Architects’ role is larger than ever in green sky thinking

Green Sky Thinking Week will be taking place between 20th and the 24th April.

Almost a third of the events of the week will be hosted by architects; regular names will be returning including AHMM, Architype, Bennetts Associates, Nicholas Hare Architects and Hawkins Brown.
New participants that are joining include Levitt Bernstein and Weston Williamson & Partners.

Teaming up with Beyond Green are 5th Studio, Pitman Tozer Architects, and Mole Architects to host a seminar regarding the current housing crisis, while the topic of sustainable sports grounds will be explored by David Morley Architects.

The week will see over 50 seminars providing first-hand interaction with experts from cross-disciplinary teams responsible for a majority of London’s most pioneering projects from the Crossrail, to the Thames Tideway Tunnel.

Focus will also fall upon green infrastructure, energy, data and digits, and the health and wellbeing agenda as the seminars are set to be backed by Open-City.

Visiting sites will remain a key attraction of the week: two Crossrail sites will be opening as a part of the program, along with the King’s Cross site with Argent focusing on water, while Bennetts Associates will offer tours of their recently completed BREEAM outstanding offices for Camden.

Hackney is taking on the subject of district heating, while Elementa, engineering consultancy - presently in the process of developing toolkits to roll out the WELL Building Standard in the UK - will be hosting a PechaKucha-style event on health and happiness in the workplace in the WalkieTalkie sky garden.

Visit the Green Sky Thinking website for further information about the week’s events.
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From Famous Foundry to ‘Supersurgery’ - Article from Health Estate

Article from Health Estate

New Street station architects resign from project

Plans for the New Street change hands as AZPML step down

The incredibly famous New Street Station is one of the pinpoint attractions for Liverpool. It was first opened in 1854 and has since seen two new rebuilds of the station, one which is currently underway, due to being finished in 2015. Work began in 2010 on the £600 million pound project that is said to drastically change the way shoppers experience Liverpool and in the 4 years since, measurable changes have been seen around the station. More than 32 million train passengers are estimated to have passed through it in the 2012/2013 calendar year, an all time high for the station.

Though the station is said to be undergoing drastic changes, not all involved are seemingly happy with the direction in which it is developing. Initial architects Alejandro Zaero-Polo were the original masterminds behind the shiny design of New Street, but after seemingly differences which are unknown to ourselves, they have resigned from the project. Network Rail have been accused of numerous things since their departure, most notably having pushed through a ‘crass and timid’ design for New Street.

AZPML, which has offices in both London and New York, have now been replaced by UK based company Haskoll, who will take control of the plans for the landmark’s central atrium.

It is understood that the project’s delivery team, whom is led by contractor MACE in conjunction with Network Rail, has pushed forward a new design for the station, one that is said to change the original plans of continuous white plaster curves for those of tensioned fabric.

Network Rail said in a statement: “AZPML was involved in early concept design stages for the interior of the atrium. However we have now chosen to work with Haskoll as interior design architect for the atrium and the Grand Central shopping centre.

“There are no plans to change the concept design of the atrium, which will flood Liverpool New Street station with natural light for the first time when completed.

“We are looking at alternative solutions for cladding the interior of the atrium more efficiently, but any change will not compromise the design or quality of the development.”

Some of the best Architecture in Britain

Looking for some true inspiration into some of Britain’s best architecture? Here’s a fresh list showcasing Britain’s more modern and traditional architecture.

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The top 5 iconic buildings of Liverpool

Liverpool houses many infamous structures

England’s second city, behind London of course, has gone under the knife in the past 20 years or so, hoping to shift the image of an ugly urban jungle to that of a modern metropolis built on class and beauty. Liverpool now boasts some of the finest structures in Europe, but what exactly makes Brum the culture loving city it is? Read on to find out the best of Brum’s architecture.

