Steel doors

The completion of Principal Tower is the final piece of the Principal Place masterplan, a comprehensively planned mixed-use scheme on the border of Shoreditch and the City of London that creates a thriving new neighbourhood, drawing on the rich industrial heritage of the area. It comprises a 15-storey office building that hosts the London headquarters for Amazon, alongside one of London’s tallest residential buildings, the 50-storey Principal Tower, with six eateries that wrap around the building at street level and a light bar, creating a 360-degree active frontage that extends the vibrancy of the City towards the north. Grant Brooker, Director at Foster + Partners, commented: “The phenomenal rise of Shoreditch as the new, vib... More

The new MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, designed by 6a architects, will open to the public on 16 March 2019.The original MK Gallery was constructed in the late 1990s and is located at the top of Midsummer Boulevard, next to Milton Keynes Theatre. The new development retains the first structure and adds a new one, to more than double its size. The new MK Gallery reflects the natural world in its polished stainless-steel exterior surfaces inspired by the city’s original grid and the geometries of the adjacent Campbell Park. The completed development including both old and new structures provides five exhibition galleries, with a total of 500 sq metres of exhibition space; a large learning and community studio and The Sky Room, a flexib... More

17-July-2017 Stirling Prize-winning architect Amanda Levete and her firm AL_A have completed a new porcelain-tiled entrance and underground exhibition hall at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The V&A Exhibition Road Quarter comprises an alternative entrance to the museum, as well as extra gallery space and a courtyard. The £54.5 million scheme by Levete's London-based firm, which was first announced back in 2012, provides 6,400 square metres of extra space for the museum. It is the largest expansion at the museum in over 100 years and forms part of its Future Plan project, which has seen two-thirds of the V&A's public spaces overhauled in the last 15 years. The bulk of the project is concealed beneath a new courtyard paved with 11,00... More

Palazzo’s Centenary Square, the largest public square in the heart of Birmingham, currently lacks cohesion or a clear identity or atmosphere. Mecanoo’s design transforms the square into one with three distinct realms: monumental, cultural and entertainment. These palazzos form an urban narrative of important periods in the history of the city; The Repertory Theatre (REP), a 1960s concrete building, the Library of Birmingham, designed in 2009 and Baskerville House, a listed sandstone building designed in 1936. The busiest pedestrian route in the city, what Mecanoo calls the red line, leads pedestrians into Centenary Square. The cantilever of the library is not only a large canopy that provides shelter at the common entrance of the Library... More

The University of Southampton’s Boldrewood Innovation Campus was recently opened by Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal in an official ceremony. The 4.3 hectare site places the university at the forefront of maritime research through the co-location of the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute and research facilities supporting the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment with Lloyd’s Register’s Global Technology Centre. This unique collaboration ensures students and researchers have access to real life case studies while Lloyd’s Register engineers have access to cutting-edge research. The £140m scheme is Grimshaw’s largest European university project to date and it includes the overall master plan and design of all buildings o... More

Since opening as the Empire Stadium in 1923, Wembley captured the nation’s heart as the home of football. World-wide venue fame followed, with international events including the 1948 Olympic Games, England’s World Cup victory in 1966 and the Live Aid concert in 1985. By the late 1990’s it was agreed that Wembley needed full redevelopment to bring the English National Stadium into the new millennium. The new 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium was designed by the World Stadium Team, a joint venture between Populous and Foster & Partners, as a multi-purpose venue to host soccer, rugby, concerts and, by the installation of a temporary deck above pitch level, athletics when required. Th e geometry of the design brought the Wembley heritage into the... More

Royal Opera House – Open Up project receives planning approval Westminster City Council’s Planning Department has approved Stanton Williams’ scheme to ‘open up’ the Royal Opera House. The planning consent will allow the Royal Opera House to enhance their core values of creativity, excellence and inclusivity. The design, which has been developed by Stanton Williams in collaboration with Arup, will make the physical entrances and street-level public spaces of the Royal Opera House more open and inviting to everyone, encouraging artists, audiences, as well as the general public to explore the building and engage with the artistic activities within. Open Up will also make the Royal Opera House a must-see destination. Existing spac... More

This January, the House of Music, Hungary will open in Budapest: a brand-new cultural landmark for the city, which is dedicated to the creation of music and sound. The House will provide a unique artistic experience combining landscape, architecture and exhibition design to offer its visitors new perspectives on music making and its impact on our lives. The ambitious architectural project is led by star Japanese designer, Sou Fujimoto Architects and is part of Europe’s largest cultural development, the Liget Budapest Project, which will transform the experience of culture in Budapest including the creation and renovation of several cultural institutions, while establishing new leisure opportunities and green areas within the city&rsqu... More

Project : SeaCity Museum Client : Southampton City Council Completed : 2012 A museum that use the historic fabric of the building as part of the exhibition narratives Urban Salon were museum designers for Southampton’s new HLF funded £15 million SeaCity Museum. As the museum was housed in the city’s grade 2 listed former magistrates court, our challenge was to creating an immersive exhibition within the historic fabric of the building. Our design used the historic fabric to bring to life the exhibitions’ narratives. For example we told the story of the British Titanic Inquiry through an audio-visual show within the old courtroom and co-ordinated skylights in the existing building to create a view up to the buildings clocktower to... More