Hasta La Ideas

UK firm Mole Architects extended a protected farmhouse in south-east England by adding an extension with a barrel-vaulted roof that references local agricultural buildings (+ slideshow).

Located in the High Weald area of the Sussex Downs, the Hawthbush extension replaced several earlier additions constructed in the 1970s.

The new structure was placed at an angle to the existing house and visually separated from it by a glass link to replicate the layout of traditional local farmsteads, according to recent research carried out using historical maps of the area.

Associating the design with this research allowed them to gain planning permission where previous proposals had failed. This apparent separation also helps to reduce the scale of the additional volume, giving prominence to the original house.

When briefing Mole Architects, one of their clients presented the designers with a pot instead of a room schedule, underlining their wish to gain “a beautifully finished object carefully made from ‘natural’ materials”.

A coated steel roof arches over courses of bricks reclaimed from a nearby farmhouse, reinterpreting the barrelled structural language of local agricultural buildings.

The concave ceiling that results from the unusually shaped roof is emphasised by internal horizontal cladding, directing attention towards a semi-circular window at the end of the master bedroom on the first floor.

Whilst the bedroom’s picture window frames the sunrise, the kitchen on the ground floor benefits from the skewed angle of the extension, which orientates the kitchen on the ground floor towards the south so it’s flooded with sunlight during the day. The kitchen can be opened up to the garden with timber-framed glass doors that concertina out onto the patio.

This ongoing project also includes spatial reorganisation of the interior of the old farmhouse as well as a sustainable development strategy that affects a broader collection of buildings in the farmyard.

Hawthbush farmhouse extension was shortlisted for AJ Small Projects award 2013, which was won by Laura Dewe Mathews for her Gingerbread House. The Forest Pond House folly by TDO was also nominated for this award.

Other projects by Mole Architects include a refurbishment of a 1960s bungalow in Cambridgeshire and a house set within the Suffolk dunes designed in collabouration with Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects.

Photography is by David Butler.

Here’s some more information from Mole Architects:

In place of an existing 70’s extension, the clients required an extension that was sympathetic to the integrity of the original Grade II listed 17th century farmhouse, but which provided additional space and a spacious kitchen diner with lots of glazing providing views out. They weren’t keen on creating a ‘radical’ ultra-modern extension but did want to avoid a pastiche of the old. They wanted a modern space with ‘good flow,’ ideal for a growing family and a practical addition to a working farm.

They identified an appreciation for natural materials – wood cladding, glass, lead, copper and definitely wanted sustainability. When asked to produce a list of rooms Lisa (one of the clients) instead presented MOLE with a pot she had made, saying, “I don’t know what I mean by it, but there’s something about this pot that conveys what I feel about the extension.”

Above: site plan

Planning Constraints

The scheme is located in the within the Low Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, close the boundary of the High Wield. It won approval following a site history of refusals. The scheme was designed following research into the historic development of farmyards within the Weald – well documented/published by Forum Heritage Services for the Joint Advisory Committee of the High Weald AONB (JCA 122), based on 3500 farmstead sites analysed on historic maps.

Both High and Low Weald are characterised by high densities of isolated farmsteads, which comprise small scale groups of individual farmyard structures. These historic farmsteads are characterised by: ‘Loose Courtyards,’ ‘L-plans’ and ‘Dispursed Clusters.’.

Above: ground floor plan

JCA 122 notes that Dispersed Cluster is most prevalent in the High Weald, and the scheme adopts this formal pattern. The extension is designed to be redolent of an agricultural building adjacent to the farmhouse. This form decreases the extension’s apparent scale, allowing greater prominence to the farmhouse. Two meetings held at pre-application stage with planners from Wealden District Council, suggested that further thought/background was required on the location of the extension, and relationship to existing house.

These comments were considered and alternative locations tested in CAD model form and discussed at a further meeting, during which it was agreed that the logic of the original location was acceptable, and difficulties in the revised location (in terms of sunlight penetration and incorporation into the plan) made it less feasible.

