The Observer, Who should win the 2023 Stirling prize?
May 2023
Rowan Moore has written in the Observer discussing who should win this years Stirling Prize and selected Saltmarsh House as one of them. He describes the building as "mathematically insistent and precise – the diameter of the metal tubes used for both structure and light fittings is an unvarying 4cm, and it’s built to a tiny 3mm margin of error – to the point of luxuriance. Victorian greenhouses that once stood nearby are inspirations for its fragility, the Amber Fort in Jaipur for its quadripartite columns, the Japanese engawa or veranda for the open-to-nature dining room."
Athletes Occupy Olympic Housing
August 2012
In the run up to the London Olympics, the Athletes’ Village housing block N15, is now occupied with athletes’ preparing for the games. Niall McLaughlin Architects have designed the external skin of the housing block on a ‘chassis’ designed by Glen Howells. The facade samples fragments of the Elgin Marbles, scanned from the British Museum and converted into 3D pre-cast panels depicting galloping horses from the Parthenon Frieze.
Niall McLaughlin commented on the practice’s approach to the unusual commission in Building Design. ‘I was very interested in the principle of the facade being delaminated from the building’s core form. Usually it’s something one tries to swim against to retain a sense of ‘authenticity’, but here we decided to embrace it….I like the idea of setting Ruskin’s conception of the craftsman against the absolute Taylorism of the construction process. Through digital reproduction, these deracinated stones are now doubly lost.’ (Building Design 27.01.2012)