Collaborative Process Exhibition

Last week we hosted our first exhibition, held at the awesome God’s House Tower in the heart of the old town of Southampton. The show was in part a celebration of Studio BAD’s 4th anniversary, and in part a commemoration of our collaborative process of working. The show looked at some of the key projects for our practice, past, present and future, that have been uniquely shaped by the way we work.

The show was a huge success, over the weekend we were honoured to welcomed over 300 people to the show. On the Saturday night we hosted a special drinks reception, a moment to stop, reflect and celebrate with our friends, colleagues and collaborators.

We worked with Reading University architectural students to create a centrepiece for the exhibition. We gave a design brief to design and build a prototype temporary ‘room within a room’ to sit within large internal spaces, as you often find within churches. The idea was to create a structure that can be used as a private space, to hold meetings, private contemplation or just to create a more comfortable, space smaller in scale.

The prototype device was built in-situ within God’s House Tower, creating a wonderfully warm room, which we have nicknamed the ‘Bishops Hat’ due to the overall space and detailing. Crafted from chip board with a Perspex window, laid out in a simple cross shape, the design offers a small scale room which is designed to fit comfortably within a church environment.

We would like to thank our sponsors of the event, University of Reading, Arts Committee, Eckersley O’Callaghan, Mesh Energy, Bentley SIPS Systems and Muse Coffee (who have defiantly fuelled this exhibition!) without all their support we could not have gone ahead with the event. We would also like to thank God’s House Tower; the team have been so helpful and the space is beautiful and so versatile.

Finally, we would like to thank the whole of the Studio BAD collaborative team, you can find the list of our team here, each and everyone has shaped the practice.  Studio BAD is a rich tapestry of all our skills, experience and heritage, the company has thrived from our collaborative approach and I could not be prouder of what we have all achieved together.

Parklets installed in Eastleigh

Last year we worked with Eastleigh Borough Council on a feasibility study of the town centre, the council were looking at ways to invigorate the space through permanent and semi-permanent interventions which have now started to be installed across the town.

One of our key design ideas was the installation of Parklet structures. These modular seating units are designed to soften the retail street, with planting and a place for people to stop and sit. The seating encourages people to dwell and engage with the surroundings, helping to positively support the local retail and restaurant outlets by creating vibrant social gathering points.

The modular units include tiered planting and bench seating, constructed from corten steel with a wooden bench seat. The design is inspired by Eastleigh’s industrial heritage as a train hub, with the modular units taking design cues railway design.

Professional photos will be taken soon, these are quick snaps on my phone – apologise for the quality!

First phase of Gosport complete

Phase One of our Gosport regeneration work has been completed, reimagining and activating the city centre through incremental and meanwhile design solutions. A key aspect of the plan was to install large scale art murals at key points across the town, to highlight and celebrate the heritage of Gosport and injecting bright, bold colours into the street scene.

One key area of town we looked to reactivate was the waterfront area, which hold such potential as a destination for Gosport. We selected a dated, uninspiring public convenience block to be the location for a new piece of public art, celebrating the maritime history. Working with a talented graphic designer, Nathan Evans, we created a unique graphic mural to wrap around the entire structure, visually lifting the dated building and injecting a sense of fun to the street scene. The artwork uses subtle, abstract graphics to commemorate the industrial maritime heritage, using bold blues and aquamarine tones inspired by the sea and air.

Already a local favourite, in a few well considered images this work brilliantly captures the story and rich maritime heritage of Gosport.’ Peter Fellows, Project Manager – Gosport High Street Heritage Action Zone.

Other work completed includes a large, abstract mural installed in the centre of the High Street, designed collaboratively with Amber Ryan coming up with the concept designs and Amanda Moore refining and delivering the project. The vivid design was inspired by the iconic ‘Dazzle’ camouflage used on navy ships during WWI and WWII, the designs consist of a complex patten of geometric shapes in contrasting colours, which have been reinterpreted and applied to a rundown, post war commercial block located at the cross section of the street, visually lifting the appearance of the structure at this main artery of town.

We look forward to seeing the additional aspects of the design come to completion onsite in following months.