Key Services:
Art & Architecture, Conservation & Restoration, Full Architectural Service, Model Making, Planning Advice, Planning Applications, Product Design, Refurbishment, Urban Planning & Design | | | Description:
Churchill War Rooms
New Entrance Building
The Churchill War Rooms (CWR) are the preserved secret, underground headquarters where Winston Churchill, his War Cabinet, Chiefs of Staff and staff worked and lived during the Second World War.
The project comprises the replacement of the 1993 Churchill War Rooms entrance building with a new structure, and external signage and lighting scheme. The challenge was to design a building which contributed positively to the character, identity and visibility of the Museum, to the historic fabric and to the wider urban context.
The Imperial War Museum (IWM) client brief required a new entrance which would improve the spatial quality of the entrance and enhance the sense of welcome to visitors. Facilities were to include new bag search provision, signage, lighting, power, security and fire control systems, along with an audio visual presentation showing visitor information and what the Museum offered.
The new building was to be built with high quality, long lasting, and low maintenance materials which fitted well within their context. Connections to historic structures were of the utmost sensitivity and were generally to follow the lines of the existing structure except where these could be altered to follow a more sensitive line. Access for all was to be improved upon where possible. Museum signage was to be incorporated as an integral part of the building.
The Churchill War Rooms are located within the lower levels of HM Treasury building, in the Whitehall Conservation Area. The main entrance area faces St James’ Park occupying a niche at Clive Steps, bounded by listed structures. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Building is listed Grade 1, HM Treasury and the Churchill War Rooms are listed Grade II*.
Detailed and lengthy consultations with English Heritage, Westminster Planning, landlords EP3 and HM Treasury, adjoining owners Foreign and Commonwealth Office and The Royal Parks, as well as the Thorney Island Society, Victorian Society, and the Westminster Society, were undertaken from the outset of the project in order to receive feedback and to seek support for the developing design.
The new building for the Churchill War Rooms provides an entrance space enclosed in a facetted bronze envelope, its roof rising gently from the back of the niche between Clive Steps and HM Treasury. The building is designed to respect the adjacent buildings by drawing it’s massing away from the listed structures, using negative joints and angled form to allow a separate reading of the new structure within the niche and the historic buildings which surround it.
The roof is a fully welded stressed skin shell structure, made from 4mm bronze plate, fabricated off site and lifted into place in one piece. The finish has a deep bronze patina gently graduating from dark tones within the niche to lighter tones over the highest part of the dome, with highly burnished 25mm solid bronze letters mounted on perforated plates above the entrance. Structural gutters are made from 4mm structural stainless steel and float free of the surrounding masonry. The interior is enclosed by a multi-faceted plaster vault, reflecting the geometry of the bronze shell above. The Portland stone façades of the Grade II* listed HM Treasury and Clive Steps which enclose the space have been sensitively restored.
The design of the building is a fusion of architecture and sculpture and has been designed to give an ambiguous reading of old and new ; allusions to Churchill and the military design language connected to the Museum below but also a new building of its time, built with high quality, long lasting materials which fit into the local urban context - a strong symbol and a new identity for the Churchill War Rooms.
Applications for full planning, listed building consents, conservation area consents, and advertising consents were submitted to Westminster City Council in December 2010 and granted with conditions on 17th March 2011. Detailed Stage C and Stage D design phases with industry tendered cost plans resulted in an agreed budget at planning of £571,219.80. Following detailed design a letter of intent was issued to a specialist bronze fabricator on 17th November 2011, and a main contract appointment was confirmed on 18th November 2011, based on the JCT2011 Intermediate Building Contract with Contractor’s Design 2011, in the sum of £523,034.00. Start on site / site possession was on the 16th of January 2012, with practical completion on May 31st 2012. The celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the Queen’s Birthday, and construction of a temporary stadium on Horse Guards for the Olympics imposed strict measures on access and a necessity to finish on programme. Offsite fabrication and patination of the project minimized disruption and allowed the Museum to stay open for the duration of the works. The nominal GIA of 34 sqm area belies the complexity and context of the project and its links into a wide area of the Museum below. Final account has been agreed at £509,409.88.
