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The river Wye in flood, during the completion of the ground works for the glass box guest house. The guest house will be elevated above the flood plain so that dramatic water views will be possible. Due for completion July 2016 www.gbguesthouse.com
This month I started building the GB Guest House: GB is branding speak for Glass Box, or Great Britain; as it is my aim to rent the house out via AirBnB as, architectural tourism in the area of outstanding natural beauty in the Herefordshire Wye Valley.
The design is based on two of my most favourite buildings: The Farnsworth House â by Mies van der Rohe, and Skywood House â by Graham Phillips.
Mies described his Farnsworth House as âalmost nothingâ as it removed decoration, clutter and reduced the house to its essence â shelter, function and good proportions. It was also located adjacent to a river and was subject to annual flooding, hence the structure was elevated on stilts above the ground.
Why am I attracted to Farnsworth as a concept for my own house?
Because it is a simple steel frame that uses standard sections expressed externally. My father is a blacksmith and my family history has a long tradition, spanning 5 generations, working with forged metalwork. So steel is familiar to me, and readily available, I also like the precision that working in steel brings.
Skywood House uses the work of Mies as its inspiration as much of the plan of Skywood uses the Farnsworth modular plan and proportion system to set it out.
What is great abut Skywood is it is all about the plan. It uses a âpin wheelâ where walls meet at a central point, and span outwards, like spokes on a wheel. This allows the building to appear much larger than it actually is, as it scoops up the surrounding landscape, so that the local setting and views are interlinked directly with the house interior. Mies said âLess is Moreâ; with Skywood you get more-for-ess.
Whilst this is my inspiration the over riding control factor is budget. I wanted the external walls to be clad in living greenwalls and at ÂŁ300 per sqm they are the first sacrifice. I am sure there will be others too. But at the project is on site and it will be completed.
The ground works are currently underway and whilst it is very wintery at the moment, which isnât a great time to start building, I have secured the planning permission and the project should be completed by August 2016.
Updates to follow. GT
Project Details:
Architect : Garry Thomas Contractor : JDW Building and Conservation Engineer : Martyn Peters Approved Building Inspector : Salus Ltd Location : Fownhope, Herefordshire
Serious pumping at Mordiford being carried out by Balfour Beatty today. Wander past the road block and find out for yourself.
Flooding, Mordiford Levels, Herefordshire
On what is a gloriously sunny day, on Sunday 16th of February 2014, Balfour Beatty can be seen pumping water from the Lugg flats at Mordiford bridge, Herefordshire, in what seems to be a wholly futile exercise, given the vast expanse of water that surrounds the site in all directions.,
The bridge is blocked by two large scale pumping rigs and a Balfour Beatty truck, I ask the operative, who is sat in the cab playing with his mobile phone, how long are they expecting to be pumping... will it be going on for weeks?
'No more than a couple of days' came the reply.
How Balfour Beatty expects to calm this vast expanse of water, with just a few pumps, beats me. The ground water is saturated and as more water falls from the sky what is being pumped away is replaced in just a few hours of rain.
A tractor and trailer carry the pump rig, which is placed squarely on the bridge blocking all traffic, and the whole set up appears to be there for quite some time, as there are several containers of diesel fuel, stacked up ready for re-fueling the pumps as the whole operation continues around the clock.
How successful this whole exercise will be, who knows, as I don't see much evidence of the water level dropping. There is a tide mark of flotsam and jetsam right next to the water line, and if I imagine the bore of the pipe and what is a vast expanse of water, what with more rain and the seepage of ground water, this pumping exercise is likely to continue for weeks, not days.
Estrogen fueled frippery
By all accounts estrogen was overflowing last week, at what has become an annual gong-giving-event for women in architecture, hosted by the Architects Journal (1), with its own twitter tag #WIA2014 no less.
Why? You might be forgiven for asking, is the profession of architecture moving to single out women for special award. What next, homosexuals-in-design, protestants-in-planning, or perhaps even more alarming Jocks-in-journalism.
Right now, architecture doesnât need this frippery in the form of subdividing architecture by gender. Can you imagine other professions doing the same â women-in-medicine awards, men-in-nursing awards â it sounds ridiculous doesnât it? Thatâs because it is ridiculous, surely what the profession of architecture does need is celebration of architecture, promotion of process and the veneration of the resultant product. This is why people hire architects, because they want a building designed for them, not because they want a woman.
We love Zaha Hadid for her architecture, and the buildings her practice creates; and thatâs the point, good architecture is about teamwork and collaboration. Planners, builders, clients all have a role to play, and yes, women too; but why at this time must women be awarded for the role they play in the process?
