Building Tour - Tower Hamlets Town Hall with AHMM

Interior photograph of the Tower Hamlets Town Hall. Photo by AHMM.

The AIA UK building tour at Tower Hamlets Town Hall was an engaging event, attracting a total of 22 attendees. Walking through the Grade II listed former Royal London Hospital building was like a step back in time, while the £124.7m modern re-imagining of the space into a town hall remained rooted in a contemporary Central-East London atmosphere. The Georgian facades stood as stoic witnesses to centuries of change, while the modern extension offered a glimpse into Tower Hamlets' aspirations for the future of municipal governance.

Two tour groups were led by AHMM architects Eleonora Gallenzi and Ben Leach, exploring both the interior and exterior of the building. The guides highlighted the palimpsest of old, older, and brand-new features that occasionally created unique design challenges. A notable example was adapting the surrounding site to allow for multiple points of step-free access and integrating the previously quarantined hospital complex with the surrounding public walkways. In general, the AHMM renovation adopted a highly practical and cost-effective approach, but also exhibited architectonic creativity and innovation alongside a bold colour scheme of reds and blues.

The AIA UK tour groups crossing paths while walking through the intermediate ramped hallway, located between the extension and the old building. This open hallway articulates the existing façade (left) alongside a multi-story height, linear artificial accent lighting, and a roof skylight overhead. Photo by Adelina Koleva, AIA.

Questions were raised particularly about the history of the original building and extensions, as well as the choice of colour schemes. The vibrant red theme on the ground floor sparked intrigue among the guests – Gallenzi explained that the red emerged from the original brickwork while the blue wayfinding hues were sourced from the original terrazzo flooring on the second floor. These details tell intelligent stories of the past, not only adding to the historic theme of the tour but enhancing the value of the modern upgrade to an oftentimes conservative and discerning public.

A refurbished part of the old building on an upper floor, repurposed as an office break-out space. Note the original terrazzo flooring, one of the key historic features which provided the architects with colour inspiration for the renovation. Photo by Adelina Koleva, AIA.

At ground level, the council chamber serves as a pillar not only of democracy – but also of accessibility and flexibility. These principles were reflected in the wheelchair route to the chamber floor and the integrated storage units along the walls. The former hospital building might not have originally been intended for such purposes, but the architects aimed to provide these amenities to improve both public engagement and customer service on behalf of their client.

As the tour concluded, guests parted ways with a newfound knowledge and appreciation for AHMM’s Tower Hamlets Town Hall – as well as some well-earned continuing education credits! Thank you to everyone who participated in the exploration, and special thanks to Etain Fitzpatrick and Gregory Fonseca for organising this event, and our tour guides from AHMM for sharing the building with us. The AIA UK looks forward to welcoming more architectural enthusiasts on our future Building Tours.

Written by Adelina Koleva, AIA

The Ultimate Guide to AIA24 for Students & Emerging Professionals

Colt Brock, Assoc. AIA, has written a helpful and thorough guide for young designers attending the AIA annual conference. Click the button below to learn about student tickets, recommended sessions and tips for navigating the event itself.

Vote in the 2024 USA Elections

As you know, 2024 is an election year in the USA.  Living in the UK does not affect your right to vote but may take a bit of planning.  If you are already registered to vote in your home state, you need to contact your local election board and ask for an absentee ballot or go to www.fvap.gov to obtain the standard form.  This must be done for each year that you plan to vote.  If you aren’t registered to vote, or you’re not sure, go to www.votefromabroad.org to register and request your ballot for 2024.  As we saw from the last presidential election, every vote counts.  It is important to exercise your right to vote!

Movie Night - The Destruction of Memory

History keeps repeating itself. We first screened this documentary in 2017, at the height of the War in Syria. It was a sold-out screenings, and likewise seven years later, in an equally sold-out cinema, we still found ourselves plagued with evermore destruction of the built environment and cultural heritage all across the World. This documentary is a powerful reminder that there is so much more that still needs to be done to protect our cultural heritage for future generations. 

