All Buildings, design and specification articles – Page 90
-
Building Study
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre, Athens, by Renzo Piano
Greece’s most significant cultural project in more than a decade - housing the National Opera House and National Library - is impressive in scale. But do all the elements live up to its immense ambition?
-
Opinion
We’re older but are we any wiser?
Persuading older people to downsize unlocks homes for others. Yet just 3% of new units are designed for elderly people. Julia Park asks whether a new report has any answers
-
Building Study
The verdict: Bjarke Ingels' Serpentine Pavilion - and four summer houses
After 15 years the Serpentine has added four summer houses to its series of single pavilions. Is it enough to revive an ageing format? Ike Ijeh is in no doubt
-
Building Study
Holland Green, London, by OMA + Allies & Morrison
OMA’s first UK residential project has been designed with Allies Morrison and is arranged around Holland Park’s former Commonwealth Institute, soon to be the new home of the Design Museum. It interacts smoothly with the local context, but does it play things too safe? Ike Ijeh reports
-
Building Study
Tate Modern extension, London, by Herzog & de Meuron
Herzog and de Meuron’s much-delayed extension of the Tate Modern saw the architect handed the rare opportunity of returning to a project having worked on the original
-
Opinion
When it comes to housing it's people who count, not units per hectare
There are endless ways of calculating density, each with a different physical and social outcome. Julia Park does the maths
-
Building Study
Treetop walkway, Westonbirt, by Glenn Howells Architects
This aerial footpath snakes its way through the forest at Westonbirt Arboretum in the Cotswolds using form, structure and materials to lift visitors to a heightened communion with nature. Ike Ijeh takes a walk on the wild side
-
Building Study
Lyndhurst School, London, by Cottrell and Vermeulen
Cottrell and Vermeulen’s third school for the London Borough of Southwark proves that intelligent design can be achieved via government school building programmes, and without reverting to cookie-cutter tropes. Ike Ijeh reports
-
Analysis
Does the government have the sticking power for proper estate regeneration?
Ministers want estates rebuilt as streets - yet they preside over a funding system that makes this unviable. Julia Park uncovers some cognitive dissonance
-
Building Study
London 2012 Aquatics Centre by Zaha Hadid Architects
The smoothly undulating surface of Zaha Hadid’s stingray-like Aquatics Centre belies its structural complexity. But does the last Olympic Venue to arrive at the party live up to its promise? BD’s then architecture critic Oliver Wainwright went along to have a look.
-
Building Study
Maggie's Centre, Kirkcaldy by Zaha Hadid
In 2006, Zaha Hadid’s first UK building opened. It was a Maggie’s cancer care centre in the grounds of a Kirkcaldy hospital and BD’s then architecture critic Ellis Woodman found that it took excellent advantage of a quirky site to create architecture of a very high order. This is what ...
-
Building Study
Boathouse 4, Portsmouth, by Walters & Cohen
Formerly a boat-building shed in Portsmouth’s naval dockyards, Boathouse 4 has been transformed by Walters Cohen into a teaching workshop that doubles up as a live exhibition
-
Building Study
Evelyn Grace Academy, Brixton, by Zaha Hadid Architects
The aggressive swagger of Zaha Hadid’s Evelyn Grace Academy reflects the hard-edged dynamism found within the school itself
-
Building Study
Hiscox building, York, by Make Architects
This triumphant fusion of heritage and modernity has at its heart a spectacular foyer of swirling concrete staircases and balconies - oh, and a rocket from the former Soviet arsenal. Ike Ijeh reports
-
Opinion
London won’t find the answer until it asks the right question
House prices in the capital have risen 45% under Boris Johnson. Infrastructure is at breaking point. We urgently need to decide what kind of city we want London to be, says Julia Park
-
Opinion
Why the Starter Homes Programme is a non-starter
Discounted starter homes could distort the market and make it difficult for first time buyers to sell on says Julia Park.
-
Opinion
Will someone please sort out this mess
The Housing Standards Review has spawned a litany of inconsistencies. Julia Park knocks some heads together
-
Opinion
The Housing Bill simply doesn’t add up
The new laws will only help people who can already afford to help themselves and does nothing to address the real problems, argues Julia Park
-
Features
What the housing standards review means for architects
As the government unveils nationwide space and security standards, Julia Park considers what’s good – and what remains to be done
-
Building Study
Ideas in store
David Adjaye’s flagship Whitechapel Idea Store is a convincing rethink of the traditional library. But will this be enough to answer his critics?