Above: first floor plan

Materials & Methods of Construction

Attached while visually separated from the existing farmhouse, the extension provides a contemporary reinterpretation of local farmsteads. It is constructed from reclaimed brick from a nearby farmhouse, with a glulam timber frame barrel-vaulted roof structure covered in terne-coated steel.

Above: long section

A glass link provides access into the farmhouse while giving breathing space to the new extension. The ground floor of the extension contains a generous south-facing family kitchen and above, a master bedroom enjoys the vault. Alongside other alterations carried out by the client to the existing house, including a revised entry for a more accessible drop off, the extension helps make the original building function better as a family home. Ultimately, the overall plan, including the extension, makes use of the site, the sun, the revised entry, and organises the house better.

Above: short section

The clients project managed construction and the extension forms part of a broader ongoing sustainable development strategy organised across the larger collection of buildings that make up Hawthbush farmyard. While this strategy is not part of the project £220K budget, it is worth noting as it forms the framework within which the project sits.

Above: southern elevation

This strategy includes a 50KW woodchip boiler, 10KW array of solar PV, MHRV system and a borehole for house water. The Client ensured all hardcore was provided on site and all soil disposal dealt with on site. The solar PV and boiler fuelled by woodchip generated on-site and installed by the client as part of the larger strategy generate all electrical and heating requirements for the house and extension.

Above: northern elevation

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News: Zaha Hadid Architects has been appointed by the Mayor of London to help develop plans for a major new airport in the southeast of England.

Hadid’s firm will work alongside UK-based engineers Atkins and Pascall+Watson, the architects who designed Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport, to prepare a submission to the UK government about the future of aviation around the capital.

“This work is essential to deliver the most integrated transport solutions for London and the UK,” said Hadid. “It will enable London to maintain its position as one of the world’s most important economic, commercial and cultural centres, outlining the city’s future growth and development, which has always been founded on global connectivity.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “It is absolutely imperative that work to progress a new hub airport in the southeast is completed as soon as possible. The government has set a timetable that dawdles, when dash should be the order of the day.

“That is why I have assembled a mighty team of experts who I have tasked with delivering a fulsome examination of the most realistic solutions to our aviation crisis in the shortest time possible, which I look forward to sharing with the government.”

In 2011, architect Norman Foster unveiled his own proposals for an airport and transport hub on the Thames estuary, while last year architects Gensler proposed a floating airport connected by underwater tunnels for the same location – see all airports.

Earlier this week Hadid slammed the UK’s “misogynist” attitude towards women architects after a survey found nearly a third knew they were paid less than their male counterparts – see all news about Zaha Hadid.

Top image shows Hadid’s proposal for an extension to Zagreb Airport in Croatia.

Here’s the full press release:

Mayor announces world-class team to develop hub airport plans

The Mayor of London has appointed a world-class team of experts to help develop plans for a multi runway hub airport in the southeast.
Today (11 February) the Mayor will also give oral evidence to an aviation inquiry convened by the Parliamentary Transport Select Committee. Committee members are expected to ask him why developing a new hub airport is so important to London and to explain why further expansion of Heathrow is impossible.

Appointing a world-class team of experts has added further weight to the work being driven forward by the Mayor to address the nation’s aviation crisis. He has made it very clear that he wishes to see the speediest possible resolution to the debate on where to build a multi runway hub airport, so that the British economy is given the best chance to prosper in the face of huge competition from its global rivals
The Mayor has confirmed that the following organisations have all been engaged to help with work being prepared for submission to the Government.

They will provide expertise under the following themes:

Airport design & infrastructure

Atkins – one of the world’s leading design, engineering and project management consultancies. Projects they have worked on include the London 2012 Olympics, Bahrain World Trade Centre and the Dubai Metro. Atkins will also lead on consideration of surface access and environmental impacts.

