Hasta La Ideas

Clerkenwell Design Week 2014: British design brand Another Country has collaborated with New York studio Workstead to produce a lighting collection formed from reconfigurable metal rods.

“We aim to make furniture and accessories that are familiar and unpretentious and the simplicity of Workstead suits our aesthetic,” said Another Country founder Paul de Zwart.

The collection comprises a range of chandeliers, wall and floor, table and pendant lamps.

Workstead created the lights largely to meet their own purposes, combining fixtures from old lamps to create new chandeliers.

“The collection came about very organically,” Workstead co-founder Stefanie Brechbuehler told Dezeen. “Robert, my husband and business partner, loves and collects old light fixtures and has always tinkered with them. The tinkering led to creating a fixture for our own needs, the Industrial Chandelier.”

The Industrial Chandelier is formed from a series of perpendicular steel rods with bulbs on the ends, which are connected with screw clasps. These can be unscrewed to rearrange the elements into different forms.

“One of the main focuses of our lighting is its ability to transform,” said Brechbuehler. “It can be configured in many ways to better fit the needs of the user or to be more site specific.”

A version of the chandelier with bent arms and cast-iron articulated joints also features in the collection.

The Brass Pendant is comprised of a disk that can rotate 360 degrees on the end of a thin vertical rod.

Mounted on two adjoining walls in the corner of a room, a bent steel element provides an armature for a cantilevered arm to create the Corner Lamp.

A crane-like profile defines the Floor Lamp, which has an adjustable arm and an elliptical shade covering the bulb. It is held steady by a heavy cast-iron base.

The Shaded table and floor lamps are held up on two vertical stems that can be moved up and down to adjust the height. Each features the same cylindrical-shaped fabric shade.

A pendant version of this design is also available and can be used to illuminate areas off-centre from its ceiling rose.

Workstead’s collection was on show alongside pieces by Another Country at the Design Factory exhibition in the Farmiloe Building during London’s Clerkenwell Design Week, which concluded yesterday.

Another Country recently opened a showroom in London’s Marylebone district, dedicated to displaying the brand’s products.

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to form lighting for Another Country appeared first on Dezeen.

Behind the traditional ceramic-tiled facade of this nineteenth-century building, Portuguese studio OODA has completed a modern renovation to create 14 studio flats (+ slideshow).

The building in Porto dates from 1895 and was originally designed as a home, but was turned into an office and service building in the late 20th century. It lost many of its original features in the process, including wood flooring – now concrete – and a skylight above the stairwell.

It has now been converted back into a residential building by OODA with 14 studio flats and three one- or two-bedroom apartments. The apartments range from 28 square metres to 105 square metres, and are aimed at young people and students.

An automatic pivoting door provides access for cars from the street to the DM2 Building, and OODA clad it in stone to camouflage it among the building’s exterior when the door is closed.

“The client’s objective – which drove the intervention – was to cater for the younger market as the building is near universities, hospitals, the art district and the nightlife area,” architect Diogo Brito told Dezeen.

The apartments all feature contemporary details such as folded metal staircases and built-in storage, and mezzanine levels for sleep or work areas to maximise the small footprint of some of the apartments.

Black floor-to-ceiling cabinets help to differentiate the kitchen as a separate area in the open-plan apartments, and also helps to visually recede them in the room.

The communal corridors are covered in oriented strand board (OSB), which the architects chose partly for its affordability, and to add warmth to the building’s interior.

“We used it because it is a cheap material, and we thought it would be an interesting and warmer contrast to materials such as glass, concrete and light,” said Brito.

At the back, a patio designed for parking has been landscaped using grass and paving with the same triangular pattern found in the ceramic Azulejo tiles at the front.

“In Portugal it is quite common and traditional to use tiles in facades,” said Brito. “Our idea was to make this part of the conceptual process, using its configuration to generate other new features of the building.”

Beneath the patio, a separate, sunken apartment has been built for the client’s son, with a small, private courtyard at its front. A rectangular concrete structure protrudes through the front window, and is designed to serve a range of purposes.

“The client’s first idea was to place a mini-bar there, which then shifted to storage, and then to a place for TV and music devices,” said Brito.

The renovation is part of a wider regeneration taking place in Porto at the moment, which saw construction projects drop significantly following the global financial crisis.

“The recovery of abandoned buildings has become the new major task for the market,” said Brito. “It’s a process that is now in full throttle, but there is still a lot to be done. This building is one of many that our office is doing.”

