Hasta La Ideas

London studio Blacksheep have completed a pizzeria for celebrity chef Jamie Oliver where a cinema listings board displays the menu and diners can watch chefs at work on vintage televisions.

Located in the Renzo-Piano-designed Central St. Giles Building in London, the Union Jacks restaurant has a brightly coloured neon sign inside that is visible through the glazed facade.

The two-storey restaurant also features retro-inspired chairs, as well as leather seating booths lit by glass pendant lamps.

Perforated panels line walls on both floors, providing places to affix shelf hinges and signage.

Blacksheep have completed a number of restaurant and bar interiors – click here to see a restaurant they designed with interactive projections on the tables.

Here’s some more information from Blacksheep:

Award winning design agency Blacksheep unveils Jamie Oliver’s new restaurant concept, Union Jacks

Blacksheep, one of the UK’s leading creative agencies, unveils the design of its latest project, Union Jacks, part of a continuing partnership with renowned British chef, Jamie Oliver. The new restaurant concept, located in the heart of London in Central St Giles, is the sixth project that Blacksheep has completed with Jamie Oliver, following a successful rollout of his first restaurant chain, Jamie’s Italian.

Union Jacks, situated in the iconic Lego building designed by architect, Renzo Piano, takes diners through a journey of discovery through Britain using familiar flavours, cooked and presented the Union Jacks way. The incredible flatbreads and wood-fired cooking methods nod to traditions that are universally loved and nearly all of the toppings are local. Setting the flatbreads apart from the array of other options on offer in Britain’s high street restaurant chains is Oliver’s partnership with US ‘pizza master’, Chris Bianco, widely credited as ‘the man who perfected dough’. It is a union of ideas, traditions and of people.

Blacksheep was brought on board once again to create a design concept that would take the Union Jacks experience countrywide. The design agency’s creative approach was to encompass the look and feel of the principle elements of the restaurant: service, food, theatre and ambiance. The agency worked hand-in-hand with Jamie. His love of British culture and heritage and his enthusiasm for encouraging the nation to eat better was a central theme for the interior design of the project.

Jo Sampson, Creative Director of Blacksheep, comments: “When working with Jamie, as with all our clients, we try and capture ‘him’, not a pastiche of his character or the best bits -simply his genuine spirit and honest approach to food and wider ethical concerns, and that is what is emulated in the design of Union Jacks.”

The spirit of Britishness is celebrated throughout Union Jacks; the food, the drink and the design are all underpinned by strong family values. There is a nod to yesteryear and subtle references to post-war nostalgia, including beralware-inspired plates with a cheeky twist that, when turned over, read “stop looking at my bottom”.



Above the bar and work station, a graphic neon multicoloured ‘Union Jacks’ sign sits above a large vintage cinema style board that displays the menu and specials.

The colour palette combines muted blue, brown, grey and pink with primary brights. Objects collected by Jamie on his travels inspired the space and retro elements that appear to be found trinkets have been made bespoke by Blacksheep and are dotted around the restaurant. Knitted 1970’s style tea cosies are found on the teapots on the café tables outside.

Graph paper is printed on counter tables, stools are reminiscent of a school science lab, while simple ‘wash-top’ wooden tables and chairs with basic metal frames are used elsewhere throughout the restaurant.

The lower ground floor is an intimate space with tables in booth settings. Antique TV screens are linked to cameras in the kitchen so diners can view the chefs at work. Bold graphics are painted on the walls and the menu uses old-school typewriter font.

Blacksheep’s biggest challenge was working within the existing building that would house the first Union Jacks restaurant. Specific guidelines had to be followed; the glass walls surrounding the space could not be covered so passers-by could see through it completely at any ground level vantage point. Blacksheep’s solution came in the form of a ‘canvas’ of three internal walls built to surround a central lift shaft. These walls were designed to act as a backdrop to working areas, and to house the wood-fired ovens, creating a visual experience for the diner.

The Union Jacks design is the result of Blacksheep rising to Jamie Oliver’s challenge seamlessly integrating his personal values into a functional restaurant space, working around the limitations of an architecturally complex building and creating a memorable dining experience for the great British public.

Engineers for web giant Google can lounge on sofas or draw on the walls at their new London headquarters by designers Penson.

As well as computer workstations, the offices include game rooms, music studios, lounge areas and an auditorium.

