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BUILDING STORIES - 2022 RIBA

SEPTEMBER 2022

Building Stories - 2022 RIBA

On the 21st September at London's RIBA and the 4th October at the Everyman Cinema in Leeds, the architects shortlisted for the 2022 RIBA Stirling Prize will reveal the stories behind their buildings, what inspires them, and what it would mean to win the UK’s most prestigious architecture prize.  

The six shortlisted projects are:  

  • 100 Liverpool Street, Hopkins Architects  
  • Forth Valley College – Falkirk Campus, Reiach and Hall Architects  
  • Hackney New Primary School and 333 Kingsland Road, Henley Halebrown  
  • Orchard Gardens, Elephant Park, Panter Hudspith Architects  
  • Sands End Arts and Community Centre, Mæ Architects  
  • The New Library, Magdalene College, Niall McLaughlin Architects  

The architects behind the six shortlisted buildings will give brief presentations, followed by a panel discussion and a live Q&A with the audience.  Talking on behalf of our pratice to present the New Library, Magdalene College will be Claire McMenamin and Tim Allen-Booth. You can watch the RIBA London event here. 

BALLIOL COLLEGE, SPORTS PAVILION

NOVEMBER 2019

Balliol College, Sports Pavilion

7:45 AM, London Bridge. The train from Uckfield just entered the station and is spitting out hundreds of commuters, flowing past us. We hop on the now empty train and leave London to visit our timber sub-contractor’s workshop in East Sussex.

We are fast approaching the construction stage of our Sports Pavilion project for Balliol College in Oxford and were invited to review a mock-up of the roof structure. The pavilion roof is formed of slender sweet chestnut glulam joists; 10 layers are stacked on top of each other, each layer cantilevering further into the space, creating a coffer.

1:50 model

From outside the roof structure expresses itself as a lantern, popping up in the centre of the building. The lantern is fully glazed, allowing for rays of sunshine to enter through the stacked glulam. In the evening, the dense timber lattice will be highlighted by a subtle glow, originating from LED strips, that are recessed in the top of the glulam joists.

The mock-up in Inwood’s (timber sub-contractor) workshop

Lighting strategy detail plan and section

The mock-up was used to test the connection details between the individual layers of glulam, the construction sequence, and the integration of the LED strips and the associated wiring. Preceding the assembly of this mock-up, these details have been worked through and coordinated in many lengthy design workshops, involving the contractor, structural and electrical engineers, the timber sub-contractor, electricians and us architects. As such, it was even more enjoyable to review the mock-up with all the parties involved and to see our combined efforts bearing fruit.

The carpenters who built the mock-up and the Electrical Engineer, Design Manager, and Architect discussing the installation and accessibility of the LED strips