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• Recent News

  • habi-sabi finalist for inmidtown competition
  • Nestworks exhibited at Arup Phase 2
  • Nestworks honoured in Animal Architecture Awards
  • Birds in the blocks
  • Urban Birds
  • London’s red-jacketed volunteers
  • Shed modernism
  • The Emerald Necklace
  • Cable Suspended Sod Roof
  • Urban Birds Nestworks

• Topics

  Architectural Association Arts Council Awards & Commendations Barcelona Baumhaus Berlin Big Lottery Bridges Chanceprojects Conservation Area Creede Cut + Run Dover Drawing on the City Ecological Enthusiasm Environmental Architecture Fundacio Antoni Tapies Georgian Architecture Kunstwerke La Mina Legacy project Listed Buildings London London Festival of Architecture Mineral County Fairgrounds Mumsnet Towers Nestworks New Build Houses New York Photographers' Gallery Public Art Readymades Recycling Remediation Social Cinema Spain Straight 8 Sustainable Masterplans The Green House Upper Rio Grande Urban Birds Vicco's Tower Whitechapel Art Gallery Workplaces

Urban Birds

Around Valentine’s Day court­ing birds across the UK will begin inspect­ing poten­tial nest­ing sites. Informed and inspired by ornitho­log­i­cal derives with Peter Holden MBE, 51% stu­dios archi­tec­ture has planted scores of ‘assisted ready­mades’ across the Bank­side Urban For­est to increase the vari­ety of nest­ing options open to its urban birds, many of whom are on the endan­gered list.

We dis­cov­ered that the stan­dard hol­low block used to build some of London’s most cel­e­brated archi­tec­ture is made from con­crete bulked with recy­cled wood­shav­ings, a mate­r­ial that when used in nest­boxes is proven to fledge more young than any other.

Syn­er­gis­ti­cally the inte­rior block dimen­sions are text book size for house spar­rows, rad­i­cally in decline in the area. Other species designed for are blue tits, great tits, star­lings, wrens, robins and blackbirds.

 

A web­site, www.urbanbirds.net,  launches on Valentine’s Day to allow nest­ing activ­ity to be tracked by fam­i­lies and bird lovers across the area. Nest­works is a pub­lic project and a people’s project, com­mis­sioned by the Archi­tec­ture Foun­da­tion as a per­ma­nent legacy for the Lon­don Fes­ti­val of Architecture.

The Emerald Necklace

The site has a unique loca­tion. The Upper Rio Grande Events and Recre­ation Complex’s grounds and build­ings will be the first thing you see when you approach the his­toric town of Creede, from any direc­tion. Along the Sil­ver Thread Scenic High­way, the site and the Wil­low Creek Con­ser­va­tion Area become one gem in an emer­ald neck­lace of scenic val­leys stretch­ing up the Rio Grande. Pro­pos­als for its devel­op­ment must pro­vide a project which is at once an authen­tic sig­na­ture for Creede and a fit­ting ‘jewel’ in the necklace.

The archi­tec­ture and land­scap­ing is an exten­sion and embod­i­ment of Creede and the very vis­i­ble spirit that has cre­ated it.  The atti­tude and spirit of the moun­tain set­tlers was, and con­tin­ues to be, unique.  Local archi­tec­ture reflects the val­ues and sen­si­bil­i­ties of its peo­ple, and this is par­tic­u­larly vis­i­ble in places some­what off the beaten track, where peo­ple have had to wres­tle with avail­able raw mate­ri­als to sur­vive and to make their livelihoods.

51% stu­dios are using the same kind of think­ing that’s been used for well over 100 years in this val­ley, using the local site con­di­tions and mate­ri­als in frank ways that reflect aware­ness of their inher­ent attributes.

Urban Birds Nestworks

51% stu­dios has designed three Nest­works for the urban birds of Bank­side fea­tur­ing a series of sophis­ti­cated ready­mades: blocks, boughs and bushes as part of the Lon­don Fes­ti­val of Archi­tec­ture.

The design is respon­sive, site spe­cific and provoca­tive: informed by ornitho­log­i­cal derives with Peter Holden, locally cel­e­brated for ini­ti­at­ing the annual pere­grine fal­con pub­lic views at Tate Mod­ern. The project was com­mis­sioned by the Archi­tec­ture Foun­da­tion, and takes its inspi­ra­tion from With­er­ford Wat­son Mann’s Bank­side Urban For­est Strategy.

Nest­works 1 2 3 are a direct response to the festival’s theme of exchange: of knowl­edge, habi­tat, mate­ri­als. We dis­cov­ered that the stan­dard hol­low block used to build some of London’s most cel­e­brated archi­tec­ture is made from con­crete with 55% recy­cled wood­pulp, a mate­r­ial that when used in nest­boxes is proven to fledge more young than any other. Syn­er­gis­ti­cally the inte­rior block dimen­sions are text book sizes for house spar­rows, rad­i­cally in decline in the area. Other species designed for are blue tits, great tits, star­lings, wrens, robins and blackbirds.

Nest­works 1 2 3 is a legacy project deliv­ered with sup­port from Peter Holden, the Archi­tec­ture Foun­da­tion, River­ford Organic and Lignacite.

Maps show­ing loca­tions of the Nest­works, some of which are hid­den, will avail­able in the Orchard at Union Street from June 19^th, or to download.

A related bird­walk and a new talk by Peter and Andy Holden will take place on Sat­ur­day 3^rd and Sun­day  4^{th July}.  Pere­grine view­ings at the Tate are daily from 12 noon to 7pm, 17 July to 12 Sep­tem­ber 2010.

Flexible Masterplan

It may be still snow­ing in Creede, but here at 51% stu­dios we’re work­ing hard at work on the devel­op­ment of the sus­tain­able mas­ter­plan for the Upper Rio Grande Event and Recre­ation Com­plex [for­merly known as, and still encom­pass­ing, the Min­eral County Fair­grounds] which has been made pos­si­ble by the El Pomar Grant Award.

Phase 1, which included reme­di­a­tion, relo­ca­tion of wil­lows and the out­door arena, is com­plete and has affored the com­mu­nity of Creede a safe, beau­ti­ful and wind­free place to rope and ride.

For upcom­ing events and news, do also take a look at the MCFA’s newly launched web­site: www.upperriogrande.org

 

 

51% shortlisted as AA Masterplan Architect

51% stu­dios has this week been short­listed with four other firms for the role of mas­ter­plan archi­tect for the Archi­tec­tural Asso­ci­a­tion, which has recently aquired the leases of a num­ber Grade 1 listed build­ings in Bed­ford Square in addi­tion to those already held for the his­toric build­ings at 34–36.

Oth­ers on the short­list are Don­ald Insall Asso­ciates, Richard Grif­fiths Archi­tects, With­er­ford Wat­son Mann and Wright & Wright.

 

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