– Architecture with a social spin: an initiative for a school in Guatemala from Architecture Sans Frontieres.
– The ancient craft of hand-blown cylinder glass.
– Natural materials for the future: environmentally friendly engineered wood and hempcrete introducing hemp to traditional concrete techniques.
– Goldsmith Street: a new direction for social housing.
You can read the full version of the Sketchbook Chronicles issue N.003 here.
– Handmade origami paper-lamps made by the RISE creative team.
– Carbon-zero London architecture at Ted Cullinan’s house in Camden Mews.
– Translucent walls made of polycarbonate materials.
You can read the full version of the Sketchbook Chronicles issue N.002 here.
– A walk around Walmer Yard to boost our passion for architectural details.
– The Living Architecture initiative: Peter Zumthor’s villa introduced us to this idea by Alain de Botton from the School of Life.
– RISE Rusted Lamp: a wink to our Brexit Bunker.
You can read the full version of the Sketchbook Chronicles issue N.001 here.
The Goldsmith Street council housing scheme in Norwich is a gem of contemporary architecture, a precedent for the direction architecture should take as it wades through the challenges presented by today’s world. More than just a pleasant place to live, the scheme stands up to housing difficulties, faces dilemmas about inequality, and all the while tackles environmental concerns reaching Passivhaus standards.
Sustainability, equality, dignity, character, ecological and social consciousness, and the much-sought-after-but-rarely-achieved Passivhaus standard… we are all compelled by these terms and, in an ideal world, would like to implement them in our homes and our designs.
The truth, however, is that a very small percentage of new builds are willing to raise their standards to meet environmental and social demands, and that most home-owners and developers who do want to respond to these concerns are often deterred by the cost increase or the toll it takes on aesthetic aspirations. Indeed, for many years it seemed that too much had to be given up, that quality design and Passivhaus were a luxury… But then Mikhail Riches designed the Goldsmith Street housing scheme, and the Norwich City Council decided to build it.
Goldsmith Street is not remarkable just because it has achieved Passivhaus for social housing, it is remarkable because it is living proof that budget, design, and environment are not the irreconcilable points of a triangle we thought they were (read an earlier post we wrote on sustainable architecture principles).
This seemingly futile event has had a big impact on British architecture; council houses are constantly being commissioned and built, but few of them manage to have an impact, let alone a game-changing impact, on the way we see the future of architecture. And this is a future that is important to think about: as big cities like London face evermore pressing housing crisis and the effects of the damage to the environment start to be felt globally, it is crucial to identify a direction for architecture that addresses these issues.
The fact that Mikhail Riches’ design has received so many awards is a hopeful sign. To date, it has been bestowed with the RIBA East Award 2019, the RIBA East Client of the Year 2019 for Norwich City Council, the RIBA East Sustainability Award 2019, the RIBA National Award 2019, the Neave Brown Award for Housing 2019 and the RIBA Stirling Prize 2019… and there are probably more to come!
The scheme deserves each and every one of these prizes because of its relevance and uniqueness. For being innovative using humble forms, for proving that it is worth taking on a challenge such as is council housing, for having the courage to stick with its priorities, for designing with the people that will become occupiers in mind, for caring about the details, for not being afraid of using the traditional British street as a precedent, for understanding the difference between fashionable and good… and for inspiring other architects, like us, to strive to meet the same architectural and ethical standards.
You can read more about the Goldsmith Street design on the RIBA website.
Image © Tim Crocker
Happy New Year to all our clients and followers. We finished some really exciting projects in 2019, two of which were shared widely online due to coverage from some of the architecture and design world’s top websites. Douglas House, an extension of a terraced house in Kensal Rise in London, transformed the property into a contemporary and light living space. The second, the ‘Brexit Bunker’, nicknamed by its owner in Kensal Rise, added a garden office and ‘place of serenity’.
Douglas fir-lined extension
“180 metre square project features an oriel window which sits in dialogue with a third-floor reading pod”
Dressed in Danish timber, the family rooms have taken over the ground floor to extend into the garden. The ground floor also houses a carefully designed utility room and built-in larders that extend from the floor and hide in the walls of the living room. On the first floor, the children’s rooms are decorated with wooden details and other natural materials, and the family bathroom is full of natural light. The loft conversion is home to the master bedroom, which has a second half-floor that extends upwards to a reading space from which you can look out over the local area.
