Hasta La Ideas

British architects Liddicoat & Goldhill constructed their own north London home using black engineering bricks and slabs of white marble.

Named the Shadow House, the two-storey building is located on the compact site of a former parking garage.

Walls inside the house are of the same dark brickwork as the exterior and contrast with a stark white concrete floor.

Larch beams supporting the ceilings of both floors remain exposed inside every room and bare light bulbs hang from them.

Household appliances including the television and washing machine are concealed inside specially designed cupboards in the ground floor living rooms.

A bedroom and library occupy the first floor, as does a bathroom with a glazed ceiling.

Above: photograph is by Tom Gildon

This house was nominated for the 2011 Manser Medal, which was won by another north London house – see our earlier story about the winner here.

Photography is by Keith Collie, apart from where otherwise stated.

Above: photograph is by Tom Gildon

The following text was written by Liddicoat & Goldhill:

About The Shadow House

Because our budget was so tight, we planned to carry out as much work as possible ourselves and limited our palette to primary materials. We found these limits liberating rather than restricting: there is great poetry in practical things, so we reveled in finding simple means of assembling the house. It is built inside and out in slim-format Dutch engineering brick, a robust material with a delicate black glaze. Interior structure and window reveals are in raw larch, while polished concrete floors flow between each of the rooms.

One small luxury we allowed was to buy two slabs of bookmatched Statuarietto marble, which we used throughout house as a reflective contrast to the brick walls. The whole design revolves around this play of light & dark; carefully controlled moments of intensity and quiet shadow. We wanted to create interior spaces with maximum emotional effect. The bright first floor bathroom has a huge sheer glass ceiling (which needed to be craned into place) that contrasts with the intense atmosphere of the living spaces.

Above: photograph is by Tom Gildon

We created the sensation of being outside; showering in full sunshine or bathing under the stars. We playfully carved space into the walls for everyday clutter; the TV and its cables are concealed behind a black glass wall, the loo roll has its own marble niche, the washing machine is in a secret cupboard behind the loo, discreet storage fills every spare corner while the kitchen extract is buried into the brickwork. In order to give a sense of space to what could feel like very constrained rooms, it was important for us to modulate the section and vary the ceiling heights. By changing the floor level and building roofs at different heights we created a range from 3m in the living room to 2.1m in the entrance area.

Above: photograph is by Tom Gildon

This allowed us to give each space its own sound quality and sense of cosiness or airiness. Just building a house doesn’t make a home: we also designed our fittings and furnishings; the minimalist Zero larch bedframe; kitchen cabinetry in elm, stainless steel, marble and spray lacquered matt doors; The Shadow Lamp, a granite and laser-cut timber table light; soft furnishings using amazing African fabrics, Nyaradza bedspread and Akwasidee cushions.

How We Made The Project Happen

The Shadow House is our own home, but is also an experiment in making a generic small city house. While working for other practices, we designed luxurious houses for private clients and worked on complex urban social housing developments; we were keen to extend this experience into building more modest single houses. Finding a site was an exhausting process. We cycled around London, exploring the backstreets and peering over fences, looking for a forgotten scrap of land. We knew we could only afford a site that was too challenging for developers or ‘Grand Designs’ hopefuls.

We eventually discovered a derelict parking garage – home to rats, foxes and local junkies – just behind the Kings Cross goods yards in NW1. At only 390sqft, it seemed almost impossibly small. Our task was made even harder by its location in the fiercely-protected Camden Square Conservation Area, and by the previous owner’s failed attempts to win Planning Permission. We knew the project could only become a reality through our skills of designing in historic areas, and negotiating with neighbours and local Planners. Our time and energy were our greatest resources, so we re-drew the design constantly to eliminate costs, and carried out much of the work with our own bare hands.

Architect and Main Contractor: Liddicoat & Goldhill LLP
Site: 38a St. Paul’s Crescent, London, NW1 9TN
Client, Architect and Main Contractor: David Liddicoat & Sophie Goldhill
Structural Engineers: Peter Kelsey Associates
Completion date: Winter 2011
Gross internal floor area: 77m2
Total construction cost: £210,000

Three standouts from this epic U.K. bike brand are now available in the USA

Best known outside of Europe for their freestyle adapted fixed-gear bicycles, U.K.-based Charge Bikes makes impeccably crafted bikes that are aesthetically and technically superior to most other bikes on the market. Contrary to what the hype may imply, Charge is actually deeply rooted in XC and dirt jump mountain biking, and have since been rapidly tackling the cyclocross scene with a range of impressive rides backed by some of the sport’s best athletes. Previously only sold in the U.K. and Japan, Charge has officially opened distribution in the United States, with bikes launching online and in shops over the following weeks.

