The Aldgate Installation

Alderman Peter Hewitt of Aldgate Ward and Michael Wilkey, the Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects, cut the ribbon to inaugurate the new Aldgate installation sponsored by the Company on July 27th 2012. An exhibition of archaeological finds from the area, organised by Museum of London Archaeology was on display and suitably Chaucerian tots of mead were served. 

The installation marks the location of the historic Aldgate – where Chaucer lived from 1374-1386 - and the start of High Street 2012, the route to the Olympics. It forms part of the London Festival of Architecture and and will remain in place throughout the Olympics and Paralympics.

Created by the young, award-winning architects, Studio Weave, the construction is supported by the City Property Advisory Team (CPAT) and eight other Worshipful livery Companies and will be built from sustainable British Larch supplied by BSW Timber. It is sponsored by 4C Hotels Ltd, funding which was facilitated by Dexter Moren, a member of the Company, and architect to 4C for the nearby Aldgate bus station site.

A gate stood at Aldgate from the Roman Period until 1761. From 1374 to 1386 Chaucer (1343-1400) lived in the rooms above the Aldgate. Studio Weave’s design is inspired by the two dream poems written by Chaucer while resident in the rooms above the gate from 1374 to 1386. ‘The House of Fame’ and ‘The Parliament of Fowls’; both include images of fantastic dream-like temples of impossible materials and scale, elevated on precarious, precious structures above vast, bizarre landscapes conceivable as analogies for the City.

Paleys upon Pilers is an abstraction of the uppermost room of the old gate and an invocation of Chaucer’s luxurious dreamed temples. The structure consists of a kind of timber embroidery and will sit in the air above the busy Aldgate High Street, supported on pillars decorated with images from Chaucer’s illuminated manuscripts.

Studio Weave is an emerging architecture practice profiled as one of “Britain’s Brightest Young Architects”. The studio’s work encompasses a diverse range of projects from furniture and art projects, to buildings, landscapes and urban design. Since setting up in 2006 we have delivered a number of award-winning projects including ‘The Longest Bench’, a £475k seafront regeneration scheme in Littlehampton, West Sussex that recently won the 201 Civic Trust Award for Community Impact and Engagement; ‘Freya and Robin’, two allegorical pavilions peering over the water as part of the Kielder Art and Architecture Programme, Northumberland; the ‘Floating Cinema’, a project for the Olympic Delivery Authority to transform a canal boat into a travelling host for film screenings, and St Pancras Church Garden, a new public space in the City of London on the Scheduled Ancient Monument site of a Romanesque church lost to the Great Fire of 1666.

The installation is built from British Larch supplied by BSW Timber, the largest sawmilling business in Great Britain with six sawmills in the UK and production capacity of over 1,000,000 cubic metre of sawn timber per year.

Supporting Companies:

Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects 

Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors

Worshipful Company of Clothmakers

Worshipful Company of Carpenters

Worshipful Company of Lightmongers

Worshipful Company of Builders Merchants

Worshipful Company of Paviors

Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers

Worshipful Company of Fruiterers

Worshipful Company of Pipe Makers and Tobacco Blenders

Professional team: 

Architects: Studio Weave

Structural Engineers: Structure Workshop

Development Managers: M3 Consulting

Planning Consultants: DP9

Funded by: 4C Hotel Group

British Timber supplied by BSW Timber Group

Timber grown by Forestry Commission Wales

Streetworks by: Conways

Concrete donated by: Laing O’Rourke

Fabrication and Installation by: AB3 Workshops

Pattern Design and Print by: Linda Florence

Ground Scanning and Services: Reach Active

Barriers donated by: John F Hunt

Legal advice by: Ashurst LLP

Archaeological monitoring and input by: Museum of London Archaeology

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Newsletter Issue 27 - Aug 2012

Newsletter 27

Election Court, Annual Service and dinner at Pewterers Hall

one of the many charters of a very old livery company

examples of fine craftsmanship

John E C Dyson is invested in the Livery by Master Wilkey

certification of the event

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The 2012 Drawing Prize

click on the images to enlarge them into a new window

*Vivat, vivat Cornwall!