Zaha Hadid Architects – Zaha Hadid was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize (considered to be the Nobel Prize of architecture) in 2004 and is internationally renowned for her theoretical and academic work. Time Magazine included her in their 2010 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. She has worked on globally celebrated projects such as the London 2012 Aquatics Centre and Guangzhou Opera House in China.

Pascall & Watson architects – Previous projects include Heathrow Terminal 5, Dublin Airport Terminal 2, Rome Fiumicino Airport Masterplan. They also designed St Pancras International Station.

Socio economic impacts

Ramboll – a leading international engineering and management consultancy with a track record of examining the economic impact of airports and other infrastructure from around the world, supporting key developments in European air traffic control, working on the new Thames Crossing and developing National Policy Statements.

Oxford Economics – a world leader in global forecasting and quantitative analysis for business and government with unrivalled experience of exploring the economic impact of the aviation sector and airports for clients including IATA, ATAG, BAA and Airbus and developing economic forecasts and scenarios for London.

York Aviation – a leading firm specialising in the assessment of the economic impacts of aviation and aviation demand planning.

Professor Peter Tyler – Peter is a Professor in urban and regional economics in the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge and Fellow at St. Catharine’s College. Peter has an extensive track record in undertaking research for the public and private sector and an established reputation in the field of urban and regional economics with a particular emphasis on the evaluation of policy. He has been a Project Director for over seventy major research projects for Government.

Commercial viability

Ernst and Young – a global leader in assurance, tax, transactions and advisory services.

Legal and regulatory

Ashurst – The leading global law firm, which specialises in advising corporates, financial institutions and governments. Their core businesses are in corporate, finance, energy, resources and infrastructure.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “It is absolutely imperative that work to progress a new hub airport in the southeast is completed as soon as possible. The Government has set a timetable that dawdles when dash should be the order of the day. That is why I have assembled a mighty team of experts who I have tasked with delivering a fulsome examination of the most realistic solutions to our aviation crisis in the shortest time possible, which I look forward to sharing with the Government.”

Zaha Hadid said: “This work is essential to deliver the most integrated transport solutions for London and the UK. It will enable London to maintain its position as one of the world’s most important economic, commercial and cultural centres; outlining the city’s future growth and development which has always been founded on global connectivity.”

Mike Pearson, UK director of airports, Atkins said: “This project is not purely about the creation of a new hub airport, it’s about forming the foundations for London’s future development and reaffirming the UK’s position as a key international centre. It will fundamentally shift the debate on UK aviation once and for all, providing both a convincing and compelling case for how international air connectivity is critical to underpinning the UK economy, as well as driving wider regeneration.”

Around 15 different proposals for a new hub airport in the southeast have already been made public. The Mayor has consulted on criteria that will be used to evaluate each of those proposals and to form a shortlist of options. That shortlist is expected to be announced within weeks and the team now assembled by the Mayor will combine their expertise to produce detailed feasibility studies of the shortlisted options that the Mayor will submit to the Davies Commission.

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News: relaxing planning restrictions on the green belt would destroy London’s vitality “even more surely than it would despoil the countryside,” architect Richard Rogers has warned.

“I do not say this as a rural nimby, though I treasure England’s natural landscape, but as a defender of cities,” writes Rogers in the London’s Evening Standard newspaper, arguing that the city’s mix of jobs, shops, restaurants, parks and nightlife acts as “a magnet to people from across the globe.”

“Letting the city sprawl would undermine this mix and intensity, reversing the rebirth of city-centre living,” he warns, saying suburban sprawl not only leads to “social atomisation” but becomes “environmentally disastrous” as car journeys displace public transport.

To solve the UK’s housing crisis, architects, planners and developers “need to show ingenuity” by redeveloping thousands of hectares of brownfield land as well as empty offices and houses across the country – but simply converting buildings is not enough, he argues.

“It will not create homes or communities unless intelligent urban design and planning also create the schools, shops and public transport hubs civilised life demands.

“And why should we rush to convert office blocks when we already have three-quarters of a million homes in England lying empty, and sites with planning permission for 400,000 more?”

