UK architects create film to highlight lack of homeless accommodation design guidance

Architects Miranda MacLaren, Polina Pencheva and Heather Macey have created a film titled We Are Not Bad Kids to highlight the need to introduce design guidelines and regulations for homeless accommodation.

Backed by a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) research grant, the film was created by MacLaren and Pencheva, who work at London studio Morris and Company, and Macey, who is an associate director at John McAslan and Partners in collaboration with independent film company Odelay.

"We created this video to raise awareness of the urgent need to improve emergency accommodation standards and enable more purpose-built specialist emergency homes to be built," the trio of architects told Dezeen.

The film aims to highlight the lack of regulation for homeless accommodation

In We Are Not Bad Kids guests of the emergency accommodation talk through their experiences with homeless housing.

It forms part of the group's wider campaign to introduce design standards to improve the quality of homeless shelters and emergency accommodation in the UK in the face of a rapid increase in homelessness due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the group, the legislation used for homeless shelters is largely unchanged since 1935, while there are no guidelines for the design of emergency accommodation for young homeless people.

There is no guidance for housing young homeless people

"Despite the raft of qualitative design guidelines for traditional forms of housing that exist, and are updated year upon year, there are no guidelines for emergency accommodation; asides legislation dating back to 1935, to prevent shelters for the homeless from burning down, and to prevent slums from forming," said the group.

"This can become an obstacle to creating fit-for-purpose, better quality accommodation and simultaneously opens the door to rogue conversions and unacceptable standards of accommodation to exist, which local authorities are forced to use and pay premiums for," they continued.

"It is a vicious circle and a change is needed."

The group want to draw attention to rising levels of youth homelessness

Youth homeless has risen dramatically during the coronavirus pandemic, with the film stating that the number of young people sleeping rough in London increased by 50 per cent between April and June 2020.

"It is critical to reaching young people who are hidden homeless or experience homelessness for the first time, before they become entrenched in what is a complex and institutional system," said the group.

"Supportive dignified spaces that offer safety and stability, and that come with a support network are the building block that can help a young person move on to independent life," they continued.

"What young people need is different from other homeless accommodation."

Alongside the video, the group has created recommendations for regulations

The group of architects hope that those watching the video will be shocked about the lack of regulations in this area and will read their wider research, which is on the RIBA website.

"After viewing the film, we hope people will then read our recommendations with a greater focus – imagine your home without the extensive guidance and standards that have to be met," said the group.

"We hope people are shocked at the reality of the situation and gain a better understanding of the existing issues and needs as well as having empathy and realising that a homeless person could be you, a friend or family member."

Shelter from the Storm by Holland Harvey Architects is given as a good example of homeless accommodation. Photo is by Nicholas Worley

MacLaren, Pencheva and Macey want to see guidelines introduced for youth homeless accommodation to create the range of holistically designed, private and shared spaces that can support the vulnerable visitors to the accommodation. They believe that architects should be actively involved in helping to introduce new regulation in this area.

"Architects should be actively engaged at policy level and advocate for better quality, sustainable environments for all," said the group.

"We should lead by example and illustrate through thoughtful empathetic design how important the built environment is, it has the ability to make or break a person."

Architecture studio Morris + Company, where MacLaren and Pencheva work, proposed turning a London Underground station into a co-working space and hostel for homeless people, while Holland Harvey Architects used warm and tactile materials to create a domestic feel inside a homeless shelter in north London in a former supermarket.

Images courtesy of Odelay, unless stated.

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Herzog & de Meuron creates boutique hotel in historic Volkshaus Basel

Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron has created a boutique hotel inside a century-old building in the heart of its home city, Basel.

The Volkshaus Basel Hotel blends the style of 1920s with a modern design sensibility, creating an aesthetic to appeal to "detail-loving individualists".

Its 45 rooms are simply furnished but rich in texture, featuring terrazzo flooring, wooden furniture and tactile fabrics.

The Volkshaus Basel Hotel blends 1920s style with modern design

The hotel is located within the Volkshaus Basel building, a structure with a history dating back to the 14th century. However the building that stands today was built in 1925, in a design by the architect Henri Baur.

