Lance Routh http://www.lancerouth.com Architects Brighton Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:18:17 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 RIBA Awards 2012: Saxton http://www.lancerouth.com/01/riba-award-2012-saxton http://www.lancerouth.com/01/riba-award-2012-saxton#comments Mon, 25 Jun 2012 21:20:26 +0000 admin http://www.lancerouth.com/?p=1822 http://www.lancerouth.com/01/riba-award-2012-saxton/feed 0 Housing Design Awards 2012: Saxton http://www.lancerouth.com/01/saxton-wins-housing-design-award http://www.lancerouth.com/01/saxton-wins-housing-design-award#comments Mon, 25 Jun 2012 14:59:03 +0000 admin http://www.lancerouth.com/?p=1809

]]> http://www.lancerouth.com/01/saxton-wins-housing-design-award/feed 0 Halecat Nursery http://www.lancerouth.com/08/halecat-nursery http://www.lancerouth.com/08/halecat-nursery#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:58:38 +0000 admin http://www.unionnorth.com/?p=1730

 

 

 

 

 

]]> http://www.lancerouth.com/08/halecat-nursery/feed 0 Camp & Furnace http://www.lancerouth.com/02/camp-furnace-2 http://www.lancerouth.com/02/camp-furnace-2#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:49:20 +0000 admin http://www.unionnorth.com/?p=1309 Camp & Furnace blog, click here]]>

]]> http://www.lancerouth.com/02/camp-furnace-2/feed 0 Saxton allotments http://www.lancerouth.com/02/saxton-allotments http://www.lancerouth.com/02/saxton-allotments#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:36:12 +0000 admin http://www.unionnorth.com/?p=1287

]]> http://www.lancerouth.com/02/saxton-allotments/feed 0 Cityblock Student Accommodation http://www.lancerouth.com/08/cityblock-3-student-accommodation-lancaster http://www.lancerouth.com/08/cityblock-3-student-accommodation-lancaster#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:47:05 +0000 admin http://www.unionnorth.com/?p=935

]]> http://www.lancerouth.com/08/cityblock-3-student-accommodation-lancaster/feed 0 Saxton Phase II http://www.lancerouth.com/02/saxton-completion http://www.lancerouth.com/02/saxton-completion#comments Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:58:18 +0000 admin http://www.unionnorth.com/?p=817  

Saxton

Saxton is a £40M residential scheme on the fringe of Leeds City centre, and the result of an invited competition won by Union North in 2004. The project is an exercise in the reinvention of redundant social housing stock and involves the redevelopment of two 1960’s blocks within the Saxton Gardens estate which includes five other blocks fully occupied with Leeds City Council tenants. The new development provides a range of apartment types complementing the existing housing, and will cater for different demographics through a combination of tenures. Social housing is not delivered within the development boundary as this is provided elsewhere on the estate. Prior to commencement of the project in January 2007, the two blocks had stood empty for years and were in poor condition. This inevitably led to problems as the derelict buildings became a magnet for anti-social activity which disrupted the lives of the residents of Saxton Gardens and beyond. Furthermore, the looming 9 and 10 storey blocks were an colossal eyesore, casting a bleak shadow of neglect over the estate, and eroding any sense of civic pride. The project presented a number of key challenges. The first of these was to develop an ambitious and inspiring vision for the site which would overcome the stigma associated with its social housing context in a way that would not only be marketable and attractive to prospective purchasers, but would also integrate with and reenergize the existing community. The marginal location also meant that there was considerable emphasis on the commercial aspects of the project as a result of limited values, and a clever strategy was required to make any scheme viable. The existing buildings provided a total of 214 flats which were accessed via eleven service cores, each serving only two flats per floor and making the buildings very inefficient in their ratio of saleable floor area to circulation, Union North proposed a strategy which generated increased density, improved efficiency, and provided a range of apartment types and sizes that were better suited to market demands. This involved demolishing everything except the primary concrete structure which was retained for cost and environmental reasons. The floor plates were then extended with a new steel fame to provide four apartments per floor per core, and a total of 410 apartments. In developing re-enveloping proposals the blocks were imagined more as a single massive geological feature than as a pair of buildings. A textural treatment to the elevations has been sought which transcends the cellular and repetitive arrangement of apartments which lie behind, and instead works on a larger, bolder scale where the sheer size and linearity of the buildings (and the space between them) becomes the central asset of the site. A central square is defined by the area where the two buildings overlap, and this forms the arrival and focal point of the scheme where all residents and visitors will be greeted by an expansive lawn, deckchairs, recycling facilities and a set of illuminated signs punctuating a logical way-finding strategy. Further function to this area is provided by the post room, building managers and lettings office underneath. One of the obvious benefits of the site is the exceptionally generous six acres of land around the buildings, which is unusual for a residential development with such close proximity to the city centre. From the outset the design team felt strongly that the landscape and buildings should be given equal emphasis, and that the delivery of an imaginative and high quality landscape would distinguish Saxton from other residential schemes in the City. Union North worked with ASL Landscape to create a diverse range of external environments which have all been designed to prioritise pedestrians over vehicles, and to encourage residents to actively engage with the landscape. These include 97 ‘urban allotments’ along with a collection of bespoke garden sheds which have been prominently positioned and are available to the existing Saxton Gardens tenants, the adjacent school, and residents of the new scheme. It is hoped that this will encourage integration between the different strands of the local community. Elsewhere on the site, residents can enjoy the orchard, a boule court, BBQ areas, table tennis tables, formal lawns, extensive and varied planting, and a wooded hillside sculpted using material produced by the creation of level parking areas. The landscaping scheme extends beyond the curtilage of the site to include the Avenue which provides a unified approach to the estate and access to all buildings. The project was developed in two phases, each with a different funding strategy. The first phase being a collaborative funding arrangement for development through traditional bank debt, and the second central with government funding (through Kickstart Development Fund) along with grant funding via the National Affordable Housing Programme. The project is due to be completed at the end of September 2011. ]]>

