RIBA St Margaret’s Church Tour & Talk

RIBA St Margaret’s Church Tour & Talk

Last week we hosted a RIBA talk at St Margaret’s Church, the free event gave anyone, and everyone an opportunity to visit the church and ask the design team questions regarding this brilliant scheme. Luckily someone had the foresight to record our talk and Q&A session, well worth a watch if you were not able to join us.

We were joined by the wonderful Andrew Malbon, a key member of the church team and also a fellow architect. He gives a great introduction to the project, offering an insight into the project from the church perspective – ‘Keep the thing the thing – no matter how gorgeous and lovely the (architecture is), and it is, it is here to support the people who come in the building.’

Andrew was also able to share some figures which highlight the positive impact the scheme has had on the local community. The food bank, for example, fed about 100 people a week throughout the pandemic, totally around 10,000 meals provided which could not have been done without the physical space of the church. The children’s soft play now hosts around 50 children visiting per week (not including those who use it over the weekend during services), it has become a safe and inexpensive space for families (not just from the congregation) to come together and use.

 

From the Q&A session, one question that really stood out for us was:

‘What has come out of this which wasn’t planned – any unintended happy accidents?’

Andrew explains how the project has expanded across the building; people no longer just congregate in the center of the church but have grown into all corners of the building. He explains how at the first wedding in the refurbished church there was an amazing, fluid use of space, which was amazing to see how the church could be utalised in such a way.

Darren explains how this project has taught Studio BAD the importance of starting each project without any preconceived ideas. Since the success of St Margaret’s, they have been asked to recreate the scheme elsewhere, however it is important not to just copy but to see the needs for each community and shape the project that way.

The future of a church is not just about Sunday, it is about community and what the physical building can offer.

 

The talk starts around 4 minutes into the video, Darren comes in around 22 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG07Y9BlReI

 

AJ Small Projects Award Shortlist

The shortlist for the AJ Small Projects Award 2022 has been announced, we are so thrilled to have St Margaret’s Church included as one of the 20 projects on the list from the 170 entries they received.

These awards were launched in 1996 by the Architects Journal to celebrate and showcase schemes that have been completed on a smaller budget, in this year’s award all the projects included have been realised on a budget up to £299,000.

Having this modest budget for the church reinvention was obviously tight, however we believe that it has given a richness to the scheme, we have had to work very hard to achieve the goals for the completed with the modest cost.

All those shortlisted have been invited to present their projects to the panel of judges on the 6th April, when the overall winner will be selected. The full list of projects can be found here and the project can also be found on the AJ Building Library here.

RIBA MacEwean Award Commended

The St Margaret’s Church project has been commended in this year’s prestigious RIBA MacEwean Award; we are thrilled that our community project has been so well received in this award, set up to showcases architecture for the common good.

The transformation of the church has been a huge success, for the church (congregation numbers have increased) and the wider community (through the multiple services the space can now offer), this is a project that we, as a design practice, are enormously proud to have collaborated on.

There were some wonderful comments from the award judges:

‘This provides a template showing you don’t have to do much to turn a church back to the community to enliven it.’ Robyn Poulson, BDP

‘They started with the basics and continued to add more uses – it can be executed in multiple phases. This move is smarter than it looks, it’s important in getting the building back into use.’ Pearcy Weston

‘It has been done cleanly, neatly, allowing it to do so many more things.’ Eleanor Young

Fran Carabott, our client and the Lay Pioneer Minister at St Margaret’s commented ‘Key to the project’s success has been the practice’s relationship with the diverse group involved at St Margaret’s; it’s really not just a church in the traditional sense, more like a hub for the community. Studio BAD’s flexibility and mobility have enabled us to move very quickly from concept to site; we are now enjoying the results of that work.’

 

The full article can be read here

MacEwen Awards, two projects longlisted

We are absolutely delighted, honoured and speechless to announce that we have two projects in the 25 schemes long listed in the, RIBA Journal MacEwen Award 2022. The awards celebrate architecture for the common good, highlighting the projects where design has successfully been applied for the good many across society.

The St Margaret’s church renovation and reimagination project has been longlisted in the Community Endeavours category, Bedford Place public realm project has been longlisted in the Urban and Rural Revitalisation category. The full list of all projects longlisted can be found here

We are so delighted to have these modest projects highlighted in these prestigious awards, they would not have been possible without our amazing clients and collaborators, thank you to all the teams involved.

The shortlist will be announced early next year.

Judging The Daily Telegraph Homebuilding & Renovating Awards

This year’s The Daily Telegraph Homebuilding & Renovating Awards was announced last week, once again I was honoured to be a judge of the latest self-build, renovations, extensions and conversions. I have always really enjoy being part of the process of these awards, showcasing the best UK self-build projects, push the most innovative ideas forward.

Patch House, designed by Levitate Architects really resonated with me for its sustainability approach. This is a house fit for our challenging times, addressing climate change through harnessing renewable energy technologies, it’s designed to enhance the site context and landscape, including the natural swimming pond that sits to one end of the two storey volumes. The house was designed with a fabric-first approach, meaning the property does not require heating for at least 70% of the year.

I was also amazed by Bailey Street, the winner of the Best Renovation of a Cottage category. With a budget of just £65,000, the owner took on the design work themselves and have delivered a bright and welcoming home. This renovation exemplifies everything there is to appreciate about delivering your own personal refurbishment project; it shows just what’s possible with a modest budget, energy, passion and creative endeavour.

The full list of winners can be found here

 

Forbes magazine quote Studio BAD

We were delighted to get a mention in Forbes this week, the prestigious business magazine, in an article ‘Architects Seek to Design both Building and their Business’ by journalist Jeffery Steele looking at the changing face of architectural businesses.

The article highlights the changes to the design business, changes which were underway but has been accelerated with the impact of Covid. During the past 18 months many practices have seen a downturn in revenue and workload, Rion Willard sums it up perfectly ‘The architect can no longer reply on past methodology to survive in a post-Covid world. New education, entrepreneurial and business thinking will unlock new pathways for architects to venture powerfully.’

This fits within our belief at Studio BAD, that architecture can now take many forms, it is not just about designing buildings but can look at so many aspects of the design business, as quoted “There’s a notion that we have to follow this kind of traditional method of designing, delivering and building businesses, I think moving forward, there are other methods of being creative.”

The article comes after a conversation we had with Rion Willard, for the Business of Architecture podcast, looking at The Business of Listening which you can find more details on here.

The full Forbes article can be found here.