a few videos

End

AUSTIN-SMITH: LORD: LONDON

On Thursday 26th, I got a chance to go to the London Office for Austin-Smith: Lord, which was hugely exciting. There is an international competition ongoing, and as the deadline is very soon, it was essential for Ashley Davies and Rob Firman to check that everything was finalised and up to the standards it should be. The meeting was in total about 4 and a half hours, with lunch in between. The actual meeting was extremely exciting to watch, as it showed the extremely early stages of architecture- there was a brief, and they had to fulfil Stage 1 of this brief, to later hopefully be shortlisted for Stage 2. The design process was intense- there was a storyboard showing how far they had come, and in Stage 2, should they get to it, models are needed to be made, plans further scrutinised, videos and pictures needing to be taken... A lot had to go in with no real knowing that you were even going to get the project.

The Farewell and the Eurostar Train Station

I discovered quite a lot about theatre types though, of which I think I will find extremely useful in the future:


Fan Shaped Concert Hall
In this project, this concert hall should be avoided from an acoustic point of view. The lack of lateral reflections is continuous, and the low ceiling is relatively too small to create an acoustic volume to guarantee late reverberation.




Barbican Hall, London

Shoebox Concert Hall
This is the best design for a concert hall, with high ceilings for the quality of air. This type of concert hall dates back extremely late, where it would be used to impress the guest in a dinner. Haydn's early and middle symphonies and Esterhazy's castle in Vienna were made for this concert hall design, ensuring a 'fullness' of sound.




Concertgebouw-Amsterdam



Vineyard Concert Hall
A typical model of a vineyard concert hall is the Berliner Philharmonie. The audience are located behind and to the side of the stage. There is a large wall section, or partial walls, creating 'vineyard terraces'.





Berline Phillharmonic- Berlin






Arena and Amphitheatre
These consist of curved walls, and need to have reflecting walls.



The International Amphitheatre, Chicago





Multipurpose
The multipurpose hall must have ceilings with variable height, acoustic curtains, a variation of acoustic couplings, an increasing/decreasing stage area, and the theatre must be able to remove parts from the stage. As suggested by the name, this concert hall needs to be fit for all purposes.








Perth Concert Hall



The office in London was fascinating, with millions of models to look at, and the discussion about the competition entry proved worthwhile for London, with many suggestions being made about how the designs should change, and it was best to have a view from fresh eyes.
I also got the chance to observe some of the architecture of the train station, with statues of "The Farewell", showing a couple being reunited, and I managed to get some history of the London train station, in which Ashley said it had been refurbished, as originally the train station walls were covered in soot and coal. It really shows that architects aren't just interested in their own work, but others as well.

Coffees are rapidly becoming my every day drink...

The meeting

Austin-Smith:Lord- London Office.

BUILDING REGULATIONS SEMINAR

In one of our lunchtimes, many of the staff attended a buildings regulation seminar, which discussed the new building regulations for 2010 onwards. It was said that in 2016, there will hopefully be 0% carbon buildings, as the carbon fuels are rapidly become dangerously low. There was also discussion on how there should be much more care on water temperatures, as temperatures such as 55 degrees Celsius can instantly kill if someone was to bathe in them. There was also background information of how fossil fuels are running at an all-time low, and graphs were made showing how else we can deal with this- by use of renewable sources- which all of us watched intently. The regulations for buildings part L (part L is conservation of fuel and power) will be made from 16th October 2010, where it will be extremely difficult to get the ventilation and the elevations to meet protocol. I found this meeting very interesting, but I feel that as I am very inexperienced in this at the moment I definitely would have understood the impacts for the buildings a lot less than anybody else!

The Seminar

Tim mulling over what to do.

CASE STUDY: UWIC

The project manager discussing the problems he had found in this room




The scaffolding holes that have had to be filled in.




The back of UWIC building site- if anybody wants to go through the back, they have to have a card to return.






One of the offices







The Staircase at UWIC


The Outside- the builder is currently working on the T Block, a side project for Austin-Smith: Lord at UWIC.





The atrium view from the second floor


The atrium view from the first floor




The outside of the UWIC building


Tim writing down any problems he had found


UWIC is to be shortly completed, and so it was essential to survey the area to make sure that everything was up to standard. There were certain problems that had been picked up, such as the heating cables being extremely visible, and certain benches being out of place, but overall the architect of the project, and my mentor, Tim Young certainly seemed pleased with the site in general.


The UWIC project had a cost of £13 million, and is the first phase of the masterplan for the UWIC Llandaff Campus.The atrium is the main feature, where students can have lunch and look at their surroundings, as well as serving as the main circulation. There is a 200 seat lecture hall taking place in the first and second floors, and the staircase manages to efficiently run through all of the stairs, ensuring a modern feel.

I think that this experience has made me realise that projects very rarely do not need to be continuously corrected, and sometimes the builders can be seen to not follow plans as well as could be hoped.