The winners of the Jonathan and Victoria Ball* Award, the Drawing Prize for 2012 were:

RIBA Part 1 winner; Samantha Horn of London Metropolitan University

The Touqan Palace, a ruined 17th Century fortified palace in Nablus, is proposed as the public epicentre (incorporating community spaces and artists’ studios) of a network of interventions across the city. The interventions increase connectivity and facilitate existing activities at roof top level. Rooms added to existing buildings in the Old City provide a place to stay for cultural and ethical tourists, creating the possibility for cultural exchange and providing an income for local families.

and RIBA Part 1 'runner-up'; Oscar Plastow of Kingston University

56 Artillery Lane is a fine example of a Georgian East London merchant's building. It was built  around 1690 on land that was previously a weapons practice ground. Later, in the 1750's, the buildings were transformed into luxury shops in the Rococo style by Huguenot silk merchants, protestant settlers from France.

An A1 pencil drawing

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RIBA Part 2 winner; James Decent of London Metropolitan University

The drawing illustrates a proposal of a new building within the estate of Hardwick in Derbyshire. It was important that the drawing conveyed the landscape of trees and parkland. The topography staggers up a natural embankment before levelling at a flat plateau. The existing Elizabethan houses known as Old Hardwick Hall and New Hardwick Hall form a skyline on the plateau edge. The new building sits between these halls, mediating them in scale and proportion.

and RIBA Part 2 'runner-up'; Haiwei Xie of the Royal College of Art

The B.R.I.C House

The drawing shows an integration of architecture and landscape, which is the result of The B.R.I.C House proposal --- an alternative housing strategy, centred around the idea of a “public living room", for the Chelsea Barracks site in Westminster. Employing “family tree urbanism” as an organisational strategy, houses are located around an organic water-scape that is based on a rigorous analysis of the culture of the B.R.I.C nations. The intention is to create a high-quality but low-price, high-density but low-rise housing development aimed at a diverse and multi-cultural society.

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Vote for a pop-up card

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from the entries to the WCCA-sponsored

QUEEN'S JUBILEE CARD COMPETITION

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The installation of new members, 26 April 2012

Accounts court held in the Guildhall Alderman's chamber

New Liveryman Grant Brooker

The Master welcomes Grant

New freeman by redemption Dargan Bullivant

The Master welcomes Dargan

Student Oliver James is bound to Liveryman Sherrin Aminossehe

The Master welcomes Oliver


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Visit to Foster and Partners

The Company was delighted to have the opportunity to pay a visit to the office of one of the newest Freemen of the Company - Grant Broker.The Master, accompanied by six other Mentors, nine students and four prospective student members (pictured below) enjoyed an enlightening visit to Foster and Partners. Andy Bow, Senior Partner, described the work of the 1300 strong office and how they engage with all levels of design from international airports to the most intricate detail. It was a privilege to hear such wise words in such stimulating surroundings. The students were surprised and encouraged by down-to-earth rather than airy-fairy academic advice:

• Draw something every day
• The most basic things in the design of public space are loos and coffee
• Where's the front door?
• Doing all-nighters is counter-productive

It is hoped that Andy Bow will be persuaded to join the Company.

More from Broadgate Award plaque unveiling

We are indebted to Tom Ball for the composite picture of the plaque unveiling at 210 Bishopsgate/ the Broadgate Tower on Friday last.

Why, one has to ask, is the Deputy Master in such reverential pose in the bottom left photograph. Answers in a plain brown envelope please.

And another Company author

In line with (recent) tradition, notice is given of a literary work by a member of the Company - in this case, Guy Booth.  The introduction on the opening page of his novel reads as follows:

The book's front and rear covers are illustrated below to give readers a flavour of the work:

                                                       

The customary prize will be given to be best review of the book posted  in response to this invitation but, remember, the Blog Master's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.