Hasta La Ideas

Dezeen Wire: local architects EllisMiller have been granted permission to create a series of temporary structures in the London borough of Hackney that will provide a hub for media and commerce during the upcoming Olympic games.

Furnished by PearsonLloyd, Hackney House will occupy a site beside Shoreditch High Street and will accomodate a media centre for journalists during the games, as well as exhibitions and events that will take place throughout the summer.

The venue is scheduled to complete at the start of May and will remain in place until September.

Dezeen’s offices are also located in the borough of Hackney, so we’ve been putting together a showcase of the best design talent from the area. More information and details of how to get involved can be found at www.designedinhackney.com.

Here’s a full statement from EllisMiller:

EllisMiller: Starter’s orders for Hackney House

EllisMiller have secured planning consent for Hackney House – a media and investment centre for Hackney during the Olympic games.

During the summer it is expected that thousands of people will visit Hackney – including many individuals and organisations who are looking for businesses opportunities in the area. The Hackney House partners – led by Hackney Borough Council – seized this opportunity and commissioned Ellis Miller to design what will be one of the most vibrant venues of summer 2012.

Hackney House is located off Shoreditch High Street and will be used as a media centre for non-sports journalists during the games period, and will be the venue for a series of events designed to showcase business opportunities and creative talent in Hackney to UK and global business leaders, decision-makers and VIPs. Around 20,000 people are expected to visit Hackney House to enjoy an events programme that will promote Hackney as the creative heart of London in 2012. Visitors will be able to make use of exceptional networking opportunities while experiencing Hackney’s reputation as a crucible of enterprise, creativity and entertainment.

Visitors to Hackney House will first be greeted by a bespoke entrance structure, which juxtaposes highly functional materials with a decorative woven chainlink carrying a lace motif. Beyond an entrance garden, Hackney House will consist of a flexible series of marquees and other temporary structures that can accommodate a range of different uses throughout the summer. These will include exhibition and performance venues, spaces for formal and informal functions, catering and other visitor facilities.

On completion in April/May 2012, the venue will begin hosting events almost immediately including the Digital Shoreditch Festival, BBC Radio 1 Hackney Big Weekend 2012, the London College of Fashion graduate fashion shows and business networking events hosted by the Mayor of London. Hackney House will remain open until the end of September.

The site is currently a vacant brownfield site owned by development company Lirastar, who are developing a mixed use urban masterplan for its future development with EllisMiller. The scheme was initiated by EllisMiller’s strong relationship with Hackney Council, and EllisMiller were able to facilitate the temporary use of the site with the landowner. EllisMiller also encouraged Hackney Council to collaborate with emerging and fellow East London architect Harry Dobbs Design on the project. Other creative partners include design studio Pearson Lloyd and Ben Todd (Executive Director, Arcola Theatre).

Chris Patience, Partner at Ellis Miller said:

“It’s been a huge privilege working with the Hackney House partners to design one of the most exciting non-Olympic venues in London this summer. It will play host to journalists from around the world alongside thousands of people enjoying a wide range of activities including music, fashion, exhibitions and business functions. We’ve therefore worked hard to create a venue that is simple, flexible and fun.”

Carl Welham, Assistant Chief Executive, Communications and Consultation at Hackney Borough Council said:

“The Olympics will create investment, jobs and business venture capital. Hackney House will enable us to maximise this opportunity for the benefit of residents, artists and local businesses.”

London architects Featherstone Young have completed this day centre for homeless people in east London.

Built for charity Providence Row, which provides food, clothing and showers to London’s homeless, the new Dellow Centre centre provides space for activities to encourage self-expression and learning.

It incorporates a bicycle workshop on the ground floor, art studio and performing arts space on the first floor and offices for the charity at the top.

The new structure sits across a courtyard from the charity’s headquarters, completed in the 1980s, and is surrounded on three sides by tall neighbouring buildings.