Herzog & de Meuron has been working on the redevelopment for several years, since the building was taken over by real-estate entrepreneurs Leopold Weinberg and Adrian Hagenbach.

Herzog & de Meuron previously designed the Volkshaus Basel bar (pictured) and brasserie

The aim was to repair the damage of the 1970s, when much of the original interior was stripped out and converted into large-scale offices.

The studio had already reinstated the bar and brasserie, as well as several of the building's old events halls, in a renovation back in 2013. The hotel is the next step in this transformation, along with a small shop located within the hotel lobby.

Both the bar and brasserie (pictured) feature the custom-designed Volkshaus chair

"The extent of our interventions varies from room to room depending on the needs of each space and in accordance with in-depth analysis of the complex as a whole," said Herzog & de Meuron.

"We aim to preserve the overall multiplicity and complexity of the Volkshaus, based on the original architecture of 1925 and imbued by its own history."

The hotel bedrooms are laid out with respect to the building's history

With little of the original fabric remaining, the architects had to look to the original floor plans for inspiration.

The layout they came up with borrows elements from both the old attic bedrooms and the old office floors, particularly in the way they sandwiched a wall of storage between the bedrooms and corridors, creating space for generous bathrooms and closets.

Rooms are furnished with the Volkshaus chair and other Herzog & de Meuron designs

The materials palette chosen for the rooms echoes the details in the bar and brasserie renovation.

Stained black oak was chosen for the volume that encloses the bathrooms and closets, while the floor is a dark terrazzo. These are contrasted by the muted green of the curtains and the pale etchings that decorate the wallpaper.

The bathrooms are located within a black-stained oak volume

Furniture in the rooms includes several of Herzog & de Meuron's own designs, including a wooden lounge chair, ottoman and side table, and various wall, floor and table lamps. There's also the Volkshaus chair – a bespoke design for the bar and brasserie.

The bathrooms feature ceramic tiles in green and black, black glass and a round window that echoes others in the building.

The lobby features a hand-laid mosaic floor

The lobby was designed to feel like a brighter version of the bar, according to the design team. "Somewhat like a 'negative' or a copy, same but different, with the colour concept inverted."

It features a mosaic floor in black and green, leather banquette seating and light-painted wainscoting.

The lobby doubles as an exhibition space, curated by the Von Bartha Gallery. The inaugural work on display is a steel sculpture by French conceptual artist Bernar Venet.

It doubles as exhibition space curated by the Von Bartha Gallery

The Volkshaus Basel Hotel is currently open for previews, but will be open for bookings from early January.

It is one of numerous projects that Herzog & de Meuron has completed in Basel, along with the Messe Basel exhibition halls and the Museum der Kulturen.

The architects hope that this latest addition will contribute to the cityscape in the same way.

"We hope that our modifications and the renewed diversity of uses will not only revitalise this extremely special location in Basel, but also revive the architectural identity of the Volkshaus," added the studio.

Photography is by Robert Rieger.

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Thukral and Tagra's upcoming watch for Rado will "bring something unique to the experience of reading time"

Thukral & Tagra are the last creatives to be featured as part of Rado Design Week. In this exclusive video, the Indian artists explain the unique features of their upcoming True Square watch for Swiss brand Rado.

Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra, who work together as Thukral & Tagra, are currently developing the design for their special edition of Rado's True Square timepiece.

While it is still in development, the artist duo gave Dezeen an exclusive preview of some of the details of the watch, which will be called True Square Over the Abyss.

The artists are planning to incorporate images from their wider artwork into the watch.

"On the back of the watch, we are embedding one of the images from our ongoing series of paintings called Dominus Aeries, which explore the boundaries between civilisation and science fiction," Thukral explained in the video filmed by Dezeen at the artists' studio in New Delhi.

The dials on the artists' watch will be made up of two overlapping dials with multiple hands, with a subtle mark to indicate the hour and minute hands.

As the dials intersect, they create shifting patterns on the watch face, a feature that the artists say is meant to spark a consciousness in the wearer of the different time zones around the world.

"Our inspiration was to feel connected with a lot more time zones and we wanted to bring something unique to the experience of reading time," Thukral said.