The house also features a range of environmental technologies, including high levels of insulation, airtightness, roof-mounted solar panels, a mechanical ventilation heat recovery system, rainwater harvesting, and smart thermostats.
We were delighted that this project was featured by:
Architect’s Journal: ‘RISE Design Studio completes Douglas fir-lined extension to London house‘
ArchDaily: ‘Douglas House/RISE Design Studio‘
Dezeen: ‘RISE Design Studio adds Douglas fir-lined reading nooks to London house‘
Architecture Today: ‘RISE Design Studio has maximised the spatial and environmental potential of a semi-detached house in London‘
An oasis of calm in a busy city
“A calming retreat from the hectic outside world”
The ‘Brexit bunker’ was added to a small garden – although novel, it does not interfere with the property’s existing architecture and the raw aesthetic ties the entire garden together. The walls are built with reclaimed bricks and the interior is clad with birch plywood, giving the space a warm glow when the light reflects from the skylight in the roof. Spanish steps lead towards the roof light and a relaxing space to contemplate life without seeing any visual cues that the structure is in the city rather than the countryside.
This project was featured by:
Architizer: ‘The Brexit Bunker, London‘
designboom: ‘The Brexit Bunker is an oasis of calm in north-west London‘
Archilovers: ‘Brexit Bunker‘
You can also read more on our Projects page.
Why the climate emergency is a crisis, and not just a concern:
The words ‘climate’ and ’emergency’ have only recently started to spring up in the news in relation to each other. Until now, we would talk of climate change, global warming, sea-level rise… so, what has changed, and what does it mean to be in the midst of a climate emergency?
We have all seen the numbers before, but it is important to understand that the numbers are not just statistics. They are not predictions. They are the breakdown of our reality; unwanted guests that have already installed themselves in our living rooms… we are the ones who let them in and only we can tell them to leave. If we try to think about the numbers beyond their abstract measure, we may just be able to grasp the precarity of the times we live in:
– Loss of biodiversity fact: Our Living Planet Report 2018 reveals how there has been a 60% reduction in population sizes of wildlife worldwide since 1970. This does not just mean that we will see four instead of ten elephants on our next safari. This means that: a) entire groups of species have disappeared, forever; b) those who are still around are seeing their numbers reduce dramatically and struggling to keep up with reproduction rates, and paired with the loss of habitat this will likely lead to scenario “a” for many them at a vertiginous speed. However, this is not just about the effect these species have in the natural world. The plants and biome that the human race depends on are being affected just as much. Medicine and food are examples of resources that come in their majority from the natural world, and two of the things that we will witness being dramatically affected during our own lifespans. The consequences of their shortage will change our lives as we know them.
– Global warming fact: since the industrial revolution, the average temperature of the planet has increased almost 1ºC, and it is getting worse. The planet has natural cycles of heating and cooling, but these natural cycles happen slowly, which means that ecosystems can adapt to the changes. However, the exorbitant amounts of carbon dioxide that we have released into the environment since the industrial revolution have accelerated the Greenhouse Effect at an unprecedented speed. Among other things, this means that the natural atmospheric and oceanic currents are being disrupted and altering the natural climate that we knew as little as half a century ago. And the planet is not just getting warmer: hurricanes and cyclones are getting more violent, desertification is advancing and rendering miles of previously fertile lands sterile, and the poles are melting leading to a measurable rise of the sea-level. To put it into perspective, we are facing a situation in which our growing population will be left with less area to live in and less land to feed from… each of us can draw a conclusion of what this scenario may look like.
How it will affect the future
The consequences of any single factor that accounts for the climate emergency we are living will be far and wide. To make matters worse, climate change, global warming, sea-level rise, and loss of biodiversity do not act alone nor do they act on a single other element of their environments. Like any foreign agent introduced in an ecosystem, they interact with the ecosystem and with each other in such intricate ways that their full aftermath is often nearly impossible to predict. What we do know, however, is that the consequences will be bad. There is no sugar coating it. From floods to desertification, from arable land to drinkable water, the effects of the damage we are inflicting on the environment today will come back to haunt us on a scale that is difficult to come to terms with.