Stripes of green and yellow perforated panels clad the top and ground floor, while the zig-zagging facade in between angles the large windows away from the street and towards the headquarters opposite to visually link the two.

The upper storey has a zig-zagging terrace that follows the line of the facade and a bright yellow, irregularly shaped skylight crowns the building.

Featherstone Young previously designed the London offices for advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy and a house cantilevered over a river in Wales.

Photographs are by Tim Brotherton.

Here’s some more information from Featherstone Young:

Dellow Centre by Featherstone Young

Client brief

Featherstone Young were appointed by Providence Row to design a new arts and activity building as part of their day care facility in Wentworth Street in London’s East End. Providence Row is a homelessness charity that provides support to homeless people in Tower Hamlets (one of the UK’s most deprived districts) and the City of London. The Dellow Day Centre provides essential services such as food, clothing and showers, helping to restore users’ health and dignity.

The new building will allow Providence Row to operate a range of structured and meaningful activities for their users. The ground floor will house a bike workshop, enabling users to develop their skills and set them on the first steps towards employment. The first floor will contain an art centre for visual and performing arts activities, allowing users to express themselves creatively and develop their artistic skills. Providence Row will use the top floor for office space, while other parts of the building will contain storage and archive facilities for the charity.

Concept/solution

Featherstone Young were keen to create a thoughtful yet functional building that uses its landlocked site to its full advantage, in order to accommodate as many uses as possible in the limited space available. Because the building (on the site of a former storage building) faces the main day centre across an under-used courtyard, Featherstone Young also wanted to find a design solution that could animate the courtyard and improve connections and flow between the two buildings on the site as a whole.

The main feature of the building is its single-aspect angular façade. Likened to a mask the faceted blinkered windows take cues from the pod windows at Featherstone Young’s award-winning SERICC crisis centre in Essex, offering privacy to those within whilst also providing essential visibility for staff by designing a permeable façade. Above and below the main faceted level are vivid green and yellow perforated cladding panels to the ground floor workshop and the second floor. The building is topped with a colourful, irregular-shaped rooflight that provides a fun and lively aspect for those working in the surrounding higher buildings.

Conceptually, this mask elevation is intended by Featherstone Young to act as a visual metaphor for Providence Row’s users and to confront the invisibility of homeless people. The striking, colourful building challenges passers-by to ignore what was previously an anonymous space, while its appearance is a visual reminder that homeless people, like the new building created to serve them, can have great depth of character and dignity.

At ground floor level, the large workshop doors open out onto the courtyard, bringing natural light into the workshop and encouraging activity to spill out onto the courtyard towards the main Dellow Centre building. Behind the workshop, large storage spaces have been created for clothing and equipment. Inside, the space is functional and robust – a design approach that is continued throughout the new centre.

A simple staircase leads from the ground floor to the first floor, where the main space is the art studio. Here the large full-height timber-framed windows flood the room with natural light – ideal for art activity during the day. The faceted windows face away from the street and across the courtyard to the main centre – giving privacy for users, valuable passive surveillance for staff, and creating a positive relationship with main centre. This space can also be fully blacked out for film screenings. Other spaces on this level provide further storage and archive facilities for Providence Row.

On the upper level, an open plan office space leads onto an external terrace, where a zig-zag balcony follows the line of the first floor windows. Like the ground floor, a colourful facade gives this level a lively feel, and the palette is repeated in bold vertical stripes along the length of the external wall. A small private meeting room accessed from the main room is lit from above by the large and colourful funnel-like rooflight.

Throughout the building, an emphasis has been placed on creating a series of robust, flexible and functional internal spaces. Lighting and services are simple and basic, and the building is designed to be easy to use and maintain.

Planning/budget constraints:

The site is a small, landlocked site, accessed via a small private courtyard. It is landlocked on three sides by tall buildings (a building immediately adjacent to the centre has recently been demolished and will be replaced) and faces the main Dellow Centre which was built in the 1980s. Featherstone Young’s design response was a building that could project its own strong character alongside its neighbours, animate the underused courtyard and enliven the otherwise bland setting.