The embers of bra-burning western feminism, taking time out for a girlie luncheon, awarding themselves for architectural achievement, hardly furthers a global cause of opposing discrimination against women; or the promotion of architecture. It simply causes men to look on in bewilderment, clients to seek to value gender over architecture and women who find themselves up against barriers to maintaining an architectural career, and a family, to wonder why?
The profession right now needs much more focus on:- post recession fee levels, the globalised threat to professional standards, contractor-frameworks eroding architectural practice and the lost generation of architectural students unable to gain valuable work experience.
Right now 40% of western women make up the number of those who study architecture but only 12% practice (2). If women in architecture need a helping hand into practice then lets see more promotion of the processes and the practices that support women who do take time out to have children, whilst maintaining professional development. Whilst the Architects Journal goes for awarding gender bias, we are dividing the profession and missing the point, not to mention the legality of a gender biased awards process.(3)
If they continue, we wont see women assisted into practice and we will see the disintegration of the role of architect, not to mention the elevation of architectural specialisms. Whether this takes the form of awards for gender, ethnicity, sexuality and culture; or conservation, sustainability, interior, exterior, urban or rural, the resultant sub dividing of architecture will limit the profession as a whole. If the profession itself wishes to subdivide the role of architect, why protect the title?
My view is we promote architecture and architectural process. Let architects tell us about their projects, and be awarded for their projectâs greatness. But donât let us become an industry of awarding women in architecture. Because what is sure to follow, is men-in-architecture, and women architects not in practice wouldnât want, or need that.
(1) http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/enter-the-2014-aj-women-in-architecture-awards/8654930.article
(2) ^ Suzanne Stephens, "Not Only Zaha. What is it like to be a female architect with a solely owned firm in the U.S. today?", Architectural Record, December 2006. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
(3) âThe theory from the European Courts of Justice was that taking customers' gender into account contradicted laws on discrimination.â A BBC.co.uk article about the Insurance Industry. 21 December 2012.
So you need an architect?
To submit a planning application in the UK you don't need to use an architect. In fact, even if you did use an architect, to submit a planning application in the UK the Local Authority refers to your architect as 'agent'; estate-agent, agent-orange, agent-smith comes to mind, but in the world of planning, architect will not.
So when volume-house building destroys vast swathes of countryside and the great British public seeks to blame the architect for such dreadful design insn't this a great injustice?
In addition, if the above were not madness enough, if you wish to submit a planning application for say - works to an existing building in the countryside, you will be required to appoint an ecologist and your planning application will not even be received by the Local Authority unless it you have appointed an ecologist and they have conducted an official report.
To carry out works to a gas appliance within the UK you must use a Corgi registered plumber, to drive on the road you must carry a license, but to design a building that must comply with a whole host of environmental, social, design and economic standards you do not need to use an architect - and the state says this is acceptable.
Strange but true. Oh and we don't get paid a fortune either.
Politician in hiding ?
The Crown, The Church and The Archaeologists have got King Richard III Wrong.
The concept that a king of England can not be buried at or under a non-place, otherwise known as a car park in Leicester, is an interesting concept for the 21st century. Why should we assume that the ancients buried the king's corpse in anything other than a fitting place, a place non other than the land the king was fighting for-English soil. The ancients chose a burial site, on or actually near the battle site, a place regal enough for royal blood to ouze into the soil. The only English king to die in battle no less. So then, what do we make of the immediate knee jerk action that old king Richard 111 should be hauled from his last resting place and stuck somewhere else, somewhere deemed to be more fitting for a king of England. A cathedral, Leicester perhaps? Should we read into this that humble English soil is not good enough? or should we rewrite history and say the choice of the ancients was wrong? Or that the indignity of a modern council Tarmacing over a king should be rectified? Is it a sign that the church and state is retreating from England (Welsh, Scots, Irish separatism ), by drawing an ever tighter reign around power symbols, cathedrals and London to prop up our failing institutions and restore dominion over old England perhaps? What ever we think we should certainly debate where these old bones should go. I say leave old king Richard where the ancients chose his burial - humble English soil and Leicester should turn their naff carpark into a visitor centre. Now there's and idea to get the economy going.
I was a young architect on a stag do in Blackpool meeting up with old university mates to share far too many beers and the delights of Blackpoolâs heaven and hell club. The weekend began with all the usual experiences of checking into a seedy hotel, broken beds, dead spiders in kettles and...
If Government is to kick-start growth in the UK economy then Eric Picklesâ National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), needs to level the playing field under âplanning-validationâ.