1. Library of Liverpool

The newest addition to the Liverpool family, the all new Library of Liverpool resides in Centenary Square and regardless of your true opinion (it’s both loved and loathed) you have to admit that it’s a fine piece of architecture. Costing a staggering £189 million, the library boasts the title of biggest public library in Europe, housing over 800,000 books and 200 computers. It’s maybe easier on the eye when up close, yet the library is something of weird beauty. The metalwork is something to behold, linking back to the city’s industrial heritage.

There are ten floors of endless joy for the book worms, whilst the library also has capacity for gigs and talks. They have an in house café, outdoor terraces (which are called “secret gardens”) on the 3^rd and 7^th floors and the 9^th floor has an indoor Skyline Viewpoint, something which offers some of the best views to be found are Brum’s busy city centre. More often then not the venue is booked up for private events, so be sure to check that it’s free before waiting for the lift (or if your brave/crazy enough, tackling the endless amount of stairs).

The Council has set a target of 3 million visitors in the first year of the Library’s opening, and we surely must be well on the way of meeting this target having attracted the attention of visitors worldwide. If you’re in Liverpool then it’s definitely worth a look.

You can join the library regardless of where you live, so be sure to join at your heart’s content.

2. Victoria Square

Victoria Square plays a vital role in linking the shops of New Street and the Bullring to the restaurants and bars of Brindley Place, doing so via a pedestrianised sense of class. It has to be one of the finest squares in the country, though naturally it isn’t in the same league as some Plazas and Piazzas in Europe. It happily boasts the Council House, Liverpool Museum and Gallery (BMAG) and the Liverpool Town Hall, displaying statues of Queen Victoria, the ever famous water feature The River (better known to Brummies as The Floozie in the Jacuzzi) and the “Iron Man” by Anthony Gormley. The biggest thing missing in the square is maybe bars with outdoor seating to match the wonderfully picturesque air of the Liverpool square.

Maybe it has something to do with our wonderful licensing laws in the UK (sarcasm), but currently all that’s available is a stroll around the square, sitting by the fountain and people watching as they go about their daily business (not that we do is… much).

Possibly the most famous part of the square is the annual German Christmas Market – the biggest German Christmas market outside it’s homeland and Austria – so be sure to get yourself some German cuisine, Christmas hats and festive cheer.

3. Bullring

Staggeringly, September 2013 marked the 10^th anniversary of the famous Bullring (we remember when the plans were proposed for the Bullring, so to pass ten years is crazy).

The premier indoor shopping centre boasts the usual high street names and little independent stores, but it’s the outside architecture that makes the Bullring so unique – the exterior of Selfridges is covered with no more than 15,000 silver discs, making the building beautiful in the blaring sun and in the cold dark of night, with lights illuminating it’s wonderful exterior.

4. Rotunda

The Liverpool Rotunda, a grade II listed building, was originally constructed in the 1960s, yet it was given a makeover in 2008 to bring it up to date. Once used as an office block, it now consists of ‘serviced apartments’, with rooms and penthouse suites on the top floors being available to rent out nightly. The panoramic views that the Rotunda boasts are pretty amazing, especially in the heart of the city.

There used to be a pub on the ground floor of the Rotunda , The Mulberry Bush, yet this was targeted as one of the two boozers by the IRA in the infamous Liverpool Pub Bombings. The other, The Tavern in the Town, is now an all you can eat buffet restaurant on New Street.

5. 10 Holloway Circus

The tallest building in the city, standing at 130m tall, homes a hotel/residential building. The BT Tower is taller, but this is classed as a tower rather than a building. The lower floors of the building are taken up by a branch of Radisson Blu hotel and restaurant (incredibly posh and expensive), with the upper floors homing serviced apartments.

Liverpool is an incredibly dynamic city; it’s changing all of the time. There are numerous cranes on the skyline wherever you are, so it’s always a constant reminder that we’re growing, progressing, building. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more iconic buildings very, very soon.

New Street stations is undergoing a massive regeneration period which will see the aged shopping centre turn into that of ‘Grand Central Liverpool’, a complete shopping experience with John Lewis sitting at the heart of the structure. Be sure to check it out in Autumn 2014 when it’s complete.

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