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[...] the 2016 Unzipped pavilion by the Danish architect Bjarke Ingels was acquired by a wealthy collector: the Canadian developer Ian Gillespie, whose company Westbank was a sponsor of the London presentation. Last month, the shape-shifting 14-metre-high, 27-metre-long installation made the move to inner city Toronto, where it was unveiled on the site of the architect’s next commission for Westbank, a massively ambitious housing complex on King Street West. — The Art Newspaper
Another member of the growing family of the Serpentine Galleries' annual summer pavilions has found a new home: the Bjarke Ingels-designed Unzipped pavilion — famously praised by The Guardian's architecture critic Oliver Wainwright as "possibly the Serpentine’s most... View full entry
The 2018 edition of the annual The Progress 1000: London's most influential people list has been released, and among the myriad of categories from the worlds of politics, entertainment, art, philanthropy, sports, technology, or science, there is (phew) also a list of architects who made the most... View full entry
[...] Peter Barber, one of the most original architects working today. Over the past decade he has built a reputation for his ingenious reinventions of traditional house types and his ability to craft characterful chunks of city out of unpromising sites.
[...] He is a master of humane high-density, designing that rare thing: new housing that feels in tune with the grain of London, in the form of neither alienating slabs nor tacky towers, without resorting to pastiche.
— The Guardian
The Guardian's architecture critic, Oliver Wainwright, has nothing but praise for the award-winning firm Peter Barber Architects, a small practice that seeks to integrate social activism ideals when designing better, and more humane, housing for London. Holmes Road Studio, a whimsical housing... View full entry
A man has died after reportedly being hit by a windowpane that fell around 250ft from the top of a block of flats in central London. [...]
An image taken from The Corniche on the south bank of the River Thames by a resident showed a large window unit, complete with metal frame containing glass, on top of a male figure. [...]
An image showed a window missing from near the top of the 27-storey tower.
— The Independent
The Corniche, a luxury residential high-rise complex at 21 Albert Embankment, was designed by Foster + Partners and completed last year. The property's developer, St James, is working with the police to investigate the incident. View full entry
Following a three-year, £50.7m programme of works, dubbed the “Open Up” project, the ROH hopes to have a more visible, welcoming presence. Its motivations have not only been to shed its rarefied reputation, but also to improve crowd flow inside the constricted corridors, inject daytime activity and transform its secondary studio, the Linbury, into a new world-class theatre. Walls have been bulldozed, spaces excavated, and restaurants extended [...] — The Guardian
Oliver Wainwright reviews the result of Stanton Williams's extensive $66m 'Open Up' revamp of the Royal Opera House in London. Photo: Hufton+CrowPhoto: Hufton+CrowPhoto: Luke Hayes View full entry
A new carpet collection by Zaha Hadid Design will be displayed in the studio's London gallery during this year's London Design Festival. Created for Royal Thai, the RE/Form carpet collection consists of 22 designs inspired by four prominent themes in the studio's... View full entry
This post is brought to you by designjunction designjunction presents a stellar talks program taking place at the iconic Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf this London Design Festival. 50 world-class speakers will take to the stage between Thursday 20 - Friday 21 September. Moving away from... View full entry
David Chipperfield Architects recently completed Selfridges Duke Street, a new entrance building and accessories hall for the Selfridges department store in London. The new Duke Street entrance by David Chipperfield Architects, located in London. © Simon MengesThe department store is housed in... View full entry
It is an inventive fusion of the industrial and the crafted that runs throughout the project [...] Throughout, there are details that show the architects’ interest in how the building has been made and altered over time, and an awareness that their interventions are part of the ongoing life of the place, forming a richly layered canvas for artists to add to in turn. — The Guardian
The Guardian's Oliver Wainwright gives a first look into the new Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, which opens September 8. The project is the first permanent building of the young Turner Prize-winning collective Assemble, who won the competition in 2014 to transform the former... View full entry
JCDecaux has taken the wraps off a unique piece of out-of-home inventory in London designed by Zaha Hadid Design.
The agency briefed the agency to redefine 'the design language of billboards'. It ditched the conventional shapes and frames that have steered the industry to date. Dubbed 'The Kensington', and located on the road from London to Heathrow, the structure takes the shape of a curved double-ribbon.
— thedrum.com
Zaha Hadid Architects has created a new design for street advertising with JCDecaux Group, a multinational corporation known for its bus-stop advertising systems and billboards. Creating a sculptural advertising approach, the firm's design reinvents the classic billboard into public art. Brands... View full entry
London is pure object in these images and likewise in those taken from the other aforementioned viewing points. Like visitors to a museum, we wander the corridors atop the Switch House and observe the artefacts curated for our all-consuming gaze: a shard, a walkie-talkie, a gherkin, etc. Like Tower Bridge, the new Museum of London, Battersea Power Station and the Tate Modern, the skyline of the city is presented as a display – complete with its own exhibition gift shop. — failedarchitecture.com
George Kafka argues that London's trend in preservation and commemoration in the built environment is directly related to the decline of small-scale spaces and small businesses centered around everyday life. Kafka cites recent developments in London's built environment over the past few years... View full entry
The trustees of London’s garden bridge, including actor Joanna Lumley and the former Labour minister Lord Davies, could have breached their legal duties over the failed project, that cost taxpayers more than £40m, according to a leading lawyer.
The legal opinion comes as pressure mounts for a formal investigation into how the charity behind the abandoned scheme spent so much money without construction work even beginning.
— The Guardian
"The decision to press on with the construction contract led to public losses, initially capped at £16m, increasing to an estimated total of £46m by the time the scheme was cancelled in 2017," The Guardian reports. "The project, championed by then London mayor, Boris Johnson, was intended to be... View full entry
Facebook is doubling its presence in London by acquiring office space across two buildings in King's Cross.
The 600,000 square feet (56,000 square meters) of office space will be enough for more than 6,000 workstations. [...]
The expansion follows the 2017 opening of its site at Rathbone Place, which added 800 jobs and opened its first in-house incubator program for startup businesses. It also has a location on Brock Street.
— CNET
Considerably ramping up its workplace capacity by 611,000 sq ft in soon-to-be post-Brexit London, Facebook will be moving into new buildings at King's Cross: 11 and 21 Canal Reach, designed by Bennetts Associates, the ten and twelve-story-buildings already have detailed planning permission, as... View full entry
A 56-storey tower called The Diamond is set to join the growing cluster of skyscrapers in the City of London and will be the financial district’s third-tallest building when completed.
The planned 263.4m tower at 100 Leadenhall Street will rank behind 1 Undershaft at 290m, nicknamed the Trellis, where work is yet to start, and 22 Bishopsgate, the reworked Pinnacle at 278m, which is under construction.
— The Guardian
Image: The Diamond.The City of London's third-tallest building has just received planning permission, and it will be somewhat of a déjà vu: the SOM-designed, wedge-shaped 56-story tower, officially called The Diamond, is going to sit right next to Richard Roger's Cheesegrater—London's OG wedge. View full entry
Sam Jacob Studio has been commissioned to design the new home of Britain’s Cartoon Museum. Known for their avant-garde approach to design, the studio will help the museum expand its programming and bring a "real sense of fun and vibrancy to the visitor experience," says museum chair, Oliver... View full entry
