NEW URBAN HOUSING IDEAS FOR SHEFFIELD
OCTOBER 2016
Darbishire Place, our housing project for the Peadbody Trust, will feature in the public exhibition ‘New Urban Housing Ideas for Sheffield’ which runs from 22nd to 30th October at Sheffield Train Station. The event, staged by the Sheffield Civic Trust, aims to showcase the best, most innovative examples of new urban housing from across the UK and Europe. Also exhibited are projects by O’Donnell + Tuomey; Project Orange; Henley Halebrown Rorrison; Pitman Tozer; Ash Sakula; and Claire and David Kemp.
A+U FEATURE ON SOMERVILLE COLLEGE ACCOMMODATION
MAY 2014
The Japanese journal a+u has published an account of the practice’s student accommodation for Somerville College, Oxford. The theme of this month’s publication is ‘New Landscapes of Wooden Architecture’ and features an international selection of projects that explore new aspects of wood technology and its potential within cities. The article gives a description on the themes and processes behind the project, placing it within the context of the historic university city and the surrounding Radcliffe Infirmary Quarter.
It is illustrated with working details of the bespoke timber glazing for the stair tower lanterns, as well as the prefabricated timber projecting bay window units for the student bedrooms, with their integral desk and bench seat overlooking the street.
‘We chose to make the glazed elements in the stair towers and student rooms in wood because we wanted them to be like warm lanterns, internally lit in the evening, bringing light to the narrow street…Wood allowed us to make more three-dimensional details…we owe a debt to Louis Kahn’s work at Philip Exeter Academy Library.’ NM