The client brief had originally been for a two-storey building, although Featherstone Young were also encouraged to explore options for three storeys in order to maximise use of the site. Planning consent was granted for three storeys after the trustees saw the additional possibilities of a higher building. With a strong design concept the building has withstood the rigours of tight cost constraints and was completed on budget.

Designed in Hackney: today’s project from the London borough of Hackney is the Hackney Shed, a low-budget garden office designed by architects Office Sian.

Oak-framed doors fold away from the facade to open the one-person workplace to the surrounding garden, which is located just behind the client’s house.

Library bookshelves are sandwiched between the exposed structural columns, while a skylight brings natural daylight in from overhead.

Office Sian also recently completed a Thai canteen elsewhere in London – see it here.

Architect Gurmeet Sian founded the studio in 2007 and their office is located on Penn Street, Hoxton.

Key:

Blue = designers
Red = architects
Yellow = brands

See a larger version of this map

Designed in Hackney is a Dezeen initiative to showcase world-class architecture and design created in the borough, which is one of the five host boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic Games as well as being home to Dezeen’s offices. We’ll publish buildings, interiors and objects that have been designed in Hackney each day until the games this summer.

More information and details of how to get involved can be found at www.designedinhackney.com.

Slideshow: chunky chimneys bring natural light and ventilation inside the three adjoining blocks that comprise this dark grey house in Kildare, Ireland.

Irish architects Dot Architecture and Soc-Arc designed the walls and sloping roofs of C-House on top of the substructure of an existing house that had been irreparably damaged by flooding.

Inspired by the forms of a traditional Irish bungalow, the house has a single row of low-silled windows that create the false impression that each block has only one storey inside.

Once inside, one of the blocks is revealed to house two floors of bedrooms while the other two contain double-height living and dining rooms.

Other projects we’ve featured from Ireland include a mews house with protruding brickwork – see all our stories about Ireland here.

Photography is by Paul Tierney.

Here’s some more information from Dot Architecture:

C-House

In August 2008 a 1980s family home in rural county Kildare lay submerged under 1m of water during three separate, unprecedented flash floods. The family devastated by the loss of their home saw the opportunity in rebuilding, to remodel the house while making it safe from possible future floods.

Alterations to the existing ground levels were essential. The existing slab and raft foundations were to be reused as much as possible to reduce costs and environmental impact.

The existing external walls were cut at cill level of the original house, filled, and used as retaining walls providing a new raised ground floor level 1.2 metres above the original.

Building material salvaged from walls above cill level was re-used where appropriate as fill below the new ground floor slab. A lower ground floor level was formed by tanking a leg of the original ground floor.

The project is a contemporary interpretation of an Irish Bungalow, answering issues of context, planning and site levels. Three blocks sit on the site connected through an interlocking knuckle hall linking the uses of living, kitchen/dining and sleeping.

The ‘light chimneys’ direct light deep into these spaces leaving an ecclesiastic glow in the space and act as mini stacks for natural ventilation of the spaces.

Additional floor area and natural light were primary drivers for the scheme, as the previous house had been dominated by a long and eternally dark corridor surrounded by a series of box rooms. The project uses both direct and borrowed light from the light funnels.

The two-storey Sleeping block is a tanked part-basement polished white concrete floor built on the existing slab, a void punched through the floor above brings light to the new hall below.

The rooms are lit by tilting/pivoting/swinging large format hardwood windows and doors using a modular size of 2.25m x 1.5m throughout.

The upper floor is supported on a cranked beam giving additional height to the first floor rooms without overly raising the ridge level and retaining the appearance of bungalow externally.

The crank in the beam returns space to the lower level bedrooms enabling the larger format windows to pull in more light at this level.

The entire first floor level is lit by the large light chimney, providing direct and borrowed light to the bedrooms and study by use of internal rooflights, screens and voids.

