adjaye on architecture
On friday the o8 July at the V& A David Adjaye spoke with enormous passion about his chosen subject for which he has been awarded the OBE. As an architect with an international following he has studiously managed to avoid the usual pitfalls, preferring instead to establish his own language and design philosophy. He has always eschewed [...]
RIBA members
Kent SmS supports architects not just for business reasons but because they are incredibly resourceful. To supplement their income one practice we work alongside runs a studio at Kingston School of architecture. It is a massive commitment for little recompense. We much admire their enthusiasm. Architects rarely take things at face value and for some [...]
timothy smith & jonathan taylor
Short listed for the AJ Small Projects competition the event last night was a really excellent showcase of what can and is being achieved by skilful, gifted architects who have taken the decision to brave the elements and strike out on their own. This Kent SMS client did not win but it has certainly given [...]
no place for turkey twizzlers
Alain de Botton spoke with alacrity at the V&A on Friday 17th September about the five quite different houses that are to be constructed by his unique organisation Living Architecture. It is a riposte to the modern commercial housebuilder the ‘turkey twizzler’ of architecture. All the buildings will be completed over the next 12 months [...]
open house london
It is hard work pounding London’s streets in order to visit some hidden gems of architecture but nonetheless extremely worthwhile. It is because one gets to hear the project architect describing in great detail just what has been achieved and the impact it has made on people’s lives. Never more than 28 years old these [...]
speedtalk
Kent SMS attended the NLA breakfast at store street on 3o july to hear the great & good discuss the value of good school design. peter murray chaired the event and various prominent architects spoke for a timely few minutes before peter jumped up to signal their imminent departure from the rostrum. clearly some extremely [...]
workshop on passivhaus
Kent SMS found the conference of 15th July most interesting particularly the statement that you cannot reach code level 6 without using passivhaus principles. The UK is way behind in relation to much of northern europe. Current best practice is 35-40 kwh/m2/yr whereas the passivhaus performance target for space heating & cooling demand is 15 [...]
open those curtains wide
Would you believe it! Cameron & Clegg on the steps of number 10. So where do we go from here? The whole built emvironment sector waits with bated breath. Commercial developers need proper support from their banks, architects need restrictions on new build projects to be lifted if things are to improve. At least today [...]
occupancy
Just who is going to kickstart a major housebuilding programme that will provide affordable sustainable homes for the people? The policies all the parties have put forward so far have been described by the economist as “timid & uninspiring’ Kent SMS feels that that fine word rhubarb best sums up the whole business of another ghastly [...]
stone must breathe..or head will roll
Historic building conservation is seen by many as a black art. It is not just the choice of materials – cement render is definitely a no,no. To restore or conserve this is the question. Kent SMS has completed marketing assignments for Stowe & Beale the conservation architects who are at this point in time are [...]
