The Somerville College student accommodation for Oxford University has been shortlisted for the Brick Awards 2012 under category of the Best Housing Development of 26 units or more. Other contenders on the shortlist are Hawkins Brown, Haworth Tompkins, Glen Howells and Cartwright Pickard.
In the run up to the London Olympics, the Athletes’ Village housing block N15, is now occupied with athletes’ preparing for the games. Niall McLaughlin Architects have designed the external skin of the housing block on a ‘chassis’ designed by Glen Howells. The facade samples fragments of the Elgin Marbles, scanned from the British Museum and converted into 3D pre-cast panels depicting galloping horses from the Parthenon Frieze.
Niall McLaughlin commented on the practice’s approach to the unusual commission in Building Design. ‘I was very interested in the principle of the facade being delaminated from the building’s core form. Usually it’s something one tries to swim against to retain a sense of ‘authenticity’, but here we decided to embrace it….I like the idea of setting Ruskin’s conception of the craftsman against the absolute Taylorism of the construction process. Through digital reproduction, these deracinated stones are now doubly lost.’ (Building Design 27.01.2012)
Niall McLaughlin Architects’ Whitechapel housing scheme for the Peabody Trust was the recipient of a NLA Special Award. The New London Awards seek to give recognition to schemes of the highest design quality in the capital. Images from the Whitechapel housing scheme are to be on display in the NLA galleries at the Building Centre, London.