Archinect - News

The political reason behind London’s ‘weird’ skyline

2024-02-15T11:30:00-05:00

The dominance of starchitect-led high rises in London is the result of the UK’s subjective planning system, according to a new opinion piece in The New York Times. Taking aim at the city’s “weird” skyline, business and economics columnist Peter Coy argues that “developers hire star architects because doing so gives them a better chance of winning approval for taller, more profitable buildings.”

Related on Archinect: The City of London skyline is expected to add these eleven towers by 2030. Image credit: City of London Corporation

“London has a jarring profusion of odd skyscrapers with funny names or nicknames,” Coy explains. “There are the Shard and the Scalpel, which are pretty elegant. The (mostly) well-liked Gherkin, which looks like a glass pickle. The wedge-shaped Cheese Grater. And the widely loathed Walkie-Talkie, a bulbous cartoon of a building that “looms thuggishly over its low-rise neighbors like a broad-shouldered banker in a cheap pinstriped suit,” to quote The Guardian....

As the UK’s Raac problems grow, concerned educators complain of a stalled government response

2023-12-27T18:00:00-05:00

The number of schools with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), which the Health and Safety Executive has said is now 'life expired' and could collapse 'with little or no warning,' has been steadily rising since the government announced the sudden closure of more than 100 schools at the end of August, just days before the start of the new academic year.

There are now over 230 schools and colleges listed on the government’s register of buildings under consideration for Raac replacement and repair. The challenge is twofold at present, with contractors' inability to hasten repairs before 2026 being made worse by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's cuts to the rebuilding program just weeks after it was initiated.

No one knows exactly what will happen to the endangered schools in the interim. An anonymous headteacher shared with The Guardian, “The best result would be rebuilding as we have so many problems, but actually we just need some certainty. Parents like shiny new buildings, and Raac definitely isn’t helping our reputation.”

The country's National Audit Office estimates the cost of repairs to be £2.2 billion (or about $2.81 billion USD) annually at present.

Another Banksy mural destroyed after the building it was painted on was demolished

2023-12-01T17:41:00-05:00

A mural painted by Banksy which first appeared not long after Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) has been destroyed after the building it was painted on was knocked down. The artwork, said to have been valued at around £1m, first appeared in the coastal town of Dover in 2017, the year after Britain voted to leave the union in a controversial referendum.

The mural, located on the side of the Castle Amusements building, depicted a worker chipping away at one the 12 stars on the EU flag. In 2019, the mural vanished after it was whitewashed. And, now, despite efforts to potentially restore the work, the building it was painted on has been demolished as part of a regeneration project. Prior to the building’s demolition the Dover City Council (DCC) determined that the Banksy could not have been conserved without major costs to local taxpayers.

Previously on Archinect: Banksy's latest mural on abandoned UK farmhouse has been demolished

That being said, the Council has said that its contractor, DDS Demolition, is exploring ways to preserve the artwork in any way. As reported by CNN, the demolition firm has said that pieces of the Banksy have been retrieved and are currently “being assessed.”

UK architecture workers can now join Unite, one of the UK's largest trade unions

2023-11-27T11:25:00-05:00

The UK’s Section of Architectural Workers (SAW) has announced its affiliation with Unite, one of the UK’s most influential trade union groups. The move will see SAW operate under the same union group as the UK’s wider construction sector.

When it was established in 2019, SAW was affiliated with the United Voices of the World (UVW) union, hence its original name, UVW-SAW. Recently, SAW was one of several groups that publicly supported Muyiwa Oki’s successful campaign for RIBA president.

Related on Archinect: Sage and Coombe Architects employees announce union

Following the latest announcement, SAW is now a national branch of Unite, the second-largest UK trade union by numbers with over 1.4 million members. The union also has strong links with the UK’s Labour Party, which is widely expected to enter government following the UK’s upcoming 2024 General Election.

Unlike in the US, architecture workers in the UK do not need to form an internal union group within their firm, and instead joi...