Why it is so crucial to act now
One of the main issues stopping real action from happening is that it can be hard to wrap our minds around this doomsday scenario from many of our perspectives. We can live in London, recycle our waste regularly, cycle to work and follow Greta Thunberg on Twitter and be at ease with ourselves. We can genuinely care about the environment and yet not fully understand the scope of the danger we are in as a species and as a planet… and that is why it is so important to act now; because, when the consequences are here, when there is no denying that we have gone too far, it will be too late to do something about it.
How architecture plays a role
That is why architects in the UK and around the world have been called to action and to unite in order to change our industry standards and respond to this climate emergency. It is a sad day in an architect’s career when they learn that the construction industry is responsible for almost 40% of the total energy-related carbon dioxide emitted to our environment. However, this also means that there is a lot of room for improvement and that real results can be achieved if we change the way we build across the board.
What is Architects Declare?
Architects Declare is a pledge to take on this responsibility and to be an agent for change within our industry. Along with almost 800 UK based architects, RISE Design Studio has committed to be an ambassador for the environment in the construction world and to contribute to a positive change in the way we conceive, construct, and deliver the built world. Together, we have the opportunity to make a real and positive impact in our world and our future through sustainable architecture, responsible building techniques, and environmental education at every stage of construction.
To find out more about Architects Declare and our commitment, you can visit the website at www.architectsdeclare.com. We hope you support us in our decision to tackle the climate emergency together.
Terrace housing has become an icon of development in Great Britain and Ireland. But, did you know that despite its very British connotations, the aesthetic of the terrace house was, in its origins, an attempt to bring the architectural style of Palladio and the Italian Renaissance masters across the Channel? The Venetian palazzos, built around 1550 in Northern Italy are a great example of what the first terrace housing developers had in mind.
The trick, of course, was to be able to adapt the architecture of a palazzo to London, and to the much smaller building areas it offered. In order to do so, space was maximised by placing houses in a row, and building labour was standardised by making the homes in sets of almost identical mirrored pairs. Even with this efficient agenda, however, the original terrace houses did not look much like they do today.
Terrace housing in London, and in other British cities such as Bath or Edinburgh, started to appear in the mid 17th century. In their origins, they were conceived as desirable houses for aristocrats, and sprang up mostly around well-off areas such as Regents Park and Grosvenor Square, for those members of the nobility who had to spend time in the city. Built in a classic Georgian style, the houses provided an all-in-one solution to accomplish the basic needs of a noble family within the city scale: family living, entertaining, and housing the servant quarters in the same building. During these Georgian times, terraces were typically placed around a communal square garden, giving the neighbours a sense of having a private piece of countryside within the city.
The grandeur associated with terraces did not last long, however. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, terraces gained enormous popularity as a way of rebuilding the city quickly and efficiently. The disaster worked much like a wildfire: initially causing immeasurable destruction, but sparking a renewed wave of growth and development afterwards. This time, however, the inhabitants that the developers had in mind were middle-class industrial workers rather than noble families.
In the course of the Victorian era, the terrace format changed from being a privileged form of city housing to becoming the go-to residential architecture solution to overpopulation. The new wave of terraces was very similar to the style we know today: they were built with efficiency in mind and arranged on two facing rows on a single street. Instead of the more noble stone of the Georgian houses, these terraces were made with cheaper materials supplied en-masse by the engines of the industrial revolution. A not-so-fun fact about these early terraces is that most were not provided with plumbing or sanitary installations… instead, they had outhouses that were sometimes shared between several households. The poor sanitary circumstances of the early Victorian terrace houses enhanced many of the hygiene problems faced by London as its population increased dramatically during the Industrial Revolution.
Even though these standards were raised, the early 20th century still associated terraced with overcrowding and poor sanitation, and terraces for the middle class lost popularity in favour of new tower constructions. However, as the modernist dream of the highly organised vertical city did not quite deliver its promises, terraces gained a kinder perspective again as people started to regard them as a good balance between city life, family homes, and private outdoor space.
