December Studio Update

In this months roundup, we’re pleased to share highlights from Darren’s recent talk at the RIBA conference, the opening of our Winchester art installation, and the exciting news of our award win for Brockenhurst House.

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Photography by Karla Gowlett

RIBA Conference, Guerrilla Tactics

Darren was invited to present at this years RIBA Guerrilla Tactics conference themed “The DNA of Practice: Shaping Identity Beyond the Portfolio,” explored what defines a practice’s true identity beyond its built work.

His talk was titled, “Making Meaning: Communicating Practice Values with Clarity and Confidence”, reflecting on his own experiences as founder of Studio BAD nearly seven years ago, and the importance of establishing and staying true to a set of guiding principles that underpin every aspect of our work. You can read more about the event here. 

Architecture Award Win

We are absolutely thrilled to have won the ‘Best Architect for an Extension Project’ at this year’s Build It Awards for our Brockenhurst House project. The design has taken a tired 1970’s chalet home set within the New Forest National Park, and transformed it into a stunning, contemporary home to perfectly suit the clients’ needs.

The brief had been to extend and reimagine the property, to deliver a low energy home that could support the owners evolving needs, while remaining true to principles of beauty, sustainability, and architectural integrity, elevating everyday living while responding to change. You can read more details about the project here.

Art Installation Opens

We were delighted to attend the official opening of Allegra Ambition Installation this month, a project that delivers a free-to-use outdoor fitness space and sculptural seating area beside the Winchester Sports Centre at Garrison Ground, Hampshire. Our design was selected as the winner of the public art competition for the charity, Allegra’s Ambition.

Lucy Whittome, Trustee of Allegra’s Ambition, stated about the design:

“We have tried to create something truly special here. It is a place that welcomes people and children of all ages to gather, sit, play, and exercise, with a focus on calisthenics.”

Art Installation Opens in Winchester

We were delighted to attend the official opening of Allegra Ambition Installation this week, a project that delivers a free-to-use outdoor fitness space and sculptural seating area beside the Winchester Sports Centre at Garrison Ground, Hampshire.

Our design was selected as the winner of the public art competition run by SPUD, seamlessly integrating the charity’s ‘finish line’ logo into a series of organic sculptural forms. These pieces combine art, sculpture, gym equipment, and seating into one cohesive and beautiful installation. Constructed from timber of varying heights, the design creates a tactile and inviting space that encourages visitors to sit, climb, or work out.

Lucy Whittome, Trustee of Allegra’s Ambition, said:

“We have tried to create something truly special here. It is a place that welcomes people and children of all ages to gather, sit, play, and exercise, with a focus on calisthenics.”

Cllr Sudhakar Achwal, Mayor of Winchester, added:

“The gym is a wonderful tribute to Allegra, who spent much of her childhood playing and training on the fields at Bar End… Allegra’s Gym stands as a living legacy, a joyful place for the community to meet, gather, exercise, and play together, just as she once enjoyed doing.

“I would like to warmly congratulate you and your team for bringing this project from conception to reality, the result is exceptional.”

Allegra’s Ambition, a charity established in memory of Allegra Whittome, works to enable, engage, and empower young people to reach their potential through participation in sport.

Solent University Collaboration

We are really excited to have teamed up with Solent University and Mettricks, collaborating on a project for the second year graphics students at the University which looks at ways to help reposition the city.

Background:
Southampton is a city rich in culture from both the past and present. There is so much to love from the architecture to the music, to the food – there’s nowhere quite like it. Although not everyone thinks this way, and we want to show them Southampton is a place to be proud of!

Challenge:
Looking at ways to help reposition Southampton away from its current perceived image; to make it relevant to its current residents and visitors. The project is to create a poster campaign that showcases the cities creativity and culture, to make it somewhere we can all be proud to belong to.

The work will focuse on key areas of the city, including: Arrival/Departure (the docks, train station, airport), Nature, Heritage, Literature, Sport, Music, Theatre, Art.

We cannot wait to see the results from this inspiring work later this year.

Winning Design for Art Commission

We are absolutely thrilled to have won the commission by the charity Allegra’s Ambition and SPUD to deliver a new piece of public art, to be located outside the Winchester Sports Centre which opened in 2021.

The brief was to design a new sculpture as a place for people to gather and sit, adjacent to the playing fields at the new recreation centre. The piece needed to versatile, to be interesting visually, create a natural gathering point, but also to offer some form of seating, and to ideally incorporate the charity within the design, all within a budget of £50,000.