The problems shown were:

• Entrance to cladding and canopy to be completed (now completed)
• The canopy- initially this needed to be completed, and the only thing needing done now is moving of a bench and a sealant to the glass.
• The external door was a problem on the last visit. It has since been completed.
• The feed to the door heater was extremely visible, and the copper cover was askew.
• In the enterprise centre the coloured panel was not very near to the door- approx 750mm away, and there will now be a discussion on whether it is best to put it onto the right, making the sign nearer to the door.

Tim explaining that this should not touch the bottom- it was originally meant to be a few metres from the bottom.

Tim assessing the bench

The Staff

Cooking it...

Eating it...


The lone Barbeque-er...



Throughout my time, I found that there were many different attributes to an architect's office- the secretary, Jill, has to do admin, so thinks such as answering phones, recording meetings, typing, being a secretary for project contact list, and arranging meetings. Jill also does invoices, and QA, which is Quality Assurance, and Enquiry, as well as the essential tasks of ordering the stationary and making tea! I asked her about the typical working hours (9-5:30), which I found out were exactly the same as any architect here. When I asked Gill about what her favourite thing was about working as a secretary, she replied that QA and HR were the best, and it sounds like she can really deal very well with people, an extremely important task for any secretary. The role of HR is mainly to make the staff aware of any ongoings and keep them happy, informing them of holidays and any new arrangements. I also found out that Austin- Smith: Lord have only recently been situated here, with them temporarily being situated in another part of Cardiff Bay until this office was built. The architects at Austin-Smith: Lord actually designed the building themselves, as well as all the other offices surrounding it, such as 'The Counting House' (an accountant's)
There are 22 employees at Austin-Smith: Lord Cardiff, and 300 in total at Austin-Smith Lord, so before my trip to Austin-Smith: Lord, I was slightly worried that I would be slightly patronised for having no experience (bar work experience in Year 10...) of architecture, and so everything seemed much more exciting to me than it probably would have had I been there for 10 years. This presumption was not, may I add, because I thought them to be a patronising company, but more so that the collection of people working in there were so qualified- specialists in theatre, and at their own job, and when I met Rob Firman, it was a little like meeting an architect star (he designed the Millenium Stadium). Their actual behaviour towards me was nothing but polite and friendly, and I did not once feel awkward or embarrassed, or made to feel unwelcome. When travelling to London to visit the Austin-Smith: Lord office and asking about how much I owed them for my train ticket, the response was "nothing, don't be silly", and I was constantly offered the free lunch, and their utmost attention. A barbeque is regularly held as well as day trips such as Go-Karting, out for meals, etc. and the atmosphere seems light and friendly from the moment you walk in. You begin to notice things, such as Tim's preference for egg mayo sandwiches (he always has them in free lunches...always....wish I had taken a picture...) and Mark's quick and sarcastic humour, and Rob's real love for his work. I feel if I had been Sam, I most likely would not have had the patience to keep offering her my computer for my SD card or my muttering about how my videos wouldn't upload, or Ashley's patience to upload all relevant information into my folder. I believe the first site I had of Austin-Lord: Smith was Martin's car, and in my video it is clear to see how good he is at managing people, much like Dennis who was quick to suggest options for his site visit, as was Rhian, who also was kind enough to let me huddle under her umbrella whilst she spoke marketing to the project manager on site. Jill, the secretary, was always keen to help, whether it be making coffees and teas, to checking in invoices, to keeping everyone in their place... I think that the work she manages to do is remarkable. As for Kate, when I visited the site in UWIC I heard nothing but praise for her interior designing skills, and the work she puts in to make sure that everything in a building's interior to ensure its perfection is amazing. Although I didn't get time to meet the whole time fully, I feel that from what I have seen, everybody works really well together, and if there is a problem, others will contribute to help. From all the horror stories you hear about, I can assure that in Austin-Smith: Lord, none of these are ever an issue.

CASE STUDY: LOUDOUN

The Loudoun Square Project is currently taking place in Bute Town, in Cardiff Bay. The process had been going on for three years and prior to showing the initial designs, CCHA presented facilitated a series of consultation 'workshops' with the local community and key organisations leading to a master plan of the site. The project has a budget of £12 million, and construction is currently underway, with the site hopefully being completed in 2012. The site will consist of various colourful signposts to ensure that all places are easily located, and sustainability is evident with harvesting of rainwater, and Biomassed fueled heating. The site is going to achieve a BREEAM "excellent". (BRE Environmental Assessment Method), and the houses are designed to achieve Code for Sustainable Homes- 'Level 4'. Loudon will be a health centre for all those that need it, and will be a reconstruction of the current Health Centre in Bute Town at the moment. On the first two floors there will be doctor consultant rooms, and on the third floor there will be offices, with the final floor having flats for residents. There are a further three construction phases at hand, and in the square there will be shops, a new health centre, affordable homes, and community facilities.