According to homeless charity Shelter, the government’s plan to build 150,000 “affordable” homes – priced below market rates – over four years will provide less than a third of what is needed, with over 1.7 million households currently on local authority housing waiting lists.

UK planning minister Nick Boles recently called for an area of countryside twice the size of Greater London to be built on in order to solve the growing housing crisis.

In the US, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg last year announced plans for “micro-unit” apartments to help solve the shortage of small homes in Manhattan, while San Francisco city chiefs have voted to allow the development of apartments as small as 20 square metres.

Rogers’ firm recently completed a set of six-sided apartment blocks beside the Tate Modern art gallery in central London – see all projects by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

Photograph by Andrew Zuckerman.

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“wreck” London – Richard Rogers appeared first on Dezeen.

by Sabine Zetteler Christoper Barrett and Luke Taylor, more commonly known as Us, are the powerhouse directorial duo behind the latest music video for Foals, released this week by Warner Bros UK. Far from newcomers to video direction—Us directed an award-winning video for Thom Yorke while still attending Kingston University—the…

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Visitors to an exhibition of work by architects Haptic can take a rest inside a wooden cabin filled with coloured light and smoke (+ movie).

As the centrepiece to the Working the Land exhibition, the Light Touch installation combines an illuminated walkway with a secluded seating area and was designed to demonstrate the craftsmanship that is key to Haptic‘s architectural practice.

A kinetic mechanism is attached to the top of the structure, lifting a chain of lights up and down in a wave-like motion. One side of these lights shines onto a wall of images in the corridor, while the other projects shades of pink, purple and blue through the slatted facade of the cabin.

Visitors sitting inside the cabin can make themselves comfortable amongst a collection of reindeer skins. Smoke is emitted from openings at their feet, clouding the light as it gradually filters in.

Haptic worked with artist Ruairi Glynn on the complex assembly of the installation, which involved piecing together CNC-milled slats of black MDF then ensuring the mechanism fitted exactly.

“The precise nature of the installation, with every two intersecting pieces having multiple finger joints held together by friction, took a large team effort working to very fine tolerances,” Haptic director Nikki Butenschøn told Dezeen. “It took three grown men with an artillery of mallets to pound the damn slats into submission.”

The architects compare the effect to the “dramatic lighting conditions found in the Norwegian landscapes”, a reference to the nationality of many of the Haptic team.

Working the Land is on show at the London office of consulting engineers Buro Happold until 15 March.

Tomas Stokke, Scott Grady and Timo Haedrich launched London firm Haptic Architects in 2009. They have since opened a second studio in Oslo, headed up by Nikki Butenschøn. Recent projects include a forest-like hotel lounge and a Norwegian hunting lodge.

Photography and movie by Simon Kennedy.

Here’s a description of the exhibition from Haptic Architects:

Working the Land – an exhibition by Haptic Architects

Working the Land presents the recent work of Haptic and provides an insight into the practice’s ethos, to work carefully and strategically with the site context, whilst focusing on materiality and craftsmanship.

Haptic is a London and Oslo based architectural studio, established in 2009. Our designs are conceptually driven, inspired by nature and formed through a critical, iterative design process. A strong emphasis is given to user experience; how one interacts with the buildings and spaces. The term “Haptic” refers to the sense of touch. We believe a shift from the optical to the haptical is a move that benefits the users of our buildings.

Haptic are currently working on a wide range of building typologies. These include airports, hotel and conferencing facilities, urban design and mixed-use residential, exhibition spaces and private dwellings. Presented here is cross-section of projects, at early stages to completed works.

The installation “Light Touch” takes its inspiration from the dramatic natural lighting conditions found in the Norwegian landscapes. The slatted timber box draws from vernacular architecture and the way in which the low-lying sunlight filters through the forests, whilst providing a tranquil breakout space for Buro Happold and visitors.

Graphic Design: BOB
Kinetic Design: Ruairi Glynn & Chryssa Varna
Lighting Design: Concept Design

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by Haptic appeared first on Dezeen.