The living spaces in the front block can be combined by folding back two large triangular flush screens, 1.5m x 4.5m, leaving the central chimney in the round.

The kitchen/dining block is an addition to the original footprint providing an 8m x 8m square floor with pulled-in slider and overhang forming a porch between the adjoining utility and back garden. Light falls from above via the off-centre light funnel.

Floor Area: 260 m²Architects: Steven Connolly, Alan Connolly & Gráinne Daly

Quantity Surveyors: Mulcahy McDonagh and Partners (MMP)

Joinery: McNally Joinery
Dining Table and Bench: Kieran Costelloe, Furniture Restorer and Cabinet Maker
Client: Private
Location: Prosperous, Co. Kildare, Ireland Project
Size: 260 m2
Project Duration: 12 months

London architects Pernilla & Asif have unveiled designs for a pavilion that can be played like a musical instrument for the London 2012 Olympic park.

The circular walls of the Coca-Cola Beatbox will be covered in ETFE plastic pillows that are sensitive to both movement and touch.

As visitors come into contact with the building each pillow will emit different sounds prerecorded by British DJ and producer Mark Ronson from a selection of Olympic sports.

A spiralling ramp will lead up behind the panels onto the roof of the pavilion, which will offer a panoramic view across the park.

See all our stories about the London 2012 Olympics here and check out our Designed in Hackney initiative to highlight creative talent in one of the five host boroughs here.

Here’s some more information from the press release:

Pernilla + Asif design the Coca-Cola Beatbox for London 2012

The designers of the Pavilion have been revealed as the critically acclaimed, emerging London practice, Pernilla & Asif, founded by Pernilla Ohrstedt, 30, and Asif Khan, 31. Pernilla and Asif have a history of collaborating on ingenious projects, and are in the process of designing an iconic building that will innovatively combine experimental architecture and cutting edge sound technology to create a stunning visual and sensory experience.

Called ‘The Coca-Cola Beatbox’, Pernilla and Asif’s pioneering building also acts as a musical instrument. It takes inspiration from Coca-Cola’s global platform for London 2012 – Move to the Beat – a campaign which aims to bring teens closer to the Olympics by fusing sport with their enduring passion for music. The creative concept will enable people to ‘play’ the Pavilion through interacting with sounds embedded within the architecture itself. Visitors will be able to create their own beat for London 2012 by remixing sounds of Olympic sports captured for an anthem that is being created for Coca-Cola by Grammy award-winning producer, Mark Ronson.

The appointment of Pernilla and Asif follows the culmination of a formal pitch process, supported by the prestigious London-based Architecture Foundation, which was initiated to discover the next big architectural talent in the UK and give them a showcase at London 2012. The Coca-Cola Beatbox will be the pair’s largest commission to date and has been designed to deliver a lasting legacy.

In line with Coca-Cola’s approach to achieving its most sustainable sponsorship activation to date, the design will also feature environmentally friendly technology.

Maxine Chapman, Director of Showcasing, London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Project Team, The Coca-Cola Company, said: “With the eyes of over four billion people on London next year, we want to use our long-standing association with the Olympic Movement to shine a spotlight on Britain’s brightest stars and inspire young people to pursue their passions.

“Pernilla and Asif impressed us with their creativity, technical skills and vision. I’m delighted that we’re able to give them such a fantastic opportunity to showcase their talents and passions on the world’s stage. I have no doubt that every visitor to the park will be inspired by their innovative and groundbreaking design, both during and beyond London 2012.”

Pernilla Ohrstedt and Asif Khan, said: “As Londoners we are really excited to be a part of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Coca-Cola, a truly iconic brand, has believed in our practice’s creativity and vision to represent them at London 2012, taking our unique architecture to a global audience.

“We have sought out some of the most innovative engineers in the UK to work with us to realise our vision – a ‘building with a beat’. The Coca-Cola Beatbox will be a sensory experience that fuses design, music, sport and architecture. It will be something that people have never seen or heard before!”