Archinect - News

Asif Khan homages Victorian London timber laborers with Canada Water boardwalk

2024-10-30T18:07:00-04:00

Asif Khan’s contribution to London's Canada Water master plan, a 230-foot-long boardwalk designed to homage the historic Surrey Docks' laborers and their role in Britain’s bygone timber industry heyday, has debuted in collaboration with the award-winning firm Townshend Landscape Architect.

Image: © Brendan Bell

Located on the rehabilitated shoreline of the River Thames in southeast London, the firms worked together with the London Wildlife Trust to deliver the project that doubles as a social hub, stepping down to the water's edge to include seating areas and an educational pond.

Image: © Brendan Bell

Surrounding it are a series of manmade islands and channels that attract and support avian species, conceived of as a 'mosaic' of different biodiversity enhancing natural habitats.

Image: © Luke Hayes

Inspired to design a pensive respite from the pace of the city, Khan says: "Crossing water can give us powerful sensations. This boardwalk immerses us in a few moments of colour, of nature...

Knight Architects receives public approval for pedestrian bridge in London's Canary Wharf

2021-07-08T16:39:00-04:00

Bridge specialists, Knight Architects, have received substantial public approval for their South Dock Bridge, a new pedestrian bridge in London’s Docklands. Once completed, it is expected to become one of the busiest pedestrian bridges in London.

Designed by Knight Architects, Arcadis, and Kgal for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTH), the proposed bridge will support increased volumes of pedestrian traffic, which are predicted with the expansion of the Isle of Dogs, a historic, major trading center in London. The area is surrounded by the River Thames and contains Canary Wharf, one of the UK’s main financial centers. The increased predicted levels of pedestrian traffic in the Isle of Dogs is set to be above levels that can be comfortably accommodated with existing infrastructure. The South Dock Bridge intends to support this expansion.

The bridge will improve walkable connections between existing public spaces with proposed development in the area and local public transit. I...

Another, now Versace-branded, luxury apartment tower to be built in London

2017-08-25T04:00:00-04:00

A property firm run by a business partner of US President Donald Trump has awarded a £250 million ($320 million) contract to developers for the construction of a "Versace-branded" skyscraper in London. Nine Elms Property awarded the contract to developers Multiplex for the construction of AYKON London One, a fifty-story tower to be built in central London at Nine Elms on the South Bank.

"The world's first Versace-branded tower", AYKON London One, valued at £590 million, will consist of fifty floors and 450 apartments from one to three bedrooms, interiors of which will be designed in partnership with luxury fashion house Versace and feature panoramic-view "winter gardens". In addition to residential units, the KPF-designed building will contain 10,000 square feet of "communal gardens", four floors devoted to office space, and a sky bridge between the two towers. Although the building is scheduled to be completed by 2022, forty-five percent of the apartments are said to be already pre-sold.

The multi-billion pound "regeneration" scheme of the River Thames bank, of which the AYKON London tower is a part of, also involves the construction of luxury apartments in Battersea Power Station and a new US embassy. As noted by Business Insider, Dubai-based Hussain Sajwani, who owns DAMAC International, the main developer in charge, is a close associate of Donald Trump.

Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands + Leo Villareal to light London's bridges anew

2016-12-13T18:56:00-05:00

The team led by artist Leo Villareal and architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands had the winning proposal in the Illuminated River design competition, which will redesign the lighting scheme for central London's bridges across the River Thames. The winners were one of six shortlisted schemes created by notable contenders such as Adjaye Associates, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Amanda Levete Architects, who all led multi-disciplinary teams with famous artists.

Learn more on Bustler.

For more about bridges on Archinect:

If London Garden Bridge is cancelled, NAO report says taxpayers could lose £20m

NEXT Architects design a swooping "Mobius strip" bridge for Changsha, China

Calatrava's Peace Bridge in Calgary keeps getting vandalized and the repair costs are adding up

If London Garden Bridge is cancelled, NAO report says taxpayers could lose £20m

2016-10-12T19:58:00-04:00

Ministers have repeatedly given more public money to London’s planned garden bridge, despite official advice against doing so, and risk losing more than £20m if the controversial project is cancelled, according to a report from the National Audit Office...The Garden Bridge Trust has yet to secure the necessary sub-lease on the area of the South Bank where the bridge will land, the report notes, while the main contractor [is] on standby and construction has been delayed for at least 18 months.

