Uplifting human spirits for the long-term
Our later living scheme John Morden Centre has won the Caring Prize in the New London Architecture Awards 2020, which recognises projects that are designed to improve the health and wellbeing of Londoners.
Supported by the Mayor of London, NLA’s annual awards seek projects of the highest design quality which make a positive contribution to their surroundings and life in the capital.
November 2020 Read more
Mæ has been appointed by London Borough of Enfield as masterplan architect for Meridian Water. The £6bn, 20-year regeneration programme will bring 10,000 homes alongside a truly mixed-use community and thousands of jobs to Enfield. As the Borough declares a climate emergency our goal is to make Meridian Water the UK’s most sustainable development and help realise their commitment to making the authority carbon neural by 2030.
April 2020 Read more
Sands End Arts and Community Centre has been selected as a Regional Finalist in the 2021 Civic Trust Awards.
The Civic Trust Awards are an independent not-for-profit organisation recognising projects that have made a positive contribution to the local communities they serve. The selection process also includes the general public who are involved in judging schemes from their local area.
Winning projects and special prizes will be announced in January 2021.
November 2020 Read more
As part of a series of events connected to our new publication 'From City to Room, A manifesto for better living', we gave a talk hosted by the London Society at Studio Egret West.
Decades of underprovision, combined with unprecedented population growth mean that buildings have to work more efficiently than ever before, both in terms of their uses and the resources they use. The pressures of climate change also mean sustainability is no longer an add-on but the starting point for any discussion about how, where and what we build.
So how do we overcome these challenges. How can we ensure that more is also better? And what can we do to give people the homes, buildings, neighbourhoods and cities they need?
The talk explored the integrated thinking that we believe is necessary to solving today’s urban, social and environmental challenges.
February 2020 Read more
This year's Tbilisi Architecture Biennial takes place virtually and it's theme asks 'What Do We Have in Common', focussing on togetherness in our increasingly individualised and fragmented societies.
We took part in conversations hosted by architecture collective Medium. Titled 'Domestic Commons' discussions explored the spaces that form the immediate thresholds between our private, interior lives and the city beyond; and the potential for these spaces to reinforce a sense of trust and collective action between those that share them, activating the social fabric of the city.
Our Pinnacle House project at Royal Wharf has now completed. The 14-storey tower with restaurants and 110 apartments, sits in a strategic position at the end of a new park on the River Thames as part of a new 40 acre development in London’s Royal Docks.
We drew inspiration from the history and geology of the site to create a characterful and unique building, with scalloped details and a tripartite precast masonry façade textured with oyster shells discovered in the excavation of dock walls.
The design was commended by Newham’s Design Review Panel: 'We support the very strong architectural direction being taken by the design team… The scalloped, grid-like form and the graded variation in the concrete tone, has the potential to be very interesting indeed.’
Our Sands End Arts and Community Centre project for LB Hammersmith & Fulham is now complete. The new centre is a flexible space for the community and will facilitate art exhibitions and community events with an ancillary café and children’s day nursery.
A member of the residents delivery group for the centre describes it as: “A meeting place, a hub of activity across languages, cultures and economic background, a venue for creative expression, a flexible space which encourages the community to be flexible in its use. Perhaps most importantly, it will be what the broader Sands End community want it to be; today and for decades to come.”
Today the Mayor of London has published 'Good Quality Housing for all Londoners' Supplementary Planning Guidance.
Written by Mæ with the team at the GLA and our consultants, the suite of four guidance documents embeds quality at the centre of housing delivery.
Mæ Founding Director and Mayor’s Design Advocate Alex Ely presented the guidance at GLA's 'Designing a City for All Londoners', which sought to recognise the role of design in improving development and delivering quality of life in a growing city. It celebrated the Good Growth by Design programme and the progress that has been made across a range of priority areas including the circular economy, child-friendly cities and high streets.
March 2020 Read more
The competition is for the remasterplan of Derbent in Russia, Dagestan's second largest city and one of the oldest cities in Russia.
Our multi-disciplinary and international team has been selected from 144 applications, and our winning strategy is aimed at building in resilience; addressing a lack of housing, education and cultural infrastructure and creating economic opportunity.
Based on the guiding principle of a vibrant city, we have developed a forward looking vision for Derbent which respects the unique identity and qualities of the city.
Derbent is located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, at the foothills of the Tabasaran Mountains of the Greater Caucasus. The historic city centre is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its citadel, ancient town, and fortress buildings.
November 2019 Read more