I recall New Labourâs pre-recession promise to both âspeed-upâ and make âmore-efficientâ the lamentable planning...
âOne of the best architectural highlights everâ
I was a young architect on a stag do in Blackpool meeting up with old university mates to share far too many beers and the delights of Blackpoolâs heaven and hell club. The weekend began with all the usual experiences of checking into a seedy hotel, broken beds, dead spiders in kettles and carpets that only get washed by wet boots. This is Blackpoolâs usual offering for a group of beer soaked young men. That aside, the stag got away in one piece, which was a bonus given we were a load of southern softies frolicking in the beating heart of the North.
On the trip home I persuaded my mates to visit PrestonâŠthere is a great bus station, I told them. Reluctantly they let me lead the three-car convoy and take the slip road off the M55, we were Preston bound and the bus station was our destination.
What I didnât know at the time was the bus station was not only a bus station but also a giant car park right in the heart of Preston. As we got near in a three-car convoy we were jostled by buses and bus lanes and eventually found ourselves in the bowels of this great âbrutalistâ masterpiece of architecture.
After the initial moaning such as⊠âwhy are we visiting a bus stationâ and âlets just head homeâ⊠it was plain to see that my pose of mates were intrigued that this was no yellow and blue NCP car park, but a very fine ship in a desert, a great antidote for post stag do queasiness. Curved concrete panels joining the floor to the sky, the seemingly endless expanse of space designed to be a footfall engine for Preston.
But there were no people, there were very few cars and what was obvious this town didnât love this building. It was their best building; we had driven through nothingness and arrived at a fantastic design icon of world importance here in Preston in the town of nothingness. This building put them on the map, it was the only reason I ever wanted to visit Preston, and it was the only reason my stag do pose ever visited Preston
After inspecting the car deck and imagining kids running up the curved concrete edging beams to certain death, we all concluded, they donât build them like that any more.
We descended to the bus foyer and we were met with pure architectural delight, the stuff Wallpaper magazine travel the globe for, and stepped back into the 1960âs, the graphic design was pure, the tile patterns minimal, practical Teak tilting benching to rest at, queuing lanes formed by regimental railings, (not that we Brits need those), and endless linear space designed to evoke motion and progression, 1960âs âbrutalismâ it was fantastic.
The cavernous space went on and on. My stag do pose walked the length of the building peering into the faces of the expectant passengers all who seemed put out that we were viewing them like fish in a gold fish bowl. Then a bus would arrive and the single glazed doors would crack open and a gale would blow in, just enough to de-fog the condensation from the windows and just enough to replace the stale air with fresh diesel soaked northern air.
We realised that we had stepped back in time, we made it to the end of this endless building, back to an age when Preston believed it needed a building of such great magnitude, back to an age when Preston-ites were bussed from town centre to places designed to watch Coronation Street.
The stag concluded this was a great diversion, an asset for Preston, a gem of architecture. It is worthy of international acclaim, it is a timepiece from a past long forgotten but clinging on in Preston â just.
We imagined what could be done with this near empty building? A better managed car park perhaps, or more development around the site with leased car parking spaces offered to new residents and businesses, maybe even a subdivided foyer with introduced concessions retail or leisure â anything but demolition. To demolish this âbrutalistâ building would be a brutal act.
With not much else in Preston, and with front line services under threat, this threat of demolition is a visible act of vandalism by a Council devoid of ideas and devoid of money. They threaten demolition because they want economic help and perhaps more positively this world symbol of architecture is giving them an international voice â letâs hope that the world hears this Councils brutal message.
Garry Thomas
Is an Architect and director of RRA Architects ltd. www.rra-arch.com
NPPF: How to Achieve Growth in UK Economy?
If Government is to kick-start growth in the UK economy then Eric Picklesâ National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), needs to level the playing field under âplanning-validationâ.
I recall New Labourâs pre-recession promise to both âspeed-upâ and make âmore-efficientâ the lamentable planning system. The result of their tinkering is a slower and more cumbersome planning system that is more lamentable than before.
âOne-Applicationâ (One-App), New-Labourâs much heralded answer to âdelayed and stifledâ development has in itself become an old-tome. There are 26 separate application forms each of which not only require national submission criteria, but are subject also to requiring the submission of varying local criterion in addition.
At RRA Architectâs we view this as a form of ânew-feudalismâ which results in risk-averse Local Authorities requesting rafts of information to accompany planning applications, much of which is unnecessary, and much of which is sadly lacking in applications submitted by the Local Authorities themselves.