The lounge areas, named “flight pods”, are filled with two-tiered sofas, while the walls are lined with white-boards.

Corridors are also used as informal meeting spots and are furnished with faceted stools.

Monochrome table and chairs furnish a dedicated coffee area and overlook a lawn of artificial grass.

The offices also house studios for mobile web developers Android, containing electrically adjustable tables and magnetic walls.

We previously featured another office for Google in London, with a giant logo in the lobby – see it here.

Here’s the full press release:

PENSON “Strike 1” for Google Engineering HQ London

One of the world’s most up & coming architecture & interior design brands PENSON, has released their first project for Google engineers, in Buckingham Palace Road, London. This first release forms part of PENSON’s overall programme for Google, covering super cool office spaces for Googlers this year at Central Saint Giles & Belgrave House London.

This first release is a starship enterprise-come-space module-come space-city affair, which is shrewdly functional whilst laying down some really clever & fresh thinking workplace strategies. In summary it’s yet another brilliant to the point release by PENSON.

Henrique Penha of Google commented: “Working with the team at PENSON was a pleasure, they truly understood the functional and aesthetic attributes we were after when redesigning Google’s new engineering offices in London. Together, we pushed the ambition of the project into every phase, giving the Engineering teams in London a place to incubate and execute on numerous Google projects and products.”

The floor provides a mixture of spaces, gaming rooms, music studios, a park, coffee lab, flight pods, lounges, micro-kitchens, an amazing auditorium labelled Tech Talk & an abundance of very clever collaboration & working spaces.

Most walls across the space are magnetic white board laminates, which allow scribbles across the entire floor. In small or large nooks & crannies, Googlers collaborate in alone, in pairs or in spaces that can present casually to 100 people. It’s very clever, loose & natural in that the space works around Googlers & not the other way around. The laminates give a spacious glossy jointless feel. It’s simply fab.

Flight pods are a PENSON invention exclusively for Google. These pods solve a number of programme, landlord & technical matters in the interests of supersonic fit-out speeds. They also look amazing, solve acoustic issues & provide semi private slouching-come-formal seating opportunities that simply look & feel amazing. These are true kick off your shoes & meet spaces. The days of meeting rooms are perhaps numbered!

Knowing PENSON well, it’s of course no surprise to us that the Coffee Lab is in fact made from compressed sheets of spent fresh coffee shavings. Clever! The space overlooks the internal park, with music & gaming rooms creating a space with amazing acoustics for collaborative speeches or as per opening night an electronic violinist.

The space also covers the Android studio, which is responsible for development of all Android matters. The space has electrically adjustable studio tables for working whilst standing or collaborating at low-level. The space has magnetic walls throughout for pin-up presentations of software or new patents currently under development.

Corridors no longer exist through other clever ideas, which mean that footprint usage of the floor plate is maximised. Through shrewd space, planning using techniques that only PENSON seem to dream up, the floor has been totally max packed, however, the spaces feel incredibly loose & spacious. Large isles of walkways with inter-connecting orange lines create a joined-up approach, which breaks up floors. Floors alone are different here, again through PENSON’s young creative commercials.

Desking looks different & fully integrated into the space, thanks to that orange banding. 100% of the desks are fully height adjustable. Screens that divide, whilst allowing group wide social connection, are framed with self-illuminating perspex, which add zest.

Other aspects to the scheme which are also very well considered are acoustics, day-lighting, zoning & socialising. All of these things happen naturally in that the space works, its comfortable & relaxing.

Lee Penson founder of PENSON Groups says: “This project for Google underlines our position within the media & office sectors, not only exposing our supersonic design flair, but also our delivery capabilities. Handing over 300,000sq.ft for Google in less than a year from start to finish to this level of detail is no mean feat & as the remainder of the Google programme is released, the underline will simply get thicker! This is a good looking, functional, commercially & forward thinking project!

It’s a special place that presses all of the right buttons at all levels. Statistics, workplace strategies, styling, atmosphere & forward thinking for Google’s Googlers. Magic!

Exclusive Twitter giveaway of a collection of works by one of London’s most remarkable contemporary artists

Even at first glance it’s apparent that London-based artist Von has reason to keep his works in short supply. The level of detail that goes into his original works continues in the production of his limited edition prints, which are masterfully executed by one of England’s oldest printmakers, a family-run studio that dates back to 1880. Since commingling his commercial success with the fine art world a half-decade ago, Von has been producing remarkable reproductions of his work and selling them in small runs—but the latest offering is arguably the most impressive yet.

