Somerville College Student Accommodation in Oxford was awarded a certificate of commendation for the RIAI Silver Medal for housing 2011-2012. The award is to encourage excellence of design in housing by giving public recognition to architects responsible for buildings of exceptional merit. It is awarded five years after the competition so the building can be evaluated in a mature setting.
Information on the award can be found here.
In their August issue entitled ‘Home’, the Architects’ Journal has featured an article on the practice’s remodelling of Duncan Terrace, a Grade II-listed Georgian house in Islington. After winning a private competition held by the clients in 1999, the residential project has spanned over a decade and is now complete. The internal arrangement of the house has been extensively remodelled and a dedicated gallery space built at the end of the courtyard garden, to house the clients’ collection of contemporary art and ceramics.
The main house is linked to the gallery space through a double-height passageway, formed between the existing listed flanking garden wall and a new screen of cast plaster blocks, set behind translucent glass. The screen gathers light from both sides making the cast volumes appear to float, with light able to penetrate around each block held in the array.
To read the full article click here.