A clear vision

The versatility of glass made it the right choice for SOM to create curved facades with maximum transparency, in a complex mixed-use development on one of Manhattan’s last undeveloped sites. Roseanne Field reports Manhattan’s West Side Yard, a rail yard... View Article

Different ways of working

LISTEN HERE James Parker spoke to the architects behind an evolving 10 year scheme to provide flexible offices framing rare green space in the heart of Manchester, as part of a wider masterplan to create a new urban quarter With... View Article

Learning from context

LISTEN HERE When Design Engine designed a trio of buildings for the University of Winchester, they used corten steel to emulate the local built heritage, while creating spaces that supported students’ wellbeing. Roseanne Field reports Located on one of the... View Article

Green connections

A reuse proposal to create a new transport hub in Vilnius was used by ZHA as an opportunity to provide a new connectivity across the city for its inhabitants, as well as improve rail infrastructure and sustainability The design for... View Article

Positive mental attitude

LISTEN HERE 🔊 The multi-award winning Springfield Meadows is a collection of 25 ‘carbon positive’ homes in Oxfordshire, designed by Greencore Construction to be the UK’s ‘most sustainable development.’ MD Ian Pritchett tells Jack Wooler how the project was a... View Article

Balancing act

Creating a major new performance space to help revitalise a deprived part of south east London meant a delicate balancing act for Bennetts Associates in its adaptive reuse of five historic listed buildings, with close community involvement. Roseanne Field reports... View Article

Environmental health

LISTEN HERE 🔊 A mental health building by Medical Architecture in north London took a simple, ‘first-principles’ design approach to providing access to external space and daylit interiors, as well as greater independence and wellness for users. James Parker reports... View Article

Passivhaus goes large

LISTEN HERE 🔊 Agar Grove is set to become the UK’s largest Passivhaus scheme, with its housing tenants already seeing the benefits from the first completed phase. James Woodward, architect at Hawkins\Brown, tells Roseanne Field why the practice decided to... View Article

Opening a new volume in NYC

LISTEN HERE 🔊 A renovation project on 5th Avenue opens up a public library facility and resolves the functional anomalies of a former department store to provide high quality spaces for all users. James Parker reports on a fruitful collaboration... View Article

Singapore’s central park

A major mixed-use skyscraper with a difference is approaching completion in Singapore’s central business district – the facades of this richly diverse ‘vertical city’ by Bjarke Ingels Group opens up to reveal generous and highly usable green spaces. James Parker... View Article

Renewed sense of purpose

LISTEN HERE 🔊 Arup believes that its redevelopment of the workplace it designed in the 1990s in West London, including a refurbished facade, will save 40,000 tonnes of carbon compared with a new build approach. ADF’s Tom Boddy reports Situated... View Article

Hidden in plain sight

LISTEN HERE 🔊 A new private residence overlooking a valley in the Czech Republic offers a seamless blend of expansive sight lines and privacy, but also a design that subtly disguises itself in its hilly site. Jack Wooler spoke to... View Article

Renewing social connections

The light-touch refurbishment of a brutalist city centre bus station in the Czech Republic belies the extent of a young Czech practice’s achievement, catalysing the transformation of a local eyesore into a building of renewed social value. James Parker reports... View Article

Diamond life

Newfoundland, the first residential project in Canary Wharf – and London’s tallest build to rent scheme ­­– has been completed, and it’s an architectural landmark in its own right. Lead architect Billie Lee spoke to Jack Wooler about its distinctive... View Article

New wine in old bottles

LISTEN HERE 🔊 A historic soft drink bottling facility in a formerly run-down part of south east London has been stripped and restored by Studio RHE, bringing its attributes to the fore as a lively commercial and events space. Roseanne... View Article

A revealing take on later life

A project in north London offers highly individualised, non-institutional retirement village design both inside and out, producing a carefully detailed brick-clad form on a challenging site. Jack Wooler reports Belle Vue is a high-end retirement community in Hampstead, London which... View Article