Over the past century, cultural destruction has wrought catastrophic results across the globe. This war against culture is not over - it's been steadily increasing. The push to protect, salvage and rebuild has moved in step with the destruction. Legislation and policy have played a role, but heroic individuals have fought back, risking and losing their lives to protect not just other human beings, but our cultural identity - to save the record of who we are. Based on the book of the same name by Robert Bevan, The Destruction of Memory tells the whole story - looking not just at the ongoing actions in Syria and other contemporary situations, but revealing the decisions of the past that allowed the issue to remain hidden in the shadows for so many years. Interviewees in the film include the Director-General of UNESCO, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, as well as diverse and distinguished international experts, whose voices combine to address this urgent issue.

Many in the audience found this documentary both emotional and frustrating. We were fortunate to have two gentlemen —Patrick Hughes and Matt Amis, from Six Heritage in the audience. 

They kicked off the post movie debate by telling us about their organisation, as well as giving us first hand experience of their upcoming work in Ukraine. Similar to some of the Organisations featured in the documentary, they shall be heading to a war zone where they will document cultural heritage assets that are at risk of destruction. We are most grateful for the risks and sacrifices teams such as theirs take to safeguard our cultural identity. 

We shall return to the BFI Stephen street in March for our next screening, which will be in honour International Women’s Day, and we will be showcasing the work of a phenomenal woman Architect. 

Stay tuned and we look forward to seeing you at screenings again in the fall.

Written by Chris Musangi, AIA

Sustainability Series Roundup Feb/March

WHY DO ARCHITECTS STRUGGLE TO DESIGN LOW ENERGY BUILDINGS OR REFUGEE SHELTERS?

On Wednesday 6th March 2024,  we continued our ongoing series of sustainability events with an online talk given by David Coley (Professor of Zero Carbon Design, University of Bath) exploring why architects struggle to design low energy buildings. Starting from the premise that climate change is fundamentally about people and their suffering - and so anthropogenic climate change is weaponising the environment against ourselves - he argued that buildings can be ugly by the harm they can do, but you need to know what to look for.  He showed how this harm can be significantly reduced by ensuring the design is informed by very simple calculations, which should be the norm for all projects from architecture school onwards.  

The recording of the talk, along with the online quiz so you can receive 1 HSW LU credit for watching it, can be found on the AIA-UK website HERE.

ENGAGING THE WORLD AT COP 28, CLIMATE ACTION, OPPORTUNITIES AND THE ROLE OF THE ARCHITECT

On Wednesday 21st February 2024,  we continued our ongoing series of sustainability events with an online talk given by Illya Azaroff FAIA (Lead AIA Delegate, CoP28; Professor, New York City of Technology (CUNY); Founding Principal, +LAB  Architecture).  He discussed the key elements and outcomes of the AIA's work at the most recent UN Climate Change Conferences CoP 27 and CoP 28. Topics covered included: the foundations of global finance's shift to adaptation through the Marrakesh agreement; the global stock take of climate action called for; and a summary of the key elements and outcomes that are relevant for the AEC industry. Opportunities and actions for architects were discussed throughout the talk.

The recording of the talk, along with the online quiz so you can receive 1 HSW LU credit for watching it, can be found on the AIA-UK website, HERE.

INTEGRATING DEEP SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS INTO YOUR DESIGN PROCESS

On Thursday 8th February 2024, Caomhe Loftus (Associate, Arcadis) continued our ongoing series of sustainability events with an online talk exploring the importance of integrating deep sustainability analysis into your design process. She highlighted the urgency of the climate emergency, the key role architects play in that, and so the need to use rigorous sustainability analysis in the design process to minimise and optimise the energy use of the final proposed building.  Through a hands-on demonstration she showed participants how to use key software to make effective early massing iterations for any specific site context to optimise for solar gain and energy usage.

The recording of the talk, along with the online quiz so you can receive 1 HSW LU credit for watching it, can be found on the AIA-UK website, HERE.

Written by Mark Breeze, AIA

Beale & Co News: Courts Enforce an Overriding Duty of Care Clause

An overriding duty of care clause (limiting duties to reasonable skill and care) has in recent years become more common and more desirable to negotiate into contracts involving design. In a key recent decision in which Beale & Company Solicitors LLP acted for AECOM, the successful party, the court upheld the effect and importance of an overriding duty of care clause. 

Written by Andrew Croft, Felicity Hird and Rhia Gould