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    V&A’s Tropical Modernism exhibition explores “the politics behind the concrete”

    London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has launched its Tropical Modernism exhibition, which highlights the architectural movement’s evolution from colonial import to a “tool of nation building”.

    According to the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), the exhibition aims to examine the complex context, power dynamics and post-colonial legacy of tropical modernism – an architectural style that developed in South Asia and West Africa in the late 1940s – while also centralising and celebrating its hidden figures.
    London’s V&A museum has opened a major exhibition exploring tropical modernism”Tropical modernism is experiencing something of a modish revival as an exotic and escapist style popular in verdant luxury hotels, bars and concrete jungle houses,” the exhibition’s lead curator Christopher Turner told Dezeen.
    “But it has a problematic history and, through an examination of the context of British imperialism and the de-colonial struggle, the exhibition seeks to look at the history of tropical modernism before and after Independence, and show something of the politics behind the concrete,” he continued.
    The exhibition traces the evolution of tropical modernism within a South Asian and West African contextThe exhibition follows the V&A’s Tropical Modernism exhibition at the 2023 Venice Biennale, which revealed the team’s precursory research on tropical modernism in a West African setting.

    For the in-house iteration of the exhibition, additional architectural models, drawings and archival imagery have been introduced to interrogate tropical modernism in India alongside the African perspective.
    Exhibition materials line a series of rooms within the V&A’s Porter Gallery, divided by brightly coloured partitions and louvred walls referencing tropical modernist motifs.
    Archival imagery, architectural drawings and physical models line the gallery roomsThe exhibition begins by tracing tropical modernism back to its early development by British architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry. Stationed together in Ghana from 1944, Drew and Fry adapted international modernism to the African climate, proposing functional over ornamental design.
    Drew and Fry would also become part of the Department of Tropical Studies at the Architectural Association (AA), which exported British architects to the colonies from 1954 in a bid to neutralise calls for independence.
    The exhibition aims to centralise local professionals who have gone widely unrecognised for their contributions to the movementThe exhibition continues by spotlighting local Ghanaian figures who worked with Fry and Drew, noting the power shifts that were taking place behind the scenes to reappropriate the architectural style for an emerging era of colonial freedom.
    Influential political leaders Jawaharlal Nehru in India and Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana are the exhibition’s key personas, framing the evolution of tropical modernism from conception to regionalisation.
    Gallery rooms are divided by brightly coloured partitions informed by tropical modernist motifs”The heroes of our exhibition are Nehru and Nkrumah, the first prime ministers of India and Ghana,” Turner explained. “Tropical modernism, a colonial invention, survived the transition to Independence and was appropriated and adapted by Nehru and Nkrumah as a tool of nation building.”
    “Nkrumah, who sometimes sketched designs for the buildings he wanted on napkins, created the first architecture school in sub-Saharan Africa to train a new generation of African architects, and this institution has partnered with us on a five-year research project into tropical modernism.”
    According to the V&A’s research, tropical modernism shifted from its western Bauhaus roots towards a localised vernacular stylesThrough a host of physical models and artefacts, the city of Chandigarh becomes the exhibition’s narrative focal point for tropical modernism in India.
    Under prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Chandigarh was the first large-scale modernist project, recruiting Drew and Fry along with French architect Le Corbusier to plan the ideal utopian urban centre.
    As with Nkrumah – who saw how the Africanisation of architecture could become a symbol of progress and change – the exhibition also aims to highlight Nehru’s ambitions for a localised modernism drawing from the Indian vernacular, rather than the Western Bauhaus style.

    Applied Arts Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale aims to “complicate the history of tropical modernism”