Local Authorities at planning application validation-stage have a tendency to prevent applications from being lodged, simply because information more suited to later stages of the development is not apparent. Planning officers seem to want all the information just to be sure. This raises the questionsâŠDo planners see themselves as part of the development process? Or more worryinglyâŠdo planners understand the development process?
âPre-Application-Consultationâ (Pre-App), the next plank of New-Labourâs vision for planning, which also attracts an additional up-front fee, is unregulated and is little more then a Local Authority defence-mechanism to bat-away any application it doesnât like. Gone are the days when it was an applicants right to submit an application on any piece of land.
Local Authorities seldom provide adequate Pre-App feedback, however they are happy to levy the fee for shoddy-work. At RRA we find Pre-App amounts to nothing more than the issuing of bland-statements, quoting policy that is otherwise available online. Pre-App seldom cultivates deeper opinion from departments within the Local Authority that is otherwise always provided during the applications formal progress through then formal determination period.
Due to One-App and Pre-App, despite best endeavours, Local Authorities far too late in the process often request additional reports from any number of consultants. These late requests at validation-stage lead to: delayed development, unforeseen costs, aborted-projects, poorly considered work, poor-public-perception, and stunted-growth-in-the-UK-economy.
The whole system of validation under Pre-App and One-App, designed by New-Labour, is a lamentable sorry mess and whilst Eric Pickles is omitting Pre-App and One-App from the NPPF agenda, real growth in the UK economy will remain out of reach and out of touch.
For more information about Garry Thomasâs experience of the UK planning system contact www.rra-arch.com @garry_thomas #NPPF
Has Mary Portas missed the point?
Has Mary Portas captured the mood on the High Street?
Will her musing trigger change?
Are there areas of the High Street Portas has forgotten to examine?
These are the questions we have asked ourselves at RRA Architects. Yes there is a crisis in the High Street, and yes something needs to be done about it. But the Portas report avoids asking the really difficult questions.
The questions that should be raised are to do with the fiscal and heritage aspects of the High Street.
Lord Roger's Urban Task force has campaigned long and hard to change VAT. Currently the Chancellor sets VAT at 5.5% for residential conversions above the shop floor - yet green field housing development is zero rated. With residents and the associated foot-fall discouraged from the High Street in this way, this VAT imbalance is a continuing and serious threat to the High Street. With such fiscal imbalance is it any wonder that 'tumble-weed' blows through our city centres and there is no one to pick it up?
It doesn't end with VAT however, there are other fiscal and heritage barriers too. Pioneering landlords, (these tend to be the non institutional landlords) who are brave enough to attempt residential conversion above the shop floor are subject to other increased costs, compared with their 'green-field' developer counterparts.
City centre buildings tend to be listed and tend to contain more heritage artifacts that appeal to the conservation minded - fireplaces, rickety stairs, old beams and such like. With this comes a cost hurdle, not to mention an increased costs to ensure, fire separation, sound attenuation, the issuing of party-wall-awards, insurance premiums for multiple-occupancy and access to construction.
City centre buildings also bring about complex 'elf-n-safety' access to the upper floors, or no access at all, where shop fronts are installed 'full-frontal' to maximise rental income from the retail floor plate.
Whilst institutional landlords are happy to structure rental-yields based entirely on zone-A of the ground floor then the fact that there might be four floors above ground floor retail is of no real consequence.
So what should Mary Portas do now?
At RRA we beleive Portas should knock on the Chacellor's door and encourage the bringing about of zero-rating of VAT on all city centre capital investment projects - particularly residential conversions above the shop floor.
Portas should also encourage institutional landlords to introduce alternative cost models based upon the entire building volume and not just the ground floor retail space. With more people living and working in city centres, above the ground floor, comes more rental-security longer term with less tenant defaults due to poor foot-fall and less unoccupied space.
The Government needs to recognise that whilst Portas has missed vitally important areas of the High Street, her message is a wholesome one. With this aim they should now look to assisting the High Street by relaxing listing and conservation expectation - so that more facade-retention is encouraged by Local Authorities. Conservation officers who desire to preserve everything just because it is old need to recognise this dampens the High Street and builds on the green-belt.
If the above changes were to occur the High Street would be a vibrant populated city centre. Activity after 6pm would be the norm and independents that provide local character would flourish.
To find out more about my High Street vision contact me at my office www.rra-arch.com
Building the Future - October 26th 7.30pm The Watershed, Hereford HR27RB RSVP [email protected]
Zumpthors Serpentine summer pavilion looking decidedly dark.
When this priest descended in the morning his first thoughts were the lions and the serpents out to get him. Architecture as allegory
Two buildings for the price of one.
