Niall McLaughlin Architects are delighted to have won the competition for a proposed new development for Balliol College in Oxford. The project brief is to increase and upgrade the College’s undergraduate and graduate student accommodation and provide conference facilities and a sports pavilion. The commission gives the practice the opportunity to revist the design of the student room cluster and create a series of buildings arranged around quadrangles and gardens.
Tamsin Hanke, member of the practice and recent winner of the Dissertation Medal at this year’s RIBA President’s Medal Student Awards, has written an article for the Architectural Review, commenting on the current political and urban landscape in Russia. Under the title ‘Don’t get Distracted: Russia under the Spotlight’, the piece gives context to the built fabric of the country, explaining its links to rapid industrialisation during at the first part of the 20th century. The article calls for an understanding of the complexities of contemporary Russia beyond recent attention grabbing headlines and stresses the need for new urban methods to solve the historic contradiction between policy and infrastructure.
To read the full article click here