Design
Good design should provide aninnovative solution to the combinationof challenges that come from clients'needs, the site, timescale and budget.The result must be functional andinspiring, but design also has thepotential to unlock hidden valueand to create unseen opportunities.
Realising these goals depends on fully understandingthe client's objectives and the unique circumstances ofeach project, and the way these are expressed in theprogramme. Our entry to a competition for a War Museumin Tripoli, Libya proposed a sweeping roof form that madean urban landmark, gave flexible space inside and offeredthe opportunity for natural lighting – all helping to expressthe drama and social significance of war and so usingdesign to underpin the institution's educational aims.
Working with the DfES on the Building Schools for theFuture initiative gave us the opportunity to research theunderlying needs of educational buildings. We devisedideal models for classrooms and relationships betweendifferent parts of schools, and teamed up with Yorkon toproduce them as off site-manufactured modules. Whenassembled in situ they can create many different flexibleconfigurations, so its high quality classroom spaces can bearranged to suit all sorts of different operational structures,as well as creating variety and delight in the environment.
Our second project for London Metropolitan University,on Commercial Road in East London, is a feasibilitystudy to investigate how the site could be better usedfor teaching and support activities. A central ‘street’provides visual and physical links between the floors.Again our proposals combine functional and symbolicqualities to strengthen the institution and its activities.
Design is about maximising all these qualities inresponse to the different needs of each project, theparameters set by the client and the aspirations andpotential of the institution.