JERSEY RIBA DELEGATION AND STIRLING PRIZE SHORTLIST EVENT
SEPTEMBER 2015
On Friday the 18th of September Niall attended an event in Jersey alongside all the other Stirling Shortlisted architects to participate in a unique RIBA Delegation day at the Radisson Hotel, as part of the 2015 Jersey Architecture Biennale (JAB15) celebrations in September. Curated by RIBA President 2014-15, Stephen Hodder, the Stirling Award Day on September 18th was a first for Jersey, including personal presentations from the architects shortlisted for the 2015 Stirling Award, a film screening about James Stirling, the pioneering and celebrated modern architect, and accompanying talk about the history of the Stirling Prize.
A+U FEATURE ON SOMERVILLE COLLEGE ACCOMMODATION
MAY 2014
The Japanese journal a+u has published an account of the practice’s student accommodation for Somerville College, Oxford. The theme of this month’s publication is ‘New Landscapes of Wooden Architecture’ and features an international selection of projects that explore new aspects of wood technology and its potential within cities. The article gives a description on the themes and processes behind the project, placing it within the context of the historic university city and the surrounding Radcliffe Infirmary Quarter.
It is illustrated with working details of the bespoke timber glazing for the stair tower lanterns, as well as the prefabricated timber projecting bay window units for the student bedrooms, with their integral desk and bench seat overlooking the street.
‘We chose to make the glazed elements in the stair towers and student rooms in wood because we wanted them to be like warm lanterns, internally lit in the evening, bringing light to the narrow street…Wood allowed us to make more three-dimensional details…we owe a debt to Louis Kahn’s work at Philip Exeter Academy Library.’ NM