Ranking UK firms by pay: The Pay 100's report on salaries and unpaid overtime

2023-11-02T12:10:00-04:00

The UK-based salary transparency advocates The Pay 100 have released their latest set of survey data on average salaries across UK firms. Expanding upon last year’s inaugural snapshot of results, the 2023 addition also includes data on unpaid overtime.

As reported by the Architect’s Journal, almost 1000 submissions have been made to the database. Like the 2022 edition, the latest tables are organized into three common job titles in the UK industry: Part I Architectural Assistant (less than three years in the role), Part II Architectural Assistant (less than three years in the role), and Architect / Architectural Designer (less than five years in the role).

The Archinect Salary Poll features thousands of crowdsourced salary data from across the architecture community

For Part I Assistants, the highest average annual surveys were to be found at Foster + Partners (£31,000), Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (£30,000), Burwell Architects (£30,000), and Zaha Hadid Architects (£29,000). For Par...

‘Mutant’ London apartment block to be demolished for deviating too far from permitted development

2023-10-17T11:54:00-04:00

The planning authority in London’s Royal Borough of Greenwich has ordered the demolition of a new residential development along the River Thames. In a statement, the authority concluded that the 23-story building, named Mast Quay Phase II, was “so substantially different to the scheme that was originally permitted” that the development’s ultimate construction was unlawful.

In its decision, the authority cited 26 main deviations from the scheme originally granted planning permission, including “visible design changes to the external appearance of the towers,” arguing that the towers looked “more solid and bulky because of the removal of the stepped back top floor and the glazed curtain wall facade” to one of the blocks.

The approved Mast Quay Phase II (left) versus the scheme subsequently constructed (right). Image credit: Royal Borough of Greenwich

The authority also cited visible changes to the materials and windows, a larger than approved footprint, “lower quality residential acco...

Over 100 schools close in the UK over concrete safety concerns

2023-09-08T11:41:00-04:00

More than one hundred schools and education settings in the United Kingdom have been closed due to concerns over the integrity of concrete roof panels. So far, 147 schools are known to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), with approximately one hundred fully or partially closed, impacting more than 100,000 students at the start of the new school year.

The latest developments began in August when a Raac panel collapsed in a school in England, prompting a wider government review. While 147 schools have been identified as containing Raac, education unions warn that “hundreds more” schools could be impacted. Meanwhile, thirteen universities have closed or partially closed, alongside a number of theaters and cultural venues that have closed as inspections continue. The Guardian additionally reports that the number of UK prisons containing Raac may take two years to identify.

Raac, also referred to as “aircrete,” was utilized from the 1950s to the 1990s in UK public buil...

LOLA Landscape Architects tapped as designers for mixed-use Hartree development in Cambridge

2023-07-19T16:57:00-04:00

Rotterdam-based LOLA Landscape Architects has been selected by developers Landsec U+I and TOWN to design the new 48-hectare Hartree development, a mixed-use neighborhood in Cambridge, United Kingdom.

The Hartree site in Cambridge.

The masterplan for the urban quarter development was designed by Swedish practice Kjellander Sjöberg Architects. The design team includes various disciplines including, urban planners, architects, engineers, and sustainability experts. The collaboration is supported by renowned architecture practices, such as Bell Phillips, Haworth Tompkins, 5th Studio Architects, Feilden Fowles, Nooma Studio, Alison Brooks Architects, Useful Projects, and Pell Frischmann.

One of the numerous basins at the current facility plant.

Hartree is owned by water company Anglian Water and the Cambridge City Council. The site is currently home to the Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Plant, a gold driving range, and commercial buildings. The development places a strong emphasis on the...

Inside the new BAFTA headquarters by Benedetti Architects

2023-06-20T19:54:00-04:00

Benedetti Architects has offered an insight into the new headquarters for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in London. The Grade II listed building has seen a comprehensive expansion and re-design with a budget of £33 million (USD 42 million).

Photo credit: Jim Stephenson

Photo credit: Rory Mulvey

The resulting 26,500-square-foot revamp includes “state-of-the-art spaces with maximum flexibility, balancing the charity’s educational work with members’ needs and revenue.” The design included accessibility and systems upgrades, including a doubled WC capacity and enhanced fire safety, energy performance, acoustics, thermal comfort, and useability.