For previous news on this ongoing struggle:

London mayor Sadiq Khan blocks extra funds for garden bridge

Allies and Morrison propose an alternative to the garden bridge

London's garden bridge, the saga continues

Sadiq Khan investigates troublesome details in Thames garden bridge project

London Garden Bridge wins new supporters with revised funding deal

2015-11-02T19:34:00-05:00

The controversial and seemingly doomed plan for a garden bridge over the Thames in London could be resurrected after the group behind the project reached an agreement with council officials over the level of public funding. On Monday...a joint announcement by Lambeth...and the Garden Bridge Trust said negotiations would resume after a deal to limit the money Transport for London (TfL) would have to pay towards construction to £10m, from an original £30m.

Previously on Archinect:

London's Garden Bridge endangered by public funding shortfall

As Garden Bridge procurement process is headed for review, London group claims that 30 new parks could be funded instead

Satirical “Folly for London” competition mocks Garden Bridge project

Zaha Hadid, Piers Gough, other leading cultural figures criticize Heatherwick's London Garden Bridge

You can find more previous news on the Garden Bridge here.

Satirical “Folly for London” competition mocks Garden Bridge project

2015-06-12T19:22:00-04:00

As controversy carries on over the notorious Garden Bridge by Heatherwick Studio proposed for London's South Bank, some opposers of the project are expressing their discontent with good ol' British satire in the soon-to-be-launched "Folly for London" competition. If you have a cheeky sense of humor, you'll have fun in this one.

Previously on Archinect

UPDATE, June 15, 2015: Will Jennings, artist and initiator of the "Folly for London" competition, sent us this statement to further explain the cause until the design ideas contest officially opens for entries.

Details of the competition will be announced in due course and we will seek entries from across professional architectural and design circles, established and amateur artists, citizens of London and anyone else with an interest in the capital - adults and children alike - before a panel of judges, including architecture writer Owen Hatherley, will meet to decide the best follies.

The website is not only intended as a ‘home’ for the competition, with details being added as we get closer to the launch, but will also have writings and responses to the many issues around the city, politics, finances and architecture which are raised by the problematic Garden Bridge project.

While we will invite crazy, ridiculous and satirically nonsensical projects and ask p...

Zaha Hadid, Piers Gough, other leading cultural figures criticize Heatherwick's London Garden Bridge

2015-06-02T16:29:00-04:00

'Architecturally, the ends of the bridge are abysmal: they are sort of hacked off. It’s not a good termination of the bridge – it’s inelegant – and the views of the ends of the bridge are particularly poor and ungraceful. It doesn’t look good. It isn’t a nice piece of work.' — Piers Gough

As the cherry on top for the widely dreaded Thames Garden Bridge, The Guardian rounds up a somewhat entertaining mix of critical reactions from prominent British architects, novelists, and artists on the proposed project, which faces an imminent judicial review.

Previously:

Further legal setbacks for London Garden Bridge

Airbnb celebrates London's Deregulation Act with floating house on River Thames

2015-05-18T20:39:00-04:00

Airbnb is sailing a full-size floating house along the Thames this week to celebrate new rules to support home sharing in London. The publicity stunt follows the passing of the Deregulation Act last month, which means Londoners are now free to rent their homes for up to 90 days a year without risk of fines or having to secure planning permission before doing so.

For more information and your chance to stay in the floating house click here.

Would you cross these bridges? Check out a few Nine Elms to Pimlico Bridge entries for London's River Thames

2015-02-24T20:44:00-05:00

As part of the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area Planning Framework, London's Borough of Wandsworth has its sights on constructing a new pedestrian bridge across the River Thames, between the two very distinct districts of Nine Elms and Pimlico. Quite evidently, the teams currently in the Nine Elm to Pilmico Bridge competition aren't holding back their imaginations.

Launched this past December, the competition invited multidisciplinary teams worldwide to conjure up a design concept that would serve as a basis for the final design of the bridge for construction -- if the project even gets to that point. The competition organizers state on their website that they're not looking for a specific design, but rather the best team that shows the strongest capability of designing the landmark bridge.

Out of the 74 schemes from Stage One, we picked out a few that caught our attention:

↑ Scheme 70

↑ Scheme 60

↑ Scheme 62

↑ Scheme 04

↑ Scheme 43

↑ Scheme 08

↑ Scheme 80

↑ Scheme 10

↑ Scheme 29

↑...