New for their 2012 line is the Scissor, a beefed-up replacement of the Plug Freestyler, the bike that earned the brand a cult fixie following over the past five years. The only 29er freestyle fixed-gear on the market available as a complete bike—rather than being sold as a stand alone frameset—this tank was designed with input by fixed gear innovators Tom Lamarche and Ted James to withstand levels of abuse that would otherwise leave a bike in pieces. Using a more forgiving geometry with a longer and lower top tube, Tange Infinity seamless steel-butted tubing and custom laser-cut dropouts, the Scissor is described by Charge as “indestructible, simple and clean.”

After slimming down their fixed-gear line in an effort to broaden brand identity beyond the universal fixie scene, Charge has been pushing their latest achievements in cyclocross design. This is most evident with the line’s crown jewel, the titanium Freezer. This lightweight beast is sold exclusively as a frameset to serve as the backbone for the ultimate cross build. Highlights include a custom-machined headtube for an integrated headset and wishbone seatstays to help absorb canti-brake flex and add mud clearance.

With slightly more relaxed geometry to keep things comfortable and accommodate fenders and racks, the Filter Apex is a slightly tamer version of the Freezer. Currently the only cyclocross ready bike on the market that uses disk brakes, the Filter is a force to be reckoned with both on the course and on the streets. For performance it’s outfitted with SRAM Apex components and for strength it’s built with the finest Tange Prestige steel tubing.

The full line of Charge Bikes for 2012 includes titanium mountain bikes, beautiful urban commuters and a comprehensive range of parts from wheelsets to handlebars to grips. It will all be available to North America through Performance Bicycles in the next six weeks, with the Scissor and Filter Apex selling for $650 and $1350, respectively. Official prices for the Freezer are pending. Find a store near you or head over to Charge Bikes online for more information.

London designer Thomas Heatherwick has embedded curved threads of ash into dark walnut pews for an abbey in England’s South Downs.

Located beneath the vaulted dome of Worth Abbey, the wooden benches fan around a stone altar to provide more than enough seating for the 700-strong congregation.

The new furniture also includes choir stalls, monastery seats, desks and confession rooms, all of which were fabricated from the solid hardwood.

Thomas Heatherwick received a lot of press last year when his UK pavilion opened in Shanghai and he redesigned London’s iconic Routemaster bus, but he’s also designed furniture including a metal chair shaped like a spinning top – see more projects by Heatherwick Studio here.

Photography is by Edmund Sumner.

Here’s some text about the project from the American Hardwood Export Council:

Heatherwick Brings New Life in Black Walnut to Worth Abbey

Nestled on a crest overlooking the South Downs, Worth Abbey Church has a striking aspect. Its remarkable conical sloping roof sets off the extensive, peaceful grounds and the rolling landscape below. The 25 English Benedictine monks who reside at the Abbey run a school, a parish and a place of retreat.

The Abbey Church was designed by the architect Francis Pollen, and is considered by many to be the best example of his style. Since its opening in 1974, the Abbey’s furniture comprised freestanding chairs which impinged on the ambiance, creating a cluttered, temporary feel. The Monks decided that it was time to undertake some refurbishment work and took the opportunity to have a more cohesive, relevant and purposefully designed congregational and clergy furniture. They commissioned Heatherwick Studio to design and develop a furniture strategy as part of wider renovations to the Abbey Church. The furniture package included pew benches, choir stalls with misericord seats and desks, benches, credence tables, server seats and reconciliation (confessional) rooms.

Heatherwick Studio is headed by Thomas Heatherwick who trained at Manchester Polytechnic and the RCA. Since its founding in 1994, the studio has earned a reputation for coming up with artistically exciting solutions to clients’ design briefs ranging from product design to major architectural and large scale design projects. The studio consists of team with a wide range of disciplines including architecture, product design, model making, fabrication, landscape design, fine art and curation, and they are used to working in a sensitive historic context, which was vital for the refurbishment work undertaken at Worth Abbey. They also have a very strong making ethos, and a workshop within the practice allows them to make prototypes and models, giving them a very valuable ‘makers eye view’ of all the commissions they undertake.

