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Ellie's rafthouse(s)

This week we've been joined by Ellie for work experience. We set her a project at the beginning of the week to design a Rafthouse to be situated along the Derwent River in Hall Leys Park, as an ending point for the annual Boxing Day Raft Race. The brief was for a building to include a place to rest, a first aid point, space to eat and wash, along with a mooring point for your raft. Ellie produced four great designs over the week, as below:

Rafthouse 1 is an octagonal stone building with a room attached on the side. The building would be on the bank then a ramp would go down into the river. At the bottom of the ramp would be a place to tie your raft, then at the top of the ramp is the front door to the shelter. Inside the octagonal building is a seating area and a first aid kit. In the room attached would be a small bathroom.

Rafthouse 2 would be attached to the side of the footbridge. A stone arc holds up the stone building over the river then under the arc would be an ideal place to tie up your raft. You would then have to climb up the ladder at the side of the arc to get into the building then on the other side of the building would be another door to get on to the footbridge. 

Rafthouse 3 sits on the river with four metal bars under the deck to stop the site from sinking. On top of the deck is a small stone building which takes up half the deck then the rest of the deck would be used at an outside sitting area in which the raft racers can take a break. There is a slate roof covering both the building and the deck, and stairs coming from the deck and up on to the bank. The raft can be tied up next to the deck. 

Rafthouse 4 is a tall tower like building that sits on the side of the bank and has a wooden deck covering part of the river. The tower has two floors and is held up by wooden beams with a ladder going up the side to get into the tower. There is a ladder also going down into the river in which you would have to climb up after tying up your raft. Everything is made from wood apart from the roof which is made up of slate roof tiles and two beams under the deck to support the building, which are made from metal.On the deck there is a seating area. On the first floor there is a seating area, a cupboard with biscuits and a first aid kit. On the second there is a bathroom.

Our personal favourite is number 4, the timber tower, which would look great next to the river as a beacon leading rafters to the end of the race and has biscuits :)

What do you think??

"Hotel plan will ‘break the mould’"

We were very pleased to see the front page of the  Matlock Mercury this week, with the headline article on the plans for the Olde English hotel.

"Developers hoping to transform an historic Matlock hotel have unveiled their plans.

A new application to create a building to the rear of the Old English Hotel, in Dale Road, has been welcomed by town councillors.

Work to extend and revamp the building is currently underway but the latest scheme could see a contemporary three-storey building created adjacent to the hotel, which will house shops and apartments above. 

Tansley man James Neville has taken over the building, which was ravaged by fire at the end of the 19th Century, and hopes to return it to its former glory.

He said: “The new development will be a chance to create something really special, a modern interpretation, rather than trying to copy the Old English.”

At a meeting in Matlock on Monday councillors voted in favour of the application.

Cllr Geoff Stevens said: “This will probably be controversial, as anything which breaks the mould in Matlock tends to be, but I think our town is progressing. ”

Cllr David Barker added: “I think it will add to that area as for the past 100 years we have been looking at a fire damaged building.”

The application is set to be determined by Derbyshire Dales District Council in August"

http://www.matlockmercury.co.uk/news/local-news/hotel_plan_will_break_the_mould_1_3505742


We've also had some more great photos from Tristan Poyser, this time of the Bennerley Business and Enterprise College building that was completed last October. The building includes an entrance block, open plan teaching space with exposed cranked steel trusses and a radio station block to house Erewash Sound. Each block is defined with its own identity under a repeating saw toothed  roof line.

The Shortlist

The Forgotten Spaces 2011 Shortlist is now available to view online...

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/home/forgotten-spaces-sheffield/

Looks like we've got some very good competition in the final, including one other proposal on the same Forgotten Space...maybe not so forgotten after all!

Our submission for the Cuthbert Bank woodland is the COO-OP...a new proposed initiative between man and bird. The racing pigeons that once inhabited the site are reintroduced to give the site meaning and memory and to involve the current residents: - members of Sheffield’s homeless community. In so doing the site, that for so long has only resided in the short term memory of the local communities as they passed by on their way to other locations, is opened up and made accessible and can become a long term destination in the daily lives of many.

The forgotten redundant pigeon coops that sit in the centre of the site are reused and recycled by refurbishing them with local materials – a joint venture between local businesses and a new community group ‘The COO-OP’ set up to introduce the homeless and societies other unwanted, young offenders, former drug addicts, to new skills and paid work.

Here's our full submission:

From the other shortlisted projects, I particularly like Chris Paterson's Guiding Lights idea, and the Small Hallam Collider is a brilliant project name by Matthew Johnson!

Good luck to all the finalists, we're looking forward to seeing the full entries at the Crucible in September.

Architecture School exhibition season is on us again. Tonight we're attending Nottingham University's 'School of Architecture and the Built Environment' exhibition opening, featuring some post graduate work by one of our previous Directors. Sheffield School of Architecture's annual exhibition opens tomorrow from 5pm in the Crookesmore Building, and Sheffield Hallam are featuring their Architecture degree work in the Creative Spark 2011 exhibition, open to view at the University until the 25th June.

Competition Coo...

Work continues on the Funeral Directors. Some of the mesh bond brickwork has begun within the Chapel Courtyard and is starting to look really good. The mesh bond is also to be used on the front elevation facing the street to provide privacy to the building whilst allowing light in through the masonry outer wall.

At Ashgate Croft School, the timber frame is almost up now:

And some good news to end the week - we've just heard that our entry into the Forgotten Spaces 2011 Competition has been Shortlisted! The full shortlist will be published in the Architects Journal magazine and on the competition website on 16th June, but for now here's a little taster of our scheme...