OODA was co-founded by Brito, who previously worked as an architect at Zaha Hadid, and Rodrigo Vilas-Boas, who has worked with both OMA in Rotterdam and Álvaro Leite Siza in Porto.

Photography is by João Morgado.

Here is some more text from OODA:

DM2 Housing, Porto, Portugal

One of the most demanding tasks in Porto nowadays is the intervention on the major amount of old and historical buildings of Porto’s downtown. This project is a renovation of a 20th century building to convert to a 17 housing unit for students and young people in general.

The DM2 Building, located in downtown Porto (priority intervention zone), in the area of protection of the National Museum Soares dos Reis, is dating the nineteenth century and their original composition the property was intended for a single dwelling taking ornamental and construction of the whole characteristics of the buildings at the time, both in functional layout as an ornamental and aesthetic.

However, a later change occurred in the late twentieth century, the building has undergone a profound change taking place inside caused by the modification of use required.

The property became divided by several independent floors with features framed in services and trade and lower floors have been completely redesigned and trace assets were hidden in part and/or removed from the particular frames original, wood structure of the floors (now concrete) and traditional skylight at top of stairs. Indeed, the draft D.Manuel intended to rebuild the property, returning the initial function of integral housing, recovering traces of hidden identity, reinterpreting traditional elements and giving the building a new sense of contemporary housing program with a set of typologies ace current market needs.

So Manuel II building as a whole distributes 17 apartments T0 and T1 types, ranging in size between 28sqm and 105sqm, spread over 5 floors and are accompanied by a landscaped patio intended for parking.

The rehabilitation now completed, restores the original residential function, underlines the unique formal and constructive characteristics and adapt to a contemporary urban reality of the city of Oporto.

Size: 1,100 SQM
Team: Diogo Brito, Rodrigo Vilas-Boas, Francisco Lencastre, Francisca Santos, Lourenco Menezes Rodrigues

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behind tiled facade in Porto appeared first on Dezeen.

German car manufacturer BMW has unveiled Vision Future Luxury, a saloon concept car featuring augmented display technology (+ slideshow).

The Vision Future Luxury concept comprises the latest iteration of BMW‘s Vision Head Up Display, which augments the driver’s view of the world by projecting real-time information including speed limits and road signs onto the windscreen directly in the line of sight.

Sensors located on the exterior of the car collect environmental data, which is deciphered and transferred to a light source located inside the instrument panel. Light shining through a translucent thin-film transistor (TFT) projects the relevant data on to the windscreen via specially shaped mirrors and allows the driver to view information without having to look away from the road.

“Innovative technology and modern luxury have always been an important part of BMW’s brand DNA,” explained Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President of BMW Group Design at a preview of Vision Future Luxury in Munich. “Connectivity in a luxury vehicle has to be seamless and so well integrated that it doesn’t deter from the driving that you want to do, it actually enhances it.”

The rear lighting is provided by organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) for the first time on a BMW, an efficient light source consisting of wafer-thin semi-conductive layers of organic material that can be cut into any shape to allow for a variety of patterned lighting designs.

The luminescent layer is a film of carbon compound, which emits light in response to an electrical current. Each light-emitting polymer layer is roughly 400 nanometres thick, which is approximately 400 times thinner than a human hair.

Car designers have previously relied on reflectors to enable the light produced by LEDs to be seen from different angles, but OLEDs do not need reflectors, allowing designers to create less bulky and more unusual shapes. OLEDs also require less power to operate.

The roofline and sloping boot lid on the car have been designed to reduce drag, while carbon fibre openings positioned at the front and rear of the car help to channel airflow more efficiently.

“Aerodynamics and lightweight materials are key elements of this car’s design,” explained Karim Habib, head of BMW design. “Visible carbon fibre on the exterior of a luxury car is something we believe BMW needs to do.”

Carbon fibre, as a lightweight and strong composite, also allows for a minimised central B-pillar – the join between the front passenger and rear passenger doors. This allows the doors to use different hinge points to a standard car door.

The doors open to reveal a layered interior with wood, leather and aluminium finishings on top of a carbon fibre base.

“Lightweight construction is not going to go away,” says Adrian van Hooydonk. “All of our cars will have to get lighter and that means as a design team we are dealing with different types of materials, which can lead to different types of aesthetic.”

Front passengers are equipped with a personal information display, which is connected to the driver display via a touch-sensitive panel. Rear passengers also have access to two displays mounted in the headrests of the seats in front and a detachable tablet between the individual seats. All three can be used to exchange information with the front passengers using swiping movements.

