Parting shot
RX Architects’ house
at Camber Sands,
and bunks and other awful conditions 82
Stephen Cousins on Curl la Tourelle Head’s Ralph Deakin’s 1930s
photographed by pop-up refugee shelters: ribaj.com/refugee- photograph of the
Richard Chivers shelters Cathedral of Syracuse
Average issue
circulation Live/work, responsible design, refurbishments, meanwhile use and
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Weather retort Dutch topping 07
– beach house – residential
08 28
NYGAARDSPLASSEN,
FREDRIKSTAD, NORWAY
MAD ARKITEKTER
Read the full story:
ribaj.com/fredrikstad
Nygaardsplassen in the Norwegian town Fredrikstad

south east of Oslo used to be called ‘the dead square’.
The area consisted of mainly office buildings; nobody
lived there, so it fell deadly silent out of working hours. It
also stood in stark contrast to the town’s historic centre,
which is known for its historical colours and charming
atmosphere.
The area has been the focus of ideas for rejuvenation
for some time. In 2009 a zoning plan approved a six-
storey shopping mall – which would have closed off this
part of the town further. Fortunately, however, the site
was bought by committed local developer Cityplan,
which commissioned Norwegian practice Mad Arkitek-
ter to propose an alternative dynamic urban plan with
apartments and active ground floors.
The practice decided to delve into historical maps
that revealed an earlier square framed by small wooden
houses. Over the years almost all the houses had been re-
placed by the modern structures that sapped life out of
the area. The idea was to reinstate this plaza and divide
the proposed new building into two volumes, separated
by a cosy passage. The passage needed special dispensa-
tion because it is less than the regulated 8m in width.
In terms of appearance, the two buildings are in-
spired by numerous precedents, including the brick ar-
chitecture of Blossom Street in London’s Spitalfields and
handmade hammered-look bricks produced in the Neth-
erlands with an old-world feel that extends to the mate-
rial quality of the detailing. The variety of brickwork on
the street facade give the illusion of a whole new chain
of buildings, rather than just two. The larger of these is
divided into five smaller segments set apart by number
of storeys, window types, colours, brick types and bonds.
From the wooden doors with brass handles to large var-
nished oak windows and lantern street lamps, entering
KYRRE SUNDAL
the passage feels like being drawn into a huge warm em-
brace, free and encouraged to linger and mingle. •
Marianne Lie Berg

08 Buildings 09
House
Elementary
1 Entrance porch 9 Plant room
IN NUMBERS Organise a visit to RX Architects’ latest pro- Ground floor plan
2 Hallway 10 Beach terrace
ject, Seabreeze, in Camber, East Sussex, and
178 m² you won’t be sent a conventional address
3 Boot room 11 Existing sand dune
design
4 Kitchen 12 Void
gia
with a number and a street name. Rather, the 5 Living/dining area 13 Master bedroom
£1.05m only access to the house is from the front, via 16

6
7
Utility
Spa with hot tub, sauna and steam room
14 Shower room
15 Second bedroom
cost the beach. You’ll arrive at the main village
8 WC 16 House designed by WAM
car park with geographical co-ordinates and
71 kWh/m² a sense of adventure instead. While other First floor plan
RX Archites’ sunny pink house regulated use/yr
beachfront houses, particularly in this kind
on an Ea
Sussex beach belies its 56 kWh/m² of popular holiday resort on the south coast, 11
usually have access from the back, Seabreeze

robu
, weather-resi
ant finish unregulated use/yr
is one of five houses on a short stretch with no 7
14
14
Words: Isabelle Priest Photographs: Richard Chivers road nor address. The sea and strand lie out 4
5 13
in front and dunes build up to the rear – the 10
15
9
houses embanked between them.
2 8
Legend has it that the houses are here be- 12
cause once upon a time there was a road of 3 6

houses behind but they were engulfed by the
dunes when no one was looking after them 1
during the Second World War. Historical

photographs exist of homes half submerged
Below Seabreeze is one of fi ve
in sand. Instead of recovering them, new
houses embanked between the
houses were permitted closer to the sea, and dunes and beach, three now
0 5m
the dunes, now a Site of Special Scientific recently rebuilt.
Interest, allowed to swell as a natural flood
defence behind. When I visited the annual sealed building that would stop the sand bedroom is above at first floor; the en suite
dig out had just taken place to prevent them getting in and do away with every external shower formed inside the mini lateral dor-
smothering these homes as well. crevice where it could accumulate. mer that protrudes above the roofline on one
Hence when RX Architects was commis- ‘The challenge in this location is that the side and makes the building that little bit
sioned by the client, a British family based sand builds so quickly it gets into windows, more nuanced and distinctive.
in France who acquired the plot in 2018, its sills, drains and gutters,’ explains practice Externally, the streamlined finish is
start off idea was not about form or floorplan, co-director Rob Pollard. achieved by cloaking the building in a pink
but the concept of designing a completely The idea was to make a single enveloped shell of trowelled-on micro-cement product
building that removed eaves, rainwater from Spain. It leaves the fabric completely
pipes and different finishes from roof to wall seamless and allowed a much simpler, con-
to make it as seamless as possible – lessons trolled construction: blockwork, air void,
in part learned the hard way by neighbour- rubber membrane and carrier board. Win-
ing buildings and the pair of almost identi- dows are flush with the facade to minimise
cal houses completed by WAM Architects in ledges and are mostly fixed to prevent the
2016 to the west. Digging out the balcony is possibility of gaps. Two 90m boreholes pro-
no way to spend the first day of a holiday. vide heating and cooling because air-source
In terms of planning, the local authority heat pumps aren’t possible. Rainwater rolls
was keen to retain the same 1.5 storey height off the roof and down the walls, draining di-
of the existing 1970s white weather-board- rectly into the sand.
ed A-frame house, while its close neighbours The pink colour choice came about, as
and nearby SSI meant the footprint was rel- other RX Architects director Derek Rankin
atively set. Meanwhile, the symmetrical explains because the practice ‘had worried a
gable-ended shape was largely informed by grey concrete building would be too serious
equally loading the 300mm-deep raft foun- for the seaside’. It wanted to flip that kind of
dation construction that is typical of build- moodiness on its head, to make it more fun
The slightly asymmetrical front

ings on Romney Marsh – only the gable is
slightly off-centre to give more headspace to Digging out the balcony and whimsical. The pink varies a lot, evok-
ing traditional Mediterranean plaster and
of Seabreeze. Some snagging
still has to be done where sand
got into the micro-cement
Flush windows,
single surface
walls and roof help
the low beach house on the right. The kitch-
en living space is to the front on the ground is no way to spend the getting an orange glow at night. The all-over
smooth pink surface is only broken up ma-
surface during application. keep the sand out.
floor, opening onto a terrace deck partial-
ly screened by a grassy dune. The master first day of a holiday terially by a curving Kebony timber cano-
py that whisks like the wind between the
The RIBA Journal March 2022 ribaj.com ribaj.com The RIBA Journal March 2022
10 Buildings
House
For thrii-thinkers
bedroom there are deep recessed bunks for
Master bedroom with
Lusso Stone free-
additional guests, while the master bedroom
standing bath, which has a free-standing bath with its own small
required steelwork in operable window and a fixed skylight to gaze
in washroom
the structure around up at the stars. The bed is surprisingly orien-
that corner.
tated at 45º to the view – and why not?
Remarkably, construction that had been
carefully scheduled to follow the bird migrat-
ing season ended up starting two days before
design
the national coronavirus lockdown in March
2020. There was a brief hiatus but ultimately
building work was eased because beach was
closed to the public, making access consid-
erably less busy than usual. For the clients
though, stuck in France, the whole project
was constructed remotely, with sample sign-
offs on Zoom. They saw it for the first time
only after it completed (‘a nervous moment’).
It was fortuitous then that RX Architects
is local. Indeed, the practice is now working
on other beach houses with a similar situa-
tion and already has six projects in each of the
four bays around Rye where its office is based
– one for a client in Costa Rica. This work
Credits house and its right-hand neighbour above has, of course, been bolstered by the pandem-
Architect RX Architects the entrance and lines the recessed porch. It ic and people wanting holiday homes on the
Contractor Coast View
Properties matches the timber of the decking and helps coast or to move out of cities, but it is becom-
Micro-fibre cement soften the seriousness too. ing almost coyly characteristic of a changing
Ideal Works Inside, the ground floor is characterised seaside – although Seabreeze possibly sets
Below The smoked Joinery Chartwood
Design by a pleasant sensible riot of texture and an more interesting new direction. Soon it
eucalyptus front kitchen;
M&E Baltic Heating materials. The floor and upstands are a ter- might be questioned in jest which came first;
the textured ceilings and
Kitchen Portrait Kitchens razzo tile that again helps to disguise sand the practice or the marine co-ordinates of the
walls are created using Tiles Mandarin Stone
Bauwerk lime paint. Sanitaryware Vado brought in from the beach. The kitchen is bay it is named after. •
made from fumed eucalyptus with a con-
crete-like quartz worktop also used for the View through the
hall to boot room,
dramatic heath in the sitting area. A bespoke
the void connecting
lightly smoked oak dining table, matching the galleried
pocket doors and other fitted joinery are landing above.
designed to mimic the engineered wood
flooring used on the stair treads, balustrade
and feature wall behind it – it is deliberate-
ly chunky and robust in keeping with the
solidity elsewhere. In the spa to the back of
the footprint the mood changes again; darker Introducing the new 3-in-1 washroom tap. Delivering soap,
with grey porcelain floor tiles, a sunken hot water and air touch-free from one source, the deck-mounted
tub, micro-cement walls and only a high-up
horizontal slot window for daylight. There is ThriiTap+ is the smarter way to design hygienic washrooms.
also a cloakroom, utility and boot room, but
the main focus is on the views from the living
room onto the beach, where at high tide the
sea is almost lapping at one’s toes.
Upstairs materials are pared back. The
panelled engineered oak stairwell feature
wall continues in the bedrooms and on the
floor, as does the bespoke smoked joinery.
Volumes extend to the rafters and in the rear thriitap.com
+44 (0) 1722 744 594
The RIBA Journal March 2022 ribaj.com
12 Buildings Buildings 13
Xxxxxxx Museum
Penal reform
This image A sizeable Section A-A 1 Felons’ Yard IN NUMBERS
extension to the city’s 2 Pre-drainage Fenland
former gaol blends into
3
history
Post-drainage Fenland
532m²
the streetscape. gia
HAT Projes’ refurbished and extended museum in Ely’s 17th
history
Bottom The approach to
617m²
4 Gaol cell
the museum from Market
century gaol tells tales of the pa while doing community service Street. The old ‘Felons’ 3
5
6
New oak stair
New extension stair
gross area
Yard’ is beyond the
Words: Jan-Carlos Kucharek Photographs: Philip Vile 7
£1.01m
Kitchen area to
threshold. community room
.
2 8 Community room and construction cost

1
bay window
9 Staff office
10 Exhibit storage
£1,636/m²
construction cost
Section B-B
either the museum was going to run itself into

the ground or big changes were needed.’ A
first attempt at Heritage Lottery Funding was
unsuccessful, but when a second went in 18
4 3 7 8
months later, outlining outreach work with
local schools and communities, £1.7 million
6
rewarded the effort in 2018, so long as they
2 5 9 10
could raise £0.5 million in match funding.
Publicly procured, the museum ap-
proached architects warily, having been
warned that working with them, and their
egos, could be fraught. But with HAT Pro-
jects they felt an immediate sense of com-
mon purpose. ‘Their proposal really stood
out. It was well thought-out and detailed
but inspiring, exciting and interesting; full
of potential about what the place could be,’
Hughes recalls. ‘Yes, we had issues that need-
ed resolving during design and construction,
but never conflicts. It was a pleasure working
with them.’ HAT even helped in securing the
match funding, building a physical model
that could be opened up like a doll’s house
to reveal the interiors, which ‘we trucked
around in the back of a Ford Fiesta going out to
grant givers and local landowners. It made a
massive difference.’ When they used it to lean
In Ely’s former Bishop’s Gaol – now city muse- In 1997 Ely Museum moved in, just as new on the council for the final £150,000 from its
um – there’s a punt gun on display. Unfeasibly curator Elie Hughes took the helm. CIL funds, the model could become a reality.
large, in normal use it was for shooting wild- Hughes’ account of that time paints a for- HAT’s design, on a construction budget of
fowl on the Fens but in 1816 one was lashed lorn picture. While the museum had a good just over £1 million, succeeds in doing simple
to a cart and used as artillery in the Ely and collection, spanning prehistory to Roman moves beautifully. Having no issue with the
Littleport riots. Part of a fascinating collec- times, the medieval period to the 17th centu- city’s urban grain, which builds tight to pave-
tion of artefacts, it’s mounted on a wall beside ry fen drainage projects, and up to the current ment, the practice continued it here, its prin-
a cell reconstructed from found timbers of the day, display quality was woefully inadequate. cipal facade sticking to Lynn Rd, running
building, some carrying graffiti by inmates Badly-lit or windowless spaces predominat- south to the cathedral. And with no choice
eyeing their own futures; images of scaffolds ed; objects such as an amazing Roman sar- but to build on the footprint of a recent, sin-
and deportation ships gouged into the planks. cophagus were ill-placed and badly-lit in a rat gle storey rear extension, the museum now
It hadn’t always been a gaol. A house had run of random rooms. ‘Council funding kept unapologetically pops above the historical
Felons’ Yard comfortably
been on the site since 1417, becoming a gaol us going but there was nothing for develop- wall that formerly hid it, deftly expressed
receives visitors in its
in 1679 and remaining so until 1836. After ment,’ Hughes explains. ‘We had visitor in- timber and copper-clad in contextual modernism; a new, pitched-
numerous iterations, it was occupied by dis- come, but numbers were dropping as content new entrance area. roof structure, keying into the old gaol’s
trict and then city councils from 1974-1995. was getting less relevant and we realised that wall. HAT decided against the sophistry of
14 Buildings 15
Museum
5
9 10
A A
8
6 7
3
4
2
1
Ground floor plan
cladding a timber structure in solid brick but Above A former rat run 1 Felons’ Yard
instead continued the Cambridgeshire gault of exhibition is now a 2 Main entrance

light and airy, open-plan 3 Shop
clay-tiled roof down the wall face as hung tile,
experience for visitors. 4 Pre-drainage Fenland
creating a pleasing expression of loading hier- history 12
8
15
archy. Its new gable end is of reclaimed gault 5 New oak stair 14
Below The new entrance
brick; a sizeable window on the right winking creates space for school 6 Hall to staff and accessible
WC 11
at city-bound traffic. HAT’s Hana Loftus says groups to gather. To the
7 Staff kitchen
13
right, found planks from
they considered copper for the large bay win- 8 Lift
the gaol line the wall.
dow but felt the material detailing distracted 9 Staff area 16
from the simplicity of intent. Instead, they Credits 10 Exhibit storage
Client Ely Museum 11 Post-drainage Fenland
chose a matt-finish, russet-toned aluminium, history
Architect/ CDM co-
the vertical bays intimating Romanesque ordinator HAT Projects 12 Gaol cell
clusters of columns found on the cathedral. Structural engineer 13 Knowledge hub windows were replaced with double-glazed Hughes, but it’s a serious point: it all helps em- Top left The new oak Above Looking south in
Momentum Engineering staircase installed at the the new pitched, rooflit
Approaching from Market Street, the 14 Hall to WCs equivalents. The firm worked with Max bed the building in the community.
M&E consultant Max 15 Aedwen community room north end of the old gaol. extension. The gaol’s
corner entrance takes you into Felons’ Yard, Fordham Fordham who, says Loftus, went above and So, a simple building charged with the old wall carries marks of
16 Temporary exhibitions
where the gaol’s wall bears the marks of QS Gleeds beyond to specify the MVHR and keep ser- important task of creating a sense of place for Above left The stair’s previous interventions.
centuries of modification, odd brick infills Exhibition design Simon vices interventions discreet. The brick skin this small city, steeped in history of its own, double height allows
Leach Design exhibits such as 12’ long Below A reconstructed
cheek-by-jowl with pretty but super-soft Main contractor RG was made fully breathable too, re-pointed in resisting the appellation of being a dormitory
fen spades to be better gaol cell for 20 prisoners
local clunch stone. HAT’s new entrance area, Carters First floor plan lime mortar externally, with porous finishes town for Cambridge. And the case of a moti-
displayed. shows original graffi ti cut
replacing a uselessly small lean-to, finally al- and clay paint used internally. vated architect which embedded itself in the into the found planks.
lows space in the museum for groups to gather Hughes’ favourite part of the museum project from its genesis, guiding a green client
before starting a tour. Clad in copper and oak is the oak stair swooshing visitors graceful- through the process. It’s clear this was a la-
boards, it initially appeared on the physical ly from the pre-drainage fen history up to bour of love. Loftus sums up the big picture,
model, got supplanted by the lean-to due to post-drainage and modern day, but the show saying: ‘The story at Ely – to me – plays to the
perceived expense; but when tenders came stopper is the rear extension, making the mu- levelling up agenda in terms of how pride in
in under budget, was swapped back on again. seum accessible in a dramatic way. A birch and place and access to culture and opportunities
It’s an important breathing space for the mu- tulipwood stair in its hall allows the history of is made real in marginalised and regional
seum, thinks Hughes, with shadows cast by the old gable wall to be on show – including an communities.’ But it’s Hughes who makes
the trusses below the light slot running along original window connecting both staircases. the politics personal: ‘The museum is the first
the back wall ‘reminding kids of prison bars’. All lead to the new lofty, double-height space touch point for so many local kids in terms
HAT’s interventions internally were sim- for use not only by school kids but all manner of a cultural experience, so if we can make
ply to pare the structure back to its original of local groups too, and it is a much-need- it something that feels amazing and special
iteration and give exhibition designer Simon ed revenue generator. Triple-aspect, with a and beautiful and exciting, they might come
Leach room to move. 17th century windows large bay and rooflights, it’s proving popular. back again, or go and see a museum some-
were restored and slimline secondary glaz- ‘We’ve had the WI, belly dancers, Quakers, where else. That first perception here could
ing installed behind while old, rotten sash astronomers and spiritualists in here!’ quips stay with them for life.’ •
16 Buildings 17
Studios
Our space
If the phrase ‘meanwhile use’ conjures up
images of pop-up shops in shipping contain-
ers and street food stalls made of scaffolding
poles, architect IF_DO’s temporary addition
With a fresh approach to meanwhile use, to a gritty bit of south London might come as
a surprise. It’s a proper building for a start –
IF_DO bolsters a community feeling the albeit one designed to be relocated at the end
brunt of development of an 11-year lease on its present site.
Words: Chris Foges Photographs: Mike Massaro Providing affordable workspace for
small businesses, The Hithe sits comfort-
ably among eclectic neighbours on Albion
Street in Southwark: homes, shops, pubs, a
school and a church. Its softwood cladding in
shades of green picks up on oxidised copper
roofs found thereabouts, and double-height
dormers rise on two sides in friendly sa-
lutes to people exiting Rotherhithe station
or approaching from nearby Canada Water,
where a £3.3 billion regeneration scheme is
remaking the former docks.
The encroachment of development has
left a strong community feeling ‘squeezed
and under-appreciated’, says IF_DO director
Al Scott. That led Southwark Council to give
it a meaningful say when considering the
interim use of a small scrap of vacant land
perched above an awesome piece of Edward-
ian civil engineering. The plot is on the cor-
ner of Albion Street and a pedestrian route
to the Thames, and bounded on two sides
by deep cuttings for the Rotherhithe Tunnel
approach and a railway line.
Studios face Albion Street