Photo credit: Thomas Alexander

Photo credit: Luca Piffaretti

Facilities within the building include two theaters holding 227 and 41 seats, respectively, as well as a banqueting hall, four kitchens, multi-purpose event and exhibition spaces, a members’ bar and restaurant area, a new skylit boardroom containing historic materia...

RIBA decries proposed ARB educational overhaul

2023-05-17T14:31:00-04:00

A statement from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has called into question the recent slate of educational overhauls proposed by the UK’s Architects Registration Board (ARB) in February in the interests of removing barriers for entry into the field.

In our February 2023 reporting, RIBA’s President Simon Allford said he "[did] not see much change” caused by the reform measures, adding: "The ARB accreditation model does not allow the new courses we are supporting to create a more accessible and open and representative profession. Nor does it speed things up. We need to support courses that recognize and reinforce the need for core skills and competencies but also the essential requirement to equip the next generation to create ever-evolving and appropriately different models of practice."

Now, with reforms moving forward for approval in the ARB’s vetting process, RIBA has issued its own response to the organization’s public feedback prompt stating, “The five-year UK a...

AL_A moves forward on world’s first magnetized fusion power plant in UK

2023-01-16T12:06:00-05:00

AL_A has been granted permission to construct the world’s first magnetized fusion power plant. The Culham Science Centre facility, to be located in Oxford, UK, is anchored by a 125-foot-tall cylindrical fusion hall wrapped in a translucent facade.

The scheme was first unveiled in August 2021, commissioned by the Canadian energy company General Fusion in collaboration with the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Unlike traditional nuclear fission stations, which generate energy by splitting atoms, the fusion process involves merging two atoms to generate vast amounts of energy without the highly radioactive waste associated with nuclear fission. Last month, US scientists announced a major breakthrough in the process through a fusion experiment that released more energy than was inputted by the lab’s equipment.

Image credit: AL_A

For AL_A’s plant, the central cylindrical fusion hall is surrounded by a radial arrangement of support systems, all of which are equidistant from the core. In our 20...

A new white paper from RIBA outlines pathways for architecture students and emerging architects

2023-01-13T18:22:00-05:00

On January 11, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) published a new white paper examining potential solutions to cultivate a more diverse, skill-based educational environment and subsequent pathways into the profession.

The paper identifies a series of impactful steps to be taken in response to the slate of issues that are outlined. Among the most prevalent issues that the paper hammers on are the length of time it takes for architects to complete Part 3 of registrations, an expensive and outmoded process that RIBA says has surpassed its originally-intended 7-year window to 10 years and comes at a cost that’s increasingly over £100,000 ($122,310). In order to combat this restrictiveness, the organization recommends:

Continuing the growth of different educational models such as apprenticeships and collaborative practice along with the development of alternatives for non-UK graduates, with a simple test of competence used to access the register and RIBA Chartered membersh...

Foster + Partners reveal cross-laminated timber scheme in London

2022-11-24T12:18:00-05:00

Foster + Partners have been granted approval for the construction of a new mixed-use cross-laminated timber development in London. Named The William, the scheme will become one of London’s largest timber developments, and Foster + Partners’ first timber office building in the city.

Image courtesy of Foster + Partners

As reported by The Architect’s Journal, the process will see the demolition of a four-story 1950s housing block to be replaced by a pair of new seven-story mixed-use buildings. Both buildings will contain street-level retail, with one holding 32 residential units, and the other holding 90,000 square feet of office space.

Image courtesy of Foster + Partners

Inside, the scheme will feature a double-height lobby containing art installations, as well as terraces and rooftop spaces overlooking Hyde Park. Meanwhile, 11 of the 32 residential homes have been earmarked as affordable units. According to the team, the buildings will achieve BREEAM Outstanding once completed, and wi...