    The display culminates in a video featuring 16 key tropical modernist structures, interspersed with interviews and footage explaining the social and political context behind each building’s realisation.
    “We made a three-screen 28-minute film, shot in Ghana and featuring panoramic portraits of over a dozen buildings, cut with archive footage from the time and interviews with architects like John Owusu Addo and Henry Wellington, and Nkrumah’s daughter, the politician Samia Nkrumah,” said Turner.
    The exhibition aims to address gaps in the museum’s African and South Asian studiesAccording to Turner, the exhibition begins to address gaps in the V&A’s collections and archives pertaining to architecture and design in the global south.
    “Archives are themselves instruments of power, and West African and Indian architects are not as prominent in established archives, which many institutions have now realised and are working to address,” Turner explained.
    “Tropical modernism was very much a co-creation with local architects who we have sought to name – all of whom should be much better known, but are excluded from established canons.”
    The display will inhabit the V&A’s Porter Gallery until 22 September 2024Bringing tropical modernism back into contemporary discourse was also important to the V&A as a timely investigation of low-tech and passive design strategies.
    “Tropical modernism was a climate responsive architecture – it sought to work with rather than against climate,” Turner said.
    “As we face an era of climate change, it is important that tropical modernism’s scientifically informed principles of passive cooling are reexamined and reinvented for our age,” he added.
    “I hope that people will be interested to learn more about these moments of post-colonial excitement and opportunity, and the struggle by which these hard-earned freedoms were won.”
    A 28-minute video captures footage of remaining tropical modernist structures at the end of the exhibitionThe V&A museum in South Kensington houses permanent national collections alongside a series of temporary activations and exhibitions.
    As part of London Design Festival 2023, the museum hosted a furniture display crafted from an Alfa Romeo car by Andu Masebo and earlier in the year, architect Shahed Saleem created a pavilion in the shape of a mosque at the V&A as part of 2023’s Ramadan Festival.
    The photography is courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum.
    Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence will run from 2 March to 22 September 2024 at the V&A Museum in London. For more events, exhibitions and talks in architecture and design visit the Dezeen Events Guide.

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    Rafael Viñoly Architects unveils “last project” designed by Rafael Viñoly

    Architecture studio Rafael Viñoly Architects has unveiled designs for a terraced residential building in Uruguay, which is the last project designed by the studio’s founder.

    Located outside of Montevideo on a beachfront site, the Médano El Pinar apartment complex will be comprised of approximately 120 luxury, multi-family residences of one to five bedrooms. It is the last project designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, who died last year.
    Rafael Viñoly Architects has unveiled designs for a terraced residential complex in Uruguay”The last project designed by renowned architect Rafael Viñoly, Médano El Pinar is an innovative, ultra-sustainable, luxury, multi-family residential development,” said the studio.
    “The building’s long, low-slung, and sinewy shape integrates it with the organic landscape of its pristine setting to minimize its visual impact on the neighbourhood and make it completely invisible from the public beach.”
    It is the last project designed by the late architect, according to the studioSituated behind sand dunes, renderings show an undulating building with a terraced facade that mirrors the curves of its beachfront site.

    Residences will be distributed along its 1,394-foot (425-metre) length and contain glazed facades that will open onto terraces.
    The residences will contain glazed facades and private terraces”Generously proportioned interiors open to large elevated private gardens with panoramic views, creating a sense of ‘conscious luxury’,” said the studio.
    The building will be constructed from a locally sourced mass timber structure, according to the studio, with aims to be “the first nearly Zero-Energy Building”.

    Rafael Viñoly Architects unveils plans for vineyard-covered airport terminal

    Other sustainable strategies integrated into its design will include the use of solar panels, rainwater capture, a green roof and cross ventilation.
    Interior renderings show double-height living spaces with wood beams distributed throughout and capped by a wood-slated ceiling.
    The building will be made of a mass timber structureA wall of floor-to-ceiling windows and sliding glass doors open onto the accompanying terrace, which hosts a small pool or garden and additional seating areas.
    A large pool sitting in front of the building is also pictured, with ground-level entrances to the building tucked along its length.
    Uruguayan architect Viñoly, who died aged 78, designed numerous buildings around the world including 432 Park Avenue in New York and the Walkie Talkie in London.
    Architects and critics including Norman Foster and Michael Kimmelman paid tribute to Viñoly after his passing, and his son Román Viñoly, discussed his legacy in an interview with Dezeen.
    Other recent projects in Montevideo include a stacked housing block designed by MVRDV and a prefabricated multi-storey car park by MAPA.
    The images are courtesy of Rafael Viñoly Architects.

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    Colombian designers transform Bogotá townhouse for furniture exhibition

    Gallery NC Diseño has renovated a townhouse in Bogotá, commissioning 10 Colombian designers to redesign its bedrooms, kitchen and other spaces in different styles for an inaugural exhibition.

