Restaurant and Bar Awards - Chinawhite

We've entered a couple of our projects into the Restaurant and Bar Awards, Chinawhite and Boujis.

Into Lighting have also submitted Chinawhite for the lighting scheme. Most projects are collaborative, we worked with Darren Orrow and Anthony Stead at Into to develop our initial lighting ideas into a working proposition.  Their expertise assisted in the rapid resolution of lighting details to get the effects we were after. We worked with them on Boujis as well - Their photos really emphasise the lighting which is a key part of any club venue. Our initial 3d model image for comparison below.

A lot of the entries rely heavily on products and furniture to create the character of the space, we approach our interiors very differently. Whilst we recognise the importance of chairs, tables etc. we also try to develop the more architectural elements (where we can) based on ideas which explore selected thematics for the space. The ceiling to the restaurant at Chinawhite (top pic) was conceived initially as rain clouds.

This was part of a more general watery thematic (there's a lot of water in Tropical Asia) which ran down the stairs, via the loos to the bar, where the ceiling was initially conceived as an inverted representation of the Vietnamese Hoa Dang festival.

The staircase water feature got the chop, as did the reflective glass ceiling over the top of the bar (cost and time implications).

We also worked with Chinese artist Nigel Szeto, using his paintings to make large format prints to the restaurant walls, main space banquettes and also the main space back drop.

We commissioned a Hong Kong caligrapher to transcribe a traditional chinese drinking poem which we then projected onto the bar surface from within. The image of the bar was inspired by a scene from Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book where writing is projected onto architectural surfaces. It was also linked to the watery ideas mentioned above, water becomes reflective glass, liquid becomes solid geometric form and light. Good place for drink.

General sketches of the main space seating

We like to think of our club projects as great pop songs. They are not conceived as high art but are carefully crafted in their conception, composition and content - intentionally accessible and importantly fun.

Winners will be announced in June.

Lateralisms - Extracts from Unit 5 book 2008-09

This is my short contribution to the unit book produced by the students of 08/09 with Darren Deane, Tim Offer, Andy Humphries and Gordon Sung. I'll post some more extracts showing the student work soon.

Batak Toba Houses

Whenever we travel to Indonesia, we make a point of checking out the local vernacular. Here we've got updated Batak Toba houses in Toba, Sumatra complete with TV room extension! Indonesia has extraordinary variations in house types and village planning depending on region, local climate, topography, locally available materials and cultural background. Crinkly tin is replacing traditional materials but the formal language and cosmological ordering of layout and orientation of these buildings remain the same.



Traditional building types are modified to accommodate changing lifestyles and different technologies.



The traditional version with a roof made of ijuk (palm fibre) which is being slowly reappropriated by nature.


More pics here and here

London South Bank

A few pics of the South Bank I took recently, one of the few places where you can wander around public space inside and outside and take in exhibitions and performances with a great view of the Thames and the city - all for free! Interesting guide here

Change of plan

Slight change of design! A larger opening was desired; 'slidy foldy' prevails.

Things change constantly from inception to the last coat of paint - whilst I think that the earlier scheme had an enjoyable dimension in respect of the horizontal trinket shelf and more complex proportions, this one is simpler and sits just as happily with the added bonus of being potentially cheaper to build.

House extension - Crystal Palace

This single storey rear extension to a three storey victorian semi is about to go into planning. We like the fact its not all 'slidy foldy' and maintains the corner of the room whilst still providing a strong connection with the garden.

The horizontal glazing transom becomes a shelf for display of the owner's things with the backdrop of the garden and rainwater is discharged into a planter via an ornate rain chain. A planter at the other end of the terrace and a barbecue plinth extending into the garden mediate between the pastoral world of the garden and the raised level of the house.

We were looking at the work of Sverre Fehn during the design development and particularly the Villa a Norrkoping Sweden 1963-64. Images here and here

In this extraordinary house he makes a window as something between building envelope, built-in furniture and floating picture frame.

The Fisher House 1960-67 by Louis Kahn also does a similar thing and also incorporates a window seat.
Both windows place objects and trinkets belonging to the occupants at the threshold between the interior of the home and the world outside just like any window cill but emphatically so. This enables the history and personality of the occupant to become part of the building envelope, both as a public declaration of their life and interests and also mediating the external world to the interior through their stuff - reinforcing their place in the world.

10 New build flats Hemel Hempstead

Poking around one of our laptops earlier I came across these files - they're movies of an early development model of a project we recently obtained planning consent for (albeit in a slightly different form). The project is for 10no. 2 bed flats and includes an underground car park below the garden deck to the rear.

The site is on a suburban edge of the town and the brief had the conflicting requirement of high density occupation on a low scale site - the neighbours are bungalows or small two storey developments and the site overlooks fields to one side and a wooded bank to the rear.

We were looking at timber shakes and rural barns with low eaves to reduce scale but with the generous proportions of a Georgian town house to present a decorous public facade to the street. The rear of the building, made up of living rooms, had a more open relationship with the private garden and afternoon sun. In the iteration shown we were already reducing the dormer windows in line with the advice of the planning consultant.

The model represents a turning point in the design where the input of the other key parties (planners and planning consultants) was having an impact on the proposal. Our website shows images of the project as it was initially proposed.

The project is currently awaiting funding.

Hammersmith house extension video

In this project we started with the typology of the Balinese compound, looked at the work of Geoffrey Bawa and Luis Barragan and reworked the configuration of a typical London garden flat to transform the existing dwelling into a completely different kind of place to live. The use of deep threshold, framed views and layered 'rooms' sets up a complex parallax which enables the occupant to enjoy a dynamic variety of spaces by simply moving around the building.

Should be on site this spring.

Happy New Year

A snap of our office in Crystal Palace taken in the recent snow.