Based in New Delhi, Thukral and Tagra have been working together for the past 15 years on work including paintings, sculpture and installations.

"With our work, we try to paint a vision of the future, which is both compelling, comforting and engages the public," Tagra said.

Their work has been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo and the Asia Pacific Triennial, but this collaboration with Rado will open up their portfolio of work to a whole new audience, according to the artists.

"Rado is an incredibly popular brand in India and the prospect of having our work so intimately close to people here and the rest of the world is promising and fascinating," Tagra said.

The artists will be speaking about their upcoming watch to Dezeen's founder Marcus Fairs, Rado's CEO Adrian Bosshard and its vice president of product development Hakim El Kadiri in a live talk at 1:00pm London time today as part of Rado Design Week.

Thukral and Tagra's True Square watch is one of four watches by a roster of global designers that was revealed during Rado Design Week, a week-long collaboration between the Swiss watch brand and Dezeen.

Dezeen published exclusive videos revealing special editions of Rado's True Square watch by designers Formafantasma, Tej Chauhan, YOY and Thukral & Tagra, followed by a live conversation with each of the designers. Click here to check out the content.

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Phoenix Instinct creates smart wheelchair with "intelligent centre of gravity"

Scottish designer Phoenix Instinct has developed a lightweight wheelchair with a moveable axle position that automatically adjusts the chair's centre of gravity to stop overbalancing.

Developed with the help of a $500,000 development grant from the Mobility Unlimited Challenge, which is run by the Toyota Mobility Foundation together with Nesta's Challenge Prize Centre, the Phoenix i wheelchair uses smart technology to improve its basic functionality.

"The wheelchair is proven to be the most viable means of getting around if you're paralysed," said Phoenix Instinct founder Andrew Slorance.

"However, wheelchair technology hasn't evolved since the 80s, while smart systems have transformed products all around us," he told Dezeen.

"Prosthetics have been revolutionised in function, appearance and perception, while the wheelchair has remained the inanimate awkward device the prosthetic used to be. It's now time for the wheelchair to evolve."

Made of lightweight carbon-fibre, the wheelchair's wheels are mounted on an adjustable axle that can move forward or backwards depending on the user's position.

It is connected to sensors that detect whether the users is leaning forward or back and moves the axle position to adjust its centre of gravity accordingly. This means that the wheelchair can be both stable and agile while reducing the risk of falling backwards.

"Weight distribution is key to wheelchair agility and stability," explained Slorance. "The position of the rear wheel axles determines how weight is distributed through the front and rear wheels."

"The more weight going through the front wheels, the more rearward stability will be achieved," he continued. "However, weight through the small front wheels equals lots of drag which makes pushing harder."

"If too much weight is carried through the back wheels then the chair can overbalance and fall backwards."

"Wheelchairs have a fixed centre of gravity so the user either has an agile, unstable chair or a stable chair that is hard to push, or a chair that is neither very agile nor very stable," continued Slorance.

"The Phoenix i wheelchair has a smart centre of gravity so the user gets the lightest agility in combination with stability. This has never been done before."

The smart system means that the chair is constantly adjusting itself to give the user the best possible performance while keeping the wheels in the same position relative to the user. According to the designer, this means that people using the chair will suffer fewer injuries.

"For the first time ever the wheelchair and user have the same centre of gravity," said Slorance. "The wheels are always in the same position relative to the user regardless of them leaning forward or back," he continued.

"The pushing position remains constant and comfortable which will equal fewer injuries, easier pushing, greater agility and better stability."

Phoenix Instinct intend on selling the Phoenix i wheelchair at a price comparable to conventional wheelchairs as the company believes that smart wheelchairs should become widely used.

"Wheelchairs are largely funded through reimbursement programmes so raising the ceiling on what insurers will pay means proving life-enhancing benefits will bring greater savings to the insurer in the long term – fewer injuries, greater independence etc," said Slorance.

"This has been achieved with advancements in prosthetics so it should be achievable with wheelchairs too. However, we intend to price the new wheelchair in line with conventional wheelchairs so as to speed the steps change towards smart wheelchairs becoming the norm."

