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    Sam Jacob gives “soft brutalist” University of Kent building a modern makeover

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    Architecture studio Sam Jacob Studio has refurbished a 1960s building at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, using playful architectural references and bright colours to add layers of “wit and delight” to the existing interiors.

    The project provides teaching spaces for the university’s School of Architecture, Design and Planning, which is part of a campus designed by William Holford that opened in 1965.
    Sam Jacob Studio has refurbished the interiors of a 1960s University of Kent buildingSam Jacob Studio (SJS) looked to retain what it described as the “soft brutalist” character of the brick and concrete Marlowe Building when reorganising the existing interior.
    The Marlowe building originally housed the university’s physics department, which featured a series of cellular offices on the ground floor and a top-lit lab space above.
    The studio wanted to retain the building’s “soft brutalist” feelingFollowing a detailed consultation with faculty and students, Jacob and his team defined a strategy that balances areas dedicated to specific year groups and subjects with the ability to transform and open up the spaces.

    The team at SJS said it was interested in “what happens between the logic of architecture and the happenstance of creative working”.
    They based their design on a variety of famous creative spaces including the Bauhaus school and Paul Rudolph’s brutalist Yale Art and Architecture Building, as well as The Factory created by artist Andy Warhol in New York City.
    Large sliding doors were used to separate spacesThe architects gutted the existing interior to expose the concrete ceiling alongside the building’s structure and services, which were retained as the backdrop for a series of minimal interventions targeted at fulfilling the space’s new role.
    “This is a project that reveals the intrinsic qualities of the 1960s building, while also contrasting a more fluid contemporary character,” the studio said.
    “It is an architecture that invites inhabitation rather than imposing order, that recognises character, wit and delight as part of an essential role of architecture.”
    Polycarbonate portholes allow light to pass through the spacesSJS worked as much as possible with the existing spatial layout, adding just one wall to the ground floor and two on the first floor so that the interiors can evolve to meet different future requirements.
    Rather than functioning merely as static partitions, the walls are activated by incorporating moving components that can be used to adapt the layout of the studios.
    Large sliding doors with polycarbonate portholes allow some of the spaces to be separated, while pivoting wall sections can be opened or closed depending on the desired layout.

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    The partition walls incorporate full-height pinboards for displaying work. These surfaces were given a more dynamic appearance by cutting the boards diagonally from corner to corner.
    The standard-height pinboards are topped with a shelf, onto which adjustable lights are clamped to allow illumination of the students’ work. Mirrored panels above the shelf create the illusion of a continual space.
    Pinboards feature clamped adjustable lights to illuminate student’s workThe studio can be customised further to suit different working modes by rearranging freestanding elements including drawing boards, easels, screens and moveable storage units built using standard warehouse shelves.
    Existing furniture was reused wherever possible, while doors salvaged during the strip-out were converted into desks, with yellow laminate pieces added to fill in holes where the locks and vision panels were once located.
    Pivoting wall sections can be opened or closed depending on the desired layoutThe interior incorporates several explicit architectural references, according to SJS, including a colour palette based on Le Corbusier’s 1959 paint system.
    “A series of columns used to define thresholds act as 1:1 models of, variously, Canterbury Cathedral, Brancusi and James Stirling, like a library of other architectures inhabiting the school,” the team explained.
    To prevent sunlight from overheating the studios, a series of coloured window blinds was added along with moveable perforated pinboard panels that help to control privacy. This creates a changing topography that animates the building’s exterior.
    Moveable perforated pinboard panels provide privacy and shadingSam Jacob established his eponymous studio in 2014, having previously worked as part of the radical architecture collective FAT for over 20 years.
    Previous projects by SJS include a new entrance at London’s V&A museum made from hundreds of glass tubes and a brightly coloured studio and office for designer Yinka Ilori.
    The photography is by Timothy Soar.

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      Superkül renovates reading room at Toronto's brutalist Robarts Library

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      Canadian studio Superkül has updated the reading room at the University of Toronto’s Robarts Library, a notable example of brutalist architecture.

      The project involved renovating the cavernous concrete space on the building’s fourth floor, as part of the university’s larger initiative to revitalise the Robarts Library, which Superkül described as “one of North America’s most significant examples of brutalist architecture”.
      The Brutalist concrete Robarts Library was built in 1973Completed in 1973, the John P Robarts Research Library was designed by local architecture studio Mathers & Haldenby.
      It is both the largest individual library at the University of Toronto and the largest academic library building in Canada.
      Superkül updated the spaces to better serve contemporary learning needsAs an important facility for students and faculty, the reading and study spaces required upgrades to meet contemporary learning styles and equipment, while remaining respectful to the heritage-listed architecture.

