THE SAHGB ANNUAL LECTURE: A CONVERSATION ABOUT THE SHAPE OF BUILDINGS TO COME
FEBRUARY 2025
On the 13th March Níall will be talking at The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain as part of their annual lecture. the evening will be looking at "how can architects and architectural historians, between tasks of being chroniclers, designers, analysts, constructors and commentators, find ways to collaboratively rethink heritage and conservation practices while addressing challenges brought on by these large-scale changes and implications in buildings, resources, energies, policies, laws and environments?"
Tickets can be purcahsed here.
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