The architecture and design blog

As far as garden sheds go, this is one of the more interesting variety. Tetra shed is a sculptural object, based on tetrahedral geometry, that contains a single room or space. The idea is that the object can open-up to provide a module of space wherever it is needed. Read more

Photos: Guillaume Clement / Atelier Dreyssé.

In a dense residential district of Drancy in north east Paris there was a need for a sports hall, dance studio and community hall with ancillary facilities for school and community use. The facilities would be shared by several local schools but the sports hall had to be optimised for regional basketball competitions.

75 % of the building sits on the site boundary which is overlooked by residential gardens. This meant that there was limited opportunity for façade openings and yet, as much daylight as possible was required to enter the spaces. The result, designed by Atelier d’Architecture Alexandre Dreyssé, was an inward-looking building that is also something of an essay in the use of wood. Read more

Photos: Peter Cook.

When designing a small and relatively insignificant building next to a UNESCO world heritage site, there is always going to be pressure from some quarters to make the architecture appear virtually invisible. This particular site, between the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, is particularly charged with tension, and architecturally speaking is a place where only the brave might tread.

Tony Frenton the architect of this project, argued that the new café at the Tower of London should be “visibly striking and fanciful”. In the context of Tower Bridge, being fanciful leaves a great deal of scope as it sets the outer parameter of what fanciful might mean!

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