View Point – Nigel Ostime from Hawkins\Brown

Nigel Ostime, project delivery director at architects Hawkins\Brown, offers some thoughts on how to counter the ills of Design & Build using current procurement. There has been much in the media recently about the poor quality achieved through Design &... View Article

RIBA responds to Draft London Plan

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has responded to the publication of Mayor of London’s Draft London Plan. RIBA President Ben Derbyshire said “Me and my team at the RIBA look forward to working with the Mayor of London... View Article

Future Watch – Setting the stage for regeneration

With cities’ night time economy being seen as increasingly important in the future, Tim Foster, partner at Foster Wilson Architects, reflects on how theatre design projects that put placemaking at their core can catalyse regeneration. Following the debate around placemaking... View Article

Site Lines: Master Builders for the 21st century

Bruce Bell of Facit Homes says that the emergence of digital methods of creating buildings means that architects can recapture their former territory as Master Builders. Throughout the 20th century, architects have steadily become further removed from the process of... View Article

Editor’s Comment – December

It is somewhat hard to know what to make of Phillip ‘joker’ Hammond’s recent Budget, given that it contains a lot for housing, as rumoured, and perhaps more than some feared, while at the same time raising yet more questions... View Article

Why we should allow daylight to shine

Chris Lowe of BDP, tells us about the role of natural light in inspirational, interesting and healthy buildings – and why artificial light doesn’t really cut-it. Daylight is important to the human condition. It can improve our health, wellbeing, creativity... View Article

View point – Nigel Ostime from Hawkins\Brown

A continuing wage gap between architects working in different sectors is presenting a further obstacle to diversity of new entrants to the profession. Nigel Ostime from Hawkins\Brown suggests a different approach. Economic commentators are observing an increasing gap between the... View Article

Ask the architect – Mungo Smith – MAAP

Mungo Smith is a renowned specialist healthcare architect, and was director of Medical Architecture and Art Projects (MAAP) in the UK until 2012, when he moved the firm to Sydney, Australia. He tells ADF why an architect’s life down under isn’t always plain sailing. AFTER SETTING UP SHOP IN AUSTRALIA, WHAT ADVICE... View Article

View Point – Tim Burgess of CoveBurgess Architects

Tim Burgess of CoveBurgess Architects says that grass-roots answers are needed to the problem of practices finding it harder be located in London’s rich diversity. Our modern cities are the current embodiment of humans’ desire to gather into groupings that... View Article

Practice Profile – Colman Architects

Emerging from a desire to ‘do things better’, over their 30-year lifespan Colman Architects have produced a wealth of diverse projects from sleek gallery spaces to colossal Chinese masterplans. Sébastien Reed investigates. The project is the all-important thing – Colman... View Article

Site Lines – The real value of human-centred design

‘Human-centred’ buildings offering users better technology or greater material comfort will always be the exception rather than the rule as they are costly and challenging. This is a perception Atkins is trying to counter, as Rebecca Wicks reports. The needs... View Article

View Point – Dr Andy Lewry of BRE Global

Dr Andy Lewry of BRE Global outlines his strategy for betterintegrated design and build processes that use modelling to address the ‘Performance Gap’. As we drive the performance of our building stock, it is becoming clear that one of the... View Article

Editor’s Comment – October

Why can’t we build the public housing we need in the UK? While the higher-end homes sector continues to boom (despite a slight downturn in London), the solutions for achieving our dreams of tackling the crisis at the other end,... View Article

Timber in Architecture Supplement 2017 – Editor’s comment

Sustainable, healthy, beautiful, endlessly forgiving and flexible for building with, what’s not to like about wood? While it may not be suitable for absolutely every type of construction, its enduring –  and resurgent – popularity is now seeing timber appear... View Article

Comment: Get specification right first time

The Metal Cladding and Roofing Manufacturers Association explains the importance of approved cladding systems and the dangers of changing specifications. Metal cladding systems provide efficient, aesthetically pleasing and sustainable solutions for a wide variety of external building envelopes. However, the... View Article