“Semblance” is a box set of five of Von’s striking prints, restricted to just 50 editions. While the packaging and material provide reason enough to purchase the collection, fans and discerning buyers have another cause for excitement: Von has randomly placed five original works within the lot.

Officially on sale tomorrow, those with quick fingers can still pre-order the set online, but one lucky CH reader could also win one in our Twitter-based giveaway. The five pieces included in the “Semblance” box set are quintessential Von works, slightly ambiguous in composition but ultimately invigorating. The way he challenges the eye intrinsically draws the viewer in, creating a heightened experience with this powerful contradiction of balance.

Those in London will have a chance to see the Semblance Collector’s Edition Box Set in person tomorrow at Protein’s 18 Hewett Street Gallery, where the works will be on display for the evening. Be sure to arrive early, a signed print will be given to the first 100 people through the door.

Semblance: Collector’s Edition Box Set is available for pre-order from ShopVon for £225. For a chance to win the set, follow Cool Hunting on Twitter and simply retweet the link to this story. Winners will be chosen at random on 25 November 2011 at 10am EST.

The third completed house in Alain de Botton’s Living Architecture series has a faceted black upper storey that sits on top of the glass-walled ground floor like a big hat.

Located on the seafront in Suffolk, England, the two-storey Dune House by Norwegian Architects Jarmund/Vigsnæs has an open-plan ground floor that is entirely surrounded by clear glass.

The zigzagging mansard roof encases the building’s first floor and is clad with dark-stained timber that is typical of gabled barn-like buildings in the area.

Contrasting metallic panels cover the faceted surfaces of the wooden roof, which pitches up and down around four triangular bedrooms and a library.

Grass-covered dunes surrounding the house protect the ground floor rooms and terraces from strong sea winds.

British studio Mole Architects collaborated on this project, as they did with Balancing Barn, the first completed house in the series.

Living Architecture is a series of holiday homes around the UK designed by established and emerging architects – see more about Living Architecture here.

Photography is by Chris Wright.

Here’s a little more information from Mole Architects:

Dune House

The house is situated in Thorpeness, England on the Suffolk coast, replacing an existing building at the site. The house is a holiday house for rental and is part of Living Architecture.

To get a planning permission it was important to relate to the existing, typical, British seaside strip of houses. The roofscape, the bedroom floor, somehow plays with the formal presence of these buildings, and also brings into mind a romantic remembrance of holidays at bed- and breakfasts while traveling through the UK.

The ground floor is contrasting this by its lack of relationship to the architecture of the top floor.

The living area and the terraces are set into the dunes in order to protect it form the strong winds, and opens equally in all directions to allow for wide views. The corners can be opened by sliding doors; this will emphasize the floating appearance of the top floor.

Click above for larger image

While the materiality of the ground floor; concrete, glass, aluminum, relates to the masses of the ground, the upper floor is a construction made of solid wood, cladding stained dark as the existing gables and sheds found in the area.

Click above for larger image

Location: Thorpeness, Suffolk, England
Building type: Holiday House
Client: Living Architecture
Size: 250 m2
Schedule: Completed December 2010.
Primary architects: Einar Jarmund, Håkon Vigsnæs, Alessandra Kosberg, Anders Granli.
Collaborating architect: Mole Architects Ltd.

Architects Foster + Partners have completed a production centre for British sports car brand McLaren.

The facility has wide spans offering maximum assembly space while the basement is used for storage and machinery and a mezzanine offers a view of the production line.

High-performance sports cars are manufactured, painted and tested on a linear production line that dictated the building’s rectilinear form.

The McLaren Technology Centre’s curved surfaces and horizontal aluminium cladding reference the existing buildings on the site in Woking near London.

An underground tunnel will link the production centre to the McLaren Technology Centre, which was also designed by Foster + Partners.

Trees screen the building from the nearby road and the whole structure is sunk into the incline of the site, reducing its visual impact on the landscape.

Foster + Partners recently completed another transport facility – the world’s first commercial spaceport – and also unveiled a proposal for a massive transport hub in the Thames. See all of our previous stories on Foster + Partners.

All photography is from McLaren. The drawings below are from Foster + Partners.