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Key Services:
Art & Architecture, Brief Writing, Feasibility Studies, Full Architectural Service, Urban Planning & Design | | | Awards:
2012 RIBA HADRIAN AWARD
| Description:
Sleeperz Hotel Newcastle
Design Statement
The Parcels Depot adjacent to Newcastle Railway Station sits just outside the central part of Newcastle city centre, characterised by its business and commercial use and its active nightlife, and lies on the route between the Central area and the quayside.
The site has historical importance as part of the city’s railway heritage and proximity to what was once the world’s largest railway crossing, and currently as a link between the city and the revitalised quayside.
The northern facade of the Parcels Depot follows the gentle curve of Westgate Road, with its southern edge built against and above the Victorian railway viaduct which forms part of Newcastle’s Central Station. The ground floor of the building extends into the arch spaces under the platforms and car park on top of the viaduct. The parcels shed is constructed from steel frame, timber boarding and glass, with a slate roof.
In considering the regeneration of the site of the old parcels shed there is an opportunity to make a building which meets the expectations of the city and the station environment, and to provide a key urban building at this pivotal location.
The proposals forming part of the current planning application for a new building on the site include a Sleeperz hotel with 95 bedrooms arranged over 5 upper floors, with approximately 900 square metres of lettable area on the Ground Floor designated for commercial use. The deep plan units can be arranged singly as a group of six corresponding to the viaduct arches they partially occupy or can be let together as one or more larger spaces. Each has a glazed frontage with a separate access and means of escape to the rear. The commercial units are included to bring diversity and interest to the street scene.
The design proposals generally have been developed to respond to the contextual particularities of the site, working with the scale and character of the street and the station buildings.
Along the south façade the building is integrated into the fabric of the existing stone walls which form the backdrop to the line of the station platform. The architecture along this façade is influenced by the materials and rhythms of the existing buildings towards the west, which are stone facades with punctured window openings. The new building extends this language in a similar manner, with full height narrow windows to the hotel façade and stone cladding to the walls.
As the building sets back from the line of the platform, with its gently curving plan following the alignment of Westgate Road, the façade is clad with blue grey zinc, with diagonally aligned windows, slightly inclined to take advantage of the views to the east.
The space created by the curving plan form of the hotel as it peels away from the viaduct allows toplight down into the rear of the commercial units on the ground floor, and the creation of a triple height toplit foyer space for the hotel. It also allows floors to be introduced to accommodate additional bedrooms, meeting rooms and screened areas where plant can be located away from general view at the fourth floor level. A second entrance into the hotel from platform level is created, utilising the former lift door openings of the Parcels Building. The existing escape stair arrangement at the eastern end of the site is augmented by an additional staircase from the ground floor up to platform level.
The proportion of stone to window increases at the eastern end of the building reflecting the stairs behind and expressing the solidity of the building as it turns into the street. The building changes orientation from a simple north / south alignment of hotel rooms to a vertical arrangement of bedroom / meeting rooms which face outward from the gable end towards the panoramic views of the Tyne Bridge, the Castle and the Cathedral. The rooms are framed with stone faced screen walls with a projecting glass oriel window set centrally in the stone elevation.
The building continues in stone along the first part of Westgate Street, and the length of the first couple of rooms, then changes to a lightweight glazed façade following the slow curve of the boundary line, using a composite timber and aluminium curtain wall system to the bedroom levels and an internal arrangement of solid timber shutters which give a strong oblique rendering of a glass and timber façade which changes subtly as the building rises from the street.
The upper floors have a rhythm strongly defined by the expression of the rooms as separate bedrooms effected by the use of double finned mullions and by the use of different types of clear translucent and white glass to allow variability but within the overall discipline of a timber and glass façade.
The ground floor uses a random full height glazed aluminium mullion curtain wall modelled so that the façade is marginally brought forward with expressed mullions to add interest at ground level and to anticipate and contrast with the entrance to Sleeperz hotel in the western corner of the façade.
The street entrance is marked by a red laminated glazed door with a neon italic sign at first floor slab level. Stainless steel HOTEL lettering is arranged the full height of the recessed stone link between the bedrooms and the adjacent building.
The change from a station façade with punched windows and an outward facing gable tower sheathed in stone, to a lightweight glass, aluminium and timber façade allows different readings of the building each related to their local context. The eastern end has a solidity matched by the stone link at the western end and the façade of the building immediately to west of the site, thereby creating stone bookends to the hotel. This arrangement also has the effect of maximising natural light into the building on the north elevation and excluding solar gain from the south, and allowing additional mass on the railway side for acoustic insulation.
