Latest BACA News:

Buoyant Starts, BACA’s collaboration with Floating Homes Ltd, has been selected as one of the ten winning ideas in the NLA international ideas competition New Ideas for Housing.

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The competition aims to help solve the London housing shortage and the ten winning ideas will be presented to the Greater London Authority who will study their feasibility as options for the future of the London housing market.

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Buoyant Starts addresses the housing crisis in Greater London by providing high-quality prefabricated floating homes, at an affordable price, on the unused water space of the capital.  There are approximately 50 linear miles of rivers and canals forming the waterways network of the Greater London area, and an additional 150 hectares of developable waterspace in the city’s docks, marinas, and basins.

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An  of all 100 shortlisted entries to the competition will be on display in the NLA Galleries at The Building Centre from 15 October to 17 December, supported by a three month programme of talks, conferences and tours.

November’s issue of Grand Designs Magazine is on the shelves now, featuring the story of the UK’s first Amphibious House, designed by BACA architects.  The article tells the clients’ story from planning through to construction of the special amphibious design and recalls the floods of 2014 which held up construction.

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The success of the design of the house, as well as its pioneering flood-resilient nature, is captured in the stunning photography accompanying the article. This forward-thinking project will hopefully form the benchmark for other amphibious properties around the country as people seek to protect their homes from flooding.  Further details can be found on p61-67 of November’s Grand Designs Magazine.

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Robert Barker will be presenting this and other amphibious designs in a seminar called ‘Amphibious Housing UK – a fail safe solution to flooding’ on Thursday 15th October at 14:00 to 14:30 in the Marshalls Theatre, at The Flood Expo 2015, hosted in the Excel Centre, London.

The Innovation License, BACA’s forward-thinking proposal to help solve London’s housing crisis, has been shortlisted in the NLA Housing Awards. The proposal was practice’s second shortlisted submission for 2015, alongside the Buoyant Starts affordable floating homes entry in collaboration with Floating Homes Ltd.

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The idea would be an alternative to planning, whereby licenses would be granted for innovative buildings and designs to be carried out on challenging sites, such as floodplains. To obtain a license, building designs would need to meet a number of overarching environmental and design aspirations but would not be required to comply with current planning policy.

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The Innovation License aims to be an incentive for public and private companies to innovate and compete to find ways to deliver more housing, more quickly, and with higher densities. These pilots would become future exemplars, helping to stimulate housing growth in London and maybe export UK innovation to the rest of the world.

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Planning permission has just been granted for a new mixed-use development in South London. The faceted design will see seven residential units and two live/work units replacing the existing light industrial buildings. Four houses will face onto a shared courtyard to the rear, fronted by a three/four storey residential block. The front is divided into two, allowing access to the new mews to the rear.

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The buildings have been sculpted to maximise light into the courtyard, as well as creating south-facing solar roofs for solar panels. The design has been carefully considered to meet modern standards and requirements, as well as creating an elegant redevelopment in the Forest Hill area.

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Two public consultations were held this month in order to convey the latest proposals for the expansion of the Creekside Educational Trust’s Discovery Centre building. The afternoon and evening sessions provided a great opportunity for the team to present the evolved design that had been progressed from the previous consultation.

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The vision for the upscaling of the Creekside Discovery Centre is to create a stimulating environment for children with ecology at its heart. The design hinges on a structural portal frame, designed to be flexible enough to receive shipping containers in different arrangements. It will also future-proof the building for alternative arrangements in the future.

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Members of the local community, supporters of the Trust, adjacent developers, the EA and representatives from the local planning authority and the design team all took part. Both events were well attended and the feedback on the revised design was positive. The display boards from the presentation are now on permanent display at Creekside.

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The New Ideas For Housing competition has announced 100 shortlisted ideas to solve Greater London’s ‘housing crisis,’ including BACA’s floating entry. The New London Architecture (NLA) international competition, organised in collaboration with the Mayor of London, attracted over 200 entries from 16 countries around the world.

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The competition invites innovative thinking to explore what needs to happen in the capital to improve the speed, scale and quality of housing. Buoyant Starts, a collaboration between Floating Homes Ltd and BACA architects, addresses the issue by providing high-quality, prefabricated floating homes at an affordable price on the un-used water space of the capital.

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Ten winning ideas, selected by a distinguished jury, will be announced in mid-October. Winning submitters will be invited to join a Greater London Authority working group to examine how their ideas can be applied to real London sites to deliver future housing for the capital.