Here’s some more information from Foster + Partners:

The McLaren Production Centre is the second building designed by Foster + Partners at McLaren’s rural site on the outskirts of London. The 34,500-square-metre facility is intended for the manufacture of a range of high-performance road cars and is located to the south-west of the existing McLaren Technology Centre. The two buildings will be connected by a subterranean walkway, lined with interactive exhibition spaces. Sharing a common language of details and materials, the new building is clad in aluminium tubes, the rounded corners of its rectilinear plan reference the curves of the Technology Centre and the entrance, echoing the existing building, is a circular glass drum beneath the overhang of the roof canopy.

The state-of-the-art McLaren Production Centre is located to the south-west of the existing McLaren Technology Centre. The two buildings are connected by a subterranean walkway and share a common language of details and materials. The entrance, echoing the existing building, is a circular glass drum beneath the overhang of the roof canopy.

As a manufacturing facility, the building is inherently flexible, with a wide span between columns and fully integrated services. The linear arrangement of the two-storey structure mirrors the flow of the production line: components are delivered; the cars are assembled, painted and tested, and then pass through a rolling road and car wash, before leaving the building. Beneath this floor there is a full basement level for storage and plant and above is a mezzanine floor with views over the production line. Every stage of production takes place under the same roof. Initially it will take 10 days for an MP4-12C to be assembled; at peak production it will be possible to build one in five days, with a new car joining the line every 45 minutes.

Although the McLaren Production Centre represents a major increase in McLaren’s capabilities at its Woking campus, the building is dug into in the gentle incline of the site, to give it a discreet presence in the landscape. The lower floor is sunk completely below ground and the superstructure is almost invisible from the nearby road, with further screening provided by extensive tree planting.

The new McLaren Production Centre is designed to be environmentally efficient. The roof collects rainwater and has been designed to integrate photovoltaic panels in future; and the building incorporates a low-energy system of displacement ventilation. No soil was removed from the site, and all excavated material has been used to conceal the building within the green-belt landscape.

Lord Foster, Founder and Chairman, Foster + Partners: “The McLaren Production Centre is a further leap forward in the evolution of industrial buildings, both socially and in terms of working conditions and technologically in its flexibility and the sophistication of its services integration. The scale and grandeur of the main hall is a fitting complement to the purity of the McLaren cars, which will emerge from its production line. This project has been a wonderful opportunity to work once again with Ron Dennis, who is a great patron and friend. It is a testament to a fantastic team effort that this production centre was achieved in just twelve months.”

David Nelson, Head of Design at Foster + Partners, said: “It has been great to have the opportunity to build on the success of the Technology Centre by continuing our collaboration with McLaren, particularly our close working relationship with Ron Dennis. The project presented a unique set of challenges, from the constraints of the site to the operational demands of the different processes. McLaren’s work is incredibly precise – in many ways, the production line is like an operating theatre – the architecture reflects this with an industrial building of the highest quality in every detail. As well as drawing on the understanding we gained with the Technology Centre, the Production Centre echoes its minimal aesthetic – visually, they can be seen as a family of buildings, unified by a common language of finishes and a consistent materials palette.”

Nigel Dancey, a design director at Foster + Partners, said: “It is a privilege to design two companion buildings for the same client and it has been a great experience. While the McLaren Technology Centre took six years to design and build, the fast- track programme meant that the McLaren Production Centre was completed in a third of the time. The same team has worked on both buildings and this continuity has helped to make this ambitious timescale possible. We were also able to draw on the wider capabilities of our studio: the McLaren Production Centre is a great example of integrated design, with services built into the structure to create a highly flexible space.”

Click above for larger image 

Iwan Jones, a partner at Foster + Partners, said: “Our intention was to design a new kind of industrial building, which would be an elegant addition to the McLaren Technology Centre. The two buildings are physically connected by a 100-metre- long tunnel and unified by a common architectural language – we established a ‘kit-of-parts’ system for the project, a family of finishes and details. By optimising structural spans to allow a largely clear floor space, we have essentially created a big empty box, with services integrated within the structural zones, wall and floor voids.

Click above for larger image 

This flexible form ensures that the building is also highly cost efficient – it will support McLaren’s production needs today and in the future. And the experience of the finished McLaren Production Centre is equally impressive. You don’t realise its scale until you are actually inside the assembly hall, where visitors will have a fantastic view of the different processes from the viewing gallery.”