Beale & Co Winter Webinar Series Gets underway!

Chapter sponsor, solicitors Beale & Co’s winter lunchtime webinar series is well underway.  The five webinar series concludes on the 20th of January.  Attendees can earn one Learning Unit for each webinar.  Registration for the two remaining webinars, taking place on the 13th and 20th of January, is here: Where will the Golden Thread lead – the Draft Building Safety Bill   Registration (gotowebinar.com) & Contractual Considerations in 2021 – a New Landscape?  Registration (gotowebinar.com)

The series started on the 25th of November with a webinar called, “Software as a Service – Consultants as Technology Providers and the Legal Ramifications”.   Architects are increasingly taking the role of technology providers and face new legal issues because of this.  Presenter James Hutchinson examined the concept of Software as a Service.  Something as simple as cloud computing can expose architects to liabilities not addressed by traditional and standard forms of contract.  

James cited real world examples and suggested contracts should acknowledge the intellectual property rights are owned by the supplier and should limit the license granted to the client to a specific project or time frame.

The second webinar, “External Wall Fire Safety and Form EWS1” took place on the 2nd of December.  It was presented by Beale & Co partners Will Buckby and Ian Masser.  They discussed the ongoing industry challenges surrounding external wall fire safety on buildings over 18 metres in height initiated by the Grenfell Tower disaster.  The position in relation to new developments is now relatively clear given the 2018 Building (Amendment) Regulations, which ban the use of combustible materials anywhere on buildings over 18 metres in height.  But what about the significant number of existing buildings that already contain combustible materials? This webinar discussed the use and limitations of certifying building safety and combustibility through Form EWS1.  Among their concerns for design professionals is joint and several liability, and the fact the Form does not state how the assessment was carried out or the extent of the investigations.

“Prolongation and Variations in Consultant’s Appointments” was presented by James Vernon and Andrew Croft on the 16th of December.  This webinar discussed the thorny issue of delays caused to consultant’s services due to reasons beyond the consultant’s control.  This is a particularly topical point given the impact of COVID-19 on our project schedules.  James and Andrew looked at how the various standard forms of contract address this issue, or not, as the case may be.  They suggested architects keep detailed records of additional costs incurred by prolongation and raise the issue with the client in a timely manner.  Architects should include “entitlement to additional payment” clauses in contracts and avoid contract clauses that allow the unilateral right for a client to update the project programme. 

Written by: Michael Lischer

Virtual Building Tour – The Stratford by SOM

©Hufton+Crow

As part of its continuing “Virtual Building Tours” series, the AIA UK Chapter’s most recent tour returns to London to visit The Stratford designed by SOM, located east of the city, on 10 September 2020. Christopher Wollaston, Associate Director at SOM's London office, gave an informative and stimulating tour of the multi-use project that was completed and opened in 2018. Situated alongside one of London’s largest and newest transport interchanges, the Stratford International Station, the project consists of residential loft-style and single-story apartments, a five-star hotel, and three sky gardens carved dramatically out of the building’s massing. Both developer and SOM’s vision was to conceive a new model for high-rise living.  

In the tradition of SOM’s long-standing history and success in designing tall buildings, the rigorous design approach, legacy of innovation, and deep understanding of the forces that dominate tall buildings are all evident in The Stratford.  The building is an architectural and engineering feat owing to its double-cantilevered structure and sky terraces that are outwardly cut-out of the seventh, twenty-fifth and thirty-sixth floors.  A collaboration with Space Copenhagen compliments the building through stylish public areas and rooms.  The Danish design studio has provided a timeless, urbane and neutral look, with plenty of stylish furniture and curvilinear object tables, all sat under a tall ceiling enhanced with a distinctive sculptural mobile installation. The atmosphere feels like a “vertical neighbourhood”, with the mixed-use development including a hotel on the first 6 levels, with apartments and long-stay lets above. The combined entry delivers a constantly active ground-floor bar and brasserie, with the potential for residents and guests co-mingling at all times that provides a synergy not evident in traditional high-rise residential developments.

The design of The Stratford concept proposes a more luxurious high-rise experience for residents, with double-height ceilings, a concierge service, members' club and a layout designed to nurture a "vertical community."  Sky terraces have been constructed on three different floor cut-outs each incorporating wildflower gardens, barbecue zones and party areas complemented with bar facilities.  Each of the sky gardens has its own character; “Dynamic, Semi-active/Tranquil, and Reflective.” Timber panelling clad the underside of the overhanging levels, providing a sense of warmth alongside its use of sustainable materials.  White-painted steel girders and raw concrete walls assist in perpetuating the industrial theme throughout the apartments - a signature of the developer.  A unique design methodology within the floor plates was employed to create loft apartments with a single level unit infill between two adjacent lofts resulting in a distinctive variety of residential units.

