We’re delighted to have been featured in a new book, Container Architecture, published by the NRW Forum in Dusseldorf. Our inclusion is based upon the Contain Yourself project, a competition entry that took a standard shipping container and turned it into a compact, innovative contemporary home.

Special commendation must go to Liliya Kovachka, who was the lead designer on the project. As this years intern from Nottingham Trent University, following some initial creative discussions with the design team Liliya went on to develop a great piece of work.

As well as featuring our project, the book is packed full of amazing examples of container architecture from around the world, both realised and as concepts. The book can be purchased (German text only) from the NRW Forum for 33,oo EUR.

Purchase the Container Architecture book from the NRW Forum >

View the Contain Yourself project >

Commissioned by a photographer friend, who was struggling to operate out of a cramped studio in her house. The brief was to create a garden studio building, that would be large enough to undertake a variety of studio set-ups, as well as being able to be used for recreational uses such as a cinema room.

The building is simple in form and construction, although the ‘diagonally double pitched’ roof form posed some interesting angular junctions. Constructed using SIPS panels, the beauty of this system is that all of the geometric junctions can be pre-manufactured, allowing on-site assembly to be relatively straight forward.

The end result is a functional and beautiful space, and a contemporary take on the typical garden studio. Best of all, during the worst of our winter weather, the building hardly needed any heating.

Slideshow video showing the design and construction of this bespoke garden studio >

We’ve just completed the design stage for a new private members lounge for the Regency Hotel in South Kensington, which is the largest independently owned hotel in London. This is part of a larger programme of redevelopment, which will also include the reception, main stairwell, corridors and communal areas.

The private members lounge is for the use of premium clients, to be used throughout the day, from breakfast through to simply relaxing in the evening. It follows hot on the heels of the completion of the new ‘Club’ bedrooms.

The interior design is contemporary, luxurious and intimate, the sole aim being to create a sense of privilege for those clients that will have access to the space. Low level lighting, a combination of fixed and free-standing seating, and smaller ‘snug’ areas to one side combine with a warm palette of velvety greys and solid Walnut to create a cosseting experience.

The project is currently on site, due to be completed in June 2011. Keep an eye out as it will be added to our project gallery in due course.

We are pleased to announce the recent completion of the design stage for the new restaurant interiors for Ashorne Hill Conference Centre in Warwickshire. Part of a larger programme of refurbishments, Heterarchy have designed the interiors for the restaurant, a mezzanine level cafe area and adjoining concourse seating areas.

Tony Matters, Managing Director of Heterarchy, says of the design; “Our concept was all about creating a contemporary equivalent for the Grand Hall, which is the beautiful double height interior within the existing Grade 2 Listed building. Using natural materials and a colour palette that draws directly from the stunning views of the Warwickshire countryside, it’s all about making delegates feel they are enjoying a privileged environment even if they’re just grabbing a quick coffee”.

The project is now on site, due to be completed by September 2011. To take a closer look at the Ashorne Hill refurbishment go to the project gallery page >

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Heterarchy Managing Director Tony Matters was recently interviewed by Jonathan Lampon live on BBC Radio regarding the effective use of colour in interior design. Click above to listen or download.

In every town and city, whether large or small, you’ll always find small, awkward shaped plots of land that sit between larger development sites. These ‘infill’ plots have generally been considered unusable. The aim of Contain Yourself was to tackle this unavoidable issue with a cost effective, design led approach, whilst also trying to create an ideal home for people just stepping onto the property ladder.

The size and structure of the house is based on that of a single shipping container, which is literally turned on its head to create a compact five storey property, needing just 2.6m squared of land to be placed.  Designed by the Heterarchy Studio, this innovative house design will be exhibited at the NRW in Dusseldorf, Germany from June until September this year.  The house is one of 24 designs chosen to be exhibited out of over 200 entrants to this open International design competition set by the NRW late last year. Entrants were called to submit a maximum of two 30x30cm boards and a ‘Tweet’ (140 characters) explaining the design. Each of the 24 submissions will be showcased with a 1:5 scale model.

