Archinect - Features

Holidays and Bonfires

2017-08-07T05:39:00-04:00

July is not a usual month in Belfast. It’s holiday time — north coast beaches, infinite Donegal sands, the beautiful flat half-light of dusk of the western coast. For others it’s a time to play their part in, what is for some a controversial historical narrative that has, one way or another been weaving its way down through Ulster’s history — bonfires and marches. July is a month of distractions — holidays and bonfires. What a strange time then for the pre-planning consultations for two controversial schemes in the city to take place.

What we do as architects is not neutral: it is political

2017-07-05T05:30:00-04:00

I started writing this on the 13th of June. It was going to be a piece on the importance of critical engagement for sole or small practitioners. Thoughts on why, generally, as architects, we don't engage with other practices as much as we should; why it is important to do so; and to tell you about something we did here in Belfast to begin to explore how we might address this issue. Then, on the morning of the 14th of June, we all woke up to the news. The pictures. Smartphone footage. Tweets. Stories. Silhouettes of ghostly figures standing in smoke-filled rooms behind double glazed windows. The recordings of firefighters as they first saw the 24-storey, 67m high building that moments later they would be entering — “Fuck me, there’s children in there, there’s fucking children in there”. The numbers; statistics; faces of missing loved ones and the beginnings of public displays of collective grief soon to be followed by anger and protests.

Beyond hype and gentrification: Designing studios for artists

2017-06-30T04:15:00-04:00

The production of art has been present in our work since we started the practice nearly 8 years ago. One of our first projects was the studio of photographer Ori Gersht and painter Nogah Engler, which was for us a seminal work not only in terms of establishing some of the key principles that remain fundamental in our design approach until now, but it also marked the start of a body of work in the realm of arts and culture that has evolved into a wide range of projects, from collaborations with artists to exhibition design and gallery spaces. This was a natural consequence of the strong affinity we feel towards the process of artistic production, particularly when it comes to art from the 1960’s onwards when the ideas became as important as the making and production moved away from the artist, which brought it closer to the process of making architecture. Like some forms of art, our work often emerges from an idea of how the space or building will be experienced, and this idea ends u...

Why do we forget to look back when trying to move forward?

2017-06-28T04:45:00-04:00

I have recently become a trustee of the Turn End Trust, an organisation which conserves, protects and maintains one of three Grade II listed houses designed and built in the 1960’s by the architect Peter Aldington, in the Buckinghamshire village of Haddenham.

Chasing rabbits — tales from a new practice.

2017-05-19T05:30:00-04:00

My first entry into the practice diaries is apt. Last week I launched a new architects practice LōF architects. I use the plural, but sat in my office — a small room at the bottom of my garden with just about enough room for either me or a swinging cat, but not both — I realise that the ’s’ is more a statement of future intent than a present reality. It’s really just me on my own.

When a building is not the answer

2017-05-17T06:31:00-04:00

In between the rush from here to there, have you noticed that we’re living in the ‘inbetween’?

While technology enables unprecedented levels of connectivity and inclusion, fragmentation abounds as our sense of community, belonging and traditional business models are turned on their heads.

Dissolving the line between client and staff spaces

2017-03-10T04:13:00-05:00

Workplace designers are changing their approaching to client spaces within the office.

Traditionally, clients occupied dedicated and contained spaces that are segregated from staff areas and amenities. These spaces are designed as microcosms for meeting and entertaining, often with higher levels of finishes and with the best views. A carefully planned sequence of arrival spaces and ‘protected routes’ guide clients to these areas, which would often be the only spaces visitors see.

Buildings Need to be Curated; Collaboration With Other Fields Is Vital to an Era of Experience

2017-02-24T01:00:00-05:00

Look around. What is it that makes you most happy? Is it the mountain bike, or is it where that mountain bike takes you? Out amongst nature, wind in your face, exploring newfound tracks. Without this, the experience, it would simply just be a steel frame with wheels, sitting in a rack.

It’s the same with buildings or places. Without activation and life, they are just mere bricks and mortar or concrete structures, static in nature.