The original auditorium space of the Abbey has a tangible spiritual feel to it; a difficult thing to achieve with modern materials without the obvious historical and religious architectural references. Natural stone and neutral colouring make the space light and airy. Heatherwick wanted to complement the materials used by Pollen and decided to use solid wood throughout for the new furniture. In a space that uses natural and neutral tones, a more traditional choice might have been oak or a more modern option could have been a pale species like maple. Heatherwick took a braver move and chose American black walnut to give a colourful aspect to the chapel, the darker heartwood creating a distinctive, defined line to the design, and the creamy sapwood adding a touch of warmth without over powering the celebrants and congregation who are the main focus of any service. According to Thomas Heatherwick, “Walnut was chosen for its darkness and subtlety and for the way that when it would be used in quantity on our project, its dusky colour would not become overbearing.”

As you enter the main nave you are struck by the presence of the furniture but it does not overwhelm the space, nor is it too small in scale. It is a big area serving congregations of 700 people, and with capacity for double that number. The design approach has kept the circular nature of the space with a stone altar in the middle. The original furniture did not have kneelers for the congregation so these were designed as an integral part of the seating.

Furniture fabrication was undertaken by Artezan, a specialist joinery division within Swift Horsman, a UK-based company chosen for their flexible and experienced approach to the complex method of construction. Swift were up for the challenge and have delivered it successfully. Thomas Heatherwick said he was “immensely impressed with the quality of the work of the craftsmen and the phenomenal determination and commitment of the firm to a very challenging commission.”

The way the furniture is constructed is central to the whole theme of the Heatherwick design. Having decided on solid wood and a clean lined approach, Thomas and the team at Heatherwick came up with a striking laminated design which complements the square walls of the church and the radial nature of its layout.
Due to movement issues inherent in working with all-solid wood construction, an interior metal frame allows the natural characteristics of the timber to come through and be strong enough to easily manage everyday use. This frame links the kneelers to the seating, making each pew a standalone piece. Working with the team at Swift Horsman, complex jigs were designed and developed to cope with the complicated glue-ups that were part and parcel of the design.

The most intriguing and subtle aspect is a 0.6mm line of ash which is laminated into the layers of black walnut. This adds a sense of detail that gives it an historical link to the traditions of inlay within the craft but with a very contemporary and sculptural feel. At a distance it is barely there, but the closer you get to the furniture the more apparent and thus more effective it becomes, giving a gentle element of understated surprise to the overall effect. This is the most artistic aspect of the whole concept and it runs throughout the whole collection of furniture; the central monks seat shows it most dramatically, where the angle of the laminating meets the curve of the back, creating a wave effect in the ash veneer. This helps give a central focus to the lead preacher of the day.

The overall impression is that the furniture definitely adds a cohesive feel to Pollen’s concept while allowing the practical considerations of running and attending a service to actually work. Thomas Heatherwick, his team and Swift Horsman are to be congratulated on a distinctive and extremely high quality solution both in terms of its ideas and its craftsmanship.

See also:

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St Hilaire church in Melle by Mathieu Lehanneur	Chapel of the Assumption Interior by John Doe	Infinity Chapel by hanrahanMeyers

Impeccably detailed knits made from sustainably raised Welsh sheep

Just in time for the colder winter months comes the new label, Monkstone Knitwear. Designer Anna Felton spins wool from a flock of sheep on Trevayne Farm in West Wales. Richard Reed, Felton’s boyfriend, has been running his family’s farm for several years now. Since taking over he has been developing sustainable methods of permaculture to enhance biodiversity on the land. The design process behind the knitwear line reflects the low-impact way the farm is run.

Felton’s designs, which include both men’s and women’s pieces, as well as home furnishings, are distinctive in their interesting shapes, contrast-knit textures and impeccable detailing. Each season, Felton says, her work is based on the yarns available from the sheep, which includes a combination of Welsh Black Mountain, Coloured Dorset and Natural Dorset breeds. She goes on to explain the importance of carefully choosing wool to support the local industry. “Farmers also donate the fleeces from local flocks, but we do state when we have used these and also we credit the kind farmers who help the Monkstone project. We use the best local shearers, experienced spinners and a great local factory and hand knitters to make the finished garments.”

The locally focused operation follows the cycle of producing wool from the beginning—from animal farming through shearing, washing and spinning to knitting, giving the high-quality pieces a true sense of where the come from no matter where they’re sold. All Monkstone collections are available through their online shop.

Photography by Jackson Lynch

British architect Piers Gough of CZWG and fashion designer Paul Smith have completed the latest Maggie’s Centre for cancer care in Nottingham, UK. 

Maggie’s Nottingham is located beside Nottingham City Hospital and is scheduled to open next week.