The Mobility Unlimited Challenge awarded five finalists with $500,000 to develop mobility devices for lower-limb paralysis. Along with Phoenix Instinct's wheelchair, the finalists include an electric wheelchair share scheme and two exoskeletons.

The winner of the challenge, who will receive $1,000,000, will be announced later this month.

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Pearson Lloyd unveils own east London studio designed with Cassion Castle Architects

Together with Cassion Castle Architects, London studio Pearson Lloyd has designed and retrofitted a Victorian workshop to house its own studio as well as workshops, meeting rooms and an exhibition space.

Yorkton Workshops is set on Yorkton Street in east London and comprises two distinct buildings – a warehouse structure next to a Victorian workshop – which the studios retrofitted to suit Pearson Lloyd's vision of its headquarters.

Top image: Yorkton Workshops is located in East London. Above: it consists of a Victorian building and a warehouse

The designers came to the decision after initially looking at constructing a new building for the site.

"Before commissioning Cassion Castle, we spent a year looking into the feasibility of building a new building on the site," Pearson Lloyd co-founder Tom Lloyd said.

Pearson Lloyd and Cassion Castle Architects retrofitted the buildings

"However, we finally made the decision that we wanted to make the absolute most of the existing fabric of the building from both a sustainability point of view," Lloyd added.

"Over the long term, the embedded energy within the existing fabric far outweighs any reduced efficiency in its thermal performance where we have not been able to upgrade its performance through insulating."

The building has workshops as well as studios

When the studio acquired the 560-square-metres (6027-square-foot) Yorkton Workshops in 2017 it was "a mess," it said, but it worked to keep much of the original design.

"Working with the existing fabric of the building, the ambition was to express the old and new in as honest a fashion as possible," co-founder Luke Pearson added.

"We have left as much of the original fabric exposed as we can and wanted to maintain the sense that we are working in workshops, as this was the original function of the buildings."

The studios worked with the existing fabric of the building

Elements that were kept from the external envelope were updated, including the concrete ground-bearing floor slabs, and new roofs were added. A large industrial-steel staircase now welcomes guests into the entrance area.

"The environmental impact of all design decisions was prioritised from the outset," Cassion Castle Architects founder Cassion Castle told Dezeen.

New roofs were added

"This started with the early decision to retain as much of the existing structure as possible to reduce embodied carbon," he added. "In addition a range of measures were employed in order to reduce the energy consumption in use including super-insulation and air-tightness, photovoltaics, and passive user comfort."

"We also recycled many of the materials from the demolition back into the finished building."

Pearson Lloyd designed meeting spaces in Yorkton Workshops

Yorkton Workshops had a number of constraints that Cassion Castle Architects, which was also the main contractor, worked around.

"In some cases the existing material was very uneven, but structurally sound and full of character, so we retained and worked with it, instead of just removing it for the sake of ease," Castle said.

"As a company we often work as both architect and main contractor as we did on this project. This combined role enabled a more reactive ongoing design process whereby we would continually uncover something unexpected and re-detail around it."

Meeting spaces are in the Victorian part of the building

The Victorian part of the building now houses meeting and events spaces, while the warehouse space holds workshops and studio space.

Pearson Lloyd wanted to retain a sense of being in a workshop and chose the materials for the project accordingly.

A roof terrace bridges the two volumes

"Key choices include the wood-fibre acoustic ceiling, the steel stair, the workshop floor (made from the same material as stage floors and haulage trucks) and the reclaimed and refinished pitch pine floor," Pearson said.

"The orange staircase colour is drawn from the colours that tools and industrial equipment use to signal their function. Practical and universal and direct."

A steel staircase leads to it from the lobby

Yorkton Workshops also contains an outdoor garden, a roof terrace that bridges the Victorian and warehouse wings, and a gallery space.

"We are very interested in the idea of an event space that we can use to engage with the wider community of East London whether creative, social or educational," Lloyd said. "Hopefully this will emerge as a reality after Covid 19."

Pearson Lloyd moved into the studio in September of this year and is currently occupying it at reduced density because of Covid-19. The studio's recent work includes a tubular steel flat-pack chair for Danish brand Takt.

Cassion Castle Architects also worked with Tom Lloyd on a garden workshop that embraces "timber and craftmanship".

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