Soane Medalist Peter Barber on some possible fixes to the UK's housing crisis

2022-11-11T11:22:00-05:00

There is no housing shortage. There are over 400,000 empty homes in the UK, and about 200,000 homeless people. The vast majority of empty homes are in parts of the country which have become depopulated because of economic decline – in the Midlands, the north, and coastal cities. So the solution to the housing crisis isn’t building tons of homes. It’s about reviving the economy in those places, launching a massive retrofit campaign, and bringing people back.”

“We could end the housing crisis overnight, if we wanted to,” Barber told Oliver Wainwright in a recent interview, referring to the private grab on council housing that has developed unabated since the Thatcher administration's Right-to-Buy laws came into effect in 1980. “We should introduce private sector rent controls, halt the selling of council houses under right to buy, and build 150,000 council homes a year funded by direct taxation."

UK architect banned after making antisemitic comments towards colleagues

2022-11-10T14:16:00-05:00

The UK’s Architects Registration Board (ARB) has found a British architect guilty of unacceptable professional conduct after the architect made “a series of offensive and antisemitic comments and gestures.” The architect, Justin Rooney, was also found guilty of making “a series of inappropriate and offensive and antisemitic public posts on his Instagram profile.”

Rooney stood accused of the charges while employed at London-based GRID Architects in 2021, where he was recruited as a temporary architect through an agency. A complaint was submitted by GRID to ARB’s Professional Conduct Committee in December 2021 in relation to Rooney’s comments.

The committee accepted evidence from two witnesses who claimed Rooney said he had “joined a practice of f*cking Jews” and that he had been placed within the office “with f*cking Jewish freaks.” Colleagues also accused Rooney of telling on...

UK salary transparency group releases first average pay lists in architecture firms

2022-11-03T04:00:00-04:00

A UK-based organization dedicated to salary transparency in architecture has published its first snapshot of salary results following hundreds of grassroots submissions. As we reported in October, The Pay 100 is calling on architecture workers in the UK to submit their salaries to the group, who will ultimately publish a list of the top 100 salary averages of UK practices.

The first salaries published by the group are organized in three categories corresponding to typical positions in the UK architecture profession. The group anticipate an additional seven categories will be published when sufficient data is collected.

The Archinect Salary Poll features thousands of crowdsourced salary data from across the architecture community

The three published categories center on positions typically occupied by those in the earlier part of their architectural career. The first category, “Part I Architectural Assistant <3 years” represents those in the UK system who are working in a practice ha...

UK worker-led group launched to improve salary transparency in architecture firms

2022-10-13T03:13:00-04:00

A worker-led organization has launched in the United Kingdom with the aim of improving salary transparency in the architecture profession. The Pay 100, founded earlier this year, is currently calling on architecture workers in the UK to submit their salaries to the group, who will ultimately publish a list of the top 100 salary averages of UK practices.

“By incentivising higher wages using pay transparency, we can help reduce fee-undercutting between practices and benefit the profession as a collective,” the group says. “This is a systemic issue in which no one practice is solely responsible.”

The Archinect Salary Poll features thousands of crowdsourced salary data from across the architecture community

The motivation for The Pay 100 is fuelled by a stagnation of UK architectural salaries in recent years. According to the group, the annual publication of pay-scale bands for architectural positions in the UK has caused salaries to stand still despite rising costs of living.

“If we be...

Deal reached for US/UK reciprocal architectural licensure

2022-06-14T18:49:00-04:00

Two of the most influential professional architectural associations in the western hemisphere have pushed forward with their plans for a reciprocal licensure agreement between the US and UK. The UK’s Architects Registration Board (ARB) and the American National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) have recently ratified a new Mutual Recognition Agreement that will make the registration and licensure process much easier for practitioners in both countries.

The agreement makes it possible for architects to obtain business contracts, network with peers, and pursue new projects in new markets. This forthcoming arrangement is modeled after existing pacts between the American organization and Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The basis of the agreement is three-pronged, and hinges on each architect’s ability to hold an active NCARB certificate, be lawfully permitted to work in the country in which they are registered and hold a valid license from their home country’s reg...