At top floor level, the building is set back with a simple steel balustrade painted black. The roof floor is fully glazed around the building and under the shadow of the gently sloping roof.
The roof of the hotel starts off level to the top of the party wall at the western end, gradually rising and twisting towards the east, its northern edge lifting along Westgate Street, terminating with a projection beyond the gable at the viewing terrace of the eastern elevation, its timber soffit visible from the street.
The design for Sleeperz Newcastle refers to its former identity by way of the proposed materials, scale, and difference in the street scene. The design has a clarity of expression demanded by its urban importance and the assimilation of the regenerated quayside with the city centre. The building design combines sensitivity to memory and context with a sense of renewal, ambition and confidence in the future of Newcastle.
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| 3: Project Name | Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff |
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| Dates: | 2003 - 2008 | | Location: | Cardiff | | Gross Area: | 1,000 to 1,999 sqm | Sectors:
Hotels | | |
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Key Services:
Brief Writing, Client Advisor, Feasibility Studies, Full Architectural Service, Interior Design | | | Awards:
2010 RIBA AWARD
| Description:
Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff
Reviving the Station Hotel ………..
Sleeperz is a new hotel chain developing compact lifestyle hotels in partnership with Network Rail on sites throughout the UK. Sleeperz distinguishes itself from the competition by utilising smaller stylish rooms on awkward and irregular shaped sites right next to mainline railway termini. The hotels are characterised by a high level of design input, distinctive ambience and vitality matching their city centre locations. The vibrancy of the Sleeperz brand makes it ideally suited to transport hubs ; many station environments are currently undergoing major changes and improvements and there is the opportunity for Sleeperz to play its part in this regeneration. Clash Associates has designed Sleeperz hotel schemes at Cardiff, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham, with others in development. Sleeperz is reviewing further opportunities at Bath, Winchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Brighton, Glasgow and Waterloo.
Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff occupies a prominent triangular site between listed buildings on Penarth and Saunders Road close to the operational railway, station taxi rank and busy urban road junction, and shares a frontage with the main railway station.
The upper four floors of the 74 bedroom hotel are clad in Jura limestone with black mosaic to the lower two floors, in response to strict planning constraints. Windows are full height, shuffled along the north façade following the variation in bedroom layouts, and grouped in vertical slots to the south. A large urban oriel window faces the junction towards the east, a full height backlit steel sign aligned along one edge, facing back towards the station.
The design of the bedrooms and the fitted furniture are influenced by the character of vintage ships cabins and railway couchettes – compact yet beautifully designed with a mix of luxury, spatial economy and special details such as the object wall, incorporating hanging space, storage, suitcase rack, key/change keep and laptop desk, and the bathroom and bedside furniture. Public areas are contrastingly spacious, with a wood burning stove, dark brown leather Offecct Ghost sofas and oak flooring creating the welcoming atmosphere of an inn. Kvadrat Chicago panel curtains, Caravaggio pendant lights, Arper easy chairs and coffee tables complete the ordered layout.
The design of the hotel was developed in close cooperation with Cardiff City Planners, who influenced the choice of limestone for the facades of the building. The Planners report said; ‘ The design is modern and would be a major landmark which would upgrade the local environment without adversely affecting the setting of the adjacent listed buildings, or the St. Mary Street Conservation Area.’ The local paper the South Wales Echo said ; ‘ If you look at the site now, you would find it hard to envisage a 74 bedroom hotel occupying the space. The architectural solution unlocks the potential of a difficult site, allowing a dramatic corner building that responds positively to its urban context.’
The project addresses the requirement of the client to develop a detailed brief for a chain of compact lifestyle station hotels at mainline railway termini and to design and supervise the construction of the first hotel at Cardiff which will inform the design of the next 15 to 20 hotels. The project was carried out within the demanding surroundings of the railway environment, in a central urban location of a capital city, adjacent to a conservation area. The result is a fresh new concept for a hotel chain, offering an economical (double rooms start at £55 per night) and stylish hotel experience at a city centre location. The building is a modern building constructed of quality materials which fits into the local context , a strategy which will be followed in the forthcoming Sleeperz hotels, providing differentiated design hotels in UK cities at an affordable price.