Caption copy here copy and Old Railway Walk.
here
Caption copy here copy

here
The rear elevation rises

over the parapet of the
Rotherhithe Tunnel.
18 Buildings 19
Studios
In partnership with Meanwhile Space, to work. ‘To make something demountable

a social enterprise that brings temporarily zaps whatever slack you might have in the
redundant space into productive use, IF_DO budget,’ says Scott. ‘It was difficult to justify
was first appointed to conduct a feasibility those windows when we were value-engi-
study in which residents’ views were sought neering everything, but they do something
in myriad ways, from leafleting every build- important, acting as a beacon that draws
ing in the area to a stall at the street’s Christ- people to Albion Street.’
mas fair. ‘They didn’t want food and drink The idea is that the economical build-
outlets that would compete with existing ing will pay for itself during its sojourn in
businesses,’ says IF_DO director Thomas Rotherhithe, after which Meanwhile Space
Bryans, ‘and were explicit that they didn’t will be left with a valuable asset which it
want something that looked unfinished or can redeploy elsewhere or sell on, either as a
like another construction site.’ whole or in pieces that can be recomposed in
Having established a desire for micro- different ways.
offices catering to start-ups ready to graduate For the operator, the project’s circular
from the kitchen table, the council tendered economy principles are also important.
the project itself, selecting Meanwhile Space ‘When we started Meanwhile Space, one of
as developer and operator with IF_DO as its the main drivers was to reuse buildings going
Ground floor
architect. The two produced a pragmatic to waste,’ says co-founding director Eddie
studios are clad in
response to the contingencies of the pro- Bridgeman. ‘Over time we became more painted plywood.
gramme, the site and a tight budget (initial focussed on affordability, but this renews our
hopes were that the 200m² building would early emphasis on sustainability.’ 1 Small studio
cost £240,000, though the final sum turned While the logic is clear, The Hithe’s unu- 2 Shared space
3 Community garden
out to be £415,000), with some special fea- sual status threw up various hurdles. Secur-
4 Large studio
tures like the jaunty dormers that reflect ing finance was challenging: what value does Ground floor plan 3
The Hithe’s urban prominence and social the structure have without ownership of the
significance. land beneath it? Bridgeman suggests that
The footprint was determined by ex- Below To the north Above Ten ground floor it from relatively few prefabricated elements. for similar projects, asset finance compa-
isting strip foundations, left by a long-gone The Hithe overlooks studios and a shared The ground floor comprises five steel-framed nies who would treat the building as a piece
the Rotherhithe Tunnel space are formed
terrace of three houses. To ensure that the modules and provides 10 tiny studios – just of equipment might be more receptive than
entrance. from fi ve steel-framed
structure can be relocated economically, modules.
6m² apiece – all accessed externally. Those conventional property lenders.
IF_DO worked with engineer Elliott Wood at the rear enjoy privacy, while those at the Building regulations are also tricky:
and fabricator Weber Industries to assemble front get a public ‘shop window’. waivers for temporary structures only apply 2
On my visit I met one new tenant selling
skincare products and another giving sew-
ing lessons; both were thrilled with their bi- 1
jou premises, and the prospect of working in

the company of others. They share a kitchen
and toilets in a cruciform space in the mid-
dle, which also makes a through-route to a
backyard where a proposed garden will be
available for community use. (Also awaiting
Left Ground floor First floor plan
realisation is a ‘community vitrine’ in the studio to the rear.
fence – a display case for mini-exhibitions
on local issues).
From the yard an external stair leads
4
to the upper floor, formed of glulam beams 0 1
and structural insulated panels, where

Credits
there are two larger units – one occupied Architect IF_DO
by Meanwhile Space itself. They are pretty Client Meanwhile Space
spartan, with plastic cable conduit fixed to CIC/London Borough of
Southwark
bare plaster and OSB, and little refinement Structural engineer
in the detailing of bolted connections and Elliott Wood
brackets that allow for easy disassembly, but Quantity surveyor
Measur
the chunky exposed timbers and huge win- 0 5m
Fabricator
dows make characterful, uplifting places Weber Industries
20 Buildings
Xxxxxxx
Thrii-up your
IN NUMBERS
283m²
site area
washroom
200m²
gifa
£415,000
construction value
space
25 weeks
time on site
to those intended to last less than two years,

and when the building is relocated it will
have to comply with whatever regulations
are in operation then. Likewise, assumptions
about the likely cost of reuse and the way the
components might be reconfigured will only Left bolt ends are left
untrimmed for easy
be proved in time.
disassembly.
‘This project is a prototype,’ says Bryans,
‘but we can only test the theory after a decade Right The demountable
in use, so we are working with Meanwhile building is one of three
Space on another prototype for shorter-term London demonstrator
projects for CIRCuIT
use to validate the principle sooner.’ For
(Circular Construction in
Meanwhile Space, the successful delivery Regenerative Cities)
of the building and its enthusiastic local re-
ception have already done much to prove the Below First floor office.
case, but the next iteration offers the oppor-
tunity to go further. ‘For me, the holy grail is
for these buildings to operate off-grid,’ says
Bridgeman. ‘With self-generated power and
water storage, the range of potential sites is
greatly increased.’
Learning from The Hithe might in-
form a new generation of durable, porta-
ble buildings for medium-term use, and Introducing the new 3-in-1 washroom tap. Delivering soap,
prompt broader questions about how they
water and air touch-free from one source, the wall-mounted
should be better accommodated by regula-
tion. On Albion Street, meanwhile, the new ThriiTap+ is the smarter way to design hygienic washrooms.
arrival has bedded in nicely; the timber
decking and planters out front might give
clues that it won’t be around forever, but it’s
still more a placemaker than a placeholder.
Outward-looking and expressive, the busy
building brings new life to a forgotten corner
and holds its own against the scale of its sur-
roundings. With modest means, it sets a high
benchmark for whatever comes next. • thriitap.com
+44 (0) 1722 744 594
22 Buildings A House for Artists
sits alongside mid-
Housing rise residential blocks
designed by AHMM.
Ideal homes
A House for Artists is the first building of its
kind, and the first major project by architect
Apparata. It’s a remarkable debut. Having
won a 2016 competition to create a novel live/
work set-up for artists in east London, the
newly-formed practice set about challeng-
ing the habits and assumptions that make so
much contemporary housing feel cramped,
flimsy and dull. Its muscular addition to
Apparata lays out its philosophy for living with A House for Barking town centre is something like a man-
Artists, a bold, raw concrete statement intended to bring ifesto, combining ideas about collective living
with a determination to make light-filled,
creativity to Barking spacious and adaptable homes.
Words: Chris Foges The initial impetus for the project came
from the London Borough of Barking &
Below Concrete formwork
Dagenham’s ambition to attract artists priced
was composed to suggest out of inner London. Council leader Darren
masonry construction. Rodwell says it aims to enrich cultural life and
STÅLE ERIKSEN
STÅLE ERIKSEN
JOHAN DEHLIN
24 Buildings 25
Housing
inject economic stimulus while avoiding the open decks on both sides giving two means
STÅLE ERIKSEN
IN NUMBERS 1 Linton Road
gentrification often said to follow an influx of 2 William Street Quarter of escape. To the east, outside bedrooms, this 1
the creative classes – the very process pushing 1553m² 3 Anne Mews 3 is a narrow strip with gates between private
gross internal area 4 William Street
artists out of the city. LBBD’s wholly-owned 5 Residential towers
areas belonging to each home. To the west,
housing firms can provide a counterweight to
market forces, he suggests. A House for Art-
470 6 Barking Station 6
glass-walled living rooms look onto access
decks shared by three flats on each floor.
kgCO2eq/m² 2
ists shows what that might mean. Co-com- embodied carbon ‘Deck access has negative associations’,
(A-5, B-5, C-4)
missioned with Create London, a non-profit says Brennan, ‘but that doesn’t mean we
curator of public art projects, it offers long should reject the idea; we just have to design
leases on 12 flats, and sets rents at a third be-
9.52 4
5
in different ways’. These short, sheltered ter- 2 2

kgCO2/m²/yr 1
low market rates. In exchange, artists con- CO2 emissions races are 2.1m wide, giving residents a 1m
tribute time to work that benefits local people, space for plant pots and furniture while al-
centred around an integral ‘community hall’. 3m³/hr/m² lowing room for wheelchairs and emergency
airtightness at 50Pa 3
Its long-vacant corner site lies alongside services. The informal front gardens can be a
the grey mid-rise blocks and pitched-roofed buffer between private and communal spaces
houses of the newish William Street Quarter. while effectively extending every home.
Connection between the interior and ex-
Ground floor plan
Apparata’s beefy slab of raw concrete picks up terior is reinforced in other ways. Exposed
Eastward view
along William Street
on some qualities of its neighbours, recom- concrete soffits in the loggias, veined with
towards Anne Mews. posed in deliberately monumental form. ‘It’s shuttering marks, continue inside. And on
conceived as a public building’, says Appara- either side of each glazed front door there Above One third floor fl at 1 Community hall
has a private patio. 2 Studio space
ta co-founder Nicholas Lobo Brennan, ‘and are pairs of large side-hung windows with
3 Residential entrance
needed weight to hold its own against the bench-height sills, where residents can sit
Below West-facing 4 Shared access deck 6
scale of nearby towers.’ among plants and enjoy the afternoon sun. shared access decks 5 Standard 2b4p flat
An almost featureless cliff facing the Having room to accommodate the win- have room for plants 6 Non-standard flat
JOHAN DEHLIN (2)

street is relieved by side elevations with more dows’ inward swing points to the main benefit and furniture as well as 7 Private patio
variety, with flats set behind a grid of deep of omitting lobbies: more living area, and free- circulation.
4 5
loggias. A Bauhausian vocabulary of circles, dom in its use. Flats conform to national space
squares and triangles adds a playful touch, standards but feel much larger – a sensation
recurring in windows, cut-outs and eccen-
tric manipulations of the roofline. (The orig- 5
inal design was even fruitier, but triangular
columns and sloping concrete canopies were
dropped to aid buildability).
With glass walls set behind deep col-
umns, the rugged community hall is like First floor plan
an extension of the street, putting activity
within on public display. ‘It can open up for
events and become quite fluid,’ says Brennan.
Blockwork service risers screen some studi-
os at the back, and artists can also work in a
fenced yard to the side.
From the yard, the route to residents’ 6
7
homes is entirely outdoors, via external
stairs and open decks. ‘In many apartment
buildings flats are approached through dark 4
5
corridors’, says Apparata co-founder Astrid
Smitham. ‘We wanted all shared spaces to be
pleasant places to be, helping to form a com-
munity’. The architect was equally keen to 5
rid the flats of space-hungry corridors and

lobbies often assumed to be necessary for fire
protection. The solution developed with fire
consultant Beryl Menzies relies on incom-
bustible materials and an inventive plan.
All but one of the flats are dual aspect, with Third floor plan
26 Buildings
Xxxxxxx
bearing in-situ cast facades are supplemented

by a handful of internal columns. Next come
bolt-on steel accoutrements: mesh balus-
trades and smoke-diffusing downstands
above the terraces. Timber composite doors
and windows form the thermal envelope,
with structural connectors in the slabs above
and below to eliminate cold bridging.
Inside, raised timber floors and skeletal
steel kitchens let residents alter arrange-
ments to suit; sockets and electric radiators
are kept to party walls, so stud partitions be-
tween bedrooms are easy to remove. Party
walls are finished in plasterboard, but ply-
wood patressing makes secure fixing points
JOHAN DEHLIN (2)

for artwork, and contributes to a reassuring
sense of solidity. ‘We’ve used ordinary off-
the-shelf products, assembled in a thoughtful
way’, says Brennan. ‘The building’s replica-
amplified by 2.8m ceilings. Another bedroom ble; any contractor in Britain could do it’. Above Four non- Credits
DAVID GRANDORGE
or study can be carved out of living rooms, so Set aside the specific provision for art- standard flats Architect Apparata
incorporate features Architects
residents can remain in place as needs change. ists, and Apparata’s cogent piece of ‘built
including rooflights and a Client London Borough
Another kind of flexibility is found on research’ not only shows that imaginative of Barking & Dagenham;
double-height space.
the second floor, where double doors in party architects can still find wriggle room within co-commissioned by
Create London; delivered
walls allow three flats to be combined in an the straightjackets of finance and regulation Below Three inter- by Be First
airy enfilade, to suit co-housing or extended to do something different in housing design, connected flats support Fire Menzies Consultants
families. Communal life is optional, not im- but also provides a template for others. The co-living arrangements. Contractor J Murphy &
Sons
posed, says Brennan: ‘You can still close the building’s austere character, or its trade-offs
Below left Glazing is Engineering
doors and be done with co-living for the day’. between privacy and community, wouldn’t
Our net carbon negative products
arranged to allow sub- Expedition Engineering
At the front, one of the four non-stand- suit everyone, of course. But plenty would val- division of living rooms. M&E consultant
Max Fordham
ard flats has an extraordinary double-height ue the space and light, and jump at the chance
can offset building emissions
QS Artelia
space in one of the triangular roof volumes, to shape their own environment. A House for
and a private patio. ‘Affordable housing in Artists should be the first of many. •
Britain offers very few flat types,’ says Bren-
nan, ‘but by keeping costs down we could add
variety’. (LBBD won’t disclose the contract
sum, but says it was within normal range). Our UK-made sheet products lock in more carbon
Construction is lean, legible and surpris- than we emit manufacturing them. Using more of
ingly sustainable – exceeding the RIBA 2030 them in a build or refurb will help reduce a building’s
climate challenge target for embodied carbon carbon count, helping to comply with net zero targets.
by more than 20%. The primary structure is
all exposed concrete, using 50% GGBS. Load-
Carbon negative.
Positive future.
uk.westfraser.com/carbon-negative
STÅLE ERIKSEN

28 Critique 29
Housing
Student revision
At Manchester’s city-centre
This image The
development looks
Kampus development, Mecanoo
across Canal Street to and shedkm have transformed a
the north-west.
former university site into a verdant
Below right South- housing scheme
west entrance to the
complex through Little Words: Eleanor Young
David Street, which runs Photographs: Greg Holmes Photography, Daniel Hopkinson
between the warehouse
buildings and had been
closed off for decades.
When Adam Higgins of developer Capital & Centric

first imagined the place that would become Kampus,
he saw it as an apocalyptic vision, its 1960s structures
subsumed by a cloak of vegetation, wild and ruined; and
all three minutes’ walk from Manchester’s Piccadilly
Station. It was likely influenced by the state of the 1ha
site that Manchester Metropolitan University was
offloading: the 1964 tower that had housed its business
school, with concrete panels precariously held on by
wire mesh; a lecture theatre; a caretaker’s flat on stilts;
and two old warehouses, one unused for 40 years and in
quite a state.
The intimate green enclave that has emerged is a
testament to that vision, though likely more palatable
to the renters who no doubt prefer to walk to their flats
PHOTOS:GREG HOLMES
30 Critique 31
Housing
1 Canal Street South-east - north-west

2 Minshull Street section through warehouses.
3 Aytoun Street
4 Chorlton Street
2
5 The Bungalow
6 Hidden Garden
7 Block C, by Mecanoo
8 Tower renovated by
7
Mecanoo
3
9 Block F by Mecanoo
10 Warehouse renovated by
shedkm
8
5 6
1
Mecanoo wanted to
emphasise the small-scale
10 10
experience of the pedestrian