Today, terraces represent the perfect marriage between living in the city and enjoying a family home with a sense of community. Terrace houses continue to increase in popularity and are constantly being updated and upgraded to suit their inhabitants’ needs. Divisions into several flats, regroupings to make single-family homes, extensions, renovations, and additions have passed and gone through many of these houses. Now, more than 350 years after they started to populate the streets, terraces keep proving to be immensely versatile homes that evolve with the nation, and homes that can constantly adapt to the needs of their time.
We have heard it time and again: a house with good light is a good house. But what is just as true is that not all properties come with the amounts of natural light we would like to have. That is why architects, engineers and designers have come up with clever ways of allowing those precious rays of sunlight into the very depths of your home. We would like to present to you five different ways to make your home brighter with natural light: from extensions to small renovations, rearrangements, or additions, read below and find out how you can turn that dark living room into a room full of light.
Rooflights
This is probably the most straight-forward way of bringing in light, and one of the most effective too! Allowing the light to come in from the top will get you more than sunlight: the ambient light from the sky will get inside the room even when the sun isn’t shining, and during all daylight hours. A skylight is your best bet on the rooms just under the roof – we are talking about that dark attic or loft space that has so much uncovered potential… And there’s more! An additional benefit from installing a skylight is that it will significantly increase the head height in the area since the thickness of the glazing is so much less than that of the roof – you could win up to 300mm in height. Not bad, right? All in all, skylights are a universal win-win.
Glazed extensions
If you are familiar with our projects, you will know that this is one of our favourite strategies. Glazed extensions serve a double purpose: you get more internal floor area in the ground floor, making your living room or kitchen much, much ampler, and you let in an incredible amount of light both in the new extension and in the existing portion of the house that will be connected to it. The positive change that a glazed extension makes to a home never fails to amaze… if you’re thinking of making a single change to your home, this may be the one that gives you the most value.
Room reconfigurations
Room reconfigurations are a small way of making a potentially big difference. If your room is dimly lit, make sure that your furniture faces the light and that there is nothing blocking its path. If there is a room that receives no light at all, think about getting rid of the wall that separates it from the next, better lit, room. This will require some tweaking in terms of use and furniture, but sometimes replacing a wall with a shelf or a soft partition allows you to retain the differentiation between the rooms without having to give up all the natural light in one of them.
Internal windows
It may be counterintuitive to have a room with a window into another room, but this strategy can be really helpful for getting some light into the heart of the house. It is particularly helpful for rooms like bathrooms, or utility rooms: a frosted window into a naturally-lit corridor or into an adjacent room will take care of letting some soft natural light in without compromising privacy. What’s more, it will make the room feel bigger too, and you can take advantage of the new opening and use it as a shelf. Simple but effective!
Sun tunnels
This technology is slowly finding its way into the residential world, and it is a very clever solution for those rooms in which you thought it was just not possible to have sunlight. Here’s how: a flue-like tube pops up over the roof, all clad in highly reflected panels that are angled in such a way that the light that reflects on them from the top bounces downwards to hit the next panel, and so on. What you have, in the end, is a game of mirrors that can bring the same sunlight you have at roof level down to seven stories below. This can work for ground floor kitchens, isolated rooms at the centre of the house, and even basements.
Here at RISE Design Studio, you could say that wabi-sabi is “part of our DNA”. A world view that stems from Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi is the acceptance of transience and imperfection. It can include asymmetry and simplicity, as well as an appreciation of the integrity of natural objects and processes. Or, put simply, it is all about celebrating the beauty of a naturally imperfect world.
Natural and light
A wabi-sabi house is filled with air and light. Soft, natural lines allow us to find beauty in asymmetry, and a strong connection with nature is achieved through natural materials such as wood, stone and clay. Wabi-sabi also seeks to reduce the number of objects in the home that we don’t need, without making the home feel cold or sterile (a house is, after all, a place to be lived in). The spaces are warm and welcoming, thanks to the use of natural colours and materials, particularly wood and stone. Colours also tend to be inspired by nature, bringing balance and serenity to the home.
