Uplifting human spirits for the long-term
'Saving Tomorrow’s Planet' shares conversations and uncovers innovative actions that individuals and companies are taking to reduce global warming, focussing on positive action.
Alex Ely discusses Mæ's approach to sustainability and shares practical knowledge which can be used to reduce environmental impact.
February 2021 Read more
Sands End Arts and Community Centre has been shortlisted for an Architects' Journal Retrofit Award in the Cultural and Religious Buildings category.
The project restores and completely retrofits the 1903 Clancarty Lodge, which forms the nucleus of a new community hub in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The existing building is surrounded by single-storey pavilions featuring large clerestory windows and saw tooth roofs. The flexible space will be run by a local community trust.
Winners will be announced at a virtual awards ceremony in February.
January 2021 Read more
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
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
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.”
Chimes, our later living project in Westminster for retirement specialists Pegasus Life, has now completed. The landmark retirement home opposite Channel 4’s HQ provides 36 assisted living flats on six floors together with a communal kitchen, storage areas, wellness centre/spa, guest accommodation, and apartments for staff.
“This project marks an important moment for all those who share the ambition to create a long-term change in how people see retirement living. This will be a place to enjoy life and to ensure that not a second of that life is wasted.” (Roger Black, Pegasus Life)
September 2020 View Project
London Metropolitan University's School of Art, Architecture and Design summer degree show is taking place online this year.
Titled 'Liveness', the online event celebrates the work and successes of students, and the culture of the school which has thrived in new ways while its buildings remain closed during the Covid-19 emergency.
Mæ's Unit 5 postgraduate module has published a portfolio showcasing the research that students on the course have carried out over the course of their studies.
This year’s Unit 5 programme considered the implication construction methods and materials have on the landscape, exploring the tectonics of timber construction to form tactile and expressive collective housing, buildings with civic gravitas and urban gardens.
July 2020 Read more