4
Left A waterside 1960s Below Accentuated
structure has been openings are intended
repurposed as a ‘village to reduce the apparent
hall’ raised on pilotti. scale of new brickwork.
rather than fight through vines with machetes. You find venture partner Henry Boot Developments decided
your way into the central courtyard or ‘hidden garden’ build-to-rent was the best route, partly based on ease of
through narrow alleys. ‘We made it almost too close,’ financing for the £250 million scheme.
Rick Splinter of Mecanoo explains. It is more plants The Amsterdam rhythm of Canal Street, across the
than paving, silver birches, tree ferns, euphorbia and Rochdale Canal from the site, suggested there might
fatsia threatening to claim paths as they expand over be a Dutch influence to tease out, says Higgins. Delft-
the edges of the sandstone flags. A colonnade of newly based Mecanoo, which then had a Manchester office,
exposed 1960s concrete columns sits in pools of plants, was engaged to masterplan and design the site. The
with climbers promising to colonise the structure density and massing is so different from traditional
further. Keeping the raised caretaker’s flat – dubbed Amsterdam streets it seems a rather vain hope, but
the Bungalow – allows glimpses through its stilts to the ‘Dutch’ houses perched atop two of the new-build brick-
adjacent canal rather than a more formal framing. clad towers are a nod to it. Liverpool-based architect
After four hours criss-crossing Manchester city shedkm, a long-standing collaborator, was called in to
centre, I had seen three scrappy patches of green, some deal with the old warehouses. And Chapman Taylor
drearily deserted paved ‘public’ spaces and barely took the new build through to completion.
a tree. So it is clear why, in rational moments, green As well as bringing a topping of Dutchness, Mecanoo
was one of a series of attractors that Capital & Centric wanted to emphasise the small-scale experience of the
identified to give character, value and a certain uplift pedestrian; Kampus is experienced on foot rather than Credits
in rents to this tall, super dense build-to-rent project of when driving past. These are big buildings, the most Client Capital &
533 homes. dense in Mecanoo’s office. They could have been denser. Centric and Henry Boot
Developments
Residential use was not a given. The floor plate of The strategic development framework had agreement Design and landscape
the business school suggested commercial uses, and for a 30-storey tower but, when it came to detailed architect
Higgins doesn’t remembers there being many large- planning permission, Capital & Centric settled for 16 Mecanoo
PHOTOS:GREG HOLMES
Architect for listed canal
scale residential projects in the city centre at that time storeys and three extra on the 12-storey business school. warehouse buildings
in 2013. Likewise the build-to-rent sector was nascent Mecanoo took cues from the city’s surrounding Shed KM
with only a few built examples Higgins could find, even Victorian buildings, borrowing the classical tripartite Landscape architect
and delivery architect
in London. But Higgins, his business partner in Capital division. At the base, the podium has ins and outs, a for new build
& Centric, Tim Heatley (see profile July, 2021), and joint colonnade and raking columns and a jettied warehouse Chapman Taylor
32 Critique NOW PLAYING
Housing
and places to shop. And at the top, the specials of IN NUMBERS

the Dutch houses snip the towers into a more airy
formation, reducing the sense of bulk. £250m
Cost
But the mid-section was more of a struggle to
break down. There are red bricks with horizontal
44,000m2
banding, windows staggered floor on floor, splayed Area
reveals in white and a spattering of balconies on the
reclad business school, some projecting, some inside
the building line on higher floors. These are simple
devices, relatively inexpensive though requiring extra
thought through design into construction. They subtly
animate the building and, compared to many of the
other towers pushing up into Manchester’s skyline,
this is a friendly, relatable set of buildings.
In plan it is less easy to get excited about. The
flats created have a logic and efficiency but renters
will not be paying for special spaces but for the
location and neighbourhood. The exceptions are the
warehouse flats. They borrow texture and character
from the brick walls and cast-iron columns (exposed
floorboards had to be covered up post-Grenfell), add Right and below
DANIEL HOPKINSON
A two-storey metal-
blocks of yellow opening up spaces and choose pleasure
clad podium provides a
over super efficiency (though I am assured they still consistent base for the
manage 70 per cent net to gross, not far behind the new-build and tower
80 per cent of the new builds). Both buildings have element.
WRAPTITE®
THE SELF-ADHERING AIRTIGHT AND VAPOUR
PERMEABLE MEMBRANE
GREG HOLMES
0:03 3:29
01250 872 261 @proctorgroup

The RIBA Journal March 2022 ribaj.com contact@proctorgroup.com www.proctorgroup.com
34 Critique
Housing
Left and right Derelict

warehouses were
renovated for residential
use by shedkm,
preserving industrial
fabric including cast-
iron columns and
external stairs.
Below Floor plans of the

three tower elements
designed by Mecanoo.
DANIEL HOPKINSON
1 One-bed flat
2 Two-vbed flat
3 Roof terrace
4 Warehouse
clever, tightly worked circulation, and the flats have

Level 02
apparently effortless plans that look easy to live in (the
coordination of the exposed services is pretty spot on
1 too). Shedkm has tackled the issue of small windows
2
by amalgamating some existing ones and taking
others down to the ground. On the narrowest of the
1 warehouses, flats overlook the canal while windows
are taken out to create open access decks. Pulleys, fire
2
escapes and cobbles bring an energy to the reopened
Little David Street.
As we leave one, a tenant comes out, clutching his
2 nervous dog. I am interested in whether living in a
specially designed build-to-rent development like this
really makes a difference, but not so far – he has yet to
meet his neighbours, use the residents’ gym or find out
about the residents’ Dutch house and terrace with its
1
mini cinema and entertaining space (which is still to
get up and running). Instead he wants to know about a
co-working space, which is not really part of the plan.
This build-to-rent is not about building a community
Level 14
through communal facilities, it is more about boosting a
neighbourhood to attract renters.
3 1
Higgins reports that the flats have the highest rents
2
in the city, £1,700-2,300 a month for standard two beds,
£5,500 for a two-bed flat in one of the Dutch houses.
Eighty per cent of the value for the joint venture lies
1 in the apartments, 18-20 per cent in the ground-floor
commercial tenants. Capital & Centric is augmenting
Everlasting materials. Everlasting impressions.
2
an already energetic piece of city centre, the Gay Explore Norwegian natural stone.
3 Village of bars and clubs, the flows from Piccadilly
2
Station, and from Pollen Bakery and General Stores lundhsrealstone.com | @lundhsrealstone
(both successful enterprises born in the regeneration of
4 4
Ancoats), and green surroundings. There will be events
and happenings in the canalside Bungalow. With the
3 inevitable churn of renters (average age 31) moving on,
Capital & Centric will have to keep attracting people to
0 50m Kampus to keep the flats let. But so far that is looking
easy to do. •

36 Guest content 37
Schüco
Schüco has developed a range of Hershika Kerai, business manager at
Schüco passivhaus Passivhaus Institute-certified, high-

quality, high-performance windows, doors
Aumaxum Architectural Glazing, the
fabricator for the project, commented: ‘To
has a natural look

and facades. These feature a thermally ensure that the large sliding doors that
broken aluminium alloy frame to ensure feature in this project were going to be as
performance and functionality go hand-in- thermally efficient as they were stylish, ASE
Schüco windows and doors plus hand with sleek, elegant aesthetics. As with 80 HI from Schüco was the best option. The
local materials give the Quarry all Schüco doors, windows and facades, the client wanted the doors to be extremely tall,
frames can accommodate either double or but the architect had to ensure the doors
House passivhaus standards triple glazed units. were of a height that had been thermally
Giles Bruce, director at A-Zero tested. The client visited our showroom and
Above The upper
Architects, explained: ‘Energy efficiency was immediately sold on seeing the door.’
level is a timber frame
and thermal insulation are playing an construction using As the house is designed to Passivhaus
increasingly important role in the design both glulam and CLT. standards, the energy required to keep
and construction of new building and it comfortable through the year does not
renovation projects. We specified these exceed 15 kWh/m². To put this into context,
aluminium products from the Schüco SI a standard Victorian house would use over
(super insulation) or HI (high insulation) 200 kWh/m².
ranges over other systems as they are able Giles explains: ‘This low space heating
to handle the many complex conditions that demand was achieved through high levels
this project required, while meeting the of insulation in the envelope, Cordex Filcor
performance and aesthetic requirements.’ structural insulation below ground and a
The Passivhaus voluntary building Pavatex wood wool insulation within the
performance standard for low energy timber cassette construction, which forms
buildings is an increasingly popular method the above ground envelope.
MICHAEL FRANKE
for UK buildings, focusing on a ‘fabric first’ ‘All junctions within the construction
principle of constructing a building with a were simulated to eliminate thermal
highly insulated and airtight envelope in bridging. The Schüco systems minimise heat
order to reduce space heating demand to a loss in winter and solar gains in summer.
Quarry House, a newbuild within the pit Above Schüco technical experts Below Large areas of glazing very low level. Infiltration is minimised using a Pro Clima
of a disused stone quarry, nestled between provided test data and details make the most of the setting, Although Passivhaus standards exceed Intello Plus Vapour Check Membrane, and
Below All window
of heat loss through profiles without compromising on
mature forest and open fields, required those of the Building Regulations, it is systems must be fresh air is provided mechanically, with all
to support the Passivhaus thermal performance.
exceptional sensitivity to the surrounding consultant.
down to the designer to decide how best to super-insulated. heat recovered from out-going air.’
environment and demanding Passivhaus meet the criteria, which means Passivhaus A-Zero Architects is a RIBA chartered
standards of energy efficiency. buildings can be built using almost any practice based in London. Founded in
The house is partially below ground, so construction method. 2010, its work focusses on designing and
it was imperative to make as much use of procuring buildings in a way which does not
natural light as possible without losing heat. Key criteria that a Passivhaus scheme must have an adverse impact on the environment.
Inside, a central double height atrium space meet are the following: Aumaxum Architectural Glazing
is flanked by private and semi-private spaces • The building must be airtight with less has over 20 years of experience in the
at two levels, each with their own view to than 0.6 air changes per hour at a pressure architectural glazing industry and is a
the outside. of 50Pa Schüco partner. •
The project was granted permission • Space heating demand must not exceed
under Paragraph 80 of the National Planning 15kWh/m2/yr
Policy Framework, which requires a • Exterior walls must have a U-value less
proposal’s design to be ‘truly outstanding or than 0.15 W/m2K
innovative, reflecting the highest standards • And the windows must be super-insulated
in architecture, and would help to raise with a U-value less than 0.8 W/m²K which
standards of design more generally in rural generally means they must be triple
areas.’ glazed, with a g-value of 50% to capture www.schueco.com/uk/specifiers
The design, by A-Zero Architects, uses heat from the sun. For further information on Schüco products and services,
materials local to the site – stone from please contact mkinfobox@schueco.com
the quarry and timber from the forest, The range of Schüco systems specified work
with aluminium products from Schüco, to together to create a home that is designed
achieve the right blend of aesthetics and with the objective of setting a low-energy
performance. standard.
Going for green Practical lessons 39
– clients – house
46 56
You employ one of Sam was doing his year out with our eight-strong Kent ONLY ON RIBAJ.COM
the first cohort of
Level 7 architecture
practice, and enjoying it. He applied for a part-time
diploma, but in 2018 London South Bank University
How can we make
Business, clients
apprentices, who has
just qualified. How
launched the new apprenticeship. He could qualify buildings more
& services did that come about? by studying one day a week while earning, and we got succinct? We need
stability as he’d be with us for at least three years. Our
materials that
Stuart
willingness also stems from our objection to conventional
education: it’s too long, expensive and divorced from provide structure,
practice. This is a better way to train well-rounded insulation,
Coleman
architects. We’ve since taken on two more apprentices.
waterproofing,
What’s involved for The government pays 90% of the course fees and we durability and have
the practice? make up the rest. We also opted to cover travel and other
costs, and pay a full-time salary. The apprenticeship
a suitable aesthetic
is arduous and stressful, so it’s only fair to give quality. What are
proper support. We commit time to meet tutors, and these materials?
to mentoring – making sure apprentices meet the The construction of
workplace requirements. As year-out staff sign up for an egg gives Steve
apprenticeships six months before starting, we have to Webb pause for
decide that they can handle it quite early. That could be a practical thought:
ribaj.com/cladding-
gamble, but our apprentices have completed first degrees,
egg
which shows maturity and commitment to architecture.
Director of How has it worked For apprentices it is incredibly tough. They study
Coleman Anderson out? three hours a night plus weekends, needing good
time management. It’s also hard to switch between,
Architects explains for example, the sort of drawings made for a tutor or a
why his practice client. Some have suggested that apprentices miss out
is employing on creative development, but they get stimulation at
university while learning how to talk to contractors and
and supporting win jobs. I underestimated the breadth of experience
architectural they need to get in practice, but luckily in a firm of our
apprentices size everyone sees everything, and we’ve organised CPDs
to fill gaps. As a practice we’ve benefited, as creative
juices flow and they bring in new skills. It does stretch
resources – they are too busy to take on paid overtime –
but that just needs good practice management.
We know commercial washrooms. Do you recommend it Absolutely – perhaps every practice should offer
to other practices? them. As early adopters we learned on the job, and the
Unity toilet cubicles, finished in ‘Dark Walnut’ laminate, were specified in all six
university did too, but requirements are now clearer
of the new male and female washroom areas at Capital One’s Head Office in
to employers, with support in place; it helps that our Intelligence is officially
Nottingham. Setback pedestals fixed to the cubicle partitions, gives Unity its
apprentices are at the same university. We’ve seen approved RIBA CPD. Look
sleek floating appearance. Unity’s flush fronted design has made a huge visual
the benefit to the practice and the apprentices, and it’s out for icons throughout
impact and has complemented the décor of these stylish new washroom areas.
Call 01474 353333 incredibly fulfilling to experience their whole journey the section indicating core
Read the full case study at www.venesta.co.uk/case-studies www.venesta.co.uk marketing@venesta.co.uk to becoming an architect. curriculum areas.
L Specify your washrooms with the help of our new website | www.venesta.co.uk D A V F E
40 Intelligence 41
Client
LOWFIELD GREEN
Lowfield Green in the south-west of the
city replaces a former school with 165
Sustainable Places, planning homes, 146 of which are being developed
Architecture & community by the council alongside six self-built
houses and a 19-home co-housing scheme.
York’s housebuilding
It circles around a new 0.4ha green and
includes apartments for the over-55s and
bungalows, which have been attractive
programme takes root for downsizers. It was designed by BDP

and includes many house types. Its
feel is extremely generous with lots of
volumetric and textural variety, which has
The city council’s plan to build 600 new homes, so far been a lesson for subsequent schemes
designed by BDP and Mikhail Riches, aims to combine – that they should be simpler and more
compactly masterplanned.
high quality with increasingly green credentials
it. The only drawback was that much of the dustry to the zero-carbon challenge has been
Isabelle Priest
early work was in assembling a team. It now pretty slow out of the blocks,’ adds Carter, ‘so
The City of York Council’s housebuilding re- totals 12 with Jones, one of the recruits, join- we wanted to prove that it could be technical-
cord wasn’t totally non-existent by the time ing from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. ly possible and commercially viable.’
the business case was agreed for it to embark Travelling around the south-west of York As the project has gained momentum,
on a 600-new-home programme in 2017. It near Lowfield Green, the most advanced the deliverables have also become more am-
ISABELLE PRIEST
had completed around 60 homes during the scheme, it doesn’t appear the city is short of bitious. The Lowfield Green development
preceding five years, mostly small estate homes. Tang Hall in the east was the second was as much about the council proving to
infills. What the go-ahead did was launch council estate built in England under Homes itself that it could build successful schemes
an ambition to mass build homes on a scale for Heroes following the First World War. that are attractive places to live. All the de-
unseen in the city since the post-war period. Elsewhere you will encounter successive velopments are mixed tenure and Lowfield
The first 40 homes on the initial site, housing estates that radiate from the centre Green cross-funds 28 social rent and 28
Lowfield Green, are already occupied. The forming evidence of changing architectur- shared ownership homes by developing 90
next wave of residents will move in shortly al styles and urban design thinking from market sale properties, but didn’t go as far
and the third phase of construction will start the 1930s to 1970s like the dating rings of a as zero-carbon. The next sites to construct
soon. The local authority has two schemes tree; yet noticeably lacking housing from the will be at least 40 per cent affordable homes
ready to start on site, one in planning as well 1980s to present day. and will be fully zero-carbon in use, meaning
as two projects in the initial design stages. The backdrop is that, by 2017, the council annual heating and electricity will be gener-
According to head of housing delivery and had accumulated several vacant sites that it ated by the homes, including for TV, laptops,
asset management Michael Jones, the coun- was considering disposing of. But more wide- phone-charging, not just cooker, fridge,
cil should be halfway to reaching the target ly, the city is facing a housing affordability freezer. They will also be Passivhaus-cer-
MIKHAIL RICHES / DARC STUDIO

by 2024. crisis compounded by an availability crisis. tified which will drive down the energy re-
Like many councils, the prompt for the Demand for private sale, affordable and rent- quirements from air-source heat pumps and
programme was the Cameron government’s al homes is outstripping supply, caused by a solar panels. Projects on the drawing board
ISABELLE PRIEST
lifting of the borrowing cap on housing rev- mix of newcomers, students, houses in mul- go further still by attempting to bring down
enue account receipts in 2012 – which also tiple occupation, and older people staying embodied carbon using timber construction
generated Goldsmith Street for Norwich in family homes. Key and low-wage work- and recycled newspaper insulation as a more
City Council. However, whereas many au- ers, essential to York’s retail and hospitality sustainable alternative to block and brick.
thorities have opted to deliver via separate industries, are priced out. Right to Buy has In terms of design, York Council has been
Top The apartment block for over 55s
development companies in partnership with been an additional negative drag, chipping at Lowfield Green overlooks a new
resistance from developers to meet afforda- and city in the country we see classic cook- keen to work with architects that meet its
private developers and housing associations, away the once 15,000 social rent homes to public park. ble homes targets on private developments ie-cutter mass housebuilding developments, ambitions. The first two schemes, Lowfield
York is doing it alone. Its delivery model is 7,500. At the same time, the average earn- Above A row of semi-detached (20 per cent on brownfield, 30 per cent of but we wanted to demonstrate that you can Green and Castle Mills in the city centre are
entirely based on borrowing off housing rev- ings to house price ratio in the city is 1:10, a bungalows forms one boundary of greenfield), which was also affecting quality. do it differently. You can still do it in a com- designed by BDP’s Sheffield office, appointed
Lowfield Green.
enue account receipts – a method director of figure more comparable with the south and ‘There was an element that we can do it mercially minded way in terms of making it via the OJEU process (although it had worked
Right Mikhail Riches' Duncombe
housing economy and regeneration Tracey south-east than elsewhere in the north of Barracks is on a site with planning for
better and raise standards in the city,’ ex- stack up, but you can offer a different product with the council on other projects previous-
Carter says is simpler to the point where it is England. It has led to high land prices so that 34 homes (20 per cent social rent, 20 plains Jones on why the council wanted to get that’s better quality.’ ly). However, as the local authority’s ambi-
perplexing that more councils don’t opt for by 2017, the council was receiving ever more per cent shared ownership). involved in housebuilding. ‘In every town ‘And the response of the construction in- tions grew it went down the procurement
42 Intelligence
Client
ORDNANCE LANE
Mikhail Riches’ first project for City of
York Council, which is in planning, will
MAPEI
create 85 new homes on a former MOD
site, south-east of the city centre. It GROUTS.
will involve demolishing several rather
charming existing military housing
buildings (because the architect couldn’t
86 COLOURS
make the site work with them) but retain
what is called the ‘married quarters’ WITH UNIQUE
which will have community and commercial
units at ground level. Between the rows
PERFORMANCES.
MIKHAIL RICHES
of terraced houses there will be spacious

ginnels replicating those at the practice's
Goldsmith Street housing. The terraces
will be bookended by multigenerational
homes with annexes for grown-up children
or grandparents.
Above and left is in planning and two others are at design