Embracing imperfection and authenticity
Wabi-sabi has cultural and historic links with the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. If you haven’t experienced this, the atmosphere is generally calm and relaxing with simple routines that centre on the tea. Often, the crockery used in the ceremony is faded or damaged, as a result of being passed down the generations. A fantastic example of wabi-sabi is the art of ‘kintsugi’, which is where cracked pottery is filled with a form of gold-dusted lacquer to showcase the beauty of its age, rather than hiding it.
In the home, choosing authentic furnishings creates a lived, harmonious space. Sourcing furniture that has been passed down through the generations allows each scratch to add to the narrative of that object’s history. It also alllows us to turn away from the ‘throwaway’ culture that we are learning is so damaging to our environment, to appreciate the ‘true and humble’ that wabi-sabi emulates.
Existing in the now
Wabi-sabi can also be applied to your daily life. It is a state of mindfulness which involves ‘living in the now’ and finding satisfaction even when it’s easy to think the opposite. If you trace wabi-sabi all the way back to its roots, the Buddhist teachings of the ‘Three Marks of Existence’ would guide you to embrace impermanence, acknowledge that suffering is a part of life that can ultimately lead to growth, and accept that we are always in a state of flux.
In times when we might constantly compare ourselves to others, there is no harm in taking the time to appreciate what we have. It is this mindfulness and appreciation of the ‘now’, with all its imperfections, that we try to capture in our work.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has produced a guide for engaging an architect. It includes some important topics, such as: appointing an architect, developing a brief, project leadership, fee options and legislation. In the next few posts on our blog, we summarise the main points listed in the guide, to help prospective and current clients enhance their understanding of why and how to work with an architect.
Checking your architect’s credentials
In the UK, a ‘architect’ must be registered with the Architects Registration Board (ARB). Registered architects must adhere to the ARB Standards of Conduct and Practice, and the ARB can take action against those who fall short of the expected standards. RIBA also maintains a Code of Practice and expects its members to work with integrity and honesty. Architects practising in the UK who are registered with the ARB and are also Chartered Members of RIBA are entitled to describe themselves as ‘Chartered Architects’. RISE Design Studio is a RIBA Chartered Practice.
Added value
An architect can bring many benefits to your project and it’s not just about supplying you with drawings. An architect has experience to see your project safely through design, planning and building regulations, and construction. For a building project, the range of services an architect can provide includes:
– investigating the feasibility of the requirements;
– developing design proposals;
– applying for statutory approvals;
– preparing construction information;
– obtaining tenders for building work;
– administering a building contract; and
– interior design and landscaping services.
Appointing an architect
Architects who are members of RIBA are required by the Code of Professional Conduct to record the terms of any appointment before undertaking any work, and to have the necessary competence and resources.
It is in the architect’s and the client’s interests to understand their agreement, which should define and record the services to be provided and identify terms and conditions. RIBA provides a range of flexible Appointment Agreements, which an architect can use with all types of projects.
Agreeing the terms of the project
An agreement defines the obligations of each party and makes provisions for the assignment, fees, payments, copyright, liability, suspension, termination and dispute resolution. An agreement will also comprise the conditions, schedule of services and formal confirmation of the contract in a memorandum of agreement or letter of appointment.
Generally, the architect retains copyright of the information produced for your project (in accordance with the law). Architects are required to maintain professional indemnity insurance in respect of their liability to the client.
What an architect agrees to do
In general, an architect undertakes to:
– use reasonable skill and care;
– keep the client informed of progress and on issues affecting time, cost or quality;
– co-operate with other appointed designers/constructions team(s);
– only make alterations to the approved deisng with the client’s prior approval.
The role of the client
As a client, you would undertake to:
– advise on the relative priorities of your requirements;
– provide necessary and accurate information;
– appoint other consultants and specialists required under separate agreements;
– comply with CDM regulations if the project is not at your home (see next blog post);
– take decisions and respond promptly to approvals sought by your architect;
– pay the fees, expenses etc. due and VAT where applicable;
– employ a building contractor under a separate contract if proceeding with construction work.
In our next post, we’ll look at developing a brief and project leadership. If you would like to discuss a project, please contact us. You can browse our recent projects here.
Read a copy of the RIBA guide to working with an architect for your home.