    NC Diseño features five floors, two of which contain previously uninhabited apartments renovated over three months for the opening Design House Colombia exhibit. It is located down the street from sister institution NC Arte studio in Bogotá.
    NC Diseño has opened an inaugural exhibit of collectible design in BogotáFor the exhibition, curator Mónica Barreneche commissioned 10 local designers and studios to select a room within the apartments to furnish with collectible design pieces, prompting each studio to design a space informed by personal experience.
    “For the first edition of Design House Colombia, the ten participating design studios were invited to delve into the typological significance that represents the space in which each one intervened,” said Barreneche.
    Martín Mendoza created a wood and steel studio clad informed by his father’s own officeThe brief was for the designers to connect personal experiences with the different spaces in the home.

    “As a result, each of them left an emotional imprint of what it means to connect with space,” said Barreneche.
    NC Diseño director Estefania Neme also added locally created art pieces to each space.
    Julián Molina of Refugio Arquitectura created a minimal kitchen with a custom illusionary tiled floorArchitect Martín Mendoza outfitted an office in chocolate-coloured wooden cladding by Woodbox Colombia and steel bookshelves by Guarida, illuminating the space with lighting by Alta Estudio and La Nuit as an homage to his father’s studio.
    “When I observe a studio, my mind immediately goes to the memory of my father’s studio. That space, for me, embodies the authentic meaning of intimacy and privacy. It’s a completely personal refuge,” said the designer.
    Mendoza filled the space with furniture of leather, steel and wood. A metallic-legged daybed topped with a woven leather cushion by his studio MM & Co was centred, while a steel desk by designer Daniela Duarte sat in a corner.
    Artwork by Julian Burgoss and charred-wood figures in the shape of books as well as stools by designer Camilo Andres Rodriguez Márquez complete the space.
    Estefania Neme centred a teddy bear wrapped in the Ikea Stockholm rug for a nurseryArchitect Julián Molina of Refugio Arquitectura outfitted a kitchen for the project, which will be the one permanent space in NC Diseño.
    The designer centred a large wood-and-steel island and placed an illuminated yellow shelving unit by design studio Octubre just above it.
    Jotaele Arquitectura created an “infinite” dining room with original wood panelingThe floor was clad in a custom black-and-white tile pattern by artist Ramon Laserna, which creates an optical illusion.
    Medellín-based designer David Del Valle created a minimal living room informed by his warm, plant-filled city, taking advantage of the views from the three arched windows in the room.
    Camila Buitrago Estudio and Granada Gárces Aquitectos created a bedroom cast in greyTwo scooped metal armchairs, placed at the centre of the room face the terrace and an amoeba-shaped bronze table was placed in between them.
    The El Secreto table was designed exclusively for the exhibit to pay homage to a Colombian national park.
    Moblar created a therapist’s office with a daybed at its centre and steel bookshelves”This table represents Colombia’s best-kept anthropological and territorial treasure; Chibiriquete National Natural Park. From its natural form to all the meaning it holds, this table narrates the mystique of this natural gem,” said Del Valle.
    Upstairs, a room curated by Neme brought together a number of designers for a nursery.
    Cruz de la Pava played created a “man cave” with a light that dims when visitors sit in a central armchairA rug created by Cosí and NC Diseño and informed by tatami mats consists of off-white patches sewn together with a colourful crocheted web.
    A crib by artists Colectivo Mangle was made of wooden slats that fan out from connection points on either end with geometric, yellow chairs by Jimena Londoño y José David del Portillo placed beside it.
    Basalto Studio filled a room with interchangeable totems and concentric chandeliersA giant teddy bear wrapped and emerging from Ikea’s popular Stockholm rug by artist Ivan Castiblanco was placed on the wall.
    “When children are surrounded by a friendly, creative, imaginative and happy environment, their behaviour is undoubtedly different, and they learn to take care of their environment and value themselves,” said Neme.

