London Eye-designer Marks Barfield Architects plans elevated glass pavilion next door

London-based Marks Barfield Architects has designed a temporary glazed pavilion raised up on criss-crossing steel columns that looks set be built near the firm’s London Eye observation wheel on the South Bank.

Shell Centre Pavilion by Marks Barfield

Marks Barfield Architects won an international competition to design the pavilion, intended to form part of the redevelopment of the current Shell Centre site. If granted planning permission, the four-storey building would house a marketing suite for the development as well as educational and visitor facilities.

“We chose local architects Marks Barfield for this building as they have already made a significant contribution to the South Bank with their world-renowned design of the London Eye,” said John Pagano of developers, Braeburn Estates.

Shell Centre Pavilion by Marks Barfield

“The high-quality designs they have proposed for the visitor pavilion will be in keeping with our aspiration for the Shell Centre scheme, and complement the South Bank’s cultural offer,” he added.

The 20-metre-high glazed building would be built on a plot at the edge of the recently redesigned Jubilee Gardens and would rise from a ten-square-metre base intended to minimise its footprint and impact on the landscaped public space.

Subsequent storeys would expand outwards to provide more floorspace for the meeting room and educational facilities housed on the first floor and showrooms for the flats proposed as part of the site’s redevelopment on the second and third floors.

Shell Centre Pavilion by Marks Barfield

Marks Barfield designed the pavilion to be dismantled and reused when no longer required at the Shell Centre site. A planning application submitted in relation to the pavilion is subject to the main development being approved.

“In the longer term, our proposed plans for the South Bank include the transformation of the Hungerford Car Park into a park which would result in the expansion of Jubilee Gardens by a third,” said Pagano.

“This would herald a major enhancement to the public areas adjacent to the new Shell Centre site with landscaped recreational space available for everyone to enjoy.”

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Amazon Science Centre by Marks Barfield Architects

Amazon Science Centre by Marks Barfield Architects

British architects Marks Barfield have designed a research centre for the Amazon Jungle with a bulging bamboo observation tower and over six miles of treetop bridges.

Amazon Science Centre by Marks Barfield Architects

The centre would allow both researchers and tourists to survey the rainforest canopy from above.

Amazon Science Centre by Marks Barfield Architects

Local bamboo would be used to construct the tower, which is designed as a series of off-centre circular decks that are linked by a spiralling central staircase.

Amazon Science Centre by Marks Barfield Architects

Single-storey bamboo pavilions on the forest floor would house computer workstations.

Amazon Science Centre by Marks Barfield Architects

This isn’t the first treetop walkway the architects have designed – see their elevated walkway in London’s Kew Gardens here.

Here’s a description of the project from Marks Barfield Architects:


Pioneering science centre in the heart of the Amazon

A pioneering science centre in the heart of the Amazon with more than six miles of walkways and an observation tower above the rainforest canopy is being planned by the Amazon Charitable Trust, a British charity.

The $10m (£6.4m) project in Roraima, a remote province of northeast Brazil, is being designed by Marks Barfield Architects who created the London Eye and designed the treetop walkway in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

The centre, in the village of Xixuau, will bring together scientists from the Brazilian Amazon Research Institute and the Royal Botanic Gardens, universities and other organisations, and is also intended to provide jobs for Brazilian tribes and attract eco-tourists.

The site is intended to appeal equally to serious research scientists and to visitors. The walkway, high above the jungle floor, will be used by researchers to study the canopy and by tourists to experience spectacular views.

Robert Pasley-Tyler, managing partner of the Amazon Charitable Trust, said: “This will be the first scientific research centre to be built in the jungle proper. It will employ the local river tribe, giving them a way of making a living without destroying the forest, and also boost awareness around the world.”

David Marks, of Marks Barfield Architects, said that the design and construction of the centre would pose extraordinary challenges because of the delicate ecosystem and its remote location.

“You have to be very careful about what you bring in to avoid damaging the eco-system. Because it is so remote it also has to be self-sufficient.” he said.

Marks added that much of the centre could be constructed from bamboo grown on the site. The centre would take two years to construct.

The Amazon Charitable Trust is waiting to discover if funding for the centre will be granted by the Amazon Fund, which is backed by donations from Norway.

Members of the Amazon Charitable Trust’s board include Bianca Jagger and John Hemming.

Factory by Marks Barfield Architects

Steven Chilton of London office Marks Barfield Architects has designed a factory-shaped youth centre for the site of the what was once the world’s largest car plant at Longbridge in Birmingham, UK. (more…)