      The project also needed to connect the original brutalist structure with the adjacent Robarts Common extension, completed by Diamond Schmitt Architects in September 2022.
      A variety of individual study stations were added to the double-height space”We were tasked with an ambitious goal: to convert the space into a superior contemporary environment for quiet study, collaboration, and digital scholarship in a manner that complements the building’s exalted architectural language and supports accessibility, diversity, and wellness,” said Superkül.
      Spread throughout the 20,300-square-foot (1,886-square-metre), double-height space are individual study areas, new digital stations, consultation rooms and two light therapy zones.
      Natural materials were chosen to bring warmth to the concrete buildingParticular attention was paid to accessibility, through the addition of inclusive study spots that allow users to adjust desk heights, seating configurations and lighting for their needs.
      “We also emphasised clear sightlines and intuitive wayfinding in a symmetrical layout to promote easy navigation,” said Superkül.

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      The studio worked with a team of acoustic specialists to create a sound-dampening system using perforated wood and metal panelling, designed to blend in with the interior architecture.
      This scheme allows communal study groups to converse without disturbing other students.
      Particular attention was paid to accessibility, through the addition of inclusive study spotsFor the new elements, a variety of natural materials were chosen to add warmth to the concrete building, including custom-designed bronze screens and details that play on existing motifs.
      “To honour the distinctive geometry and materiality that make Robarts Library such a prodigious icon, we hewed closely to an overarching objective: create a robust and respectful design that honours the existing architecture and complements the library’s other spaces,” the studio said.
      An acoustic-dampening system was created to prevent communal study sessions distracting from quiet workAlso at the University of Toronto, studios Kohn Shnier and ERA Architects recently renovated the historic University College building to make it more accessible.
      Superkül’s previous projects have included an all-white vacation home in the Ontario countryside.
      The photography is by Doublespace.
      Project credits:
      Architect: SuperkülStructural engineer: EntuitiveMechanical and electrical engineer: HH AngusAcoustics: AercousticsCost: Marshall & MurrayCode and safety: LRI

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      Emilieu Studio uses local materials to form mobile furniture in Toulon design school

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      Moveable furnishings crafted from old ship sails and plywood offcuts appear throughout the École Camondo Méditerranée design school in Toulon with interiors by French practice Emilieu Studio.

      The southerly outpost of Paris’s École Camondo is set on the coast of the French Riviera and features a pared-back open-plan interior meant to reflect “how design and sustainability intersect”.
      Design school École Camondo Méditerranée has a pared-back interiorIts sparse 2,000-square-metre floor plan is interrupted by a series of boxy storage units where students keep all their equipment.
      Each one is made of marine plywood offcuts that Emilieu Studio found in a nearby factory, selecting the material for its lightweight, hardwearing and water-resistant qualities.
      Storage units were painted to look like local rock and marbleDecorative artist Pierre-Yves Morel was enlisted to paint the surfaces of the units to resemble different types of marble and rock that are local to Toulon.

      “We had two difficulties with adornment: aesthetics could not come across functionality and we had to showcase the wonderful raw materials of Provence without extraction,” explained the studio. “Our only room for manoeuvre was surface, so we dared to rehabilitate faux.”
      Wheeled plinths can be turned into mobile whiteboards and trolleysOtherwise, the decor was kept to a minimum save for a few blown-up maps of Toulon that the studio mounted on walls and moveable partitions.
      “They allow a better understanding of the territory and encourage collaborative projects by being fully annotatable and magnetic,” Emilieu Studio explained.

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      Marine plywood was also used to create several wheeled plinths that, with some extensions, can be transformed into mobile trolleys, whiteboards or work tables.
      The plinths also form the basis of the school’s modular sofas, which are finished with chunky cushions upholstered in old boat sails from the harbour in nearby Marseille. These can be removed and stacked to create seating in other pockets of the room.
      The plinths also form the base of the school’s modular sofa systemThe only fixed elements of the school’s interior are the stainless steel units that make up the kitchen area, as these had to be linked to the building’s plumbing system.
      There’s also a colour-coded bin station with built-in weighing scales so that students can manage their waste output and organise it for use in future projects.
      More traditional desks with glossy white countertops were also dotted around the space.
      Blown-up maps of Toulon act as decorationEcole Camondo Méditerranée is one of five projects shortlisted in the civic and cultural interior category of the 2022 Dezeen Awards.
      Other projects in the running include the world’s first multi-storey skatepark in Folkestone and Stanbridge Mill Library by Crawshaw Architects, which occupies a former cow shed.
      The photography is by Antoine Huot. 

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