Materials library: Squire & Partners
Peter Songi2022-07-20T17:52:21+01:00Maria Cheung explains how two meticulously organised materials libraries reflect the importance of materiality, craft and making to the practice’s design approach.
Still standing: Denver Central Library, 1996
Peter Songi2023-12-21T15:33:21+00:00Confident and serene, Michael Graves' Denver Library stands as a riposte to the notion of postmodernism as a mish-mash of populism and pizazz. Ian Volner assesses the enduring appeal of a building that has survived a quarter of a century with dignity and grace.
Sociable housing
Peter Songi2021-09-07T11:01:38+01:00Stolon Studio champions the virtues of “sociable housing”, where small communities are nurtured by shared outdoor space, but the lockdowns of the past 16 months have seen this building type truly come into its own.
Fit for the future
Peter Songi2021-08-30T18:36:50+01:00Sanya Polescuk Architects has retrofitted an unloved 1950s terraced house to make a home that is refreshed, expanded and entirely fossil-fuel free. Sanya Polescuk explains the practice’s approach to balancing conservation issues with the urgent need to inject our housing stock with a new and sustainable lease of life.
Forest School
Peter Songi2021-08-20T19:11:37+01:00Studio 54 Architecture has refurbished and extended the Prep School at Forest School, on the edge of Epping Forest, to deliver an additional storey, a rooftop playground, and an entirely new facade.
Durslade Farm Shop
Peter Songi2021-08-12T16:19:23+01:00Moxon Architects has designed a new farm shop to sit alongside the original buildings at Durslade Farm, the Somerset outpost of the international art gallery Hauser & Wirth. Graham Bizley takes a look.
Cove Ridge
Peter Songi2021-08-19T15:07:02+01:00Coffey Architects has replaced a 1930s cottage on the north Devon coast with a house that fits happily with its neighbours but makes a big statement inside, finds Richard Weston.
The Old Timberyard
Peter Songi2021-08-03T13:54:39+01:00Richard Dudzicki of RDA Architects has converted a 19th-century brick workshop from his practice’s office into a home for his family and a contemporary addition to the Victorian street.
Learning from: Studio in the Woods
Peter Songi2021-08-25T16:33:04+01:00The Studio in the Woods inspired Zoë Berman to develop her practice as a loose-fit network of freelance collaborators and gave her the skills to launch Part W, an action group that campaigns for gender equality in the built environment.
King’s Cross reborn
Peter Songi2021-07-21T07:22:23+01:00As the country emerges from lockdown, the public spaces of what, not so long ago, was an urban no-go zone are the very picture of urban regeneration. Deyan Sudjic gives his verdict on what’s been achieved and what’s been lost.
Education Global Free Unit
Peter Songi2021-08-25T16:39:53+01:00The Global Free Unit allows architects and students to use their skills to address pressing social issues including displacement and migration. Founder Robert Mull and volunteer Elizabeth Cunningham discuss bridging the gap between academia and activism.
Still standing: Lloyd’s of London, 1986
Peter Songi2023-12-21T15:33:12+00:00Is the Lloyd’s building a monument to reason or just a wilful mess? Contributing editor Ian Volner hazards an irreverent guess as to the motives behind Richard Rogers’ inscrutable design.