©Hufton+Crow

As noted, SOM’s historical success in designing innovative tall buildings has resulted in The Stratford’s structurally double-cantilevered tower - a distinctively engineered concrete and steel frame that allows the incorporation of three spectacular sky gardens radically carved into the building’s volume. The building’s unusual tower-structure can be attributed to cantilevered post-tensioned concrete which supports the majority of the floors and a steel-framed perimeter truss system at level 10 and 28. The result is that half of the columns could be removed in order to create open air spaces within the tower, which stands on top of a rectangular podium.  The innovative structural approach results in only 2 columns aside from the core that run the entire height of the building from the ground to the top of the 42 storey tower. The Stratford is a structural triumph that combines world-class hospitality, architecture and landscape to inspire a new generation of high-rise residential living, a new paradigm for modern living.

The AIA UK Chapter will be hosting virtual buildings tours through the end of 2020 on 10 December 2020 as well as into the 2021 season, offering architects the opportunity to visit notable buildings that have particular design interests in the UK and abroad. 

Written by Gregory Fonseca, AIA 

Women in Architecture: Self-Development and Career Advancement for Mid-Level Professionals

Executive Coach, Karen Fugle has published a new report, ‘Women in Architecture: Self-Development and Career Advancement for Mid-Level Professionals.’

As we fast approach the end of 2020, we are delighted to bring you news from Executive Coach Karen Fugle, our expert on resilience and the art of building professional relationships.

The free report is available now in PDF format, featuring a foreword by Anna Schabel (chair of Women in Architecture). Downloadable from Karen’s website.

How satisfied are mid-level female architects with the speed and path of their career growth? How do they work on self-development, training, and opportunities for promotion? How do they perceive their growth alongside that of their male peers? These questions and more are assessed and analysed in the report.

The report deals with some very essential aspects of women’s mid-level careers: What can I, as an individual, do to bring my career to a new level? We hope that Karen’s new report empowers readers to use their own skills to create progress for themselves.

A form for anonymous feedback can be found here.

2020 AIA UK Design Awards Winners

The AIA UK Chapter hosted the 2020 Excellence in Design Awards Gala on the 28th October as a virtual event. Disruptions due to the evolving pandemic extended the awards schedule, but despite the uncertainty and disruptions of the year we were pleased to receive a fabulous host of submissions and to celebrate the jury’s selection of outstanding projects with the community digitally.

The 2020 awards were chosen from three overarching categories: Professional, Emerging Practice and Sustainability, a new addition. Within these categories the jurors chose winners across a diverse range of scales and sectors.

 The chapter extends thanks to our jury:

• Jane Duncan, Hon. FAIA, Jane Duncan Architects + Interiors

• Gerry O’Brien, AKT II Design Director

• Helen Newman,  Head of Sustainability at CBRE

• Christopher Musangi, AIA UK President

Our gratitude also goes to Portview, fit-out specialists, for their sponsorship of the 2020 Excellence in Design Awards.

Winners

Professional

Extra Large Project

Leeza Soho

ZHA

Leeza SOHO’s Beijing site is diagonally dissected by an underground subway service tunnel at the intersection of five new lines currently under construction on Beijing’s Subway network. Straddling this tunnel, the tower’s design divides its volume into two halves enclosed by a single facade. The space between these two halves extends the full height of the tower, creating the world’s tallest atrium at 194m, which rotates as the tower rises to realign the upper floors with Lize road to the north.

Large Projects

One Fen Court

Eric Parry Architects

One Fen Court is located at the heart of London’s insurance district. Constructed at the scale of a city block, it provides 41,000sqm of open and expansive floor space over 16 levels.  A new publicly accessible 2,200sqm roof garden called The Garden at 120 crowns the development.  The new building brings civic presence and an increase in the public realm of the City of London. It also brings colour. The use of Dichroic banding on ‘The Crown’ and two-tone metal finishes to the lower level brise soleil brings an ever changing kinetic colour palette to the building when seen from the street or the greater canvas of the cityscape.

Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children

Stanton Williams

The Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children reimagines the healthcare environment as an engaging civic experience in the heart of London. Designed for Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London, the 13,000sqm facility combines pioneering translational research with clinical care and is the first purpose-built paediatric centre of its kind in the world.