Mikhail Riches' stage, and the current relationship is still to
Ordnance Lane run until 2023.
scheme has shared
At a more general level, the council’s
green spaces
between homes and learning is feeding into a new design manual.
a focus on butterfly But more significantly, the local authority is
roofs that conceal due to approve a new local plan later this year
PV panels for green that will include building 4,000 new homes
energy generation.
over the next 15 years. Its work in designing
Completion is
MIKHAIL RICHES / DARC STUDIO
anticipated in 2024. mixed-tenure, high-quality and increasingly

sustainable homes serves as evidence of what
can be achieved by other types of developer.
Currently the market sale properties are be-
ing sold by its own brand, Shape Homes York.
Carter admits that it is still finding its way
in this area, perhaps having undervalued
some homes sold to date (the council's mar-
framework route, also via OJEU, open to full Fifty offices submitted and they were ket research showed that prospective buyers
market for a four-year term. The first stage judged by a panel including Jones and three expected to pay less for homes developed by
involved quality-based questions around others from the City of York team. Mikhail a local authority). But it is also still exploring
placemaking and community, the second Riches emerged as the favourite and was for- the public appetite for living in zero-carbon
stage split 70 per cent quality (demonstrated mally procured a week before winning the homes and whether they are prepared to pay Beautiful and versatile, Mapei grouts provide ● NEW COLOUR RANGE
by case studies) and 30 per cent price. 2019 Stirling Prize for Goldsmith Street. The more of the circa 10 per cent additional con-
the perfect colour for any setting. ● EASY TO APPLY
What made the process different from panel was attracted by the practice’s ability struction cost of those homes with a view to
They offer truly unique characteristics for
others was that the council had done prior to deliver density at low scale, which felt the long-term energy saving – particularly ● DURABLE
research to improve the procurement pro- contextual to York, its Passivhaus certified relevant with today’s spiralling energy costs. durability and increase the aesthetics of any
● DIRT AND MOULD RESISTANT
cess by discovering what the barriers to en- homes and its focus on developing communi- One aspect of which Carter seems par- tiled environment. Mapei colours feature across
try would be, including levels of liability and ties, health and wellbeing using spaces such ticularly proud, however, is that this 600- grout ranges and many are matched with ● HELPS KEEP INTERIORS MORE HYGIENIC
insurance, to overcome issues that had pre- as the shared ginnels at Norwich. Karakuse- home building programme is bringing cer-
Mapesil AC sealant.
viously led to it having limited choices – how vic Carson Architects will be offered excess tainty to the local construction market and
‘the nature of the rules often push work to- work with the option of holding mini com- encouraging upskilling in sustainable con-
wards the big practices’ as Jones puts it. This petitions between the firms for a particular struction that otherwise would be slower,
involved an investigation of payout amounts project, although the council hasn’t yet done especially during the post-pandemic home
as part of maximum liability claim levels in so. The quantity of work is rather formida- extensions boom. It has created incentive,
England to see if the high levels of cover often ble; already Mikhail Riches has delivered and made meeting the carbon challenge EVERYTHING’S OK
required held much meaning. two schemes to construction drawings; one more likely and inclusive. • WITH MAPEI
Learn more at mapei.co.uk

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46 Intelligence 47
Sustainability
Verification, confidence and insurance

Clients remain to be convinced that the sus-
tainable solutions so ardently promoted by
Sustainable Design, construction their design teams are optimal and reliable,
Architecture & technology both from a cost and a technical performance
point of view.
How to make sustainability

Without a body of evidence from R&D,
testing, and, crucially, in-use verification,
these solutions will stay less well assured
and clients more compatible than business-as-usual alternatives. Need-

less to say, without this performance certain-
ty, innovative solutions are harder to invest
Investor-developers got together to work out how to in. As Claire Bennie, director of Municipal,
overcome barriers to sustainable design at an RIBA said, ‘Clients quite often default to easier
roundtable discussion things because they’re less risky.’
The problem is compounded by the short-
age of insurance products to underwrite the
risks. According to Runacres, the ‘biggest
blocker’ is asset insurance, which has knock-
on implications for construction insurance
and PII. ‘If you can’t get asset insurance your
funders won’t go there.’
Lesser advocated long-term collabora-
tion as a solution. Sustained collaborative re-
respondents trying to deliver sustainable search and development ensures that, when it
Matt Thompson
outcomes. The top four barriers were, in comes to a live project, teams don’t start from
Why do construction clients sometimes frus- order, project cost restraints (implicated by scratch. Certainly, Derwent only works with
trate architects’ plans for better sustainable 72% of respondents), client requirements people who have the requisite R&D mindset.
DERWENT LONDON
outcomes? Why would they hesitate, given (65%), a lack of client engagement (62%), and Bennie felt that in-use performance veri-
the rising end-user demand for environmen- product substitution and value engineer- fication was the way forward. This implies a
tally friendly buildings, the importance of ing (57%). On top of that, 32% thought they greater focus on RIBA Plan of Work’s Stage 7
pro-social, green values in real estate invest- would fail as a business if they only produced and more post-occupancy evaluation (POE).
ment (especially after COP 26) – and of course sustainable designs. Although it is probably an urban myth, ar-
the risk of reputational damage? Importantly, the survey did not distin- chitects sometimes fear their PI insurers are adding that deviating from where we are now increased likelihood of losing control is likely Above 80 Charlotte Street, a London office
To find out, the RIBA Client Liaison guish between kinds of client, who of course against POE on the basis that it risks dredg- to much-needed improvements in design to be an inhibiting factor. building designed by Make for Derwent
London, uses air-source heat pumps and solar
Group convened a roundtable discussion all have different resources and motivations. ing up problems. Runacres recommended performance places an additional burden on
thermal panels and has 8% lower embodied
with client representatives and architects Certainly, Benjamin Lesser of Derwent consulting them to avoid any difficulties. the client project team in terms of disciplines, Accounting for externalities carbon intensity than the RICS benchmark.
who are leaders in the field of sustainability. London did not recognise the impression There is a need for not only useful evalu- time and cost, with the added lag in the omis- Development appraisals favour short-term
The roundtable interrogated eight clients that clients deliberately obstruct. In his ex- ation criteria but also a reporting system to sion of their pricing in appraisals. As we are decision horizons at the expense of long-term side. This ties in with the current dearth of
who retain a long-term interest in the assets perience, environmental and social govern- capture and share findings. Caspar Rodgers all having to upskill industry-wide, could ones that might account for non-financial verified data from assets in use. As Langdon
they develop – five from the private sector, ance matters are top of investors’ list of con- of architect alma-nac proposed there should architects take on delivering say Passivhaus costs. As Jenkins said, ‘In the bidding process said, ‘One of the biggest barriers is education
three from the public sector. cerns. In turn, Derwent pushes its teams to be a ‘common pool of knowledge so that compliant schemes – and even certify them? for assets and opportunities, not everyone is with the client, advisers and consultants.
Led by Nigel Ostime, chair of the Client hit stringent sustainability targets. everyone can sing from the same hymn sheet’. Runacres described the difficulty of jus- pricing in future carbon risk.’ They need to be making better decisions
Liaison Group and partner at Hawkins\ Peter Runacres of Argent agreed, although This should make it easier to reach agreement tifying extra upfront capital expenditure in Chris Langdon of Equans (part of Engie) based on better information and knowledge.’
Brown, the online event was split into two. he suspected that funders’ understanding on targets and for clients to compare options return for theoretical but unproven eventu- amplified the point in relation to decisions James Halsall of the London Legacy De-
During the first part, client representatives does not go very deep. As he said, ‘Many in the from a position of greater certainty. al in-use savings in operational expenditure. about whether to refurbish or demolish. The velopment Corporation bemoaned the lack of
outlined what they thought were the main business still just want a box ticked.’ Success depends on convincing funders that failure to account properly for the carbon systemic knowledge capturing and sharing
barriers to sustainable outcomes. In the sec- Finance: cost, viability, predictability money is spent where it is most effective. costs of demolition, and to exaggerate the fi- from exemplar projects as standing in the
ond, they set out possible solutions, including
how architects could help. The architect pan- Although it is probably an While the industry has, as Lesser put it, long
been picking the low-hanging technical de-
Taking the leap is just as hard for publicly
funded projects, where initial capital cost is
nancial uplift from building anew, mean that
refurbishment is rarely selected despite often
way of upskilling. Louisa Bowles, sustain-
ability lead at Hawkins\Brown, confirmed
ellists were given a chance to comment based
on their experiences of working with clients. urban myth, architects sign solution fruit, it is only just moving to
the high-hanging, and it is far from straight-
constrained and politically sensitive, added
Bennie.
being the more sustainable option. that concern: ‘Architects are often well
aware of the broader sustainability agenda
The RIBA’s November 2021 Decade of
Action poll of architects gave some useful sometimes fear that their PI forward. ‘It’s a risk because we are having to
invest significant funds years in advance on
Unfamiliar design solutions entail com-
paratively unpredictable costs. Since cost
Education and competence
The panel implicated a general lack of knowl-
around issues including social value, biodi-
versity and land use, but don’t know how to
insurers are against POE

context to the discussion. design fees, R&D and innovation testing.’ control is usually an important considera- edge, skills and experience as a barrier, not help clients set measurable and successful
This investigated what obstacles faced Robert Jenkins of Delancey agreed, tion for clients, particularly public ones, the just in the delivery side but also on the client strategies around these issues. The RIBA
48 Intelligence
Sustainability
Left Architect Orms’

refurbishment of
the challenge separately, that’s creating a re-
ally large and unnecessary barrier,’ he said. ULTIMATE DURABILITY
BORN FROM WATER-BASED INNOVATION
the 1974 brutalist
Bowles wondered whether collabora-
extension to Camden
Council’s former
tion could be improved and siloes broken by
HQ as the London aligning the delivery teams’ terms of engage-
Standard Hotel ment, while Langdon emphasised the need
is a good example for better cross-disciplinary understanding.
of sustainable re-
In particular, he felt that architects need to
use, upgrade and
adaptation.
upskill in development finance. ‘If architects
don’t truly understand costs and how cost
bases are evaluated, it will be harder to move
out of those silos,’ he said.
Bennie felt that trying to advance bet-
ter sustainable outcomes within individual
projects, while worthwhile, will limit the
scale and speed of progress. What’s actually
needed, she said, was ‘an entire new suite of
products’, which would require ‘wholesale
industrial change’.
To that end, Runacres advocated the pow-
er of lobbying. Langdon agreed, reminding
TIMOTHY SOAR
everyone, including architects, of their re-

sponsibility to challenge, educate, and lobby,
even to the point of turning down commis-
sions if their benefits and purpose are not in
Sustainable Outcomes Guidance has pro-
vided a useful starting point for the type of What’s actually needed is an the interests of society and the greater good.
metrics and standards that could be used to

propose and measure success.’ entire new suite of products Regulation
The panellists generally agreed that stiffer,
which would require

Kunle Barker of Melt Homes identified a more coherent regulation had a part to play
knowledge gap between architects and con- in improving sustainable outcomes, and that
tractors, and a lack of understanding by cli- they would welcome it.
ents, particularly on targets and comparing
options. ‘The focus on targets and buzz phras-
wholesale industrial change The government’s role is potentially
multi-faceted. The panellists wished for bet-
es like net zero and embodied carbon can be The confusion is exacerbated, Runacres ter cross-departmental policy coherence and
difficult for clients to understand,’ he said. thought, by the lack of consistency across integration, consistency in target definitions
The solutions are self-evident: more and government departments and by clashing and measurement, instruments to force ben-
different training across the procurement priorities. For example, the important focus eficial behaviour change in the industry, and
chain, from clients and their advisers to de- on health and safety, he said, is becoming a putting pressure on the insurance industry
signers, contractors and other consultants. barrier to low-embodied carbon solutions. to support technologies that lead to better
Peter Runacres felt that architects’ education
needs greater emphasis on design for long-
Robert Jenkins of Delancey agreed, cit-
ing the difficulty of juggling the wellbeing
sustainable outcomes.
The good news is that the RIBA is already
NEW
term performance, financial modelling and benefits of high levels of daylight with the providing some of the solutions, all aligned IMPROVED
the motivations to build that precede the brief. significant energy and carbon disadvantag- with the UN’s sustainable development FORMULATION
Caspar Rodgers went so far as to wonder es of full height glazing. He summed up the goals. It has updated its industry-standard
whether the mandatory competence for cli- current picture as noisy and challenging: Plan of Work, developed achievable bench-
mate literacy, which is already planned for ‘There seem to be multiple industry bodies, marks and targets in its Sustainable Out-
RIBA members, ought to be a condition of and definitions of terminology, and people comes Guide, is introducing mandatory
continued ARB registration. are using them to pursue and implement competencies in climate literacy, and work- Protects exterior wood and metal
their own strategy.’ He predicts continued ing with LETI to harmonise definitions and
Consistency and standardisation misunderstanding until there is consensus. reporting procedures across the industry. It As durable as Dulux Trade solvent-borne
Confusion about meanings of concepts, tar- is also working with the UK Green Building
gets, measures and comparability is a barrier. Cultural factors Council on a roadmap to 2050 and lobbying
8 years all weather protection
Langdon said, ‘There isn’t a clear enough defi- James Halsall implicated siloed working and government, most notably with the publica- High gloss finish with improved gloss retention*
nition of what some of the measures of suc- a lack of communication as inhibiting better tion of its Built for the Environment report
cess, or sustainable outcomes, actually are.’ sustainable outcomes. ‘If we all think about in collaboration with Architects Declare. •
Compared to previous formulation
*