Donation by Zaha Hadid Foundation creates scholarships for students from low-income households

2022-03-09T10:09:00-05:00

The London School of Architecture has announced a scholarship program for students from low-income households. The initiative will see three recipients each awarded £36,000 (approximately $47,000), covering the full fees and associated costs of the LSA’s two-year MArch program. The funding for the scholarship was made viable due to a donation from the Zaha Hadid Foundation.

The initiative is aimed at promising prospective Masters students from low-income backgrounds, defined as those whose household income is below £25,000 ($32,000). To qualify, applicants must either be over 25 and not financially dependent on parents or under 25 and not financially dependent on parents. The scholarship is also open to refugees who would otherwise be unable to pursue their studies, even if financially dependent on parents or relatives.

While the scholarship is aimed at all students from low-income backgrounds, the school also strongly encourages applications from students with “particular inter...

Foster + Partners sells “significant” shares to Canadian family private investment firm

2021-10-11T10:39:00-04:00

Foster + Partners, the largest architecture firm based in the United Kingdom, has announced a new partnership with a Canadian private family investment firm. The partnership with the Canadian firm, named Hennick & Company, sees the Hennick family now become the largest shareholder of Foster + Partners, followed by Norman Foster and his family.

The financial sum paid for the shares, and the size of the stakes, remains undisclosed according to the UK outlet Building Design, who first reported the story. Going forward, the practice’s existing partners will remain as long-term shareholders, retaining the balance of the equity between the Foster family and Hennick. Norman Foster will continue to serve in his current role as Executive Chairman, while all present partners will remain in their roles. The firm’s existing leadership team will also retain day-to-day operational responsibility.

Make unveils a new building for HMRC woven into the history of Salford

2021-09-15T13:51:00-04:00

Salford’s cotton-weaving history is behind Make Architecture's design for a brick commercial space Three New Bailey that will serve as a gateway to the city’s £1 billion master plan currently under development by the English Cities Fund.

Envisioned as a new regional hub for HMRC, the 7-story building will greet visitors and residents exiting the adjacent Salford Central train station into the newly formed piazza created on the 50-acre former brownfield site developed by the city council in collaboration with Legal & General and Homes England.

Image: © Paul Karalius

Per the architect: “The building’s simple and honest form was created in direct response to the HMRC brief and provides large, efficient, repeating floor spans with a side core to maximise flexibility in achieving their workplace needs for today and the future.”

Image: © Paul Karalius

Make incorporated a tiered system of weaves for the building’s short and long elevations that were developed with help from contractor Thorp...

Liverpool has been stripped of its World Heritage Site status after a ruling by UNESCO

2021-07-22T17:00:00-04:00

Unesco’s decision will no doubt be shrugged off as the prissy overreaction of an unelected body and, given what has been allowed in Edinburgh, the world heritage designation seems largely ineffectual anyway. But the act of striking Liverpool off the list helps to shine a powerful international spotlight on a city that has been happy to embrace mediocre development for far too long. It is a useful reminder that the world is watching.

Liverpool has failed to retain its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site following a meeting by the agency Wednesday in China.

The decision comes as no surprise to those who have for decades now been trying to prevent encroaching development near the city’s Victorian-era docks. UNESCO pointed to the “irreversible loss” of the docks’ historical value brought on by several multi-million pound projects including the Museum of Liverpool and new Everton football stadium.

UNESCO had originally placed the city on its list in 2004, but the slew of development that has taken place since brought on changes to the city skyline constituting a “significant loss to its authenticity and integrity” that lead to the agency’s decision which the city’s mayor has said could be appealed.

Oliver Wainwright responded with a missive decrying the city’s headstrong development pushes he views as “the consequences of a city in thrall to developers” that have destroyed Liverpool’s historic character in the s...

This year's Serpentine Pavilion, inspired by London's immigrant gathering spaces, opens a year later than planned

2021-06-10T18:41:00-04:00

The latest iteration of the Serpentine Pavilion is now open in London after more than a year of COVID-related delays.

South African studio Counterspace had to wait 10 months to present its final design after being named to the commission in February of 2020.

The women-led team completed the commission's 20th Pavilion using repurposed materials including wine corks, steel, and cement leftover from marble production. This culminated in a carbon-negative building six meters in height that brought together elements from the city’s disparate migrant enclaves in an amalgam of typologies meant to articulate different scales of intimacy, according to Counterspace’s founder Sumayya Vally.