Medium Projects

St Paul's School - General Teaching Building

Walters & Cohen Architects

The client’s intention was to create a new general teaching building fit for 21st century education that responds to the ethos of the school. The library has a  calming and inspiring view across the Thames and the timber cladding gives a warm, welcoming and traditional atmosphere. Founder’s Court is designed to allow clear and easy circulation while being an enjoyable and useful space for pupils to linger. The breakout spaces, Atrium and Founder’s Court have been an instant hit with students and staff. The ‘regular but random’ patterns of the facade bring light and ventilation into the building. The client has described the school as ‘great, not grand’, and the concrete here is elegant and beautiful while remaining simple and functional. 

English National Ballet

Glenn Howells Architects

A transformational project for English National Ballet who have relocated to this purpose built 93,000 sq ft ‘dance factory’ in East London. The new building significantly expands their accommodation by providing eight new rehearsal spaces, one of which has full stage rigging facilities. The design of the building opens up the activities of ENB to the public through the incorporation of large windows onto public spaces. The main challenge was providing the required range of flexible, state-of-the-art facilities on a narrow site and with a challenging budget. The design team achieved this by creating something that is elegant, pared-back, beautiful but also hard working; its character is defined by a celebration of exposed raw materials such as concrete ceilings and translucent glass walls.

Carnaby Court

Rolfe Judd

A place to shop, a place to work, a place to eat and a place to live all within the context of the historic, vibrant heart of The Carnaby Estate in Soho. Inspiration for the street elevation design was taken from the historic use in Soho of glazed tiles. A combination of glazed French lava stone and brick were used to form a series of layered frames within each façade.

Small Projects

Cork House

CSK Architects with the Bartlett UCL

Cork House in is the result of a holistic approach that connects the architectural to the ecological – the way it looks and feels is an expression of every stage of its life cycle, from the biodiverse cork forests right through to the potential for disassembly at the end of its very long life. 

Sustainability

Large Project

National Automotive Innovation Centre

Cullinan Studio

The National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC) at the University of Warwick is one of the largest research and development centres of its kind in Europe, housing up to 1,000 staff under one of the largest timber roofs in the world. The NAIC co-locates industry and academia, and aims to be a crucible for innovation towards the future of mobility, vital to the paradigm shift taking place across transport and the built environment in response to climate change. Internally, layered, day-lit meeting and movement spaces over large halls create a terraced landscape of shared workspace. Externally, the NAIC engages with the university campus with transparent ground floors showcasing the activities inside and an intensive sequence of landscaped edges and water channels. Between the ground floor and timber roof, an undulating mesh façade acts as a veil to direct sunlight whilst creating shifting patterns of light and shade.

Small Project

Cork House

CSK Architects with the Bartlett UCL

Internally the exposed cork captures light and shadow and creates an evocative sensory environment. It is gentle to the touch with a soft acoustic and a smoky aroma. All 1,268 blocks of expanded cork are prefabricated off site, and assembled on site by hand without mortar or glue, like an oversized organic Lego® system.  As a result, the whole house is designed for disassembly, so that in the distant future the pure cork can be re-used, recycled or returned to the biosphere to generate new growth.

Emerging Practice

Large Project

Chongqing Industrial Museum

WallaceLiu

This new museum of industrial history has been created amongst the remaining structures of an impressive steel works in the city of Chongqing, China. Enclosed exhibition spaces are lifted off the ground and nested within the skeleton of the old beams and columns to create a permeable ground floor, a labyrinth of open space, alternatively covered or uncovered, that culminates in a large open hall organising the building from the centre of its plan. The raised volumes that contain a composed exhibition narrative are linked by bridges at different levels where visitors are cyclically returned, through glimpses and framings, to the experience of the factory sheds. Wrapped in a pleated and perforated aluminium curtain, the building forms a flexible, blurred boundary with the epic landscape and industrial ruins of the historic factory site.

Medium Project

Ditton Hill House 

Surman Weston

Ditton Hill House is a new-build house on a suburban street in Surbiton. With its pitched roof and pure white walls, it might at first glance seem at odds with its neighbours in this leafy district of west London. Inspired by the local vernacular the house borrows the language of mock-Tudor, turning it on its head by expressing it in a steel frame – the materiality of modernity. The inherent strength of the steel exoskeleton permitted a thinning of the structural steel, which helps to express the pitched form diagrammatically as if it were drawn by a child. The house is designed to offer a range of spatial experiences from a triple-height entrance space to an intimate hallway and an expansive living room. Upstairs, bedrooms and bathrooms are housed within the “loft space”, which, at five metres in height and primarily lit from above, has an almost church-like peaceful quality.

