Fragments of Icarus: Testbed1, Battersea

Following our exhibition on Store Street in August (see below), my collaborators Amelia Leeson, Ifigeneia Liangi and I were invited to install our inflatable at the Testbed1 gallery in Battersea. The Store Street exhibition had consisted of around 20 installations, each interpreting an excerpt from the myth of Icarus. In the large warehouse space of Testbed, we had the opportunity to disassemble, rearrange and recombine our works, reacting this time to Pieter Bruegel's painting, The Fall of Icarus (below).

Installations were grouped and amalgamated to represent key compositional elements from the painting. The construction process was highly collaborative, with all contributors proving willing and eager to adapt, reconsider and in some cases destroy their original works.

Yesterday evening was the private view, a chance to wander around the works and view snippets of footage from the Store Street installation projected onto frameworks, screens, and in one case, a slowly melting block of ice. It was a great evening, with lots of friends and newcomers (helped in no small way by the adjacent bar), but the exhibition will be open until the 12th of December if you want to take a look yourself. For more information, see www.iv-i.co.uk.

Amhurst Road wins a Hackney Design Award



We were delighted to receive a commendation at the Hackney Design awards last Thursday, for our mixed use scheme at Amhurst Road:

Hackney Design Awards- Amhurst Road

It was a great evening- the design quality of the other shortlisted schemes was very high, so we felt honoured to be included.

Stand out schemes included :

• Waugh Thisteton's Tramshed refurbishment, which manages to re-imagine the space while retaining the character and atmosphere of the original building. They also serve monster steaks so worth a visit!
• Make's Handball arena: We like the simple, bold articulation of forms and materials. I missed it at the Olympics, but the arena will soon be opening to the public so looking forward to a visit.
• Amin Taha's 2 Ada St: Raw materials and uncompromising details create a space that is materially rich and stylish. Less is more!

There were some other interesting scheme's I've not yet seen- I'll be going to Hackney Marshes to see the new community hub, and the restoration of Clissold House in Stoke Newington

It's fantasitc and unusual that Hackney run these awards to celebrate good design in the borough, and to anyone at the ceremony there was a feeling that Hackney is an exciting and rapidly changing borough that is being regenerated through interesing modern design. This process is supported and even led by the council, with Hackney as client to many of the school schemes.

Other councils take note- regeneration is led by good design!

All photos @ Joel Knight

Friern Road site visit - Concrete Finishes

This morning I made a site visit to Friern Road to see progress on our new build house. We are currently building the concrete elements of the construction. This includes the external ground floor walls, which are all in-situ insulated concrete with a board-marked finish (left image below), and the stair-cores which have a smooth, ply finish (right image below).
 

  

To create the external walls, timber formwork is erected around a core of insulation, reinforcement mesh and basalt ties (which eliminate thermal bridging), into which concrete is poured in layers. Between each pour the layers of concrete are vibrated with a poker to remove air bubbles and create a clean surface. This construction allows us to create the structure, insulation and finish simultaneously.

For the formwork to the external walls we have used locally sourced English Larch which has been finished to provide a relief of the grain on the concrete surface. The timber is then sealed and coated with a release agent prior to fixing into the formwork.

We have spent many months researching the techniques and construction methods in order to create an efficient building envelope and a high quality architectural finish. This research has allowed us to test innovate concrete construction methods to eliminate cold bridging and improve thermal performance - I will write a more technical blog on this subject sometime in the future.

Keep posted for that, and further updates from Friern Road as construction works progress.