Intelligence 51
Sustainability
Design freedom
without compromise Procurement Sustainable
& contracts Architecture
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product solutions in curtain wall.
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DRONECAM SOLUTIONS
Achieves many test standards including CWCT – and the ripple effect
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Structural glazing, unitised glazing, roof glazing
and fire rated solutions available
the civil society organisation Verité listing 18 Above tp bennett’s ‘Carbon Cube’ installation in Leeds
Chris Webb during COP26.
countries – and one-in-six cotton products –
Buildings are responsible for 39% of global reported to have forced labour within their
energy related carbon emissions, almost a supply chains. some product assessment certifications do
third of which are released from materials While these are extreme examples, they exist, such as Environmental Product Dec-
and construction, the World Green Building represent a key issue: the more geographical- larations and Declare Labels, none give full
Council has reported. The materials we spec- ly complex and removed a product’s supply insight across all areas of concern.
ify therefore are not only one of our greatest chain is, the greater the risk is that some- Even if there was a one stop shop to meas-
sustainability impacts, but also offer a signif- where, some people involved in its produc- ure attainment across all our target aspects of
icant opportunity for change. tion might be working in unhealthy or uneq- environmental and social sustainability, it is
At tp bennett, materials are an important uitable conditions. unlikely that many products would perform
focus area as part of our commitment to meet perfectly across all indicators. And here is
the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge Targets Positive impact the greatest issue: How do we measure and
and the detailed programme that we have So there is a lot to consider. And our goal then prioritise areas of good and bad perfor-
implemented to align with UN Sustainable should be to not just prevent environmental mance? Where are the red lines? Do we rank
Development Goals. We have developed a harm and inequality, but to actively regen- embodied carbon values above, for example,
chart and a questionnaire for our suppliers erate environments and to achieve positive payment of the local living wage?
that helps us (and them) analyse and work social value across all geographies. Consider two versions of the same prod-
on sustainability issues in their widest sense. To make change, first we need to under- uct – one is made locally in the UK, in a fac-
The embodied carbon of a product is an stand a product’s constituent parts and prov- tory using heavy industrial processes, and is
important environmental performance indi- enance, which is by no means easy. Although then driven to site in an electric vehicle. The
cator but it is crucial that we also look beyond comparative product is made by a responsi-
that to manufacturing waste, water con- ble co-operative half-way around the world,
sumption and polluting processes – and the but is then air-freighted to the UK. What is
wider social risks and responsibilities too.
For example, a study from Sheffield Hal- Although some product best? Opinions may differ – sustainability is
often an emotive subject!
lam University strongly linked photovoltaic
panels, widely used in the UK, with some assessment certifications do While some suppliers have exception-
al insight, all too often, others do not have
Together for better componentry manufactured by the forced
labour of indigenous Uyghur and Kazakh cit- exist, none give full insight all the information we need about prod-
uct origin. Although most want to increase
Reynaers reynaers.co.uk
across all areas of concern
izens in China. The cotton and wider textiles their own socio-environmental performance
Aluminium supply chains can have similar issues, with across their business, they often do not know
0121 421 1999 reynaersltd@reynaers.com
RENEWABLE ENERGY PERFORMANCE CARBON REDUCTION
52 Intelligence
Sustainability
where to start. The certifications that do ex-

ist are expensive – typically costing £6,000
– £10,000 per product – and are technical-
ly challenging to obtain. For start-ups, or
small-to-medium sized businesses (who we
are keen to support), this can be prohibitive.
Strategy tools
To tackle these myriad problems, we have
developed a Responsible Sourcing Charter
and Supply Chain Questionnaire, through
consultation with suppliers and clients. The
10-point charter sets out the collaborative
approach and ethos needed to make positive
change, throughout our supply chains. The
questionnaire helps us understand how sup-
pliers and products are performing.
We ask potential suppliers to sign up to
the charter and to fill out the questionnaire
and, although it does require them to put in
HUFTON + CROW
time and effort, the information we receive
back not only allows us to make more in-
formed specification decisions, but also helps
show the supplier where to focus their effort.
Having launched the initiative only a
year ago, we have already collected data SUPPLY QUESTIONNAIRE FOCUS AREAS Above tp bennett's Herbal House office in Farringdon,
from around 130 different suppliers. And it 1 Product materials and chemical content – including London, for George Soros' Open Society Foundations.
is having a real impact. After using our ques- human health considerations such as indoor air quality, as
tionnaire, a joinery manufacturer that we well as raw materials footprint. To that end we have been using QR codes
Redeveloped residential building certified
work with is looking at incorporating on-site to make some of the data that we hand over to
renewables at its manufacturing site and has 2 Manufacturing, resource, consumption and waste – for facilities management teams accessible to all BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ for its environmental,
replaced the plastic corners of its packaging example factory energy use, both on- and off-site. users of the building. They can simply scan economic, and sustainability attributes.
with protectors made from off-cuts. the materials to find out more about them. Project: Clapham Park, London
Similarly, a supplier of surface finishes 3 Product circularity – for example recycled content, As a signatory to Architects Declare, we
Architect: PJMA Architects
now actively monitors and reduces its waste, modularity and take-back schemes. are committed to sharing our knowledge
Sustainable
water and electricity footprints and is ex- and research. The long-term intention for Approved Contractor: E J Roberts
ploring the use of ingredients with lower 4 Transport – covering locality and full transportation the Responsible Sourcing Charter and Sup- PV installer: M&M Electrical Ltd
rooftops to
embodied carbon footprints. miles, prioritising rail over road and shipping over flights, ply Chain Questionnaire is to move the plat-
We have also been very impressed by the use of electric vehicles and consolidated journeys. form to an online tool which we hope will be
extent to which contractors have embraced accessible to everyone.
support the
the idea when we are working with them 5 Packaging – looking at reduction, reuse, FSC- Our series of public exhibitions, ‘Mate- Specify a rooftop solution that encompasses Bitumen waterproofing with green roof
and solar PV
on design and build contracts. It helps to set certification, avoiding single-use plastics and more. rials Matter’, linking each of our seven key robust waterproofing, a biodiverse green roof,
ambitions at the start. Success then comes focus areas to actions that anyone can take
environment
and a solar PV array on one roof area.
down to sharing our data and monitoring 6 Social sustainability and ethical sourcing – covering now, is an effort to engage the wider public
their tender specifications. We can ensure supply chain audit, factory visits, social sustainability in our sustainable design process too.
that they keep within the same embodied certifications and payment of local living wage. After all, knowledge is power. The de- Bauder BioSOLAR is a unified solution with
carbons bracket, for example, even if they cision-making process remains complex design support, bespoke calculations and
find a cheaper alternative product. 7 Embodied carbon – including holding environment and somewhat subjective but collecting and specification, installed by fully trained
product declarations or commitment to accurately using data to make informed choices is an
approved contractors, with a guarantee for the
Delivering the goods calculate and reduce embodied carbon. important step to supplying, sourcing and
Clients are starting to really see how we can specifying more sustainably. Both pollution entire roof package.
deliver their ESG strategy through every de- prevention and purpose must be as key a part
tail of the buildings we design for them. Peo- of specification decisions as price, perfor- n Robust waterproofing with BBA certified life
ple love to understand and share the story of mance and programme. • expectancy of over 35 years
n Diverse range of 35 RHS recognised ‘Perfect
the materials and products in their building Chris Webb is head of sustainability at tp for Pollinators’ vegetation species
with their staff and visitors. bennett n Cooling effect from the vegetation increases
panel output by up to 5%
01473 257671 • START YOUR PROJECT • bauder.co.uk
54 Guest content 55
Aluproof
Architects’ active role in decarbonisation Revitalisation and renovation work

‘The awareness of how architects’ The renovation of existing buildings with
decisions will affect the reality in which aim of reducing their energy demand is also
the next generation will live is extremely very important.
important’, emphasises Wojciech Brożyna, ‘We can see that the method of
managing director at Aluprof UK. ‘Working replacing an old building with a new one
with many of the world’s leading architects, does not meet the objectives of sustainable
we see how important it is for the whole construction. It generates huge energy
industry to understand its impact on the costs associated with the need to dispose of
environment. It is architects who shape construction waste. We should remember
trends in the construction market, with that older buildings are not made of modern,
their talents and artistic visions, but also Above Sustainable up to 100% recyclable aluminium, but of
with their knowledge of modern building design is the only way non-recyclable concrete or slabs’, explains
to the future .
solutions and materials. They can actively Brożyna. ‘This is why at Aluprof UK we
Opposite Viacom
influence the reduction of carbon footprints International Media
also focus on technologies that will improve
and the decarbonisation of construction,’ he Network HQ, London, the energy efficiency of a building through
adds. UK. Applied systems: its renovation. Our new products – MB-
How can we achieve ambitious MB-70HI, MB- SR60N Mullion-transom curtain wall with
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.EFEKT
through sustainable design. Passive windows with Uw from 0.53 –
In the case of the architecture industry, provide a significant improvement in the
the key points are: energy balance of the building.
• Reducing the external energy demand ‘Many examples of successful
of a building by using renewable energy renovations and revitalisations can be found
sources in energy and heating installation in the latest AluBook,’ he adds.
projects (heat pumps, photovoltaics)
• Preventing energy loss. Here, the Let’s build a better future
following ideas can be helpful: energy The role of architects in reducing the
recovery ventilation, room layout designed carbon footprint cannot be underestimated.
Above Xxxxx Below Xxxxxx to support the lifestyle of the householders Everyday choices, ideas and implementation
• Designing compact blocks without bay of sustainable projects will build a future
windows also effectively minimises where the next generations will have a
energy loss and thermal bridges better life. •
Aluproof’s
• Using trees (shading, wind protection)
Sustainable design is no longer a trend construction industry. Buildings account designing windows on south walls, using
Below Environmental
or a design option. For a profession as for 67% of total energy consumption, with sun shades, maximising passive energy
anti-carbon
Building York University,
responsible as that of an architect, it is the UK residential sector accounting for gains York, UK. Applied
a necessity. So what are the tasks facing 77% of CO2 emissions across the whole • Using recyclable building materials (eg systems: MB-70, MB-
the industry in the context of the climate construction industry. It is clear that it is aluminium). SR50N.
culture crisis?
The construction industry is responsible
for 40% of the UK’s carbon footprint.
the construction sector and, in particular,
housing, that needs to be focussed on most
strongly.
With pressure on the Architecture, engineering and By 2050, the UK has to achieve
construction industry construction (AEC) is not the only reason the objectives of the Climate Change
that the climate crisis exists, but it is Act 2019 and reach climate neutrality
to cut its carbon impact responsible for a very large part of the (zero carbon). To help achieve this, the
growing every day, global warming process. According to Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard
architects have a major ourworldindata.org, as much as 17.5% of (BEIS 2020) aims to improve the energy
global greenhouse gas emissions are the performance of buildings while reducing
responsibility to design result of using huge amounts of energy to the energy poverty of the population.
sustainably. Aluproof heat and light buildings. However, government arrangements alone
can help realise these If we look at the problem on the scale are not enough to make a difference. The
of this country alone, the situation looks whole AEC industry must work together
ambitions even more serious. The UK Green Building and, above all, architects must be active
Council estimates that 40% of the carbon in improving the energy efficiency of
footprint in the UK is created by the buildings in their designs.
56 Intelligence 57
Architects’ account
A
Design, construction 3 1
& technology B
6
5 2 7
Sustainable,
cheerful –
4
and cheap For the structure, we used a Larsen tim-

ber truss, and clay rather than concrete
blocks on the party walls – Porotherm from
A
Key
1 Entrance
2 Kitchen/Dining Room
4 Library
5 Sitting room
6 Garden
Wienerberger. We liked the effect of the 3 WC 7 Solar Inverter
HEIKO PRIGGE (3)

parge coat so much that we decided to use it
Library House was made as the internal finish. spruce cladding and in the bedrooms, in-
on a limited budget but We wanted to use local and economical stead of building wardrobes, we put rails and
with high environmental materials where possible, which was a chal- shelves with a blind you can pull over them.
lenge. For the 7000 white bricks, we began The house meets all the criteria of the
ambitions and design values. LIBRARY HOUSE IN NUMBERS looking at quite expensive ones but ended up RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge, although it
Its architect explains how choosing one from BEA that cost 67p each, was already on site when that was launched.
4m c
but when used with a French mortar pro-
2020 Macdonald Wright Architects
As well as its high-performing building en-
James MacDonald Wright wide
duced a beautiful limey quality. The window velope, it has solar panels on the roof and a
I bought the east London plot in 2009 to devel-
op for a house, but hadn’t the money or time
84m2 head slips were left over from Caring Wood.
The 75mm-thick Corten-clad Passivhaus
whole house MVHR unit on the landing. We
calculated the space heating to be a tenth of
GIA
to do it. Then, the practice became busy with front door was an extravagance, necessary for the requirements of a new build house under
other projects including Caring Wood in Kent. 1.3 ACH@50Pa thermal and acoustic performance benefits. current Building Regs – and it has performed
We didn’t start the main build until 2019, and air tightness The walls are quite thick – generally even better.
finished the house during the pandemic. about half a metre – and well insulated. Win- It’s the first time I’ve been a client com-
I was always interested in developing low The Library House sets up a dialogue Above Library House sought to respond to the scale of
10 dows from Velfac are triple glazed. There’s mercially. It was a challenge – at the end we
solar photovoltaic panels producing 2.8kW
budget housing specifically for the rental mar- with its neighbours, sometimes echoing their the local street, and the grade II listed Clapton Library. one small kitchen window at the front, with completely ran so short of money that I had
ket. It has been said that Caring Wood had the proportions and character, and sometimes Above right Material choices were minimal and, where
possible, locally sourced.
17kWh/m2 a very thin blind to let in as much light as to do the brickwork for the garden seating
obvious advantages of a generous budget and contrasting. We used white bricks on the ele- Below right Sustainable spruce built-in storage is
annual energy use possible while giving privacy. A second blind plinth myself – to the amusement of Danny,
a family client. I like to think that the Library vations to tie in with the adjacent terrace, and can drop down at night so that you’re not on our builder. And when we needed handles for
750W
finished in non-VOC treatments.
House, which was designed as an afforda- incorporated tiled slips for the window head view when the lights are on. the many built-in cupboards, I took off my
heat load to maintain 20°C in winter
ble rental home with construction costs of details in reference to the architecture of the garden off the rear sitting room and two bed- At both front and back we have perfo- leather belt and Danny cut it up to line the
£340,000, is a response to that observation. library building, which I like very much. I rooms and a bathroom upstairs. 515kg CO2/m2 rated Corten screens shading the bedroom fingerholes that we’d cut in the doors instead.
The site is a 4m-wide infill plot between often went there to work during the build – it The Library House feels very tranquil. embodied carbon windows. I love the shadows these create – I In terms of lessons learnt, we’ve known
Edwin Cooper’s grade II listed Clapton Li- made for a remarkable site office. It has a timelessness, a flavour that I like to wanted to achieve the remarkable quality of for years about the importance of environ-
brary in Hackney and a terrace of cottages We introduced a Corten slot between the think runs throughout my work. A lot of this £340,000 light you get from Arabic mashrabiya panels. mental performance, and we’ll keep taking
construction costs
fronting directly on to the pavement. It had cottages and the library, employing a per- is down to the pared back palette of natural Whenever possible we source local ma- that further, even beyond what we’ve done
been vacant for decades, although foundations forated panel to the upper bedroom,and a materials such as timber, stone and Corten. terials. The flooring is Blue Lias stone from here. Keeping things simple and using local
suggested there had been a house there once. Passivhaus front door at street level. In addition, we have a lot of bespoke crafted Somerset – local compared with, say, stone materials is essential, and that is certainly
It’s a very simple, two-bedroom home of The plan form for a lot of small Victorian details, like the built-in storage constructed from overseas, which would have been cheap- something we’ll also be continuing.
84m² designed around three equal principles cottages is that the stairs sit behind the en- from sustainable spruce. There’s hardly any er. The bathroom taps are from Barber Wil- Looking ahead, I’d like to do a scalable
of affordability, sustainability and quality. trance and against the party wall. However, paint and we used environmentally friendly sons, a century-old company in Tottenham. rental scheme. In the UK houses have to be
We targeted the AECB Building Stand- as the site was already so narrow, we instead treatments for the spruce, so there aren’t the We’ve been economical in many ways. far more sustainable, and that must apply to
ard and went for a heavily insulated, airtight put the staircase in the centre of the plan to volatile organic compounds you might nor- We made the kitchen out of plywood with the rental sector too. •
envelope, with a view to monitoring ongoing give the front kitchen/dining room its full mally find, which probably also contributes
energy performance to help inform our sub- width. We also created something quite to the calm ambience. Credits James MacDonald Wright is the founder of
MacDonald Wright Architects
HEIKO PRIGGE (3)
sequent residential projects. I pay the elec- sculptural with a structural curved bookcase We tendered the project and worked with Architect Macdonald Wright Architects
Client James Macdonald Wright This is the first in a new series of architects'
tricity bills and the tenants reimburse me, so that supports the Douglas fir staircase. The a small local contractor we knew before, but accounts about designing and making their
Structural engineer Osbourne Edwards
I know exactly how the house is performing shape on plan references the arches of the li- hadn’t previously built anything on that scale. Sustainability consultant Conker Conservation buildings. Read more Design in the making on
compared to the original design calculations. brary next door. There is a small courtyard It turned into quite a collaborative effort. Main contractor DanEco Build ribaj.com
58 Guest content 59
Futurebuild
creating an action programme. The physical

impact of climate change that we are An Innovation Stage will in a zero-carbon world. Topics include
overcoming challenges in supply, demand
already experiencing highlights the need
for developing long-term resilience at the showcase companies who and retrofit, living in a sustainable
relationship with nature, and the future of
with the materials, products

same time as reducing emissions, restoring building design. As part of the conference
natural resources and biodiversity, ensuring arena, visitors can also visit a pop-up RIBA
a sustainable food supply and recognising Bookshop which offers a range of titles
the consequences of climate change on
human health and wellbeing. This session
and services that may solve exploring the climate emergency, as well as
a selection of its other publications.
will focus on the actions that the UK
construction industry will be taking –
the common challenges the New for 2022
starting now.
‘There is no simple, off the shelf solution
construction industry faces The built environment has a critical role
to play in the UK’s transition to net zero.
to reaching net zero, but there is a growing To ensure the industry takes action, many
understanding of what needs to be done,’ organisations have created road maps to
explains Shaun Spiers, executive director net zero, setting out the recommendations
at Green Alliance and chair of the Beyond to eliminate carbon emissions. At the 2022
COP26 arena session. ‘There is an almost show, the Climate Action Wall, sponsored
universal recognition that we must aim by James Latham, will present the latest
to limit global heating. The next year will road maps, strategies and action plans from
give us a much clearer idea of whether the leading partners. Visitors can see content
outcomes of COP26 can shift the course of from organisations including Bioregional,
the world’s economy or whether it was “blah The Edge, RIBA, Considerate Contractors
blah blah”.’ Scheme, ICE, Landscape Institute, ACAN,
Day two focuses on leading CIBSE, Active Building Centre, Zero
transformative change in the industry, Construct, UKGBC, CIC and IStructE.
looking at topics such as a zero-carbon The 2022 event also features an
financial future, creating infection-resilient Innovation Stage, sponsored by BEIS,
environments and what levelling up which hosts live sessions from the show’s
really means. The day will conclude with partners on the innovation trail. The trail
Dr Oliver Jones, research and innovation will showcase the companies that already
director at Ryder, announcing the winner of have the materials, products and services
the Big Innovation Pitch, which showcases Opposite Futurebuild Below The most that may solve the common challenges the
will showcase over 300 influential and pioneering
A showcase
the game-changing products already construction industry faces. Companies
leading brands that are thought leaders will
The countdown to sustainable built clearly established what the industry must transforming the built environment. developing the most take to the stage at
on the trail include consultants of Cradle
environment event Futurebuild 2022 do, we must now focus on how to do it at Sessions on day three will explore innovative technologies, Futurebuild’s conference to Cradle Certified® materials 540 World,
to inspire
has begun. From March 1 to 3 at ExCeL scale. Futurebuild will be perfectly timed creating a healthier, happier place for all products and solutions. programme. timber specialist James Latham, standards
London, the net zero pioneering exhibition to tackle the key issues facing the built organisation MCS and construction
will bring together the disruptive thinkers environment and collaboratively solve management software provider Procore.
change and most exciting innovators who will