 

]]> http://www.lancerouth.com/02/saxton-completion/feed 0 It’s Liverpool http://www.lancerouth.com/01/its-liverpool http://www.lancerouth.com/01/its-liverpool#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:51:54 +0000 admin http://www.unionnorth.com/?p=59 It's Liverpool avoids the old cliches (not a Liverbird or Beatle in sight) and focuses on Liverpool as a modern progressive European city.]]>

 

]]> http://www.lancerouth.com/01/its-liverpool/feed 0 JMU Lecture http://www.lancerouth.com/01/hello-world-2 http://www.lancerouth.com/01/hello-world-2#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:36:32 +0000 admin http://s385525204.websitehome.co.uk/?p=1 15th November 2011

Union North will be presenting a Lecture at JMU on 15th November 6pm. This will focus on our response to the recession, extreme challenges and rediscovering our raison d’etre.

]]> http://www.lancerouth.com/01/hello-world-2/feed 0 Baltic Creative http://www.lancerouth.com/02/baltic-creative http://www.lancerouth.com/02/baltic-creative#comments Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:40:31 +0000 admin http://www.unionnorth.com/?p=13

 

Approach

 

 

The Jordan Street Tin Sheds are unremarkable, unadorned, unapologetic low grade commercial architecture, and there-in lies their charm and potential. New radical, creative, selective and purposeful interventions would create a dynamic and progressive narrative when juxtaposed with this unflattered simplicity, giving the overall scheme a unique character and credibility with its intended audience. It is not enough to deliver functional space at the right price, against a backdrop of low demand and a contested ‘digital creative’ cake. The proposals must offer something unique and uncontestable, they must excite people, seduce, advocate, embrangle, stimulate and charm. They must create a desire to ‘associate’ and credibility by proxy for potential end users. A uniform facelift for the Tin Sheds may well fall between existing ‘rough and ready charm’ and aspirational ‘architecture of high quality’. Our inclination would be towards high quality interventions in a raw and ready environment, retaining the industrial qualities and redefining these with radical interventions in sync with an area wide mixed economy of creative, industrious and pioneering uses. Precedents for this marriage of radical design and perfunctory space abound in the most active, fashionable and transitional areas of major cities.

 

The Tin Sheds’ simple clear span A frame volumes will use modular, prefabricated and demountable ‘components’ to enable new uses while retaining the flexibility to reconfigure the space to suit changing needs or new uses. A cellular response, dividing the spaces up using new walls becomes a static proposition - a pop-up, fold-down, drive-thru approach could utilising prefab plug-and-play toilet, kitchenette, office or meeting rooms, demountable warehouse decking, containers or pallets in a functional, contextual and flexible response. UN Case Study: MPV (middle) in Leeds used modular steel pods, fabricated by Merseyside shipbuilders and delivered to site on low-loaders. Low cost materials and processes and conventional construction can deliver highly competitive procurement, lateral thinking, hard work and ingenuity can deliver the added value, added functionality, vitality and innovation. UN Case Study: Toxteth TV project (top), clad in bin-end bricks and reclaimed joists, used hook, crook, sweat and tears (mostly ours) to deliver fully fitted community managed workspace, classrooms, recording and film studios for £56ft2 GIA within a 9 month construction programme.

 

Selective low-cost animation, annotation and subversion of frontages, roofscapes and streetscapes can create a ‘we have arrived’, ‘we are here to stay’ and ‘we are inspired’ message. The need to signpost and animate can coalesce into installational solutions, simultaneously functional, sculptural and inspirational, simultaneously art, architecture and identity. UN Case Study: Our proposals for reinvigorating FACT (bottom) involve the introduction of eleven 3m x 3m x 3m FACT Cubes, physical manifestations of the FACT brand and ethos. Interactive cubes act as portals into the building and galleries and as information points, cubes are stacked on the roof as a building marker and digital mast, a ‘viral’ cube travels to playgrounds in Dingle and biennials in Shanghai relaying real-time content as part of FACTs outreach and awareness building activity. ]]>  

 

 

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