To gain perspective for the structure, Vally spent four months in the city looking for gathering spaces that typifi...

“We don’t ever want it to be finished” - Museum of Making opens at Derby's UNESCO site

2021-06-07T13:22:00-04:00

A new museum in England has given new life to a 300-year-old factory building after an £18 million capital campaign.

The aptly named Museum of Making is now open and operational inside a repurposed former factory space at the Derwent Valley Mills, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001.

MoM Exterior 5 – Credit Derby Museums & Art Lewry, Culture Communications Collective

Leeds-based Bauman Lyons has partnered with Derby Museums since 2011 to spearhead a redesign of the historic mill using an innovative hands-on approach that meant working with community members to collaborate on a model for what eventually became the first DIY museum in the country.

A 2015 ground floor refurbishment left an open space for volunteers to "fit-out" with the help of makers-in-residence, which led to an expanded effort the firm credited to the "maker" movement.

The Gateway at the Museum of Making - Speller Metcalfe-Derby Museums

The Museum, now a Grade II Listed Building, is unique bot...

James Corner Field Operations to lead design for new UK Highline

2021-02-16T13:49:00-05:00

Following the five-month search for a design team to deliver London's new elevated park, the Camden Highline has selected James Corner Feild Operations to lead the design team. The firm will work in collaboration with vPPR Architects and a number of other creative specialists including London artist Hew Locke, community consultation organization Street Space, and Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf, among others.

For the first stages of the new project, the design team will consult the local community and key stakeholders to create an inclusive plan for the new walkway before advancing it through the planning process.

"Camden is such an extraordinary place, a vibrant, hip, and diverse community that will soon enjoy an amazingly unique, public green thread that ties its various communities together in ways both revelatory and transformative, said James Corner of Field Operations in a statement. "We could not be more excited to work with residents and stakeholders to create a one-of-a-...

Norman Foster proposes pop-up UK Parliament building inspired by Crystal Palace

2020-08-24T12:29:00-04:00

Architect Norman Foster is reviving a plan for creating expansive temporary facilities to be used by the parliament of the United Kingdom while the Palace of Westminster undergoes significant restoration.

The £300 million proposal calls for a erecting an amorphous, 151-meter-long glass-wrapped temporary structure in the Horse Guards Parade adjacent to the existing houses of parliament. The four story structure, which would include 650 offices as well as detailed replicas of the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and other significant interior spaces, is designed to be taken down and re-used once the renovations to the historic structure have run their course.

Previously on Archinect: UK Parliament renovations uncover 360-year-old hidden passage. View of the UK Houses of Parliament. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / Maurice.

Inspired by the Crystal Palace, the temporary Parliament would be topped by a cast iron and plate glass panel dome spanning over an interior roof garden stu...

UK to radically overhaul land-use system in the name of "beauty"

2020-08-06T12:27:00-04:00

the government is tearing up the national rule book that has been in place since the second world war to ensure the best use of land, and replacing it with three simple classifications. From now on, all land in England will be designated for either “growth”, with automatic planning permission, “renewal”, with permission subject to some basic checks, or “protection”, preserving the sacrosanct status of the green belt.

Among the drastic streamlining of the planning approval process proposed is a system of automatic approvals that privileges pattern book-style developments that make use of readymade designs similar to those already used in Bath, Belgravia and Bournville, BBC reports.

Henning Larsen selected to redevelop Belfast waterfront

2020-07-10T14:22:00-04:00

Henning Larsen Architects has been selected to design a new 2.6-hectare redevelopment scheme for the areas surrounding a currently underutilized stretch of Belfast's River Lagan waterfront.

The project, recently approved by the Belfast City Council, will bring a mix of offices, housing, and public spaces to the district with the goal of using buildings and a "microclimate"-focused site design to drastically increase the number of weeks the area is suitable for comfortable outdoor habitation.