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To find out more about the competition and its entries, please follow this link

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The 100 shortlisted ideas will be on display in a free public exhibition at the NLA galleries in The Building Centre from 15 October to 17 December 2015, supported by a three-month programme of talks, conferences and tours.

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Robert Barker will present the 4 approaches to flood resilience, as set out in the Metric Handbook at the Resilience, Vulnerability and Climate Change session chaired by Sarah Wigglesworth on Friday 11th September at 15:15.

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- Avoidance

- Resistance

- Resilience

- Flotation

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There will be a special feature about amphibious construction.

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'Aquatecture', BACA’s forthcoming book to be published by RIBA, will be officially released at a launch party at a secret venue early next year.

Addressing the increasing importance of considering water in design, Robert Barker and Richard Coutts explore how to design in flood-risk areas and how water can be used to enhance architecture and design.

With water playing such a vital role in our lives and societies, the book lays out the case for the importance of designing for water, now and in the future, in order to best prepare us to adapt to the uncertainties of future climate change.

The historical relationship between water and architecture over the centuries is explored. Historical cases of issues with water and innovations in designing with water are examined, along with measures to mitigate the threat posed by water in the form of shortages, such as droughts, and excess, in the form of flooding.

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The Flood Expo returns to the Excel Centre in London on the 14th & 15th of October 2015. The largest event of its kind in the world, the show presents solutions to widespread flooding problems from the world’s leading flood prevention companies, alongside an extensive seminar and workshop schedule highlighting new, cost-effective ways to prevent and manage floods.

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BACA will be presenting seminars in the Marshall’s Theatre on both days. Wednesday the 14th will see Richard Coutts examining how to create a hierarchical risk management plan; looking at how new technology can be used to protect and maintain this infrastructure in the event of a flood (or other natural disaster) to provide protection to a city and also to enable continued occupation of cities that could otherwise be untenable.

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On Thursday the 15th, Robert Barker will explore the technical details behind amphibious and floating construction for both residential and commercial properties. The seminar will also consider the issues of mortgages and finance, demonstrate how to overcome planning issues, and look at some of the urban design benefits of utilising waterspaces.

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BACA Seminars:

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Amphibious Housing UK – Thursday 15th October 2015, 14:00-14:30, Marshall’s Theatre

Adaptive City Planning – Wednesday 14th October 2015, 11.45-12.15, Marshall’s Theatre

Last night’s BACA Summer Party at the soon-to-be-demolished Beadnell Road site was a wonderful evening, even with the heavy downpour! Safely under the cover of one of the disused warehouse areas, food, drinks and conversation flowed to summer sounds – and monsoon-like music from the rain at points.

The team were also pleased to present some of their independent creative works in the form of photography, art and poetry.  Many thanks to all those who attended and contributed to making it such an enjoyable affair. Until next time...

Our clients were so taken with the design of BACA’s Nijmegen Tower, Netherlands, showcased at MIPIM 2015 in Cannes, they felt that the strong silhouette and fluid forms could be evolved for their prominent site on the border between Belgium and Holland.

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The desire to create an engaging public space helped to drive the design for the 250,000 sq ft development. The hotel tower forms the centre piece of the development, supported by a mix of leisure and retail at ground level with residential units above.

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The design is currently in development.

Voting opened this week for the prestigious International Design and Architecture Awards 2015, with our Amphibious House shortlisted in the Residential Architectural Property category.

Hosted by UK interior design magazine, design et al, the awards aim to commend design, recognise talent, create opportunities and quite simply to offer inspiration.

If you would like to vote on the awards and for the Amphibious House, please click on the banner below to visit where your selections can be made.  We wish the best of luck to all shortlisted projects!

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Work continues at White Post Quay, a six-storey building overlooking the Olympic Park in East London that will be utilised by local artists and artisans.

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The building has now been topped out and is watertight. The next phase includes the link block to connect the new canalside building to the existing suite of warehouses. A sample of the feature façade will soon be made up for checking before the full integrated shading and balustrading is installed to protect and articulate the south-facing façade.

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The new building will act as a hub for the sites’ numerous artists and artisans, housing a cafe and exhibition spaces. The building has been stepped back at ground and first floor levels to provide a public apron onto the canal and connection to the new footbridge.

BACA’s 2015 summer party, a pop-up fiesta, will be taking place at Beadnell Mews prior to demolition. The courtyard and small warehouses will make way for a new mews development.

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Expect music, summer catering and a drink or two to celebrate the summer and another successful year.

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For more information, please contact Amy Dron on adron@baca.uk.com.  We hope to see you there..!