Embedded user interface components from which internet-based video and music streaming can be accessed also feature.

Read on for BMW’s press release:

Heralding a new approach – the design.

“The design of the BMW Vision Future Luxury is the messenger of our philosophy of modern luxury, one in which innovative technologies play a key and vital role. These innovations deliver a new, multifaceted luxury experience that spans intelligent lightweight engineering, innovative interior design and a radically new user interface design,” says Karim Habib, Head of BMW Design, summing up the design approach to the BMW Vision Future Luxury.

This approach is particularly tangible in the interior. Throughout, the design expresses both form and function of the innovative technologies. For example, the intelligent lightweight engineering concept of the BMW Vision Future Luxury is expressed in the design principle of subtractive modelling. That is to say, the specific geometry and functions of an individual component are created from one and the same layered composite structure, comprising many different levels and materials. An initial base layer of fine carbon fabric is followed by a functional level featuring user interface components, control and display interfaces and lighting functions, which in turn is followed by a further structural, load-bearing layer of aluminium for additional strength.

Finally, the top layers comprise wood, then leather, to create a warm and comfortable ambience. In a given area of the interior, the multi-layer structure is “milled down” to the appropriate depth depending on what surface material and what function is required. Since the interior geometry is therefore always pared down to essentials, this cuts total weight substantially. This treatment also makes for virtually seamless transitions and very elegant, fluid surfaces.

The unrivalled characteristics of carbon as a material – both individually and in combination with its surrounding materials – are optimally utilised in this rigorous lightweight design concept. The carbon underlying layer is visible in the doors, under the seats and especially in the innovative, pared-down B-pillar. A full B- pillar as used in the past is dispensed with. The carbon construction allows the seat frames to be integrated into the load-bearing structure. There are also connections to the door sills and centre console, which means only a very small and unobtrusive B-pillar is required. The BMW Vision Future Luxury’s wide- opening coach doors would not have been possible without this new carbon B- pillar solution.

New-style user interface design and exclusive
BMW ConnectedDrive services.

In the driver’s and front passenger’s area, precisely defined lines and surfaces create a sense of exclusive dynamism. The design of the instrument panel closely complements the design of the displays themselves. The driver is surrounded by a wrap-around cluster of three intermeshing displays, creating the typical BMW driver-centric cockpit. The three-dimensional display technology means that at the visual level the instrument panel styling appears to carry over into the displays themselves. In other words, to the eye the interior space seems to continue into the solid structures of the instrument panel, generating an impression of unprecedented depth and spaciousness.

The left-hand display mainly presents vehicle-related information, while in the centre a programmable cluster displays speedometer, rev counter and other information, as well as context-adaptive supplementary data, which is displayed as and when relevant. Meanwhile, the right-hand display – the Driver Information Display – provides additional infotainment information. The driver also has the option of controlling all these functions by voice command.

BMW Vision Head Up Display.

The primary driver display, however, is the “contact-analogue” BMW Vision Head Up Display. This display augments the driver’s view of the real world by projecting information directly in the driver’s line of sight onto the road. Buildings, traffic signs or hazards can be highlighted directly in the real-world environment, selectively directing the driver’s attention to specific information which is particularly important at any given time. This technology gives a new dimension to driver assistance functions such as Speed Limit Info, where road signs can be identified and highlighted in the driver’s field of view, or the Traffic Light Assistant, which provides real-time information about traffic light phasing.

In place of a central shared information display for driver and front passenger, the BMW Vision Future Luxury offers front passengers their own Passenger Information Display. This display is connected to the Driver Information Display via a touch-sensitive panel, where information can be exchanged between driver and front passenger using swiping movements. Applications like booking opera tickets online direct from the vehicle via the BMW ConnectedDrive Luxury Concierge service can be displayed in the Passenger Information Display, where they don’t risk distracting the driver. The relevant functions can be conveniently controlled by the front passenger using the iDrive Controller with touch-sensitive interface.

Rear Seat Touch Command Tablet.

In the back, two Rear Seat Displays set into carbon surrounds, and a detachable Rear Seat Touch Command Tablet, put the finishing touch to the integrated user interface concept of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. These displays can communicate with the front displays and also with the BMW ConnectedDrive services. Everything from trip-related information like speed and journey time to information relating to the Luxury Concierge Services can be displayed here in simple and customised form.

It is also possible to use online entertainment content like internet-based video and music streaming as well as gaming. All content and functions can be controlled from the rear seats using the detachable Rear Seat Touch Command Tablet in the centre console.

Personal space at the rear.

