latest news and projects

Architecture Week 2007 is a good time to announce one of our latest commissions to develop an environmentally sound refurbishment proposal for terrace properties in Stoke-on-Trent. Continuing our explorations into solar passive architecture, the design delivers robust, replicable solutions to both the improvement of the fabric, the quality of the living space and the thermal performance.

Here’s a copy of our winning presentation and a fly-by model of the exterior showing the 2 storey spaces proposed as replacements to the standard usually outrigger found on Victorian terrace housing. The submission was completed in collaboration with Staffordshire Housing Association and Brown & Clowes for Renew North Staffordshire and Newcastle-Under-Lyme Borough Council.

One of our latest projects has just been granted planning approval by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. The design responds to tight site constraints and a brief calling for an exemplar, environmentally friendly scheme.

Carefully orientated to make the most of the south-east and south-west sun, the saw-tooth layout and innovative roof plan create an animated, interesting street scene.

A full set of images* can be seen here: Queens Road, Stourbridge

* the images shown are taken from the initial 3D modelling work - the wind turbines shown were subsequently removed due to concern about cost and their likely poor performance in an urban area

A full copy of the design and access statement is available as a PDF: Saw-tooth housing

Street elevations are also available: Street elevations 1

Click on the following image to see ‘fly-by’ animation:

This project was developed in collaboration with Kier Homes and Black Country Housing Association.

Notes from a recent trip to the Ecobuild conference:

It goes like this: DETR figures state that for a neighbourhood to be served by a viable transport network you need 5000 dwellings. To design a ‘walkable’ neighbourhood we should provide all key facilities within a 10 minute walk. This defines an area contained within a circle of 600m radius. Take away the space recognised as necessary for communal facilities and roads and you’re left with a dwelling density of 50 per hectare.

Cue a series of images showing potential layouts at 50 per hectare, which MacCormac admitted himself was barely the beginning of any qualitative judgement of the resulting spaces. His key point, touched on throughout the presentation, was how this qualitative judgement is dependent on an improved understanding of the net vs. gross density - or, crudely put, the houses vs. the spaces.

He’s absolutely right and there’s a thread across this entry that moves from the CABE audit I mentioned earlier (which has much to say about better highways integration), to the car free environment of Trystan Edward’s terraces (whose high density probably land back at about 50 when you introduced parking), through the Span story of quality landscape better mediating the Radburn car/pedestrian divorce, to the shifting tessellations of MacCormac’s houses and gardens.

Full notes on all the speakers can be found on Rob’s weblog: no2self.net

Part of the goal of Open Practice day this Friday is to talk about how architects work. One of the projects available for viewing on Friday will be some recent design work for a single domestic residence on a challenging suburban site.

The challenges of difficult access, overlooking from nearby houses and substantial level changes were developed into opportunities through a series of sketches and diagrams. The diagram is an important device in architecture and the hand drawn sketch continues (in an industry ruled mostly by computer aided design) to be the best way to explore them.

Come and visit on Friday and we can talk about the way the design developed…

Kings Heath, Birmingham 2001—present

A 1950’s estate of some 250 Smiths houses being redeveloped in association with Waterloo Housing Association, Birmingham City Council and the local resident’s Estate Development Group.

The new homes are being built in phases and the brief is quite simply to recreate the Arts & Crafts residential and environmental qualities of Bournville Village within modern social housing regulations.

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Upton, Northampton, Site B - 2004

The brief for this second phase of the new urban village at Upton Northamptonshire called for a high density mixed use urban quarter combining flats and townhouses within a clear hierarchy of urban spaces.

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Strasbourg Drive, Beaumont Leys, Leicester, 2004—Present

Axis successfully bid for the redevelopment of this housing estate in Leicester which incorporated selective demolition and the construction of 134 new mixed tenure properties comprising bungalows, flats and houses, along with extensive landscaping and reconfiguring of the existing road network.

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Stoke Road, Bletchley, Milton Keynes 2004 — present

Axis Design Collective won an invited competition for the development of 94 canal side apartments, townhouses and bungalows in the Bletchley area of Milton Keynes. The development was derived from a very detailed set of development design codes that stipulated building heights, frontage treatments and materials to be used.

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Coalville, Stoke on Trent, 2004—present

Axis design were appointed by the Coalville Partnership in January 2004 after winning the competitive tender for the remodelling of the estate consisting of 400 coal board houses dating from the 1950’s.

Axis undertook a programme of intensive community consultation with local residents which included setting up a dedicated residents website and running a neighbourhood office on the estate, along with open days and regular newsletters.

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Upton, Northampton, Site A 2003

The brief for this first phase of the new urban village at Upton Northamptonshire called for a high density mixed use urban quarter combining flats, townhouses and bungalows within a clear hierarchy of urban spaces.

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