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    Jotaele Arquitectura created an “infinite” dining room, which included original wood panelling and chairs by Jaime Gutiérrez Lega upholstered in wool, and Cruz de la Pava played on the idea of a “man cave” where lights dim when visitors sit in a central armchair.
    Finally, Moblar created a therapist’s office, including a daybed and steel bookcases with curved profiles by the studio.
    Pedro Bermudez created a courtyard with a green metal screen and clay pots informed by the layers of Colombian soilOther spaces throughout the exhibition include a bedroom cast in an all-grey hue, including the floors, by Camila Buitrago Estudio and Granada Gárces Aquitectos; a room filled with interchangeable totems and concentric chandeliers by Basalto Studio; and terraces by designers Pedro Bermudez, Terreno Paisajismo and Menguante.
    Similarly, designers in Mexico City outfitted a whole house with custom interiors and furniture for Design Week Mexico.
    Elsewhere in Bogotá, Lorenzo Botero and Martín Mendoza created a brick-lined restaurant and Alsar Atelier and Oscar Zamora created a translucent fog catcher.
    The photography is by Monica Barreneche
    Design House Colombia is on show from November to 14 March in Bogotá. For more events, exhibitions and talks in architecture and design visit the Dezeen Events Guide. 

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    Dezeen Debate features rural Belgian home that achieves “such a clean result”

    The latest edition of our Dezeen Debate newsletter features House in the Fields, a rural home in the Belgian countryside. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now.

    Geneva-based architect Stef Claes looked to mid-century and local architecture to create the low-lying home in Belgium. The residence, named House in the Fields, features white-painted walls and black accents.
    Readers discussed the project, with one commending the architects for achieving “such a clean result” and another agreeing, claiming that they “could quite happily live there”.
    “Forty-one per cent of architects now using AI” says RIBA reportOther stories in this week’s newsletter that fired up the comments section included the findings of a report by the Royal Insitute of British Architects which found that close to half of UK architects are now using AI for their projects, the announcement that Foster + Partners is designing a two-kilometre-high skyscraper in Saudi Arabia and an opinion piece by Catherine Slessor about architects working into their older years.
    Dezeen Debate

    Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Debate or subscribe here.
    You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Agenda is sent every Tuesday containing a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design.

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    Suspended bridges connect round cabin hotels in Mexico

    Mexican architect María José Gutiérrez has placed a series of round, pine-clad cabins connected by suspended bridges onto a vineyard in Mexico to serve as vacation rentals.

    Located in Valle de Guadalupe, Ensenada on the Baja Peninsula, Zeuhary Hospedaje Campestre includes a community lounge and four vacation rental cabins.
    Top: photo by Martin Acevedo. Above: the cabins are located in Baja California, Mexico. Photo by Jonatan Ruvalcaba Maciel”Beyond creating spaces we aim to create experiences, where nature and human beings integrate and recognize each other,” María José Gutiérrez, who leads Mexican studio Arqos Arquitectura Arte Y Diseño, told Dezeen.
    “The architecture and interior design were focused on connecting with the environment and maintaining harmony with it.”
    Central bedrooms feature in the round buildingsCompleted in June 2022, the 250 square metres (2,690 square feet) of built area is divided into five 40-square metre (430-square foot) structures that look outward to the surrounding wine region.

    The ground floor of each cabin is divided orthogonally, splitting off a portion for a partially covered exterior porch that leads into the sleeping space through a glass sliding door.
    Their interiors are sectioned into bathrooms along one sideThe interiors were sectioned into a bathroom along one side, a central bedroom and a kitchenette tucked behind the headboard wall.
    “In the furniture and interior decoration, we used organic materials from the region and different areas of the country, earth tones and grey contrasts, crafts, natural fibers, textiles, local wood and stone, recognizing Mexican handicraft talent and tradition,” the studio said.
    “The chukum finish on the interior walls gives an organic texture and helps keep the interiors cool in summer, while the exterior coating of recycled pine wood allows the cabins to be thermally insulated in both winter and summer for greater energy efficiency.”
    Small private gardens feature round jacuzzisThe cabins are all rotated to face a particular northern or eastern view without compromising privacy for the occupants.
    A small planted garden protected by a grey wall rings a quarter of each plan, terminated by a private in-ground jacuzzi, connected to the cabin by a wooden deck with planks that align with the vertical cladding boards as if the facade radiates down the wall and along the ground.
    Rooftop terraces are included atop each cabinUp a delicate metal spiral staircase with wooden treads, the round plan becomes a rooftop terrace complete with a rope net set into the roof of the porch like an integrated hammock.
    A free-swinging wooden bridge with rope netting guard rails is suspended from the roof of each cabin and leads to the roof of the common area, allowing guests to congregate in a central location.