Small Project

Nýp Guesthouse

Studio Bua

The Guesthouse Nýp at Skarðsströnd is situated in a former sheep farm overlooking the Breiðafjörður Bay Nature Reserve in western Iceland. Constructed in 1936, the building was deserted in the 1970s, falling into disrepair before the new owners began rebuilding in 2001. Since 2006, it has come to be known as a cultural hub, playing host to exhibitions, lectures, courses and workshops. Staying true to Nýp’s ethos of sustainability and slow tourism, a vernacular approach with a form based on local turf homes was taken. A gradual renovation that focused on restoring and reinterpreting historical features while making full use of local labour, techniques and materials such as stone-turf retaining walls and tiles handmade from local clay. Driftwood, salvaged from a neighbouring beach, has been used as columns to support the new floor. Steel handrails, timber doors and beams have been salvaged from building sites in Reykjavik old town.

Commendations

• Belle Vue - Morris + Company

• Energy Hub - Morris + Company  

• The Faithlie Centre - Moxon Architects

Shortlisted

• Beijing Daxing International Airport - ZHA

• Eton College - John Simpson Architects

• Niederhafen River Promenade - ZHA

• Salamander - Memalondon

• Town House, Kingston University - Grafton Architects

RE-NATURING CITIES – How building with timber can help cities become greener while promoting human well- being

This article is reprinted and adapted from the ROCA GALLERY NEWSLETTER – an AIA UK Sponsor. It has been included as part of the AIA’s commitment to member news.  If you are aware of UK Chapter members’ involvement in newsworthy projects, research or events, please bring them to our attention via Secretary@aiauk.org and we will publish the story.   

Photo Credit: PLP Architecture

This article documents a presentation made in early 2019 by past AIA UK Chapter President, Kevin P Flanagan, AIA FRAIC, at the Roca Gallery in Barcelona in honour of a travelling exhibition entitled ‘Global Advances in Engineered Mass Timber Towers – Timber Rising’. The exhibition featured in London and Barcelona, with Toronto + Vancouver pending.

Introduction 

What a wonderful opportunity to be presenting designs for Oakwood Timber Towers Series in Barcelona, a city whose birth owes much to those heralded seafarers of the ancient world, lovers of timber used both in navigation and construction, who were the great observers of nature and manufacturers of timber buildings. 

Constructing with Nature 

As we arrived in the 21st century, it was only natural to look to new materials and means of construction that better suit our latest thinking and integrate the benefits of new AI, block-chain procurement and efficiencies in cost, as well as precision of robotic assembly, to provide a better and greater number of shelters that are more healthful – more natural in the city.  For a seafaring nation, what could be more ‘nature’ than timber? 

For four years, designs have been undertaken under the aegis of the University of Cambridge, Smith and Wallwork, Perkins and Will and PLP Architecture in the UK on a research proposal that investigates the benefits of the use of natural materials in construction.   The Oakwood Timber Tower Series is a realistic proposition that studies the benefits of using engineered mass timber – including grasses like bamboo – as a sustainable building material, drawn as a crop from the managed forests of Europe.  As we progressed, we realised that it was the beauty of the several designs, and the ease with which the general public understood the inherent benefits of the 21st century material that was most unexpected. 

Proposed Oakwood Tower Barbican, London. Photo Credit: PLP Architecture

When I look at the first project on our Oakwood Timber Town series, at the Barbican, London, I think of the music that accompanies our presentation video.  It was The Asturias by I. Albeniz, played on a (wooden) Spanish guitar.  The music captures the sensibility, softness, ductility and strength of our design – though not the hardness – of things growing inexorably, vigorously and softly. 

Making Cities More Liveable 

It is those feelings of a natural quality, precision, and performance that these engineered mass timber/ CLT designs imbue; of a natural ordered system being the inspiration for a new way of thinking about our cities, something of a natural scale worthy of Gaudí.  A kind of biophilia for a smart city. 

 Timber has a higher aesthetic appeal for humans than concrete, encouraging a sense of well-being among residents.  Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) establishes a new level of quality control and fire protection.  It brings a new structure and form.  This is a new 21st century proposition to make our cities more liveable and create a happier populous.  The design proposals for Oakwood Timber Tower, afforded by AI, foresee a comprehensive re-envisioning of our cities, with buildings made more easily and far less expensively using mass-produced interchangeable kits of parts, assembled directly on site in half to two thirds the time and two thirds of the costs, in a co-living urban planning concept. 

High-rise Timber Buildings 

Neighbours in dense cities like the faster construction, as it is less disruptive and safer in local neighbourhoods where children abound.  Clients like being able to build up to 20-30 per cent more within the given time.  Engineered timber is also lighter, therefore can conceivably be used to extend existing concrete buildings upwards –as is being done in Paris– while creating the potential for modular, on-site staged construction (as a Jump Factory) based on robotic assembly precision. 