The walls of the building comprise four interlocking ovals, elevated above the ground and clad in green glazed tiles.

Paul Smith furnished the centre, adding brightly coloured walls and patterned armchairs to sitting rooms, a library and therapy rooms.

Like other Maggie’s Centres, the building also includes a large kitchen, where those affected by cancer are invited to come for a cup of tea and a chat. Maggie’s was founded fifteen years ago and his is the second of three centres opening in the UK this year, following one recently completed in Glasgow by OMA.

Here’s some more information from Maggie’s:

Fashion designer Sir Paul Smith, architect Piers Gough and Sarah Brown to open Maggie’s Nottingham on Wednesday, November 2.

The official opening heralds a new era of cancer care and support for people affected by cancer across the Nottingham region, bringing hope and solace to thousands.

Located next to the Breast Institute at Nottingham City Hospital, Maggie’s Nottingham will complement the treatment on offer at the hospital, offering an evidence-based programme of support to help people through the emotional and practical complexities of a cancer diagnosis.

The centre, part of Maggie’s Joy of Living campaign, of which Sarah Brown is the patron, is the ninth Maggie’s Centre in the UK and is designed by architect Piers Gough CBE, Founding Partner at CZWG Architects llp.

The near symmetrical design and generous height allows Maggie’s Nottingham to have a sense of space and balance. The elevated oval building of glazed ceramic tile floats over a smaller basement, with plants growing up the sides. Balconies will extend from the kitchen and sitting rooms and provide places from which to look out onto the landscape, which is designed to use scent and texture to create a secluded and uplifting area for people to enjoy.

Piers Gough said: “The light, peaceful and non-institutional design of Maggie’s Nottingham will be a sanctuary for all those who walk through the door. Sheltered by trees, the centre will be a homely, comfortable space next to the busy hospital, where anyone affected by cancer can come to relax. The centre is a safe space where visitors can engage with nature while being sheltered from the elements. From the outside the playful appearance will entice people to take a look through the door; once they do the harmony of light and space will create a uniquely welcoming environment.”

Piers Gough CBE is a well-known architect and was a personal friend of Maggie’s founder, Maggie Keswick Jencks. He is famous for his bold and imaginative architecture and has created a playful, open plan design for Maggie’s Nottingham.

Nottingham-born fashion designer Sir Paul Smith has designed the interior for Maggie’s Nottingham. His design will include photos taken during his travels round the world.

He said: “I am delighted to be involved in creating this centre for people living with cancer and their family and friends. It will be a great resource for everyone and a fantastic new addition to the city. Piers Gough is an incredible architect and it has been a joy to work together on the design.”

Maggie’s Nottingham will serve the Mid Trent Cancer Network, situated next to the Breast Institute at Nottingham City Hospital. The Mid Trent Cancer Network covers the populations of Nottingham, North Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire – an area of approximately 1.3 million people. Within this area, there are over 4,000 new cases of cancer a year.

Maggie’s Chief Executive Laura Lee said: “People across the region have put a tremendous effort into fundraising to make this centre a reality and today the local community should be proud of the lasting legacy they have created for the thousands affected by the devastating consequences of cancer. Our thanks must go to The Nottingham Post and Lynette Pinchess who have been fantastic in raising awareness and rallying support within the community.

“Maggie’s proven programme of support will act as an antidote to the isolation and despair of a cancer diagnosis. Piers Gough has designed a truly unique environment, which will help to facilitate this support, by making people feel safe, inspired and valued. Under one extraordinary roof, Maggie’s will help people to find their way out of the hopelessness of cancer.”

To celebrate the opening of Maggie’s Nottingham, Paul Smith has designed an exclusive pair of bone china mugs which are inspired by the homely interior he has created for Maggie’s. Available in two designs, the mugs feature a ‘Dog at Home’ and a ‘Cat at Home’ print and are available from Paul Smith’s Willoughby House Shop in Nottingham and online at www.paulsmith.co.uk. 20 per cent of sales will be donated to Maggie’s.

2011 is a landmark year for Maggie’s, as the charity celebrates its 15th birthday and its growth to 15 centres which are either open or in development. In the space of 15 years, Maggie’s has helped nearly half a million people to build a life with, through and beyond cancer. There are three new centres opening this year which will greatly increase the level of support available to the growing cancer population of the UK.

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Maggie’s Gartnavel by OMA	Maggie’s Centre by MJP Architects	Maggie’s Centre by Rogers Stirk Harbour