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    “The circular floor plan of the cabins, together with their transition spaces such as the hanging bridges, wooden paths and spiral staircases generate fluid and dynamic routes which allow us to reconnect with ourselves and awaken our inner child through play and movement,” the studio said.
    In addition to the material selection that responds thermally to the environment, the design works to preserve what little water the agricultural region has, reusing grey water for the irrigation of the vineyards.
    Zeuhary Hospedaje Campestre is positioned within a vineyardOther cabins recently completed in Mexico include a house deconstructed and separated for glamping within a forest in Nuevo León by S-AR and a brutalist cube-shaped holiday home tucked into a pine forest in Alférez by Ludwig Godefroy.
    The photography is by Jonatan Ruvalcaba Maciel unless otherwise stated. 
    Project credits:
    Architect: María José GutiérrezEngineering and construction: Specialized Urban Services

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    Lucas y Hernández Gil adds multi-use greenhouse to Madrid bungalow

    A renovated 1970s bungalow with “kitsch character” and a greenhouse that doubles as a living room feature in Casamontesa – a weekend home designed by Spanish studio Lucas y Hernández Gil.

    The project began when a couple asked the studio to overhaul a single-storey house that was once part of a hotel complex on the outskirts of Madrid.
    The renovated bungalow and a multifunctional greenhouse (above) make up CasamontesaThe brief later expanded to include a multifunctional greenhouse that can be used as a workspace, a guest bedroom, a gym or simply as a garden room.
    Lucas y Hernández Gil, led by architects Cristina Domínguez Lucas and Fernando Hernández-Gil Ruano, developed a distinct character for each building.
    The main house is a bungalow built in the 1970sCasamontesa’s renovated bungalow has a warm, playful style that draws on the 1970s aesthetic while the garden pavilion has a more utilitarian feel.

    “The owners, a young urban couple who love design and live and work in the centre of Madrid, were looking for a functional and compact getaway within a fantastic garden,” Lucas told Dezeen.
    “They wanted a very comfortable and flexible home that would be useful for both working and getting together with friends.”
    The interior centres around a new kitchen islandThe bungalow renovation involved simplifying the interior layout to create a combined kitchen, dining room and living room, with a bedroom and bathroom off to one side.
    “The house, in addition to being small, was very compartmentalised,” explained Lucas.
    The materials palette includes pink marble and handmade tilesTo unify the newly open-plan living space, the designers installed an island that serves as a worktop, dining table and social gathering place.
    This island features a countertop made from Portuguese pink marble while its sides are covered in the same handmade burgundy tiles that line an adjacent window recess.
    An arched fireplace provides a focal point in the living room”The rest of the surfaces – Campaspero stone floors and waxed tinted plaster walls – establish a dialogue by contrast with the colourful and shiny surface of the tiles,” added Lucas.
    Key details in the living room include an arched fireplace and a tadelakt plaster coffee table, while the bedroom features semi-circular marble nightstands.

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    For Casamontesa’s garden room, the design team customised a prefabricated greenhouse.
    A pergola extends the building volume outwards in a bid to blur the boundary between inside and out, and is topped with wooden blinds to provide shade.
    A pergola extends the width of the greenhouseA wooden box on wheels provides an additional bedroom, described as a “small Shigeru Ban-style mobile room”.
    Other additions include thermal curtains and an automatic shading and ventilation system, which allow for versatile use of the space throughout the year.
    A “Shigeru Ban-style mobile room” provides an additional sleeping space”By complementing the programme of the original bungalow, a more complete and flexible program is achieved, overcoming the limitations of a weekend house,” added Lucas.
    Other recent projects by Lucas y Hernández Gil include a bar featuring extreme colour blocking and an apartment with a hidden closet.
    The photography is by José Hevia.

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    Get listed in Dezeen’s digital guide for NYCxDesign 2024

    If you’re hosting an event during NYCxDesign, you can get listed in Dezeen Events Guide’s digital guide to the festival, which highlights the key events taking place across New York City’s five boroughs.