inspire transformational change.
The curated event will showcase over
core problems. The event is organised into
six sections: Buildings, Offsite, Interiors,
Resourceful Materials, Energy and Critical
During the event, visitors can also
network in a range of social spaces,
including the ACO Habitat Matters café,
300 leading brands that are developing Infrastructure. Drive Net Zero in the Built Environment –
the most innovative technologies, Brokerage Event, with Innovate UK EDGE
Futurebuild 2022 will products and solutions to enable the built Conference programme and the Futurebuild Bar – ACAN takeover.
feature innovative environment to reach net zero. Throughout the event, the most influential
According to the UK Green Building and pioneering thought leaders will take
technologies and solutions Council (UKGBC), the built environment to the stage for Futurebuild’s conference Futurebuild 2022 will take place
that can help the built currently contributes 42 per cent of the programme, sponsored by Construction from March 1 to March 3 at the
environment reach UK’s carbon emissions – produced by both Innovation Hub. The programme, curated ExCeL London. Register for free
existing buildings and constructing new by The Edge, will explore some of the at www.futurebuild.co.uk/
net zero infrastructure. key questions and issues around closing
At COP26, the built environment the gap between net zero ambition
was given 12 months to turn climate and delivery.
pledges into significant action to limit The first day will focus on the
temperature rises to 1.5°C. While COP26 industry’s ambitions beyond COP26 and on
Hatherley’s travels Endlessly inquiring 61
– review – obituary
72 79
NEW SUPERMATT A digital designer by day, Jack Young’s

fascination with council estates began
10 years ago, after moving from Fleet
WITH IMPROVED FORMULATION

in Hampshire to study at university in
London. His was an obsession born from
the understandable premise that if all we
AND AIRSURE TECHNOLOGY needed was low-cost mass housing, why

didn’t it all look the same? Biking around
the city for years with his camera has
helped him answer that question; needing
to write about his findings rather then
just photograph them, he moved from
merely updating his Instagram account to
creating the book, ‘The Council House’.
Young first saw Lubetkin’s Bevin
Court and Spa Green estates while
working in Farringdon; he also noted
the tranquility of Golden Lane and
the Barbican’s Utopian ideals. But his
favourite block is the 300-flat Dawson’s
Heights in Dulwich, built by Kate
Macintosh for Southwark Council in
1964-72. Its monolithic nature aside, he
was struck by the flats’ liveability and
the amazing views. Macintosh fought
for her balconies by justifying each as
a fire escape. She learned such skills
from a great teacher; she was articled to
Lubetkin, who famously said: ‘Nothing is
too good for ordinary people.’
Holmefield House (1965) on Kensal
Road was, by contrast, an anomaly. Young,
having come to pay homage to the iconic
As well as being a high opacity emulsion, and perfect for use on new plaster, Trellick Tower, was stopped in his tracks
by Julian Keable’s curious, glimmering
the new Dulux Trade Supermatt formulation offers an improved flow out blue tiling and circular, louvred vents.
In the time it took to grab his camera and
and finish† for professional results. focus, a VW camper van had trundled
into view and was caught in the frame, in
its uncannily analogous blue. A moment
in the sun for a block living, literally and
figuratively, in the shadow of Goldfinger’s
masterpiece. • Jan-Carlos Kucharek
We promise our paint will give you the perfect colour with a uniform finish and the
Jack Young
coverage stated, or we’ll replace it. Visit dulux.co.uk/promise Untitled, 2020.
Terms and conditions apply. Claims must be made within 6 months of purchase. Proof of purchase required. Colour claims limited to 10L per customer.
Sony A7iii with 28mm prime lens
Manufacturer’s tips and instructions must have been followed. UK purchases only. Jack Young’s ‘The Council House’
is available from ribabooks.com
*Based on in-can VOC content, measured in accordance with ISO 11890-2:2013. †Compared to previous formulation ribaj.com The RIBA Journal March 2022
Culture 63
President
architect meets innovations

The Truman Brewery
13 & 14 April 2022
Back to
EXCLUSIVE TRADE EVENT FOR ARCHITECTS,
business
INTERIOR DESIGNERS AND SPECIFIERS As we move towards spring the RIBA is a hive of
a
ivity with awards, talks, a members’ hub and
other initiatives. Join the party, urges Simon Allford
CURATED EVENT
Much is going on within the RIBA just now, as we as PII availability, access to the profession and the
with over 200 selected products showcased
continue to transform the organisation and get it regulation of architects and architecture – on which
by manufacturers and distributors in the best shape for the future. As a dynamic and much work is being done.
relevant membership institute your feedback is key, The significance of our membership’s global
All exhibitors go through a strict selection process so please keep in touch. perspective was itself highlighted last month
with an external judging panel, ensuring the presence The 2022 UK Awards programme is now under with the announcement of the winner of the RIBA
of high caliber innovations. way, and very soon our judges – both member and lay International Prize 2021 – the Friendship Hospital in
– will begin to visit the projects under consideration Bangladesh, by Kashef Chowdhury/URBANA. The
for an award. For the first time, all projects submitted building is of vital social purpose and of scale, built
NETWORKING
must have been in use for at least a year and will deploying limited and economical materials, all to
in an original and creative atmosphere REGISTER therefore, crucially, be assessed as buildings in use create a delightful low carbon architectural model for
ONLINE FOR – the best possible test of performance. Shortlisting healthcare. It is highly relevant to both its rural context
FOCUS ON AIR & ARCHITECTURE FREE ENTRANCE will be complete by the end of February and Regional and to procurement and practice around the world. Below Winner of the
• Seminars by high profile architects USING CODE Awards will be announced during April and May. The sharing of expertise between our members RIBA International
Prize 2021, the
Full programme available online 1810 Celebrating the best of what we do is important.
But capturing and sharing information about the
and with the wider industry and government is the
foundation of our House of Architecture concept,
Friendship Hospital
in Bangladesh, by
• Materials curation OXYGEN by MaterialDriven exemplary projects that are awarded is equally @RIBA – the creation of a 21st century virtual and Kashef Chowdhury/
• Photo wall selected by world-architects valuable. RIBA membership is about sharing best physical institute of ideas, where all are welcome. • URBAN.
practice and learning how it can inform architecture
• RIBA pop-up Bookshop
and help us and our clients to make better projects.
• Art To this end the RIBA has launched a new series
of free online talks – ‘Building Stories’ – to celebrate
OPEN BAR award-winning projects. We are keen that this
new weekly series will give an opportunity for
project teams to share their particular story of the
collaboration between architect, design team, client,
PHOTOGRAPH BY ASIF SALMAN COURTESY OF URBANA

and contractor and how the process of commissioning
and making shaped the architectural outcome.
ARCHITECT-AT-WORK.CO.UK In addition to being streamed online and available
to audiences around the world, I hope we can soon
PORTRAIT STEPHANIE WUNDERLICH

take these live talks to venues around the country.
They will also be available soon (if not already, by the
time this column lands) via our new, digital, members’
hub. This online professional network, accessed via
the membership area of architecture.com, will not
only allow members to capture and share knowledge,
but also highlight professional concerns beyond the
well-understood challenges of the moment, such

Dekton Carbon
Dekton Carbon
Culture 65
Neutral
Opinion
Neutral Hooray for

despotism
No-one likes the myth of the archite -
di ator, says Will Wiles, but it refle s
the importance of the job
Cosentino Group considers
sustainable development as an
Cosentino Group considers Who’d defend Le Corbusier? His bad ideas are
essential commitment in the indisputable, and his good ideas have sublimated into
sustainable development as an common sense. But the main frustration of Corb-
company’s growth strategy, defending is constantly having to argue against the
essential commitment in the man himself. There’s a good deal in his writing that’s
with regard to the respect and
company’s growth strategy, gentle, witty, sensible and humane. But the zingers,
protection of the environment. the bits one remembers, are almost all unhelpful.
with regard to the respect and ‘The death of the street’ might have been a prescient
warning of the transformations wrought by the motor
protection of the environment. car, but the conclusions are a disaster. ‘A machine for Le Corbusier,
photographed by Sam
United Nations, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Local Action Plan living in’ meant efficient, convenient, labour-saving,
Lambert in 1950.
promoted by the Government of Spain. mass-produced. But it’s read as meaning ‘a house
must be an inhospitable box for automata’ and will RIBA award. So, we are invited to infer, architecture
United Nations, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Local Action Plan
resources,
promoted byproper waste management
the Government of Spain.and recovery, zero discharge strategy
probably never shake off that association. seeks control and in its purest form seeks total control.
and other potential impacts in order to protect biodiversity and ecosystems. ‘He didn’t mean it like that’ is the weary cry of the The plan is always totalitarian. And to illustrate this
Corb defender. Much of his writing came from an era intent, we are shown Monkford in his office, on the
As a demonstration
resources, of our
proper waste commitmentand
management andrecovery,
in line with the
zero SDG 13 –strategy
discharge Climate of technological enthusiasm that is now quite alien to phone to his unlucky tenant – all the while poring
Action,
and wepotential
other have been awarded
impacts the Zero
in order Carbon
to protect Footprint Cradle-to-Grave
biodiversity and ecosystems.
us. ‘Science finds, industry applies, man conforms’, over a model of the house, and idly picking up a little
Label for all DEKTO
As a demonstration
product of our commitment and in line with the SDG 13 – Climate
life cycle in 2019. was the unnerving slogan of the 1933 World’s Fair in model woman to inspect closely. Classic.
Action, we have been awarded the Zero Carbon Footprint Cradle-to-Grave Chicago. Today’s tech visionaries might still yearn to That architect looming godlike over the model
Label for all DEKTO build a robotised panopticon, but they at least try to might help explain why this stereotype persists.
product life cycle in 2019.
hymn individuality while doing so. Architects must decide a vast range of apparent
So it’s a shock when we come across a word like minutiae, but are also shapers of the world, given to
‘propaganda’ used in a positive light. Even more so big thinking, even utopianism. The architect-dictator
IMAGE: ARCHITECTURAL PRESS ARCHIVE / RIBA COLLECTIONS

when the word is ‘totalitarian’. ‘The plan: totalitarian,’ also makes a politically useful fiction. In debates
Le Corbusier wrote in The Radiant City. It is a retort to about the planning system and ‘building beautifully’,
those who say that a human despot is needed to bring the architect can crop up as imaginary antagonist,
order to the filth and chaos of the city. A good plan, foisting half-baked schemes on hapless communities.
Corb says, is the despot you need, not a fallible human. Constructors and clients are weirdly absent.
We calculate our carbon We reduce our impact
Perhaps realising the public relations misstep, in Lately, however, I’ve joined this group, overseeing
footprint later editions this heading is changed to less ominous, the reconstruction of the rear of a crumbling
To achieve carbon neutrality in Dekton®, at
We calculate
As part our carbon
of our Decarbonisation Plan, our carbon We reduce our impact
reduction and sustainable mobility to minimise our Cosentino but no less stern, formulations such as ‘the plan Victorian house in London. The architect is a good TOTALITARIAN RULES
footprint impact. product life cycle (scopes 1+2+3) by investing in must rule’. But the original wording still comes up in friend and displays no obvious megalomania, but Although architecture
To achieve carbon neutrality in Dekton®, at
accredited third-party organisation. Later on,
•reduction and sustainableitmobility
is a priority objectiveour
to minimise Cosentino
denunciations of Corbusier and his ilk. It’s part of the the process has made me realise a few things about is a popular hobby for
As part
with theof our Decarbonisation
approval Plan, our
of MITERD (Spanish carbonfor
Ministry
for Cosentino to reduce energy consumption
impact. For this purpose,
product life cyclewe identify
(scopes thosebyprojects
1+2+3) that
investing in enduring popular myth that every architect is a closet making architecture. Every decision matters, and dictators, it’s hard to
Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge),
accredited third-party
it became part organisation.
of the Spanish Later
Registry on,
of Carbon in the production process and in the general dictator. This stereotype got a fresh airing in the a surprising amount gets decided on the hoof. The find any who started out
with the approval of MITERD (Spanish Ministry for • it is a priority
group activity. In addition, 100% ofobjective
the and that, in turn, have a strong social dimension recent BBC drama series, The Girl Before. Strait-laced architect must be ever-watchful, because it may be as architects. Law, the
for Cosentino to reduce
in the energy consumption For
thatthis purpose,towethe
identify those projects
of the that
Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge), electricity we use production process contributes achievement architect Edward Monkford (Daniel Oyelowo) may their name that gets remembered when an ad-hoc military and the priesthood
PORTRAIT: STEPHANIE WUNDERLICH

in the production
comes process
from renewable and in the general
sources. Sustainable Development Goals of the UN’s 2030
it became part of the Spanish Registry of Carbon
group activity. In addition, 100% of the and that, in turn, have a strong social dimension
Agenda.
have bumped off a previous tenant of a minimalist light switch placement is noticed by a building’s have much worse records.
For this calculation, we use data on energy and/or
fuel consumption, raw materials, etc., of the entire • Emission reduction:
electricity 2.8 production
we use in the million euros have
process that contributes to the achievement of the house he has built, and might be planning to murder users in years to come. Any dictatorial tendencies Kim Jong Il, the late tyrant
value chain and of the Cosentino Group branches been
comes invested in the implementation
from renewable sources. of an Sustainable Development Goals of the UN’s 2030 another. The house might be minimal but Monkford’s on the part of architects are demanded by the job of North Korea, did write
For this calculation,
(Centres, Workshops, we use data
Cities, onHQ,...).
HUBs, energy and/or energy management and monitoring system CO2 emissions resulting from one year of Dekton®
Agenda. control over its tenants is maximal, limiting their – fundamentally, non-architects want and need a treatise on architecture,
• Emission
for the heatreduction:
systems 2.8 million
which euros
allows heathave
from production was the
fuel consumption, raw materials, etc., of the entire possessions, using surveillance and making them fill architects to dictate in detail, because no one else will. published in 1991 – but
value chain and of the Cosentino Group branches been invested
the Dekton® in the implementation
furnaces to be recoveredofand
an Gas Project” in Chile, which has a direct impact on
energy
used in management and
the dryers, thus monitoring
reducing system
emissions. CO2 emissions
sustainable resulting from
development one year ofthe
by supporting Dekton®
local
out psychometric evaluations. Society’s suspicion of the architect is simply a curdled he claimed expertise in a
(Centres, Workshops, Cities, HUBs, HQ,...).
for the heat systems which allows heat from productionproviding
economy, was the training and job opportunities. The house in The Girl Before is presented as the form of recognition that the job really matters. • number of fields, including
• Sustainable mobility: to
the Dekton® furnaces webehave recentlyand
recovered joined Gas Project” in Chile, which has a direct impact on highest refinement of architecture – indeed, it won a Will Wiles is a writer. Read him here and on ribaj.com cinema and golf.
the
used “Plan Sumamos
in the Salud
dryers, thus + Economía”
reducing under
emissions. sustainable development by supporting the local
which we have a Mobility Policy that helped economy, providing training and job opportunities.
• Sustainable
us mobility:
to avoid 1.255 TCO2we have recently joined
in 2019. ribaj.com The RIBA Journal March 2022
the “Plan Sumamos Salud + Economía” under
which we have a Mobility Policy that helped
Competition 67
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• 2x Ultra-high resolution, ultra-wide monitors supported for workflow efficiencies. rendering skills, is open for entries. As ever, we
ask for images in two categories – student and
• And hardware raytracing, (Basically, we didn’t cut any corners with this affordable GPU.) practitioner – that brilliantly communicate
architecture, in any medium or combination of
Mainstream Performance. Upgraded, and Always by Your Side. media. In the competition’s 10th year, we are looking
for work that defies the constrained outlook of the last
two years and posits a sense of optimism and hope.
We are on the hunt for images of all kinds, from a
hand-drawn concept sketch to technically proficient
and layered renders. For us, ‘drawing’ includes any
amd.com/RadeonPROW6400 method by which the power of an architectural idea is
communicated; be it depictions of existing buildings
or works of the imagination.
Practitioners and students enter in different
categories:
• Student category – images made by those in
architectural education or who are submitting images
made before final qualification.
Above Eye Line 2021 Student 2nd Winner: Vincent Pu Zhang, Glasgow
• Practitioner category: images made by those fully School of Art. The Courtyard. Oil on canvas, 500mm by 600mm.
qualified and working in practice, whether for real-
life projects or to explore ideas and experiences. EYE LINE RULES Information required
The intention is to exhibit winners and We seek the best 2D representations of a building Title of work(s) if applicable, and medium.
commendations at the RIBA alongside a winners’ design or concept through visual means. They may Name of the author(s) of the work
party and winning entries will be published in print be hand or digitally drawn, incorporating collage or Name of organisation where author works or studies
and online. Our colleagues at RIBA’s Drawings and any combination or overlay of methods. Video and Email, postal address and phone number
Archives Collection at the V&A Museum, will inspect straight photography excluded Dimensions of the original work as presented, in mm
our winners for potential inclusion in their archive. Enter in either the student or practitioner Date it was completed
Last year’s practitioner winner was Rory category. The RIBA Journal reserves the right
Chisholm for his courtyard proposition for to reallocate to a different category if deemed Key dates
Manchester, a fluid render in pencil and ink, whose necessary Deadline: Friday 6 May 2022, 23:59 GMT
scope ranged simultaneously from the detail to the Maximum of three images per entry, which can Judging: End May 2022
city. Student winner was Annabelle Tan from the be from different projects, or all from the same Winners and commendations announced:
Bartlett School, whose reimagining of the Norfolk project July/August 2022 issue of RIBAJ and online
landscape through healing ‘craft industries’ produced Joint entries on which more than one person has Exhibition August/September 2022 (provisional)
a drawn narrative informed by her own Singaporean worked are permissible Correspondence: eyeline.ribaj@riba.org
roots and notions of the English Picturesque. All entries must be uploaded via the link below. We
Commendations in both categories mused on Persian cannot accept physical works. Images must be at
architecture, ‘queerspace’ and quarries. 300dpi, file size maximum 25Mb
Every year we are gratified by the originality, wit The work must have been produced within the
and talent represented in the Eye Line entries: a truly three years up to the closing date of 23.59 GMT on
international, free-to-enter award conducted online. Friday 6 May 2022 and must not previously have
Practitioners and students – show us your best been entered for Eye Line
drawings and join a prestigious decade of winners! • Enter at: ribaj.com/culture/enter-eye-line
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PID#: 211135450
SCAN ME
68 Culture 69
Profile
Adam Khan Archites rejes ‘white cube architeure’ in favour

of design that is nuanced, flexible, and looks into shades of social
and community context
Words: Isabelle Priest Portrait: Ivan Jones
Their dark materials

Adam Khan Architects is probably a practice you Below Two houses and eight maisonettes within a new
know. The studio was responsible for Brockholes street, for Finkenau Baugruppe in Germany where the
goal was to create customisable and adaptable chassis
Visitor Centre outside Preston, New Horizons Youth
while keeping costs down, completed 2019.
Centre in Somers Town, London, or maybe you saw its
Seizure Gallery for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. But
the practice has been going since 2006, it employs 12
people and those things considered, it is quite quiet.
‘We had an approach of building and not talking
for the first 10 years,’ explains Kahn, and it’s worked.
A quick search online reveals very few published
projects. RIBAJ has been chasing some of the studio’s
projects for nearly a year – it’s open yet never ready,
which is often a hint of too much curation and control
in the background. Khan doesn’t really have a reason
why the practice doesn’t try for publication more. On
meeting him and his business and life partner Juliette
Scalbert at the office off Broadway Market in east
London, it seems they just haven’t got round to it, but
should. This interview might be a first step, and our
conversation revealed a deep portfolio of beautifully
produced, thoughtful buildings that at the same time
aren’t too precious. In person Khan and Scalbert are
also surprisingly chatty, jovial, smiley and willing to
talk discursively. It becomes clear that the practice
wins most of its work through competitions or via
frameworks it has been selected for, so it depends less
on being seen, although word of mouth plays a part.
The office is a typical architects’ lair – a large
double-aspect space at the end of an external access
deck in a mid-century reclaimed building that had
been an unusual, stacked factory typology. They share
it with other makers and creatives. On one side is
Regent’s Canal: through the window you see a varied
urban scene of gasholders and bricky 20th century
HAGEN STIER
mid-rise apartment blocks. Inside, large-scale
models are arranged on shelves enveloping a chunky
structural column. Specification samples are half
70 Culture 71
Profile
displayed, half stored in the open. Densely packed of uncertainty. The walls of the space before the
LEWIS KHAN (2)
LAURA STARMER (2)

bookcases separate the communal table, more private artwork are made from segregated concrete slabs, for
meeting space and desk area. The practice moved ventilation, low levels of natural light and to let the
here after lockdown one, only a handful of people are sounds of the service yard filter through.
in but they work collaboratively at each other’s desks This project has been seminal for Adam Khan.
(which look handmade) while I am there. Interesting in its own right, it’s representative of how
Both Khan and Scalbert’s routes into architecture Khan and Scalbert like to find the synergy between the
are, however, far from typical. They met in 2000 practical and poetic that is crucial in social projects.
while Khan was studying for his third year at London ‘We’re interested less in white cube art galleries
Met. He was a mature student and had been to Central and more in dark, highly material spaces, and really
London Polytechnic before in the early 1980s, now understanding the nuance of how a space is read,’ says
the University of Westminster. He did all three years Khan. ‘How do you find the world that is aspirational,
of architecture but came out with a fail. joyous and intense, but isn’t just a new hipster place
‘In a way it was an amazing education and I tried or Switzerland. Khan went on to work for Caruso you can’t afford? A lot of architecture is quite naive in Above One of the were broader in scope, particularly for housing.
very hard but they wouldn’t give me a degree. One day St John and Scalbert for Feilden Clegg Bradley, Eric terms of how people are going to read it, what it means practice’s first housing ‘It can be parochial in the UK,’ says Khan. ‘Public
they wouldn’t even look at the work that was pinned Parry and Sergison Bates, but Grandorge introduced for a social community or inclusivity and equity.’ schemes was a attitudes to architecture are not as developed as
regeneration project
up. It would be chalk and cheese, one day you’d be the them – ‘an inspiring guy who has a strong sense of This is particularly relevant for the practice’s in France and Germany. The level of engagement
in Copenhagen called
best thing since sliced bread, but then I left without social agenda and interest in fine art’ says Khan. RichMix project, which opens up the Bethnal Green Ellebo where they and appetite for it are lower in the UK so it is more
a degree and a nervous breakdown. I couldn’t figure Above (both) Hillside This combination has been the foundation of the Road-facing site to Redchurch Street and has an extended apartments rewarding to work in continental Europe.’
out what you were supposed to do,’ says Khan. Gardens, a farmhouse practice, with an explicit mission from the start to existing community, and for Tower Court, a 132-unit by adding a structure ‘The work and agenda has really stepped up
Following that experience he went to work as and milking barn ‘take architecture where it doesn’t usually go’ – which housing scheme for Hackney council in collaboration containing garden in London,’ adds Scalbert, ‘although this issue of
refurbishment for Dan rooms.
a builder for around 15 years, first labouring then is why competitions have been key. The first win was with muf, where there is a large Orthodox Jewish architecture not being so much in the public domain
Pearson, where the
setting up a mini contracting firm with its own Brockholes, a visitor centre for a new nature reserve community. The challenge is how to design flats for still comes out in procurement and delivery. While
enjoyment of darkness
brickies and chippies. At the time London was stuck is part of the materiality on a redundant quarry in Lancashire. Back then, says large families that need to expand for festivities, as the agenda is amazingly high in London with social
in recession. It was while he was a project manager of the house, including Khan, there was either sustainable architecture that well as have sociable space between blocks. Many infrastructure, this is struggling, and design and
on a scheme in Primrose Hill that he met Brian with blockwork walls, was focused on performance, or high architecture; current projects involve ideas first honed outside build doesn’t always work for quality at the end…
completed 2016. London and abroad, where competitions and briefs
Greathead, who was teaching with David Grandorge they didn’t mix. His approach in Preston though With Covid and cuts it seems to be getting worse.’
and encouraged him to go back to university. was to show they could; a village of timber framed Indeed, although the studio has taken its foot off
‘London Met was a different kettle of fish; an structures roofed with shingles floating on the lake the pedal for European work, it is building a new
amazing place, very open. It took on waifs and strays for people to get as close to the water as possible, with home in a converted glass factory in Brussels for a
– people like me. It gave me this opportunity to go passivhaus ideas and flexibility. female artist that has ‘boobs or a bottom’ on the front.
into the third year, counting the funny drawings I did ‘Making buildings good and not about their The practice would like more housing like its 2019
back in the day and building work, and I just whooped programme is the way to build flexibility, and Hamburg Stadhauser Finkenai project, which is a
it. It was such fun,’ says Khan. ultimately sustainability,’ explains Khan. ‘People will new street of homes for an intentional community.
Meanwhile, Scalbert had finished her degree the want to use them, also in ways that you can’t foresee We finish our interview across the city at
year before they met. She had a more usual trajectory, now. When you take a row of Georgian/Victorian Central Somers Town. It’s a children’s after-school
going to university from school, but she had grown houses in London each one has their bathroom in a and holidays centre with a football pitch on the
up in south west France. She went directly to London different space. Do you find that in contemporary roof, outdoor adventure playground and 10 social
Met on the advice of an architect uncle. He wrote her a architecture? No. Most architects’ visions are highly rent flats. Its upside-down arches appear like a
LEWIS KHAN
long letter on the merits and disadvantages of a career prescriptive, telling people how to live. As a place to celebratory bunting around its roof. It’s flexible,
in architecture and said if she was convinced about live I find that uptight, but it’s not sustainable either.’ curious and already well-loved, as its director says:
doing it, she should study in London, the Netherlands Scalbert joined the team two years into Brockholes; ‘The jewel in the crown of Somers Town.’ •
then came a homeless centre in King’s Cross and
another wildlife visitor centre, at Pensthorpe in
Norfolk. Here the practice untangled the masterplan,
restored five cottages and built a play barn with a
sawtooth roof, carefully designed steel frame, lots of
daylight and a lining of textured acoustic panels. From
Left and right The
photographs, it looks fun externally and an exercise in distinctive recently
subtle light and shadow inside not usually afforded to opened Central Somers
Left Model of a house children. The same goes for New Horizons, completed Town community
ADAM KHAN ARCHITECTS
for a female artist in a in 2010, where its teenage users recognise the calming facilities on ‘Plot 10’
converted glass factory DAVID GRANDORGE includes 10 apartments,
and other-worldly effect of the all-timber interior. At
in Brussels, currently an outdoor adventure
under construction, with
Seizure Gallery, Roger Hiorns’ artwork was relocated playground, indoor
its feminist motif on the from a council estate in south east London to the playrooms and a football
facade. boundary of the service yard to maintain its feeling pitch on the roof.
72 Culture 73
Review
Hatherley’s
find that these are far from being dry listings. Each solecisms in the Buildings of England series too.
section of text on a building or group of buildings is a It’s sobering for me, with all these years’ head-
self-contained piece of description and architectural start on young Owen in this trade, to find – again!
lucky dip criticism. There is a decent number of photos, mostly

by photographer Chris Matthews whose own travels
were clearly extensive. One might wish that every
– that he knows and has visited a startling number of
buildings that I was at best only dimly aware of. Yes, I
know Woolwich in south-east London, in fact my first
Hugh Pearman jumps on board building covered would get at least one photo, but that job in London was there. But do I know the 1950s (and
Owen Hatherley’s swashbuckling would have made it impossibly long and expensive so later) St Mary’s estate there, a pioneering and very
tour of Britain’s modern buildings it’s a privileged selection that gets illustrated. good exercise in well-designed postwar municipal
Of course such a book cannot be exhaustive, or housing? Hardly. I didn’t pay it much attention,
anything like it. Everyone will be able to play the though you couldn’t miss its (later-phase) row of
game of spotting the good buildings they know curiously-sculpted Norman and Dawbarn towers.
that Hatherley has missed or misdescribed. Ha, no Hatherley has lived there, it was his manor. He seeks
mention of the lovely little CLASP-system public out such places in other cities. As he says, modernism
library in Duffield, Derbyshire? Oh my, does he really is for most people ordinary places such as that, as
think that the ingeniously PoMo recent additions much as the landmarks such as the (now listed)
by DK:CM to Gibberd’s Fulwell Cross library Halifax Building Society HQ by BDP or Lasdun’s
and sports centre complex in Ilford are original Royal College of Physicians.
Gibberd? Can Lubetkin’s Bevin Court in London But the ordinary can be special too, such as
seriously be lumped in with ‘moderne’ on account the rhomboidal tower of the Beeversleigh flats in
of its show-off staircase? And what the hell are these Rotherham by Maurice Dakin. Hence the subtitle of
How does he sustain his tone of wry amusement, Modern Buildings in ‘ceramic concrete cylinders’ he mentions apropos his title of his introduction, ‘an everyday revolution’.
of lightly-worn learning, throughout? Across more Britain: a Gazetteer of the roofline of the recently-listed Dunelm House In that he tackles the perennial mystery of British
Above Housing
than 600 pages and hundreds of projects? It’s a very by Owen Hatherley
(Particular Books,
in Durham by ACP? And so on. It’s an occasional
landmark: Dawson
‘Modernism is, for most architecture: why, following all the precedents
considerable achievement, is this latest book from criticism of Hatherley that he is not academically for modernism including late arts and crafts,
Owen Hatherley, and I honestly can’t think of anyone
608pp, £60.00)
rigorous. But that would be a different, less
Heights in Southwark people, ordinary places as Mackintosh and garden cities, did actual modernism
by Kate Macintosh at
else who would have done all the necessary legwork to swashbuckling and personal, kind of book. And if you Southwark architects’ much as the landmarks’ finally arrive around a decade later than in the rest of
have taken this on (he doesn’t drive, travelling mostly go looking for them there are plenty of omissions and department, 1964-72. Europe? He cites Pevsner: ‘the sources of continental
by rail, getting occasional rides from chums). He modernism in the 1920s were frequently British’. Yet
Below Durham’s
started writing it in 2015. The effort must surely have Kingsgate Bridge by we didn’t make the leap ourselves: architects such
flagged at times, what with his various other projects, Ove Arup and Dunelm as Charles Holden who moved from neo-classicism
but if so you’d never know. House by ACP, 1963- to modernism had to travel to the Netherlands and
Being a gazetteer, this is a book to dip in and 66, both now listed. Germany to get his inspiration. So what held us back?
out of, and you will keep dipping in and out, it’s an For Hatherley, Mackintosh is the missing link and
ALL IMAGES © CHRIS MATTHEWS, TAKEN FROM MODERN BUILDINGS IN BRITAIN BY OWEN HATHERLEY
addictive process that is made easy to navigate. After imperial pomp (Lutyens, Baker etc) the drag factor. It
an excellent scene-setting introduction starting with was hard for anyone to attempt something radically
the roots of modernism in the industrial buildings of different from the prevailing orthodoxy.
the 19th century, there are 14 sections, each one a part I think of Hatherley here not so much as a
of the country, each divided into its key areas. There modern-day Pevsner or Nairn, Betjeman or Meades,
are three indexes – of buildings, of architects, and a those diverse architectural and social cataloguers,
general one in which you can search for, say, places, polemicists and presenters. His mission, given
styles, types. When you get to the page you want, you the rate at which buildings of the past century are
vanishing, is more akin to a Cecil Sharp or Vaughan
Williams, travelling the country at the start of the
20th century to collect the oral traditions of folk
song and dance in the nick of time, just before the
Left Plastic classroom singers died out and the songs and dances all but
at Kennington Road
ceased. I imagine Hatherley departing his beloved
Primary School,
Preston, 1974. By
Sheffield, say, writing notes on a particularly fine
Roger Booth for bit of municipal brutalism, his train vanishing from
Lancashire County sight just as the first thump of wrecking-ball against
Council architects’ reinforced concrete echoes out across the city. So long,
department.
the wonderful Castle Market. Or the Dorman Long
Right Halifax Building
coking works tower in Middlesbrough, demolished in
Society HQ, 1968-74 September 2021 after being listed. How many of the
by BDP – listed. buildings in this book will survive much longer? •
74 Culture 75
Review
Through a
Left Yōsuitei, Kyoto,
built during the
Kan’ei era (1624-
window: views
1644) of early Edo
period (1603-1868),
Teahouse for Gotō
from Japan
Kanbei
Right Room Room,

