architecture – Page 7 – Studio : B.A.D. Architects

Sumita Singha for the next RIBA President!

Make the RIBA Work for ALL Members – Vote for Sumita!

The campaigns have started for the next RIBA President, with three candidates through to the final round to succeed Simon Allford and serve the RIBA members for the next two years.

Studio BAD are delighted to be nominating, supporting and assisting Sumita Singha with her campaign. Having worked and collaborated with Sumita over the years we believe she is the best candidate to tackle the current, challenging demands of this position and to bring about the ethical change we believe needs to happen.

To help you understand her values and position on the main challenges, here is an extract from her manifesto:

RIBA has the opportunity to not only support its members in the pursuit of these goals, but to establish itself as a leading industry body committed to effective, timely, and tailored support and sponsorship of its members’ activities. Let’s show other industries how it’s done!

There is much to be excited about. We can have a body of creative, progressive, and inclusive professionals who are committed to exploration, experimentation, and innovation, for the good of society.

Our actions must be underpinned by a commitment towards stopping environmental destruction, the climate crisis and societal justice. There is no time to waste!

Architects must design buildings and infrastructure that sustains, supports, and delights.

Education and practice must provide the right environment for us and our future colleagues.

We demand benefits for all RIBA members now. We ask that RIBA:

Takes action to reduce business costs for all members
Invests in benefits for RIBA members from outside London
Introduces an ethical charter for employers and educators

I will tackle these three areas of concern that can be achieved in two years of presidency and will benefit practitioners, employees, and students in practical ways

For practitioners – Reduce insurance premiums – I will ask that competency tests be mutually recognised by professional bodies and that core CPD topics be offered with membership fees.
A RIBA for ALL – RIBA in the Regions – I will press for a ‘RIBA presence’ in each of the 12 branches in the nations and regions of the UK to energise the volunteer commitment along with opportunities for members to network and meet with the regional staff.
For members in other countries that feel excluded the UK based RIBA activities. I will press for a ‘RIBA presence’ facilitated by technology, with our valued members in the 115 countries it operates in.

I would also like our headquarters to become a place of generosity for members, friends, and the visiting public, as such I will offer reduced rates for regional and International members to hire rooms at 66 Portland Place. .

For Employees and Future colleagues –
Ethical charter – I will extend the remit of the ‘RIBA Compact’ to include an ethical charter for students and employees. There will be zero tolerance for bullying and harassment, discrimination, and abusive behaviour in any place of learning- whether it be educational institutions or architectural practice.

An annual Employers award – An award for employers who demonstrate the behaviours and modelling that is fundamental to the objectives set out above.

Bringing Ethics into the Curriculum – I will advocate integrating into the curriculum a recognition and redress of predominant colonialist social narratives and emphasise the critical role that diversity and inclusion plays in fostering creativity, equity, and respect.

A vote for Sumita will help save our profession, projects, and planet! For more information about Sumita you can find her at Twitter: Autotelic_Arch, Instagram: sumitasingha_riba, LinkedIn: Sumita Singha or www.ecologicarchitects.com

The RIBA Journal also carries interviews with all three candidates.

Please use your vote, it is open for all eligible RIBA members from 28 June to 26 July 2022, with results being announced on 2 August.

Reading School of Architecture, End of Year Show

Last week ‘Collaborations’ opened; the Reading School of Architectural at Reading University end of year show for students both in BSc Architecture and the Masters of Architecture course.

The exhibition is really worth a visit and I am enormously proud of the high level of work the students deliver, particularly considering the challenges they have faced over the past few years. The exhibition this year has especially felt like a moment to celebrate, as this was the first physical show we have been able to put on for two years.

For me personally the end of year show is such a rewarding moment, to see how far the students I have taught and mentored have come, and what outstanding work they can create. As I have been teaching at Reading for five years, I have worked with the vast majority of those exhibiting at some stage in their studies. As I have discussed before, in a previously Why Teaching Matters blog post teaching is something that is so important to me and moments like this really do make it all worthwhile.

The exhibition runs until the 18^th June, between 10am – 4pm at The Old Library L46, London Road Campus, University of Reading, RG1 5AQ

MESH Energy Panel Discussion

Challenges to retrofitting the UK housing stock

I was invited to join the panel of experts for the recent MESH Energy discussion, looking at the challenges we are all facing when retrofitting the UK housing stock. The aim of the session was to understand how we could adapt the current housing stock in the UK, to tackle the fuel crisis and to reach the critical net-zero targets.

There were some interesting questions, including: What role do you think architects have when it comes to retrofitting the UK housing stock in light of the fuel crisis? Can you explain the difficulties when considering embodied carbon in retrofitting of buildings? We know retrofitting can provide an influx of new jobs, but how can we bridge the skill gap? If you were in change of the political retrofit, what would you priorities?

I was joined by three brilliant experts, each at the forefront of their specific area of the sustainable sector, so it was a great discussion to have with some interesting input from each person.

Graham Hendra, an independent heat pump consultant with over a decade in the renewables sector specialising in air to water heat pumps.
Jenny Wallace, Operations Director at MESH Energy, with over a decade of practical experience in the energy industry consultancy.
Graham Lock, founder of Low Carbon Homes a nationwide independent retrofit network.

The discussion was hosted on MESHWorks, the free community hub that brings together sustainably conscious members across the design, architecture, built environment. If this is an area of interest to you it is well worth looking into, details can be found here.

MESH Energy are independent building performance consultants who I have had the pleasure of working with them on multiple projects, most recently when looking at sustainable energy solutions for St Margaret’s Church refurbishment. It was a privilege to be asked to be part of this event, as it is such an important topic and so central to Studio BAD’s company ethos of reuse.

The watch can be viewed here.

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

Site updates

Over the last few months there has been a huge progress on site for our two residential projects currently in the construction phase. We haven’t been very vocal about the projects, the process on site is something we are used to and often take for granted, but it is sometimes good to take a moment to pause, and appreciate how far we have come with the schemes.

In Berkshire Cullverland Farm is looking fantastic. The two storey contemporary extension is making great progress, the fitting of the exterior cladding is nearly concluded, totally altering the appearance of the structure and taking the structure from looking very much like ‘work in progress’ and transforming it to look a finished home (although there is still plenty to do!). Once completed the dark, larch cladding will bring the home into dialogue with the rural, agricultural surroundings and help to blend the new addition into the site.

At Holly Cottage, a Grade II Listed home set in the South Downs National Park, the contemporary extension is starting to come out of the ground. Due to the historic nature of this type of building there have been slight complications along the way, which is to be expected when altering old properties and something we had been anticipating to work around.

RICS Award Shortlist 2022

We are so delighted to have the St Margaret’s Church redevelopment included in the shortlist for this year’s RICS Social Impact Awards 2022, in the Community Benefit category.

The awards were set up by RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) to annually celebrate the most inspirational projects that also have a positive impact on the local community, or natural environment. We feel especially proud to be included in the shortlist for this award, as throughout the church project the community has been at the heart of the design, so we are grateful to to have this celebrated and recognised by others.

We would like to thank the whole collaborative team who have helped to deliver this scheme, alongside our most wonderful clients at the church who have been so open and welcoming to our design ideas.

Congratulations to all the projects shortlisted, we are amongst some brilliant schemes which all deserve to be celebrated. The regional winners will be announced on YouTube on the 18th May.

This is our second inclusion in the RICS Awards, previously our October Books project was shortlisted in the 2020 awards.