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The story of Boston University’s recently completed Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre and College of Fine Arts Production Center is threefold: The new facilities enable BU College of Fine Arts School of Theatre to become a more unified and comprehensive program, with state-of-the-art facilities as teaching tools for all aspects of theatre production and performance. It is the first time in decades that College of Fine Arts performance and production students have been housed in the same location. The building is a tour de force of design, continuing to elevate Boston University’s presence on Commonwealth Avenue. With a full season of productions, Booth Theatre will quickly take its place among the many dynamic performance venu... More

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

British Furniture Designers & Makers, William Garvey, work with award winning British interior designer, Katharine Pooley, and design and make bespoke furniture for a suburban new build villa in the modern city of Doha, Qatar: www.williamgarvey.co.uk/gallery/villa-in-qatar/   Located within walking distance of the recently built Museum of Islamic Art, which sits on a man-made island, Doha is a multicultural city oozing confidence and style and is considered ‘the shining jewel of Qatar’: just like this inner-city dwelling. Expressing different cultural identities from around the world, this residential project successfully introduces both traditional British woodcraft and international design values into an urban environme... 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

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) celebrates the opening of Baccarat Hotel & Residences, a striking glass tower in Midtown Manhattan. The firm served as the architect for the 347,000-gross-square-foot building, located on 53rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenue in New York City. SOM was tasked with designing a destination that embodied the elegance and artistry of the luxury crystal brand founded by King Louis XV more than 250 years ago. Like a honed piece of exquisite glassware, Baccarat Hotel & Residences distinguishes itself within its surroundings through its formal restraint and focus on detail. "This project signals our commitment to creating a design that simultaneously reflects Baccarat's distinctive legacy while feeling... 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

The Liverpool Everyman is a new theatre, won in open European competition, for an internationally regarded producing company. The scope of work includes a 400 seat adaptable auditorium, a smaller performance and development space, a large rehearsal room, public foyers, exhibition spaces, catering and bar facilities, along with supporting offices, workshops and ancillary spaces. The entire façade is a large, collaborative work of public art. The design combines thermally massive construction with a series of natural ventilation systems and low energy technical infrastructures to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating for this complex and densely inhabited urban building. The Everyman holds an important place in Liverpool culture. The origina... 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