Tokyo, designed
by Takeshi Hosaka
JEREMIE SOUTEYRAT
Architects.
moderation of light or breeze. This is represented

in the show as a full-scale model that visitors can
enter. The installation was conceived as a large-
scale version of an okushi-ezu, a three-dimensional
architectural plan created in washi paper. Carpenters
From ancient teahouses to modern manga, this and tea-masters traditionally used these models in
exhibition at Japan House shows how windows the planning and construction of a teahouse.
Windowology dips briefly into many themes.
open the soul of a house to view. Pamela
TAKUMI OTA
There’s a quick look at the windows as a literary
Buxton looks in device in storytelling, perhaps to indicate separation
or the entrance to another world, and as an element
Is the window ‘the single most fascinating Window Research Institute. The aim was to raise ‘Japanese architecture before the modernism in manga comic strips. Other displays look at the role
component of architecture’? That’s the contention awareness of the particular features and possibilities movement did not have many windows of the hole- of windows in sustainable design and the practical
of Windowology: New Architectural Views from of windows in Japanese culture to a general, as well in-the-wall type, but rather fitted shoji, fusuma and role that workshop windows have played in the
Japan, a tantalising exhibition on the history and as an architectural, audience. They’ve certainly held shutters (amado) as movable partitions in a post-and- production of Japanese crafts. An installation by
cultural significance of windows, covering their Windowology: New a long fascination for Taro, who has been working on beam framework structure,’ says Taro. Tsuda Michiko explores the relationship between
Architectural Views
JEREMIE SOUTEYRAT
manifestation in everything from traditional the Windowology research project for 15 years. For The exhibition narrative is embellished by a Japan House and adjacent streets.
from Japan, until 10
teahouses to manga. him, windows present a multiple attraction for their series of wall quotes from architects and thinkers The exhibition takes in contemporary as
April 2022, Japan
Located at the Japan House cultural centre in House, 101-111
role between inside and outside, as the place ‘where emphasising, variously, the poetic and kinetic Below O House, Tokyo,
well as traditional Japanese architecture. An
London, the exhibition is curated by architectural Kensington High St, light, wind, heat (and sometimes people!)’ come nature of window in Japanese culture: ‘Shoji can be designed by Hideyuki array of photographs by Jeremie Souteyrat shows
critic Igarashi Taro, alongside the Tokyo-based London W8 5SA in and out, and as a focal point for various human thought of as walls that let light pass through them, Nakayama Architecture. extraordinary examples of homes in dense city
behaviours and communications. Not only are they and by being moveable, they enable openings to be centre locations, their window composition carefully
Yōsuitei tea house installation at important elements of the design of the facade, but transformed in different ways,’ (Koyama Hisao). considered in relation to neighbours and contexts. A
Windowology: New Architectural Views they also they serve, he says, to show the character Two of the most eloquent exhibits focus on few, such as Sou Fujimoto’s House NA in Tokyo, take
from Japan, at Japan House, London. of a building’s interior to the outside world. In doing traditional teahouses, which developed a particularly a theatrically transparent approach – and it would
so, the exhibition suggests, windows can be thought diverse array of window designs. have been great to know what it’s like for those who
of ‘as windows to the souls of buildings’. They are The tranquil film Transition of Kikugetsutei is live in such experimental homes. Windowology
also, we learn, cultural products that ‘are tied to the a detailed look at a day in the life of Kikugetsutei, is an enjoyable and stimulating show of what
peculiarities of their local contexts’. a teahouse in the 18th century Ritsurin Garden in is undoubtedly an intriguing subject. I’d have
Anyone who’s ever dipped into Junichiro Takamatsu. We watch as the teahouse is opened welcomed, however, more narrative and context
Tanizaki’s famous aesthetics essay In Praise of up in the morning, and later closed at night in a than is perhaps possible in a one-gallery exhibition
Shadows will have got a sense of a deeper cultural finely honed ritual of considerable time and effort. in order to form a deeper understanding of the
appreciation of the nuances of light and shadow This captures both the changing quality of light special character of Japanese windows, and why they
in Japan than seems customary in the West. This throughout the day and night and the dynamism developed the way they did. Fortunately, help is at
exhibition sets out the very different approach to of the screens in motion, including a nifty corner- hand. For those wanting to delve further, there is a
windows in traditional Japanese architecture. Rather turning detail which allows partitions to be moved very nice set of accompanying booklets to the show
than static elements, they form hashirama sōchi around different sides of the building. outlining the Window Research Institute’s further
JEREMIE SOUTEYRAT
– devices between structural columns consisting of This is a large structure in contrast to the tiny research into topics such as window ethnology,
sliding screens, partitions and shutters of varying 17th century Yosuitei teahouse in Kyoto. Despite its dialectology, linguistics and behaviorology.
PHOTO CREDIT
design, translucency, framing and layering. These diminutive size, this contains 13 different window There are also plans for more publications and
include the shoji sliding screens of translucent panels, openings in one room, all designed to enhance research, including, Taro hopes, an encyclopedia of
and fusama opaque partitions. the tea-drinking experience, whether through windowology. •
Culture 77
Competition
Feel rongly about something?

Enter our Future Archites
Find your dream role writing competition
Architeure raises many points of
contention. Write a piece on your pet
subje to win a prize – and audience
We live in turbulent times. What do you, the

architects of the future, think about it? How will
current affairs, protest, identity politics, climate
emergency, technology and your local high street feed
into our future buildings, our future places? How do
we tackle homelessness, the struggling retail sector,
schools under pressure? Can architects build a better
metaverse? Are there design issues you yearn to
celebrate, condemn, change?
Past winners of this competition have drawn
out lessons in multi-generational living from the
ISTOCK-HAPABAPA
film Parasite and asked deep questions about
the possibility of anti-racism in architecture as a
profession and beyond.
The award-winning RIBA Journal is now giving
you the chance to have your say with a writing
competition run in collaboration with RIBA Future
Architects Network. Above Entries to Network are designed to support, inspire and give a
RIBA Jobs is the official job board How can RIBA Jobs help you? We want to hear from and feature the voices of the Future Writers voice to architecture students, pre-qualification, and
• Online job board makes it easy to filter and competition tackle the
of the Royal Institute of British search for your specialty – set up your search
architecture students and early career professionals
(part 1, part 2 or studying for part 3) to showcase the
pressing issues facing
those who shape our
early career architecture professionals, as they move
from study to practice.
Architects, exclusively positioned to requirements and get relevant jobs straight to
voice of the next generation.
We are looking for bright, original submissions
environments. Future Architects is a way for emerging architects
to engage with the profession at the start of their
support the architecture profession. your inbox of 800-1,000 words that give an insight into design career and offers continuing support throughout the
• Exclusive jobs you won’t find advertised in the making, the ideas, strategies and techniques educational journey.
that go into making up architecture. Entries should Our writing competition deadline is Monday 4
anywhere else be aligned with the three main sections of the RIBA April 2022 and the winning article(s) will be featured
• Friendly team who are here to help Journal: Buildings, Intelligence and Culture. Articles on ribaj.com. •
• Access to informative blog posts and should be in one of the following categories: Enter now at ribaj.com/future-writers-2022
• Building/place: A study of a building – new or
guidance on CV writing, portfolio creation, refurbished – or place Evaluation panel:
architect Salary Guide and more • Tech/practice: An informative piece on an industry Sarah Maafi Guest lecturer, Technical University
innovation or hot topic for architects of Munich, winner Future
• People: A profile of a person or practice connected Architects writing competition 2021
with architecture, in the UK or internationally Lucy Watson Commissioning editor, Financial
The judging panel, chaired by RIBA Journal Times
contributing editor Chris Foges, will include Nana Biamah- Architect, teacher, writer and
Follow us professional architectural journalists and emerging Ofosu director of Studio NYALI
@RIBAJobs architects. Chris Foges Contributing editor, RIBA Journal,
This competition and RIBA Future Architects chair of the panel
jobs.architecture.com
68 Buildings Obituary 79
Xxxxxxx
One of the earlie advocates of suainable design, the

pioneering, creative engineer worked with the likes of
Neave Brown and Ted Cullinan
IN MEMORIAM
Ralph Dennis Thomas
Max Fordham
Balkrishna
ELECTED 1951, BRISTOL
Alexander Henry
Bannerman
1933 – 2022 ELECTED 1952, CRAIGAVON
Doshi
John Reginald Spratley
ELECTED 1954, HENLEY-ON-
Max Fordham had a transformative influence on has guided the growth of Max Fordham LLP to its THAMES
building design. He started out as a heating engineer, current size of over 250 people with 120 partners.
became a services designer, introduced us to building Early projects included the Alexandra Road John Michael Moore
physics and was at the forefront of sustainability estate with Neave Brown, where heating emitters ELECTED 1955, ORPINGTON
before the word was in common currency. He was were built into concrete party walls, and the RMC
Podcast featuring conversations a polymath with an enquiring mind that knew few headquarters with Ted Cullinan, a prototypical low-
Granville Trevor Dodgson
ELECTED 1958, ILKLEY
with leading architects, talking boundaries. Born in north London to a journalist energy building with skylights in an earth-covered
and a child psychiatrist, he received a progressive roof. Both are now listed. Our own work with Max
about their work, their clients, education at Dartington Hall School that fired his started with the New Environmental Office for the
John Finlay Walls
ELECTED 1958, LIPHOOK
themselves. interest in creative design and craftsmanship, and a Building Research Establishment and the theatre for
natural sciences degree from Cambridge, giving him Bedales school, and was followed by headquarters for James Gordon Anderson
the ability to engage in any conversation and take it in the National Trust and the Woodland Trust, and The ELECTED 1959, HAMILTON
Their obsessions, how they operate a challenging new direction. Hive library in Worcester. All were precedent-setting
Colin Percival Smart
and where it goes right (and wrong) It was always slightly risky taking Max to meet
a client for the first time; you were never quite sure
low-energy buildings using natural daylighting and
ventilation, each carefully monitored. Max had an
ELECTED 1961, ST ALBANS
whether his idiosyncracies would be appreciated. I insatiable curiosity about how buildings worked, and Marke Ellie Markovitz
Listen now at ribaj.com remember introducing him to a client at the National
Trust and listening while he explained that the
always learned from previous experience.
Max was recognised by his own profession,
ELECTED 1961, HERZLIYA
PITUACH
most economic way to use solar energy in a deep- which gave him the CIBSE gold medal in 1997 and
John McFarlane
Acclaimed Indian architect plan office building was to offset lighting loads with acknowledged him as Britain’s most influential
ELECTED 1962, OMAGH
glare-free northlights. With eyes looking upwards services engineer. RIBA made him an honorary
Balkrishna Doshi will receive the he did the mental arithmetic to prove it, adding with fellow, and the RSA celebrated him as a Royal
David Richard Walker
RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2022 in a chuckle ‘Of course I may be out by a factor of ten!’. Designer for Industry. Some would say his OBE was ELECTED 1962, NSW
With a different client that might not have inspired not quite sufficient recognition for the pioneer of a AUSTRALIA
April, one of the world’s highest confidence, but he got the job and his philosophy new scientific and professional discipline.
honours for architecture. inspired the design of the building. An important
Liverpool part of his legacy comes from his
Metropolitan Donald Malcolm
It was Sir Leslie Martin, then head of the Cathedral. He
teaching. Tarnloved being at the centre of intellectual Gallagher
worked with the Art and ELECTED 1966, BARNET
architecture school at Cambridge, who suggested debate, where he could bring scientific understanding
Listen to the latest RIBAJ Meets as that Max could use his science education to
Architecture Department
toofthe humanistic
the Roman Catholic
study of architecture. He taught me
Alan Porter Richards
atArchdiocese.
Cambridge in the late 1960s, and taught with me in
he gives Eleanor Young a rare insight become a creative services engineer. After a short
ELECTED 1969, MILTON
DIRK LINDNER FOR ERIC PARRY ARCHITECTS
apprenticeship he joined the fledgling Building Bath for nearly 20 years. He was above all a holistic KEYNES
into how Ahmedabad and his studio Group at Arup in 1961; led by Derek Sugden and thinker, whose conceptual approach combined with
there taught him the importance of Philip Dowson, it later became Arup Associates.
In 1966 Max set up his own practice with his
a pragmatism unconstrained by convention, and a
belief that a good idea could always be practically
Peter Maxwell Atkinson
ELECTED 1974, FOULDEN
sound and silence to design, about wife Taddy, who died in 2017, and with whom he realised. ‘Start with the edge of the universe as a
flexibility and rejoicing, and putting had three sons, Jason, Cato and Finn. It was always boundary’, he would say, ‘and quickly narrow down To inform the RIBA of
Find RIBAJ meets on to be a kind of family business, with collaboration to a specific problem’. It is the breadth of his vision – the death of a member,
people first.
NO CREDIT
and partnership at the heart of the organisation: ‘a and the infectious chuckle – for which he will always please email membership.
your podcast app and responsibility-sharing scheme, not a profit-sharing be remembered. • services@riba.org with
at ribaj.com/meets scheme’, as Max often said. It is a set of principles that Peter Clegg is senior partner at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios details of next of kin
Culture 81
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The RIBA Journal

The RIBA Journal
February 2022
£15/€30/US$35
House and home Carbon competitor

From a toolkit to help you
February 2022
Can anyone please tell me when it was that 66 Portland In the UK, the vast majority of clay bricks are fired
Vol 129 Issue 02

design for wellbeing through Place ceased being a ‘House of Architecture’, and why
it is now therefore necessary to create a ‘House of
MacEwen Award 2022:
Architecture for the common good
RCKa’s Nourish Hub serves up a winner
using natural gas in very efficient modern tunnel kilns,
connected to scrubbed flues which remove most of the
to a treasury of principal
Cullinan creates Dudley careers beacon
Studio BAD helps church find new life

Thamesmead: Jan Kattein’s path to park
Architecture’ (President, RIBAJ, January 2022)? To my pollutants from the air. Bricks made at traditional/
mind, it has always been not only the House, but also the heritage plants fired using coke (purified coal), oil or
interior design terms. Home, of British Architecture. wood make up only a small proportion of the market.
The latest releases for Anthony Philpott, Berkshire Compared to other cladding materials, clay brick
ribaj.com
ribaj.com
00_Cover_Feb.indd 1 12/01/2022 16:58
scores well for embodied carbon: 28kgCO2 p/m² for

2022 are designed to a brickwork outer leaf puts it a long way below steel,
inspire, inform and delight. Misplaced delight
Thanks are due to Simon Allford for focusing attention
aluminium and glass, and only slightly above timber
and natural stone. Clay is almost always quarried on
Shop the full collection at on the need for cross-professional co-operation on the site and UK bricks travel an average of 65 miles from
RIBABooks.com creation of a built environment capable of mediating

between the human race and our abused planet
factory to site.
There is a word of caution for bricks coming from
(President, RIBAJ, January 2022). outside Europe, especially Asia’s ‘Brick Belt’, where
Unfortunately, his invocation of Vitruvius’ there are disturbing cases of bonded labour, child labour,
‘commodity, firmness and delight’ perpetuates a and the use of highly polluting fuels including plastic
misleading mistranslation. ‘Venustatis’ means ‘beauty’, and textile waste. To help eliminate these issues over
but Sir Henry Wooton opted for ‘delight’ – a subjective time, the Brickmakers Quality Charter (BQC) was
effect, rather than an innate quality. established in 2021, and assesses manufacturers against
In recent decades, as our search for a common benchmarks including quality.
understanding of what might generate ‘delight’ has Learn more at brick.org.uk
been diverted into box-ticking exercises, opinion polls Alexis Harrison, associate, Arup, and independent chair,
and unhelpful advice to planning officers about ‘good BQC
design’, humanity has woken up to beauty deprivation.
Vitruvius pointed the way to an objective study of
how beauty could be achieved through understanding Triple doubles
the principles of nature. Through a million years of Your obituary of Owen Luder (RIBAJ, December 2021)
evolution we are hard-wired to recognise beneficial made good reading. He was an exceptional president
concurrences with the conditions that structure our but not, in fact, the only one to serve two terms. William
existence, and should reflect them in the forms we give Tite held the office in 1861-62 and 1867-70, and Sir
our built environment. There is no other way to build Percy Thomas, to whom I was articled, also preceded
in the quality of beauty, the perception of which is the Owen Luder in that honour, serving in 1935-37 and
ultimate source of subjective delight. 1943-46.
Kenneth Lynn Geraint John, senior consultant to Populous
No coal in the fire

Steve Webb says: ‘But let’s not forget bricks are bad
because they’re made using coal’ (Cladding – wasteful,
too complicated and prone to failure?, ribaj.com, 24 Something to get off your chest?
January). Let me reassure you that of the two billion Write to us: letters.ribaj@riba.org
bricks made in British factories – natural products Follow us on Twitter @RIBAJ RIBAJ, RIBA Publishing,
made of clay and water – not one is fired using coal. Find us on Facebook, 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD
RIBABooks.com Keith Aldis, CEO, Brick Development Association Instagram and LinkedIn We welcome letters but retain the right to edit them

82 Culture
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centre of Syracuse in Sicily, is populated by again by the Normans. Further additions were the
numerous architectural landmarks from different 15th century marble floor and the Baroque facade,
pl
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region. This variety is encapsulated by the splendid temple, as can be seen in this 1930s’ photograph, was Published by RIBA
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first important building on this site was the renowned church’s walls, and its columns are still clearly visible 66 Portland Place,
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Temple of Athena (480 BC), which was converted into from both inside and outside the building. This
a church in the early Middle Ages and later became unique feature has earned the cathedral the status of a Reprographics by
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in the 9th century during Arab domination, and was Valeria Carullo Midlands plc
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RX Architects’ salt-free home on the sand The RIBA Journal

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WALL: MORNING ROOM 447 | WOODWORK: MUGA 445.

U-value req. Quantum® Extruded Expanded

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0.14 70 230 255

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Nygaardsplassen in the Norwegian town Fredrikstad

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£1.05m only access to the house is from the front, via 16

usually have access from the back, Seabreeze

cause once upon a time there was a road of 3 6

during the Second World War. Historical

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2 8 Community room and construction cost

either the museum was going to run itself into

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instead continued the Cambridgeshire gault of exhibition is now a 2 Main entrance

Studios face Albion Street

Caption copy here copy

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In partnership with Meanwhile Space, to work. ‘To make something demountable

jou premises, and the prospect of working in

and structural insulated panels, where

to those intended to last less than two years,

in different ways’. These short, sheltered ter- 2 2

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rid the flats of space-hungry corridors and

bearing in-situ cast facades are supplemented

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When Adam Higgins of developer Capital & Centric

1 Canal Street South-east - north-west

experience of the pedestrian

and places to shop. And at the top, the specials of IN NUMBERS

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Below Floor plans of the

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Schüco has developed a range of Hershika Kerai, business manager at

Schüco passivhaus Passivhaus Institute-certified, high-

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MIKHAIL RICHES / DARC STUDIO

of terraced houses there will be spacious

Above and left is in planning and two others are at design

anticipated in 2024. mixed-tenure, high-quality and increasingly

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One of the earlie advocates of suainable design, the