The 2.6m x 12.2m container is sunk into an insulated concrete pit in the ground, creating two floors below ground, leaving 8m above ground level for a further 3 levels.  To create usable interior spaces, the skin of the container is punctured to allow for angled, cubic projections to cantilever from the structure. Within the interior the house is a central staircase that leads to a room on each floor, with a bedroom and bathroom below ground level and entrance space, kitchen and living room on the floors above.

An external cladding of solar responsive glass panels over a super insulated multi foil layer is used, making the building thermally efficient and therefore cost effective.

In a time when getting onto the property ladder is harder than ever, these compact homes provide a solution for first time buyers.  They tackle the issue of wasted land and the growing demand for affordable housing whilst staying design conscious, cost effective and energy efficient.

Chinese travellers are set to become the single largest consumer of hotel accommodation across the world. This possibly unsurprising fact comes to light as the Intercontinental Hotel Group announces its intention to develop a ‘Chinese’ hotel brand, with hotels in China and around the globe.

The Chinese place great importance on the value of brands – according to research some 49% of Chinese think that brand names equate to superior quality product or service, compared with 9% in the UK and 16% in the States. So it’s no surprise, therefore, that ‘the worlds most global hotel company’ is set to capitalise on this emerging situation.

So expect to see a ‘Chinese’ brand, with contemporary Asian inspired interiors and Chinese inspired food on the menu. I suppose it’s the equivalent of the Brits abroad, seeking out Holiday Inns and fried breakfasts. Something tells me the Chinese equivalent will be altogether more sophisticated.

In much the same way that the Shangri-La Hotels provide Asian inspired interiors and service, the Intercontinental approach should provide an experience that is distinctly Chinese. However this pans out, I think the rest of the industry should see this as a wake up call to an important new market segment.

Heterarchy provide interior design services for hotels, bars and restaurants across the UK. More info >

People can be unpredictable. Behaviour, social, cultural and economic circumstances are always changing. Rather than trying to design a utopia that can never exist, is it not better to think of our buildings and spaces as tools, built to evolve and adapt, meeting our needs now and into the future. We think so.

I was recently given a guided tour of a relatively new performing arts building at one of Leicester’s Universities, as part of a project we’re involved in concerning the design of modular, creative spaces.

The facility is impressive – a series of simple, flexible studio and performance spaces, which are used for rehearsals, performances and a multitude of other arts related uses. What seems most effective is their simplicity – essentially square rooms with a variety of adaptable fixtures for lighting, staging, audience layouts (from traditional theatre style to ‘theatre in the round’, with a capacity of up to 120).

Unfortunately, there are also considerable problems with the building, which are preventing it’s occupiers from using it as it was intended. The most notable of these is the poor sound and vibration insulation between the studio spaces (which are stacked one on top of the other in a four storey building). This impact of this is substantial – it’s not possible to use two adjoining spaces at the same time (for performance), meaning the occupants have to carefully plan their usage to avoid the problem. This is a fundamental deficiency, which cannot be rectified easily (if at all). There are other issues – no toilets for the audience; no foyer space for them either; a balcony on the third floor, for the use of students, that is fenced off because it breaks every rule in the ‘don’t give students vertical opportunities’ handbook.

What’s been done about it? Essentially, nothing. As far as I know, the architects have never been back. Perhaps they don’t even know, maybe no-one thought to tell them. However this has come about, something like £5m of public money has been spent on something that simply doesn’t work.

Re-visiting a building or interior once it is occupied should be a statutory requirement. Or, at least, considered standard professional conduct. How else can we learn? With the best will in the world, architects, interior designers and other professional building consultants will never be able to perfectly predict the outcome of their design. From gaining an understanding of how the occupants actually use the spaces, to seeing technically what worked and what didn’t, surely there’s no other way to do this.

It seems obvious to us. Perhaps it’s because most of our clients become friends, I don’t think there’s a single project we’ve completed that we’ve not been back to at least twice since it’s completion. In some instances we’ve worked with our clients for many years following completion, assisting them with the gradual evolution of their spaces as their needs inevitably evolve over time.

