First Glances

The new classroom block at Littleover Community School in Derby was successfully handed over to the client prior to the start of the new school term. The building was officially opened on the first day back by the head teacher and the new head of sixth-form, who will be based in the building. Four of the current sixth form were chosen to be the first people to enter the new building after the opening.

Littleover classroom block opening - September 2013

Our work has also been in the press recently for the CW Sellors Jewellery Design Centre of Excellence. The scheme has been launched to the public through a series of public consultation events in Ashbourne and local parishes, as well as at an International Jewellery exhibition at Earls Court in London. The scheme is for a new workshop and visitors centre for CW Sellors near to Carsington Water, and following the consultation events we hope to be submitting the planning application soon.  Further details of the scheme can be seen on www.cwsellorscarsington.co.uk .

CW Sellors Jewellery Design Centre of Excellence - indicative view of entrance

Detailed design on The Cornerstone at Square Chapel Centre of the Arts is developing well. The interior of the main foyer space includes a concrete and timber bar, with stainless steel bar units fitted behind. The bar worktop design was inspired by the foyer roof and the birchtrees design by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, featuring triangles and stripes of differing timber species to give a 3 tone pattern to the worktop.

Bar design for The Cornerstone

Timber worktop design (right), inspired by work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (left)

Magical mystery tour

On a very hot Saturday this month we went on site at Ashgate Croft School to construct the garden arbour, designed by students at Nottingham University last year. We built a timber framework that fixed back to the existing fence and enclosed the entrance path. The timber frames were connected with galvanised metal plates fabricated by Twiggs of Matlock, and tied together with metal wire for plants to climb up and artwork to be hung from. With the leftover funding we bought some herbs to add colour and scent along the path and edible fruits - a grape vine, apple tree and strawberry plants, all to be enjoyed by students using the building.

Ashgate Croft ILU garden arbour construction.

Several students from Nottingham University also came along and were a big help on the day, doing lots of digging, sourcing materials and plants, and helping to build, so many thanks to them. We completed the arbour in time for the official opening of the building by Vanessa May, a former pupil of the school, just before the end of the school term.

Ashgate Croft ILU grand opening

The office also took a trip this month to visit some of our recent projects in Derby. We started at the new classroom block at Littleover Community School that is due to complete before the end of the school holidays. The new block of 8 classrooms and a common room has a brick external leaf that curves along the front elevation overlooking the school field. Internally the concrete and steel structure is left exposed, with careful positioning of services, lighting and acoustic panels to the ceilings to give a light and airy feel.

Littleover Community School classroom block, in construction

Our next stop was the new hall extension to St Joseph's Church. This project began in the office almost exactly 10 years ago so it is fantastic to see it built, and the Church seem very pleased with the final outcome.

St Josephs Church hall, Derby

Tristan Poyser also visited the Church recently, and took some great photos of the building, particularly at dusk with the picture window illuminated.

Church hall at dusk by Tristan Poyser 

Our final stop on our away afternoon was Arboretum Square, which was recommended to us as Derby's 'hidden gem'. The square didn't disappoint, and gave us all some inspiration in masonry detailing.

Aboretum Square, Derby

Evans Vettori enjoying the sunshine on site in Derby, July 2013

Arrays and Arbours

Our tour of the architecture school exhibitions from our local area have continued this month. Sheffield Hallam's show opened during the University's 'Creative Sparks' exhibition. Their compact exhibition space displayed a range of work from across their architecture degrees, and the show was opened with great enthusiasm and passion from both staff and pupils. It was good to see our former Part 1 student's project in its final form after and office review a couple of months ago, and to congratulate her on completing the course. On show were some excellent hand drawings and it was good to see students having fun with detailing!

Drawings from Sheffield Hallam University architecture show

The University of Nottingham put on an excellent show this year. It was great to see the finished exhibition boards from Studio 5 that we helped tutor. The amount of work and effort was impressive and the quality of work well worth it.

Jordie Bokor, Studio 5, The University of Nottingham

Despite the bias, the rest of the work was really good as well ranging from sweet factories, to multi storey narrow boat workstations to museums of speed. The live project of a classroom built by students in South Africa was impressive and has given the students fantastic hands on experience.

The University of Nottingham architecture exhibition

Although we couldn't make it to the University of Sheffield opening evening this year, we will be coming to visit before it closes!

On site, St Joseph's Church Hall has been successfully handed over to the client. We are really pleased with the internal exposed brickwork and the level of finish the contractor has achieved throughout, and hope the Church enjoy using the space.

St Joseph's Church Hall Extension, Derby

At Littleover the scaffolding has been removed, revealing the curved brickwork and precast concrete surrounds to the openings. Work is continuing internally with mechanical and electrical fixing, including the installation of an array of photovoltaic cells on the roof.

Littleover Community School classroom block, Derby

This weekend we will be on site at Ashgate Croft Independent Living Unit with our wellies and hard hats doing some building work ourselves. The arbour that we helped to design and funded through a sponsored walk is finally ready for construction! We will be on site with a few helpers from Nottingham University who designed the landscaping, to construct the arbour and add some planting to the borders. It should (hopefully!) look something like this when finished...

Ashgate Croft ILU garden arbour design

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.

Evans Vettori International

There have been a few field trips undertaken from the office recently. Andy visited Germany with his studio group from The University of Nottingham, Rachel spent a couple of days in Switzerland and we visited the Green Building Store in Huddersfield as research into Passivhaus for a potential new project. Here are a few highlights of the trips:

Evans Vettori are visiting tutors for an undergraduate studio at Nottingham University School of Architecture. In March Andy went with a group of students to Landschaftspark in Duisberg, Germany. Landschaftspark is a former iron works in the Ruhr Valley that, after closing, has been converted into a public park utilising the existing industrial fabric. The former blast furnaces have become viewing platforms and a open air cinema, the gas silo a diving pool, coke stores water pools, climbing walls and adventure playground, the offices an opera house and the turbine shed a space for balls, raves and exhibitions. The students are working on reimagining the post Victorian industrial areas of the Peak District so this was a massive change of scale and hopefully inspirational. Trying the same model of upcycling at a grand scale in the former pits and steelworks of Derbyshire and South Yorkshire would be a fantastic opportunity. 

Former heavy industry and flooded coke store at Landschaftpark, plus a stair at at a former steel works in Essen

In Switzerland Rachel visited the town of St Gallen, which featured the striking 'city lounge' project - a red carpet thrown over the banking district of the town centre to create outdoor living space. 

St Gallen City Lounge

The town also features a number of interventions by Santiago Calatrava, including a bus station, emergency services centre with 'blinking eye' solar shading, and a converted monastic wine cellar. The cellar is now a seminar space hidden beneath the public square and entered via a retractable entrance archway. 

Hinging entrance archway leading to converted monastic wine cellar by Santiago Calatrava

Rachel also visited Lucerne and viewed the historic town centre with timber bridges crossing the river, contrasting against the contemporary KKL Luzerne that dominates the shore of the lake.

Historic centre and KKL, Lucerne

Back in the UK we had an afternoon's introduction to Passivhaus at The Green Building Store in Huddersfield. Our visit gave us a good introduction to the Passivhaus approach to building and focussed on a new house project that we are currently working on in Matlock. The project has a tight budget and we are hoping to explore how traditional building techniques and readily available materials could be applied with the Passivhaus approach using the Denby Dale house, constructed by the Green Building Store, as a primary precedent. Next week we are visiting the Nottingham EcoShowcase, hoping to find some more inspiration for the project...