The architecture and design blog

Photos: Daniel-Hopkinson.

The pioneering industrial city of Manchester, long past its prime as the capital of cotton, is rediscovering its mojo through interesting and sustainable architecture.

This head quarter office building, part of a mixed use development that includes retail and residential, sits squat and powerful next to a tower in a defiant kind of way; something like an ugly, powerful, but lovable bull dog might sit at its master’s feet.

That is not to say the building is ugly, far from it, but it is powerful and it exudes a kind of attitude that is entirely appropriate for its setting and its client, The Co-operative. They hang their hat on their sustainability and ethical credentials. Read more

Images: Alexander Remizov.

The recent meteor strike over Russia has shaken anybody who thought that these things only happened in the minds of scientists and film makers.

It is fortuitous therefore that a Russian architect, Alexander Remizov, has created a proposal for an Ark able to withstand floods and earthquake. It raises the question as to what provision we should make for disaster recovery? Read more

Images: Brooks Scarpa Architects.

When getting married in a church or temple of some kind, the solemnity and gravity of the occasion is perhaps rendered in the notion of standing before God or a God, depending on your beliefs. But where spaces are not dedicated to a single, or any faith, and religious symbols are absent, how does the architect spatially anchor the weight of the ritual?

Brooks Scarpa Architectshave proposed this scheme that focuses its attention on the perceived constancy of the Pole or North star, whose light if it could be seen, would illuminate the alter through a high-level aperture.

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Photos: Fujitsuka Mitsumasa.

By the late 20^th century, the city hall as an archetype was largely seen simply as an administrative centre for local government. An office building with a grand public lobby and debating chamber. A civic monument from outside, but largely closed-off from the public inside. Public places to meet had in some countries been outsourced to the shopping malls!

As democracy has become more entrenched and wide-spread, its expression in the city hall has altered too. Now these buildings are increasingly seen as people’s palaces. A place owned by the people, but if you like, loaned out to bureaucrats, administrators and politicians as their place of work.

In order for the people to take possession of their building, and by extension their democracy, they must somehow be able to occupy it. All too often however, it seems that lip service is paid to such requirements by providing places for the public within the building, the grand foyer for example, rather than a truly public space.

Kengo Kuma and Associates have created a remarkable expression of free and open democracy with their Nagaoka-shi City Hall. It is also first-rate civic architecture. Read more

The decline of regionally specific vernacular architecture in the provinces of China, and its replacement with generic forms of construction in concrete, brick and tile is now recognised as a cultural loss to the country. This process is also creating great environmental concern as the new forms of building are energy thirsty and have a far higher environmental impact than the traditional house forms.

In response to this, a team led by John Lin from the University of Hong Kong has been looking at ways that vernacular archetypes might be evolved to meet the requirements of modern living, yet maintain the low environmental impact, and closeness to nature that has characterized the vernacular houses of China for thousands of years. Read more