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| 4: Project Name | Tianjin Central Fishing Port |
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| Dates: | 2005 - (ongoing) | | Location: | Tianjin | | Gross Area: | More than 500,000 sqm | Sectors:
Houses and Housing - General, Industrial - Factories, Industrial - General, Landscaping - General, Offices - General, Power Generation, Retail - General, Sport - General, Transportation - General, Urban Planning & Design | | |
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Key Services:
Master Planning | | | Description:
Detailed Masterplan for 6 sq kilometre industrial fishing port with leisure, housing and commercial development, as part of a new town for 100,000 inhabitants.
Project under construction. |
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| 5: Project Name | University of Rennes Student Union |
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| Dates: | 2001 - 2005 | | Location: | Rennes | | Gross Area: | 2,000 to 4,999 sqm | Sectors:
Education - General, Education - Higher Education, Education - Special Needs, Education - Training Centres, Food and Beverage - General, Food and Beverage - Pubs and Bars, Health - General, Offices - General, Retail - General | | |
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Key Services:
Art & Architecture, Full Architectural Service | | | Description:
University of Rennes Student Centre
The site is located at the heart of the campus, at the intersection of pedestrian routes between University buildings.
The building is dedicated to students and is open 24 hours a day. The building is designed around an internal street which connects the pedestrian walkways of the campus through it, allowing an interior where students can feel welcome to stay or to pass through easily. A covered open terrace in front of the building provides a focus to the Centre and defines its identity within the network of the University.
Inside the building the street cuts the building into two distinct parts. The street is open to the sky up through the three levels of the building, with large circular rooflights distributed randomly over the enclosing roof, and is open at each end, glazed and printed with pictograms referring to the activities and facilities on offer inside the centre. Across the street, suspended walkways and bridges allow free movement between facilities whilst overlooking the ground floor thoroughfare.
At street level there is a café, a pub, shops, copy facilities, cashpoints and a post office. A large brasserie entered from the street gives on to the grand terrace. At the upper levels, access is gained to a travel agency, radio station, student union offices and health centre, and the main double height space of the ‘salle polyvalent’ on the first floor. This multi purpose hall can be configured for social or formal events and is where students can work and meet friends and colleagues. Underneath this space are the main kitchens, which serve the café and restaurants of the ground floor.
The envelope of the building mixes structural concrete cast in situ to external walls, with lightweight clad facades, defining different parts of the building. At the intermediate floor, the façade is mostly glazed, with solar shading provided by continuous panels of perforated metal painted in bright orange, running around the building in a horizontal unifying band of colour, pattern and light.
The materials used to the exterior are followed through to the inside of the building blurring the boundaries between the outside and inside. At night, the light is concentrated from within, defining the vertical street, and the horizontal ring.
Client : University of Rennes (Brittany, France)
Design team : Architects : Lanoire & Courrian, Poggi (Bordeaux) / Clash Associates (London)
Engineers : OTH West
Acoustics : Cial
Programme : Multipurpose Hall , offices, pub, restaurant and kitchen, radio campus, shops, information hall, student medical center.
Net area: 3 000 m2
Cost : 4 784 000,00 euros
Site : Campus de Rennes Villejean
Status : Competition won in 2001, building delivered in 2005
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| 6: Project Name | Three Mills Bridge / Landscape |
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| Dates: | 1995 - 1996 | | Location: | London | | Gross Area: | Not available | Sectors:
Landscaping - Highways, Landscaping - Parks, Transportation - Bridges, Transportation - General, Urban Planning & Design | | |
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Key Services:
Art & Architecture, Community Development, Design Services only, Feasibility Studies, Full Architectural Service, Urban Planning & Design | | | Description:
New road and pedestrian/cycle bridge
Landscaping for Lee Valley Regional Park Authority
The new bridge forms a new entry point into an industrial area and film production facility at Three Mills, an historic corner of East London.
The bridge terminates in a new square designed to from an entrance to an open space, the beginning of Lee Valley Park.
The bridge, square and entrance to Three Mills Green are designed to be read together as one coordinated piece of design, incorporating Architecture,Engineering, Landscape/Artwork.
The bridge is formed from welded steel plate girders with a mesh deck, and cantilevered footbridge. Three lines run along the grider with intersections marked by penetrations, stainless steel studs, and openings sheathed in gold leaf.
A new kite shaped square crosses the line of the bridge and road and leads onto the new steel park gates painted silver gold and bronze. The entrance comprises a 7m high crowd gate, anti-motorcycle gate, teenagers gate, infants gate and catflap.
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