London: The Latest Architecture and News

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The British Twentieth Century Society (C20) have announced a forthcoming conference in London on Postmodernism. Speakers including Sir Terry Farrell, Piers Gough and Charles Holland (Ordinary Architecture) will join Alan Powers, Emily Gee and Elain Harwood of Historic England to "raise the profile of Britain’s best Postmodernist buildings following concerns over proposed changes to leading examples of this much maligned style."

Since this time last year, an additional 119 new tall buildings have been planned for London, according to a report published by New London Architecture (NLA) and GLHearn. This brings the total number of planned, tall buildings -- buildings of 20 floors or taller -- to 436.

The research conducted by the NLA shows that since last year, the number of tall buildings undergoing construction has inched from 70 to 89. An impressive 223 tall buildings have received planning approval and 114 towers are in pre-application or planning stages. Ninety-four tall buildings, up from 72 buildings in the previous year, were submitted for planning. Of those 94, 43 were approved in the same year. The survey also notes that a significant number of these tall buildings are part of larger scale master plans, which situate multiple towers in clusters.

Turncoats, the irreverent architectural debate society from London, is launching an international series, starting chapters in Canada, Scotland, Serbia and the US. Originally created by Phineas Harper, Maria Smith and Robert Mull, Turncoats has “electrified London’s architectural scene” since its inception.

Combining architectural debate with unique settings, alcohol, and an absence of recordings or wireless devices, Turncoats has gathered significant attention, their signature flaming envelope emblem appearing on lapels across the city, and soon all over the world.

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Sto Werkstatt have announced that Sam Jacob Studio will be creating "a unique installation" for their London gallery space that will "explore the exchange of information between digital and physical worlds." Entitled One Thing After Another, the project has its origins with what Jacob considers the most mundane, yet essential form, of architecture: the garden shed. The structure will be 3D-scanned to create a digital copy which will then be processed and scaled to fabricate a new CNC’d version from Verolith, a lightweight type of volcanic stone made of 90% perlite.

The London School of Economics (LSE) and RIBA have revealed the six shortlisted proposals for their next major development: 44 Lincoln’s Inn Fields/The Paul Marshall. With designs from David Chipperfield, Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Penoyre & Prasad and Herzog & de Meuron, LSE is hoping their new building's "world-class architecture" will appropriately reflect the university's "global academic reputation." AL_A, Grafton Architects, and Niall McLaughlin with Scott Brownrigg complete the shortlist.

“The amount of analysis and intellectual effort that has gone into the designs from each team is staggering and the results are impressive and very exciting. Given its size and prime location on Lincoln’s Inn Fields we want this to be a seminal university building; its legacy will endure for many generations so it is vital that we make the right decision,” said Julian Robinson, LSE’s Director of Estates.

All six schemes are being publicly exhibited at the LSE's Saw Swee Hock Student Centre through March 17. Read on for a glimpse of each. 

HOK’s latest project, “Hertsmere House” on West India Quay in London’s Canary Wharf has been approved for development by members of Tower Hamlets’ Strategic Development Committee. At 67-stories and 789 feet tall, Hertsmere House will be Western Europe’s tallest residential tower. The design, inspired by flower petals, aims to create a unique addition to the London skyline. Read more about the project after the break.

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For this edition of The Urbanist, Monocle 24's weekly "guide to making better cities," the team head back in time to explore London in 1891, examining some of the city’s achievements to get a glimpse of what life was like in the British capital. They investigate the architectural legacy of Victorian London, see how the introduction of the railway changed the city, and chat about Charles Booth’s pioneering study into Victorian Londoners’ quality of life. They also take a tour around the country’s first council estate.

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Videos

The Serpentine Gallery in London has unveiled the designs for this year's prestigious Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, designed by BIG, showing an "unzipped wall" which rises to a point above the entrance. In addition to the pavilion, this year the Serpentine gallery will host four smaller "summer houses" designed by Kunlé Adeyemi - NLÉ, Barkow Leibinger, Yona Friedman and Asif Khan. For these summer houses, the Serpentine Gallery asked the participants to take inspiration from Queen Caroline's Temple, a small, classical summer house near to the gallery that was built in 1734.

Read on to find out more about all five designs.

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Drawing Futures, a new the international peer-reviewed conference on speculative drawing for art and architecture has launched a call for works.

Winner of the AWR International Ideas Competition to design a new nursery school, “Nursery Fields Forever” reimagines what nursery schools could be like. Designed by a team from Italy, composed of Gabriele Capobianco, Edoardo Capuzzo Dolcetta, Jonathan Lazar, and Davide Troiani, the entry refutes the modern notion of shaping a child’s perception of the world based solely on urban environments, accepting children as being inherently curious naturalists. This trait is stimulated and guided to create a unique educational approach, holistically combining nature and food cultivation into its curriculum.

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The American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2016 Jury of Fellows has elevated 149 AIA members and eight international architects to its prestigious College of fellows, an honor awarded to members who have made significant contributions to the profession.

“The Fellowship program was developed to elevate those architects who have made a significant contribution to architecture and society and who have achieved a standard of excellence in the profession. Election to fellowship not only recognizes the achievements of architects as individuals, but also their significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level.”

Some of the elevated members are: