STIRLING STORIES
SEPTEMBER 2015
On the 29th of September Niall is taking part in a talk at the RIBA alongside Neil Gillespie at Reiach and Hall for Maggie’s Lanarkshire, Roisin Heneghan at Heneghan Peng for University of Greenwich, Graham Stirk at Rogers Stirk + Harbour for Neo Bankside, London, Paul Monaghan at AHMM for Burntwood School, Southwark and Stuart McKnight at MUMA for the Whitworth Gallery, University of Manchester to tell their stories behind their Stirling shortlisted projects. The event will be chaired by Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum.
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