With the rise of home working and virtual meetings, the way we work and interact with our colleagues, customers and suppliers has changed dramatically over the last year. We may still need to keep our distance, but as Andrew Cooper – National Specification Manager for aluminium fenestration solutions manufacturer Senior Architectural Systems – explains, close collaboration within the supply chain has never been more important.
For the longest time, Calgary, Canada’s third-largest city, resisted the very notion of design. Then, as Santiago Calatrava was called in to build the Peace Bridge, things started to change. And firms such as the marc boutin architectural collaborative (MBAC) are now able to propose – and build – projects that would not have been considered 15 years ago.
Qin Group is a West China-based full chain platform agency in the advertising industry. The brand is a regular customer of Studio DOTCOF, which designed its head office in Chongqing four years ago. Qin Group has now commissioned Studio DOTCOF to design the new office for its Chengdu branch.
Before Myles Taylor first stepped into an architectural office, he was ushered to work on site as a labourer by his step-father – a Property Surveyor who thought that if Myles was going to design buildings, then he should know how they fit together first. Here, FC&A finds out how Myles went from learning on site to starting his own architectural practice and discovers just what he learnt along the way.
Bricks are one of the world’s oldest building materials and have been used in the construction of many iconic structures, including New York’s Empire State Building. Scott Denham, Sales Director from IG Masonry Support, gives insight into the limitless design opportunities bricks enable across commercial and residential applications.
As the construction industry emerges from a difficult period where the safety of high-rise buildings has been questioned, Tamlite Lighting’s Managing Director, John Allden, explains how we can collectively restore confidence.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increased focus on renewable technologies and the part they will play in the country’s road to economic recovery as the UK ‘builds back greener’.
The latest RIBA CPD theme focuses on the ‘bubble’ that surrounds us as we live, play and work indoors. It suggests that as the physical boundary between the conditioned and unconditioned environment of a building, the building envelope must keep its users safe while also addressing the practicalities of day-to-day living. Many of the manufacturers and service providers which these CPDs feature are industry leaders in providing that protection. It reminds us that many of their popular seminars are still available online. Below are a selection of other pre-spring observations.
The Grenfell Tower tragedy exposed fundamental and deep-rooted issues over competency, highlighting major skills and knowledge gaps amongst those responsible for the design, construction, maintenance and day-to-day operation of buildings. In this article, Jonathan O’Neill OBE, Managing Director of the Fire Protection Association (FPA), explores whether the issue of competency has become clearer since Grenfell, and argues that a greater degree of focus must be placed on fire safety competence and accountability for those responsible for building design.
Designed by Mecanoo, The National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts symbolises the transformation of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. What was once a major international harbour is now a modern, diverse city with a rich cultural climate. The design is located on a former military site, as an integral part of the adjacent subtropical park and has a positive social impact on the residents of Kaohsiung, whose population counts almost three million.