    NYCxDesign runs from 16 to 23 May 2024 and features hundreds of events including installations, exhibitions, fairs, tours, open studios and product launches.
    One of the largest events taking place during the eight-day programme is the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) and WantedDesign Manhattan, located at the Javits Center from 19 to 21 May 2024. Each year the fair sees 10,000 visitors from the architecture, design and retail fields.
    With 2024 marking the festival’s 12th anniversary, NYCxDesign aims for its events to target themes of sustainability, inclusivity and diversity while exploring a range of design mediums.
    Get listed in Dezeen’s digital NYCxDesign guide

    Get in touch with the Dezeen Events Guide team at [email protected] to book your listing or to discuss a wider partnership with Dezeen.
    There are three types of listing available:
    Standard listings cost £125 ($160) and include the event name, date and location details plus a website link. These listings will feature up to 50 words of text about the event.
    Enhanced listings cost £175 ($225) and include all of the above plus an image at the top of the listing’s page and a preview image on the Dezeen Events Guide homepage. These listings will also feature up to 100 words of text about the event.
    Featured listings cost £350 ($450) and include the elements of an enhanced listing plus a post on Dezeen’s Threads channel, inclusion in the featured events carousel on the right hand of the homepage for up to two weeks and 150 words of text about the event. This text can include commercial information such as ticket prices and offers and can feature additional links to website pages such as ticket sales and newsletter signups.
    For more details about partnering with us to help amplify your event, contact the team at [email protected].
    About Dezeen Events Guide
    Dezeen Events Guide is our guide to the best architecture and design events taking place across the world each year.
    The guide is updated weekly and includes events, conferences, trade fairs, major exhibitions and design weeks.
    The illustration is by Justyna Green.

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    AHMM to transform office into co-living space next to London’s Barbican estate

    Developer HUB and investor Bridges Fund Management have revealed plans to convert a 1950s office building in London into Cornerstone, a co-living residential scheme designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.

    Located on the edge of the Barbican estate, the Cornerstone project will draw from the iconic Barbican architecture to transform 45 Beech Street into 174 co-living residences along with street-level commercial spaces and amenities.
    “Building on the success of our previous London projects with HUB, we are joining forces again to transform an underloved office building in the heart of the city,” Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) director Hazel Joseph said.
    AHMM has revealed plans for a co-living retrofit next to London’s Barbican estateAHMM’s proposal aims to re-use as much of the building’s existing structure and facade as possible, taking a “retrofit-first approach” to minimise the need for new building works.
    The studio will also primarily work within the geometric parameters defined by the original envelope, while updating the rectilinear language to create uniform apertures for each co-living apartment.

    Referencing the Barbican estate, a series of arched, double-height extrusions will be introduced across the crown of the building to house additional co-living apartments.
    The design will adapt the existing building’s form and insert a series of arched spaces at the top”The architectural approach has been carefully considered, responding sensitively to the much-loved Barbican context, completing the northern frontage of the estate,” Joseph said.
    The arches will be partially set back from the building’s facade and lined with an asymmetric patchwork of glazed and tile panels underneath the curved overhangs.

    Plans for Barbican concert hall by Diller Scofidio & Renfro axed

    At street level, warm red panel accents will contrast against the building’s neutral concrete finishes to highlight commercial and collective functions.
    The scheme will integrate a public cafe, a co-working space and community-focused amenities at its lower levels to improve the public realm for those who live and work in the area.
    “The existing structure of 45 Beech Street will be re-used and extended, creating a new residential community with shared amenities and breathing new life into the local streetscape,” Joseph explained.
    At street level, new commercial and public amenities will seek to activate the ground planeAccording to HUB and Bridges Fund Management, AHMM’s proposal was developed in collaboration with the community – including Barbican residents – who were consulted through a series of workshops and events.
    A website was also established to solicit viewpoints about the redevelopment, reiterating the design vision to establish a “vibrant community” that will adapt the original building and holistically contribute to the neighbourhood.
    AHMM was established in 1989 by Simon Allford, Jonathan Hall, Paul Monaghan and Peter Morris in London. The studio has previously converted a 1930s block into New Scotland Yard’s headquarters in London and completed a mixed-use building in Southwark with interlocking flats.
    Also adjacent to the Barbican estate, Diller Scofidio & Renfro’s proposal for a pyramidal music centre was recently scrapped when the City of London Corporation revealed its plans for a “major renewal” of the Barbican.
    The images are courtesy of HUB and Bridges Fund Management.

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