For the occupants of the rear seats, the BMW Vision Future Luxury offers a luxurious haven of personal space. Two large, deeply contoured single seats add to the appeal, inviting passengers to retire into their own personal “comfort zone”. A retractable table, the angled Rear Seat Displays and the rigid backs of the front seats create a very private ambience, sectioning this area off from the rest of the interior. The sense of privacy is accentuated by modern, flowing geometry and the use of select materials, with lavish wood surfaces extending from the rear parcel shelf to enfold the rear seat occupants in a cosseting three- dimensional space.

Strategically placed lighting slats integrated into the wood echo the surrounding styling and, with their warm glow, accentuate the modern and cosy ambience. Finest-quality aniline leather in Batavia brown and a lighter Silk shade, Silk nubuk leather and the warm brown, layered lime wood all have a natural aura which offers unique visual appeal and quality. The division between darker materials in the upper areas and light materials in the lower areas creates a feeling of warmth and a luxurious sense of space. A deep-pile pure silk carpet rounds off the exclusive array of materials in the interior of the BMW Vision Future Luxury.

Exclusiveness and elegance – the exterior design.

In side view, perfect proportions – precise, uncluttered and elegant – convey the exclusiveness of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. The long wheelbase, short overhangs and low, set-back greenhouse lend the stretched silhouette a refined dynamism. In hallmark BMW style, a finely sculpted contour line creates a taut arc along the side of the vehicle, and the opulent surfaces underneath this line have, as always on a BMW, been shaped by seasoned modellers. This hand- sculpted design gives the surfaces a special emotional appeal that would be beyond the capabilities of a computer.

The effect is further enhanced by the Liquid Platinum Bronze exterior paintwork, which generates a warm, shimmering effect. An exclusive flourish at the side of the vehicle is the side mirror, which appears to grow organically out of the chrome window trim. Designed as a visual continuation of the chrome trim, its slender stalk is attached to the mirror from below, giving it a graceful and effortless appearance, almost as if it were hovering in mid-air.

BMW EfficientDynamics: honed aerodynamics and intelligent lightweight engineering.

The exterior design perfectly showcases the advanced aerodynamics and innovative lightweight engineering of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. The coupé- style roofline and sloping boot lid, for example, significantly reduce drag. Underlying the tautly sculpted exterior surfaces, equally refined solutions provide optimal channelling of the airflow. They include the Air Breather system at the rear of the front wheel arch, a C-pillar with internal air channelling, and openings in the rear apron which vent air from the wheel arches. An elegant carbon strip in the door sill area alludes discreetly to the innovative lightweight engineering concept based on aluminium and carbon. Both these lightweight materials are used in the vehicle in exactly the right places to achieve maximum effect – both individually and in tandem.

BMW Laserlight at the front.

Clean and simple in design, the traditional iconic BMW front-end design cues – the twin kidney grille and twin headlights – instantly proclaim the brand identity of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. The lean contours of the headlights also hint at the innovative technology sheltering behind them: BMW Laserlight. This new technology not only paves the way for a very flat and dynamic interpretation of the typical BMW twin round headlamps, it also sets completely new standards in terms of brightness, range and intensity. The concentrated, parallel light beam is up to ten times more intense than that of an LED system. The reduced energy consumption and packaging requirements of laser lights make this technology a prime candidate for use in future vehicles.

Underneath the headlights, the assertive multi-material front apron accentuates the elegant front-end styling. At the outboard ends of the apron, graceful carbon air deflectors conceal a range of BMW EfficientDynamics aerodynamics features. The thin-walled air deflectors are made of carbon, a further reminder of the intelligent lightweight engineering concept of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. A slender chrome strip on the air deflectors highlights the airflow system.

OLED lighting at the rear.

The horizontal lines of the side profile glide gently away at the rear in a final expansive flourish. As at the front, the body styling in this area is deliberately understated, allowing the innovative, narrow and slender lights to make a powerful statement. For the first time on a BMW the rear lighting is provided by organic LEDs, paving the way for a completely new treatment of the typical BMW L-shaped lights. The BMW Vision Future Luxury’s L-shaped rear lights comprise a large number of small, likewise L-shaped OLEDs.

An organic LED consists of wafer-thin organic semiconductor layers positioned between two electrodes. The light-emitting polymer layer is only approx. 400 nanometres thick, making it roughly 400 times thinner than a human hair. Organic LEDs are not only extremely thin, as well as flexible, they also produce very uniform illumination over their entire surface. Due to their very thin dimensions, and since they do not require reflectors in order to produce the desired broad light dispersion, they open up completely new ways of using light in and around the vehicle.

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car with augmented reality display appeared first on Dezeen.

Stones and shells from the seashore fill the walls of these eight contemporary British beach huts that London office Pedder & Scampton designed for the seaside town of Southend (+ slideshow).

Pedder & Scampton‘s design won a competition organised by Southend Council to develop “a new generation” of beach huts that offer a modern alternative to existing huts found along the local beaches.

“We have always enjoyed beach huts ourselves, and this fantastic site and simple project gave us a great opportunity to think imaginatively about materials and form,” architect Gill Scampton told Dezeen.

“We took the traditional elements of beach huts to be a strong rythmic repeating form, variation within an overall form, strong use of colour and individually customised spaces,” she added. “We wanted to propose an update for a traditional building form that responds to the very particular character of the site.”

The colourful doors and shutters of the eight huts reference the typical painted wooden structures that have been a popular fixture at many seaside resorts since the nineteenth century.

“The strong colours and industrial scale of the numbers respond to the scale and character of the Thames Estuary, which call for something more robust than the usual pastel colours,” Scampton explained.

Traditionally, beach huts are situated above the high tide mark and used as a place to shelter from the sun or wind, change into swimming gear and store personal belongings.

Rather than the linear formation found on many beaches, Pedder & Scampton’s huts are arranged along an existing concrete promenade at an angle to one another, creating individual private terraces in the spaces between each one.

The huts are constructed from prefabricated components that allowed them to be assembled quickly on site during the winter months.

Timber frames support walls made from recycled timber pallets, with plywood used to clad the internal surfaces and translucent polycarbonate sheeting covering the exterior.

The cavities between the two layers are filled with pebbles, gravel, glass chippings, shells and other recycled materials, which are arranged in layers to represent the tidal drift on the beach.

These materials provide thermal mass, as well as privacy and security, and can be seen through the translucent outer surfaces. They also provide additional strength and stability, which enabled the huts to withstand the strong winds of recent storms that damaged many of the traditional beach huts in the area.

Gaps left between the level of the infilled material and the roof create clerestory windows that introduce natural light into the huts.

The angled arrangement of the structures creates spaces through which the sea can still be seen from a promenade that runs along the rear of the site.

The sloping roofs create an irregular rhythm and are planted with sea-hardened sedum and other plants that can also be seen from the promenade.

Local publication the Southend Standard has reported that more huts are planned for a location nearby after the initial eight sold for more than £27,000 each. The design was developed in collaboration with structural engineers StructureMode.

Photography is by Simon Kennedy.

Here’s a project description from Pedder & Scampton:

New beach huts at Southend on Sea

Brits are set to enjoy a late spring heatwave according to the Met office, which is good news for those lucky enough to have bagged one of the eight new beach huts at Southend, designed by London practice Pedder & Scampton.

The British love affair with the beach hut has never been healthier. Bidding for the 7-year leases of the huts at East Beach was fierce given their location just an hour and a half’s drive away from London and perfect for last minute weekend getaways.

Pedder & Scampton’s competition-winning design responded to an ambitious brief from Southend Council calling for ‘a new generation’ of beach huts. It updates the traditional format with an eco-friendly design featuring green planted roofs, recycled materials and a distinctive slanted shape that gives each individual hut its own private terrace.

Coloured doors and shutters create variety and a feel-good vibe within the bold repetitive structure. The walls of the huts – which are built on the existing raised concrete promenade with great views of the sea – are formed from recycled timber pallets bolted into timber frames and faced with tough translucent polycarbonate sheeting to the outside and plywood to the inner faces.

The wall cavities are then filled with layers of pebbles, gravel, glass chippings and shells, laid in drift layers visible through the plastic, giving the huts a beautifully tactile seaside aesthetic.

The simple, robust interiors allow for customisation, and can be painted or fitted out by tenants, looking to create a home-from-home to make a brew or read the papers in, whist still enjoying the tang of the salty air.

The freeholds remain with Southend Borough Council who, through local agents Haart, are now actively seeking interest from prospective tenants for a potential Phase 2 of the development, which already has planning permission.

Pedder and Scampton beat more than 40 other entrants in the competition, which was launched in August 2012. The designs were developed with structural engineers StructureMode.

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makeover from Pedder & Scampton appeared first on Dezeen.

This school building in Bath, England, by local architects Mitchell Taylor Workshop features stone walls recalling the city’s historic architecture, alongside contrasting dark grey brickwork and window surrounds (+ slideshow).