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About Beadnell Mews

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Once completed, the development will comprise a three-/four-storey residential block along the street front, with four houses facing onto a shared courtyard to the rear. The front block is divided in two to provide a pedestrian routeway through to the new mews at the rear. Each house has its own garden that opens onto the central courtyard – a communal safe playground for children and a shared place for all the residents. The buildings have been sculpted to maximise light between and over the houses into the courtyard, as well as creating south-facing roofs for solar panels. The front block is designed to create a contemporary form that also provides continuity along the street line, with the roof of the front block crafted to reduce the eaves line.

We are fast approaching the National Environment Research Council's RCUK Water Showcase, 'Water in Future Cities'.  

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Taking place at The Crystal, London on the 30th of June 2015, the event will see policymakers, businesses and researchers exploring five distinctive visions for these cities of the future:Green Food & Garden Cityscapes, Flood-proof Cities, Smart Homes & City Networks, Cities & the Underworld and Community Transition Cities.

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Richard Coutts of BACA will be running a workshop on Flood-proof cities with Dr. Jim Wharfe, one of the parallel workshops on Business of Water in Cities that will explore possible routes to realise these visions.

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The Research Councils UK-sponsored event will facilitate dialogue and collaborations between researchers and research users in industry, government and third sector.

We are fast approaching the National Environment Research Council’s RCUK Water Showcase, 'Water in Future Cities'.

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Taking place at The Crystal, London on the 30th of June 2015, the event will see policymakers, businesses and researchers exploring five distinctive visions for these cities of the future:

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Green Food & Garden Cityscapes, Flood-proof Cities, Smart Homes & City Networks, Cities & the Underworld and Community Transition Cities

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Richard Coutts of BACA will be running a workshop on Flood-proof cities with Dr. Jim Wharfe, one of the parallel workshops on Business of Water in Cities that will explore possible routes to realise these visions.

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The Research Councils UK -sponsored event will facilitate dialogue and collaborations between researchers and research users in industry, government and third sector.

Vision Event, London 2-3 June 2015 – Amphibious And Flood-Resilient Homes Workshop.

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The annual Vision event returns to London’s Olympia next week, bringing together architects, specifiers, clients and suppliers to discuss, debate and showcase the latest innovations and developments in architecture, design and the built environment.  Through a series of lectures, live debates and practical seminars, alongside an exhibition of cutting-edge products, Vision will provide the meeting place for professionals connected to the built environment.

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The practice’s Richard Coutts will be speaking at the Amphibious & Flood-Resilient Homes workshop at 13.00 on the 3rd of June.  Under discussion will be the completed BACA-designed  Amphibious House on the banks of the Thames in Buckinghamshire plus a new generation of floating and flood-resilient homes.  Richard will also present other measures for protecting buildings from damage from flooding, including the demonstration flood-resilient building, in conjunction with Aquobex, planned for the BRE Innovation Park in Watford.

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Amphibious & Flood-Resilient Homes workshop

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Date: 3rd June Time: 13.00 – 14.00Location: Innovation In Architecture & Design Theatre

In a series of summer seminars at University College London (UCL), London’s vital artery, the River Thames, is celebrated and explored. Sponsored by Fuller’s, In Touch with the Thames is organised by The Thames Estuary Partnership (TEP) and open to anyone who would like to learn more about the tidal Thames, its estuary, flood-plains, tributaries, communities, and commerce. Viewing the Thames as a system as much as a location, the lectures are intended to stimulate conversation and the sharing of new approaches to understanding, managing or enjoying the river’s urban and rural hinterland and similar riparian and maritime landscapes in the south-east.

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Tuesday the 19th of May saw Richard Coutts of BACA presenting research along with Thames-side projects that utilise the practice’s expertise in water-related design. Plans for the Creekside Educational Trust’s Visitors Centre in the Thames Estuary were discussed along with the proposed Thames Tideway Tunnel and an update on the award-winning LifE (Long-term Initiatives for flood Risk Environments) Project.  Building on the success of the UK’s first Amphibious House, Richard expanded on the BACA design and presented some of the practice’s forthcoming projects including next-generation Amphibious Houses, an Elevated House & designs for further Flood Resilient Homes.

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We would also like to say a big thank you to London brewer, Fuller’s, for supplying delicious complimentary craft beers at the event.

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BACA’s forthcoming book Aquatecture from RIBA Publishing can be purchased by clicking on this LINK

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Some of the practice’s water-related designs are presented in Built on Water from Braun Publishing, available for purchase via the following LINK