“We saw a truly special opportunity in this ambitious project to bring a Nordic understanding of the public realm to Belfast,” states Henning Larsen partner Jacob Kurek, adding, “From Copenhagen, we know that harbors and rivers have enormous potential to attract and activate public life in a city. River Lagan will no longer be a division in Belfast but a connection – a hub – instead.”

Renderings for the project depict a mix of glassy, mid-rise buildings with prominently detailed retail areas, ...

Citing Grenfell, UK moves to limit mass timber construction

2020-05-26T11:57:00-04:00

Despite the fact that mass timber testing has consistently shown that the material performs better than required in fire and structural situations, the government of the United Kingdom is considering imposing new height limitations for mass timber structures in the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy.

The BBC reports that UK government officials are considering new regulations that would cap the height of these structures at 11 meters, or roughly three to four stories. Application of the mass timber technologies would still be allowed "in floors," BBC reports, but not along exterior walls. In most other countries that allow mass timber construction, structures are allowed to rise six stories or more.

The proposal has been initiated, according to reports, in an effort to limit the potential for the spread of fire along exterior cladding as occurred in the Grenfell fire when an insulation layer situated within the concrete tower's composite aluminum cladding caught fire, allowing flame...

Architect creates detailed floor plans of Buckingham Palace

2020-04-29T12:57:00-04:00

In a pursuit to create the most accurate floor plan of Buckingham Palace available on the internet, HomeAdvisor embarked on a research project to scour every available photo and video of the palace interiors to uncover the layout of every room. Researchers then collected additional information from the Royal Collection Trust and the official website of the British royal family, before passing all of their findings to architect Jelena Popovic, who created the drawings shown below.

With 775 total rooms, the palace includes 19 staterooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices, and 78 bathrooms. However, many of the spaces within the palace still remain a mystery with many areas off-limits to everyone except palace staff.

The State Dining Room is located in the Central Block of the palace.

The research team tackled the challenge by dividing the palace into three sections: The Central Block, the Queen's Apartments, and the East Front. Upon entry of the Central Block,...

Archinect - News

The political reason behind London’s ‘weird’ skyline

As the UK’s Raac problems grow, concerned educators complain of a stalled government response

Another Banksy mural destroyed after the building it was painted on was demolished

UK architecture workers can now join Unite, one of the UK's largest trade unions

Ranking UK firms by pay: The Pay 100's report on salaries and unpaid overtime

‘Mutant’ London apartment block to be demolished for deviating too far from permitted development

Over 100 schools close in the UK over concrete safety concerns

LOLA Landscape Architects tapped as designers for mixed-use Hartree development in Cambridge

Inside the new BAFTA headquarters by Benedetti Architects

RIBA decries proposed ARB educational overhaul

AL_A moves forward on world’s first magnetized fusion power plant in UK

A new white paper from RIBA outlines pathways for architecture students and emerging architects

Foster + Partners reveal cross-laminated timber scheme in London

Soane Medalist Peter Barber on some possible fixes to the UK's housing crisis

UK architect banned after making antisemitic comments towards colleagues

UK salary transparency group releases first average pay lists in architecture firms

UK worker-led group launched to improve salary transparency in architecture firms

Deal reached for US/UK reciprocal architectural licensure

Donation by Zaha Hadid Foundation creates scholarships for students from low-income households

Foster + Partners sells “significant” shares to Canadian family private investment firm

Make unveils a new building for HMRC woven into the history of Salford

Liverpool has been stripped of its World Heritage Site status after a ruling by UNESCO

This year's Serpentine Pavilion, inspired by London's immigrant gathering spaces, opens a year later than planned

“We don’t ever want it to be finished” - Museum of Making opens at Derby's UNESCO site

James Corner Field Operations to lead design for new UK Highline

​Norman Foster proposes pop-up UK Parliament building inspired by Crystal Palace

UK to radically overhaul land-use system in the name of "beauty"

Henning Larsen selected to redevelop Belfast waterfront

Citing Grenfell, UK moves to limit mass timber construction

Architect creates detailed floor plans of Buckingham Palace

Norman Foster proposes pop-up UK Parliament building inspired by Crystal Palace