The design by Mitchell Taylor Workshop was the winning entry in a competition for a humanities building at Kingswood School, to be built on the school’s picturesque Lansdown Road grounds.

Located within a designated conservation area and World Heritage Site, the materials used for the facility’s exterior had to meet strict planning regulations.

The use of stone references Bath’s historic buildings and the architects chose to add contrast by introducing a grey brick that resembles slate, a materials that is also part of the area’s architectural heritage.

“The choice of materials evolved from the desire to create a playful front and back tectonic narrative,” the architects explained. “After the planners had requested that stone be used, we then identified another heavily used material in Bath, slate, and argued that a long dark brick had the quality of a slate block, which they accepted.”

One of the two-storey building’s facades is angled towards an open grassy area and features gables clad in pale stone, contrasting with the tall grey windows that echo the front of the adjacent Ferens Building, built in 1924.

“The new design evolved to be a contemporary interpretation of both the Ferens Building and the local context of the world heritage site,” said the architects. “The form and proportion of the roof structure and openings is a response to the rhythm of the Ferens building’s facade, with the tall windows and perforated panels.”

Grey brick was used to clad the rear portion of the classroom facility, including a large gable end that combines with an angled wall to frame a tall glazed entrance.

An overhanging canopy on the opposite side of the building covers the main entrance, which leads to a central circulation area used as a conference, exhibition and social space.

Eight classrooms and three staff rooms are housed over two storeys in a pair of blocks arranged on either side of the circulation and display area.

The grey window frames that project from the southern facade provide solar shading and incorporate perforated panels covering windows that can be opened to provide ventilation in any weather.

Pupils in the upper-floor classrooms can look out across the lawn towards the surrounding countryside.

Photography is by Peter Cook.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Kingswood School, Bath, England

Mitchell Taylor Workshop were invited by Kingswood School to submit a proposal for a limited competition for the design a new humanities building in May 2012. The site is located on the school’s Lansdown Road grounds in Bath within both the Conservation Area and with a World Heritage designation. The winning scheme was to house eight new classrooms and three departmental resource areas and a flexible circulation space that could be used for exhibiting work and for external academic and conference functions.

The form and orientation of the building was generated from site constraints in maximising the natural daylight and ventilation into the classroom spaces whilst controlling solar gain. The building is aligned along Fonthill Road to the north-east and is effectively divided into two blocks with the southern elevation orientated to the immediate open space and the extraordinary views beyond. The internal spaces unfold from a large overhang which provides a covered canopy and connects to an internal triangular plan shaped circulation area which allows for the pupils to display and exhibit their work and as breakout and social space.

Adjacent to the new classroom site is the existing Ferens Building, built in 1924. The new design evolved to be a contemporary interpretation of both the Ferens Building and the language of the heritage buildings of Bath with defined fronts and backs. The form and proportion of the roof structure and openings is a response to the rhythm of Ferens building facade with the tall windows and perforate panels.

The choice of materials evolved from the desire to create a playful front and back tectonic narrative. After the planners had requested that stone be used, we then identified another heavily used material in Bath, slate, and argued that a long dark brick had the quality of a slate block which they accepted. The proposal evolved to incorporate the stone on the south with the dark brick on the north façade creating a unique architectural composition.

Our experience of working with independent schools has brought about an expertise in a variety of building types from libraries, to boarding houses, theatres to classrooms, sports halls to energy centres. The Independent Schools have a strong identity and aspire to reflect this within the built environment. Budgets and time constraints are also well defined but this should not restrict the aspiration to produce interesting and relevant architectural buildings and places.

Mitchell Taylor workshop developed their proposal working very closely with the staff and pupils of the school. The school wanted to occupy their new building at the start of the 2013/14 academic year which meant a design and construction period of little over 12 months. The budget resulted in a construction value of £1,700/sq.m which meant that both the design and construction needed to well considered, co-ordinated and efficient as well as making a positive contribution to the built and academic aspirations of the school.

Gross Internal Floor Area – 632m²
Form of Contract or Procurement Route– JCD ICD 2011
Cconstruction Cost Per m2 – £1640/m2
Architect – Mitchell Taylor Workshop
Client – Kingswood School

Structural Engineer – Mann Williams
M&E Consultant – King Shaw Associates Ltd
QS – Bishopston Stephens
Project Manager – Bishopston Stephens
CDM Coordinator – Anderson FM Consulting Ltd
Approved Building Inspector – Bath & North East Somerset Council
Main Contractor – Beard

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