Heterarchy provide interior architecture and design services for business, private individuals and religious organisations. For more information contact us >

We’ve always been interested in interiors and buildings that are flexible and adaptable – changing their use without any substantial or expensive alterations being required. It’s all part of understanding the ‘life-cycle’ of a building. It’s naive to think that when a building or interior is designed and constructed, it will be used exactly as intended for its entire life. Needs change over time, sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly. Understanding how these changes may affect a building can help a designer to make allowances for them, so that the owner can evolve their business without having to worry too much about the effect it will have on their premises (and their bank balance).

A really great example of simple, flexible building design are units on business parks. These are simple buildings with large volumes which can be adapted to a wide variety of uses. One of the first, and most successful, modern business parks in the UK is Milton Park in Oxford. Property entrepreneurs Ian Laing and Nick Cross purchased the site during the mid 1980′s, which was originally a British military ordnance depot.  Seeing the potential of these huge, simple buildings, and understanding how they could be adapted to almost limitless uses, they transformed the site into a huge mixed use business and science park. It’s amazing to think of some of the ground-breaking innovations that are taking place in what are, basically, huge sheds.

We see these types of building all over the UK now, however it’s nice to think they originated from a way of re-using what were previously considered to be worthless and redundant buildings. There’s a lot to be said for keeping things simple and inexpensive – as we can see, entire industries have been built on such foundations.

Heterarchy provide interior architecture and design services throughout the UK – for more information get in touch>

Image source – StubbsRich ‘less is beautiful‘>

I spent a morning last week listening to the editor of the Birmingham Post, Alun Thorne, giving his summary of the years events within the construction sector within the city. It was certainly interesting listening, with tales of ups and downs and an optimistic outlook for the next few years.

Biggest successes of recent years include the iconic Selfridges (Future Systems), the Qube (Ken Shuttleworth, MAKE) and Holloway Circus Tower (Ian Simpson Architects) to name a few, all of which have added to the vibrancy and quality of Birmingham. It has to be said that plans have been scaled down somewhat, given the economic situation across the entire of the UK. However, the over-riding feeling was that Birmingham has done enough to position itself firmly as the UK’s second city.

There was some debate about drawing comparisons with Manchester – a city which has always had a strength in self promotion. I suppose it could be said that Manchester has more to shout about from a PR point of view – football, the Commonwealth games, that whole ‘Madchester’ cultural scene which has embedded itself within the phyche of the nation (well at least a particular generation). In comparison to this, is Birmingham seen as the poor relation?

Look at Birmingham with a more objective eye, however, and a different picture emerges. You will see a city that is steadily piecing together a new urban infrastructure, with key elements of the city plan in place, with others shortly on the way. Of less obvious, but equally important benefit to the city, is the fact that the recent Conservative Party conference took place there, with the next one a definite and the one after that a distinct possibility. As Alun Thorne put it, ‘the tories seem to be in love with Birmingham’. This is no bad thing.

In 2012 Birmingham is to elect its City Mayor. Speculation concerning who this should be initiates an interesting conversation. Alun asked the question ‘does Birmingham need its own Boris?’. Whatever you think of the slightly eccentric chap, no-one can deny that in his own unique way he has imprinted a style of leadership and ‘un-pretentiousness’ that endears himself to many and enrages a few. What qualities should Birmingham be looking for in its new figurehead? The obvious names were touted – Karen Brady and Digby Jones to name a couple – however, given that Birmingham has one of the most diverse and vibrant multi-cultural populations in the UK, one can understand these suggestions from the cities commercial and construction sector.

So, is our second city about to come of age? Well, listening to Alun Thorne has persuaded me that it doesn’t really need to. With continual improvements in the quality of the built environment, key regeneration projects and a strong commercial and leisure sector, Birmingham is surely a prime candidate for international inward investment. As interior designers with an active interest in the leisure and hotel sector, we’re pleased it’s right on our doorstep.

Heterarchy provide interior architecture and design services across the UK – for more information get in touch>

Tags: Interior design Birmingham