Our answer was the ‘Tactile Seating Structure’ crafted from hardwood timber fins. Each fin could be a different hardwood to offer a variation on tone, positioned at a slightly different angle to create an organic ripple, reflective of the ribbons within the charity logo. The shape of the wooden structure creates a welcoming enclosure for people to gather, encouraging people to sit or lounge within, or climb and crawl over the undulating surface. Conceived out of reclaimed natural timbers, sourced locally, to create a robust, warm and durable structure which can sustain the public interaction with minimal on-going maintenance. The structure will be integrated with landscaping and outdoor apparatus, offering everyone an opportunity to participate in physical activity and activating an underused public area outside of the leisure centre. Public consultation workshops will be carried out to ensure that the structure incorporates a wide variety of uses for all ages and abilities.

The Allegra’s Ambition charity aims to encourage and empower young and disadvantaged people to fulfil their potential through participation in sport, the charity was set up in memory of Allegra, a keen sports person who died suddenly at the age of 16. SPUD is an arts and education charity located in the New Forest, they aim to create opportunities for people to engage with art, architecture, design and the environment.

Prototype Build aka The Bishops Hat

As part of our Collaborative Process Exhibition we designed and build a 1:1 prototype structure, exploring the concept of flat pack, temporary architecture.

The design, affectionately nicknamed ‘The Bishop’s Hat’, was first sketched following a series of community engagement workshops we held at various churches in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight. Faced with the challenge of activating and heating old, large and often protected spaces like churches, the studio explored the idea of ‘a room within a room.’ By building a smaller temporary structure within a larger volume the community could continue to use the space while only needing to heat the smaller area. In the warmer months the structure could open out, split apart and be reconfigured to house different activities, once again utilising the larger volume within the church.

The design is demountable, modular and simplified into a ‘kit of parts’ requiring only an Allen key to fully assemble. It is made with a timber frame and OSB clad, built as corners that can come together or break apart, each ‘part’ can slot in and be re-configured upon the base. The 1:1 prototype build was intended as a proof of the concept, that the design can be constructed, utilised, deconstructed and re­configured in different places and forms. We were all happy that it worked successfully; after four days constructing all the parts, it only took 1 hour to take down and flat-pack!

The vision was to create a structure that can act as a temporary activator. By deploying the structure into an existing space in need of reimagining, it can gather its community in a safe and warm space to host activities and conversations and spark new ideas. With the next iteration we hope to explore its functionality further, with integrated upgrades such as insulation, electricity and cladding so this simple structure could take on many more forms.

We collaborated with Reading School of Architecture to involve two of their students, Dorina Boros and Anna Knight Gonzalez, to join in the building of the structure and to reimagine the design in different formations and locations across Southampton. The students’ designs were presented, along with the built structure, at our exhibition at God’s House Tower in Southampton.

Many thanks to the amazing build team, Peter Bolton, Robin Price, Kane Applegate and Laura Whitney. Also, thanks to Bentley SIP Systems who provided the materials and to God’s House Tower for letting us create a lot of sawdust in their amazing exhibition space!

We plan for the structure to evolve and take a journey with us to new projects and places. If you can imagine the Bishop’s Hat in one of your spaces, please reach out to our team!

 

‘Beyond The Streets’ opening

We were thrilled to be involved in the design work supporting the ‘Beyond the Streets’ exhibition, currently being on show at the Saachi Gallery in Chelsea, London. Over the last few months, it has been such an experience collaborating with the team at the Gallery and the Cadogan Estate, to find a way of bringing a taste of the exhibition out and into the public realm. Last week the Studio BAD team were invited to a private tour of the show, before it was opened to the public, which was such an honour to be able to see all the iconic work up close before the crowds were allowed in.

The ‘Beyond the Streets’ exhibition is the most comprehensive street art & graffiti exhibition to be held in the UK, the show celebrates the fusion between art, music and the fashion industries. The show has previously been successfully shown in New York and Los Angeles, featuring over 100 international artists showing new and iconic works, with each destination exploring the local artists that have roots within this scene, through to the important cultural figures influenced by their work.

The design installations proposed by Studio BAD aim to bring the theme, energy and vibrancy of the Beyond the Streets Exhibition, out of the gallery and into the public realm. Our proposal creates a curated walk up the Kings Road, through Duke of York Square and naturally onto the Saachi Gallery. The proposed public art includes high level banners, pop-up art galleries, a mural and a sculpture. These installations seek to offer a dynamic and lively offer to the public realm, an authentic move for this exhibition, where it had originated in the street.

The show runs until 9th May, tickets are available here.