22 May 2013

Finishing Touches

The new house at Fritchley was handed over to the client this week. The contractors have achieved an excellent standard of finish. The house has been named Howghyll by the owners and we look forward to seeing the house inhabited and the gardening commence to finish the landscaping!

View of new house from driveway, Fritchley
St Joseph's Church hall extension in Derby should be our next project to be completed. With only a couple of weeks left on site, final internal finishes are being added. The exposed internal buff brickwork to the main hall is looking great now, illuminated by the large picture window and light fittings.

Church Hall, Derby nearing completion
Due to finish a little later in the summer are the Littleover Community School classroom block and the Olde Englishe development in Matlock.

At Littleover the external envelope is being completed with pre-cast concrete surrounds to the new doorways. This image shows the main entrance where the concrete surround forms a deep frame to the door, reflecting the design of the original school buildings.

Entrance to new classroom block, Derby and view from inside looking back towards original school.

The Olde Englishe is being prepared for its first occupants, with a cafe and hairdressers opening soon in the commercial units on the ground floor. Above some of the residential units are being presented as show flats, ready for sale.

The Olde Englishe, Matlock with copper cladding complete and windows installed.

In the office, we are busy working on the detailed design for The Cornerstone extension to Square Chapel Centre for the Arts in Halifax. Currently we are working on the details of the building envelope and discussing internal fittings and finishes with the client. This image shows our current thinking on the interior design of the main foyer space:

Visual of the Foyer at The Cornerstone, Halifax

With end of term approaching, we've also been at both The University of Nottingham and Sheffield helping out with final tutorials and reviews. Second and third year reviews are taking place at Nottingham this week, and we're hoping to see more great hand drawings at the next reviews and end of year shows - like this impressive drawing by a second year student at Nottingham:

Drawing by second year architecture student at The University of Nottingham
The first degree show we're attending is the Art and Design Degree Show Festival at Nottingham Trent University, that opens next Thursday and has a series of events taking place across the city until 8th June.