The type of wood these new buildings would use is regarded as a ‘crop’, being perfectly sustainable – always growing, always abundant.  The amount of crop forest in the world is currently expanding. Canada alone could produce more than 15 billion m³ of crop forest in the next 70 years – enough to house around a billion people, while sequestering many billions of lifetimes of carbon footprints. 

Oakwood Tower from the Thames by Night. Photo Credit: PLP Architecture

At present, the world’s tallest timber building is an 80 m, all timber office tower in Scandinavia.  Our proposal for a timber tower of over 300 m high would make it the tallest building in London, becoming a leader in this technology. The proposal would create over 1,000 new residential units in a 100,000 million sq-m mixed-use tower, and mid-rise terraces integrated within the Barbican’s timberland green courtyards, in Central London. 

 Perhaps the most obvious concern for potential residents of homes built primarily from timber is fire risk; here we advocate two stair cores and sprinklers, plus an advance and improvement on existing fire regulations for safety, so that the proposed building would eventually meet or exceed every existing fire regulation currently in place. 

Human Well-being Through Timber 

Recent research has also shown that timber buildings can have positive effects on their user and occupant’s health.  Some recent studies have also shown that children taught in schools with timber structures may perform better than in those made of concrete.  Scientists Roger Ulrich and Marc Berman in the US have been studying the triggers that stimulate these very positive health and well-being responses.  Scandinavia has also shown illness recuperation times greatly improving, particularly related to stress and circulation, even leading to heart benefits.  There is also a perk in cognitive skills in one side of the brain dealing with temporal location.  Berman has seen an improvement of some 20 per cent in memory and alertness, while people gain a more positive outlook on their day – a ‘spring in their step’. 

 Integrating Nature in Cities 

The purer the experience, the closer to nature, the more real the saturation of the colours, the more impactful and more overwhelming the influence.  We seem naturally wired to perform best in our evolutionary homes, looking at timber and vegetation.  Greening the streets has also been linked to cognition improvement. These more relaxed settings naturally create a desire to linger and perambulate, walking being a significant health benefit. 

The integration of flora and fauna in cities again can potentially render a quantifiable benefit equivalent to gifting each neighbour 10,000 euros, while making them more sociable, and reducing their heart rates, adding –it is said– 7 years more to their life expectancy. Cities still have the potential to integrate nature in them and become a better place to work and live together, share ideas, and, perhaps, fall in love – it is only natural. 

Written by: Kevin P Flanagan, AIA FRAIC 

Self-Reporting Credit

"Zoom call. Teams call. Teams call. Oh, an interesting Zoom call! Can I get CES credit for this? ". You may have attended a webinar or presentation and asked yourself a similar question, and the answer is Yes! You can self report up to 6 hours of your annual AIA requirements.

This is done by filling out a form on the AIA National website. This form comes with almost no guidance on what is required in the Learning Statement, aside from a word count. AIA National will then review and approve or return comments 

While I can't offer definitive guidance on what would be accepted, here are some suggestions on how to complete the self-report.

To test out self reporting, I submitted a report for attending a webinar panel presented by our friends at New London Architecture. I kept the course description relative short, and made it clear that it was an online webinar and listed the presenters. For the learning statement I used the more detailed description of the event. The learning statement should make the content you learned and the topics covered. If you checked the record of other courses on your AIA Transcript, you would find several learning objectives listed. In practical terms, the learning statement takes the place of those learning objectives.

Self Reporting Credits

It is possible to self-report some credits towards your annual AIA requirements. At the moment, there are numerous webinars available in the UK that are not offered via an AIA Continuing Education Provider. These may be suitable to self-report.

You may not self-report for Health, Safety, and Welfare (HSW) credit. Additionally, some state licensing boards will not accept self-reported credits to meet mandatory continuing education (MCE) requirements. Please note that HSW constitutes 12/18 of your AIA learning unit requirements. 

Please note, you may not self-report credits for courses that are offered directly by an AIA Continuing Education Provider. For example, please do not self-report for a lecture organised by the AIA UK Chapter where the chapter is offering credits.

To access the self-report form on the AIA website please visit: https://www.aia.org/my-account/self-report . The information required includes:

• Course/Activity Name

• Description of the Activity (less than 1000 words)

• Learning Statement (250 - 1000 words)

• Completion Date

• Number of Learning Units (LU)

State Licensing Requirements

For example, AIA NY Chapter notes that self-reported activities will not be credited towards the continuing education requirements for your registration renewal as an architect in New York. 

Written by Alex Miller AIA