Oakwood Timber Tower London features in The Economist Films about visionary wooden buildings and the increasing use of timber as an innovative solution to problems posed by urbanisation. Michael Ramage from the Centre for Natural Material Innovation at the University of Cambridge, highlights the concept of our collaborative project in the video below.

The Economist Films - Wooden skyscrapers could be the future for cities

PLP Architecture has launched a studio in Japan. The office is PLP’s second expansion in Asia and will operate alongside existing bases in London and Beijing. Located in the Shibuya area of Tokyo, the studio will serve local clients, support projects in the region and act as a liaison for international clients pursuing opportunities in Japan and Southeast Asia.

PLP Architecture is an award-winning practice that has created some of the world's smartest and most sustainable buildings that redefine what it means to live and work in today’s cities. Completed projects include The Edge in Amsterdam, which Bloomberg called ‘the smartest building in the world’, and Sky Central in London, which the British Council for Offices (BCO) designated the best workplace for 2017.

Working closely with London-based PLP Director Midori Ainoura, the Tokyo office will be led by Raita Nakajima. Raita has a wealth of experience in delivering high profile international projects in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Japan and SE Asia and has worked with the partners of PLP for more than 10 years.

The opening was featured in World Architecture Community.

The Collective Old Oak features as part of the recently opened exhibition ‘New Urban Body’ at La Triennale di Milano, curated by Giordana Ferri of Fondazione Housing Sociale and designed by ETT SpA Solutions.

The playfully designed and interactive show illustrates the flexibility and growth of how people live and work together and what kind of positive impact this has on urban redevelopment and the transformation of the city.

Open from 24 November 2017 - 7 January 2018

More information available here:

www.triennale.org

Lee Polisano, president and founding partner of PLP Architecture joined property entrepreneur David Rosen, Hon FRIBA and senior partner at Pilcher Hershman, to discuss how their projects have impacted London and to give their insights on the ever changing property and architectural landscape in London. Paul Finch, World Architecture Festival Director, moderated the event.

In 2013, following an invited competition, PLP Architecture was commissioned to design the interior and develop the exterior for Sky Central - the main building of their West London campus.

The design brief required a building that would galvanise 3500 employees into a single community whose identity would reflect the fast-paced and ever-evolving nature of broadcasting and telecommunications.

PLP worked together with Sky to develop the content and programmatic distribution of the building.

www.ukgbc.org

The Francis Crick Institute is the result of an unprecedented partnership between six of the world’s leading biomedical and academic organisations, bringing together multidisciplinary groups of researchers to develop ground-breaking research for the improvement of human health. PLP, working together with HOK, have designed the building to be highly interactive and open, with five floors of laboratories above ground specifically designed to promote interdisciplinary work.  The Francis Crick Institute adheres to strong sustainability principles, setting a new standard for modern sustainable design. The building has achieved an Excellent BREEAM rating with a final score of 74% and has been designed to comply with Building Regulations Part L 2010.

www.crick.ac.uk

PLP’s Sky Central for major UK broadcaster Sky, has been featured in the Financial Times. The article ‘Sky’s the limit for latest theory in office design’ speaks about the new headquarter building and how the design changes the way staff collaborate and work.

In 2013, following an invited competition, PLP Architecture, Arup, Mace, AL_A & Hassell were commissioned to design the new Headquarters for broadcaster Sky, called Sky Central - the main building of their West London campus. The design brief required a building that would galvanise 3,500 employees into a single community whose identity would reflect the fast-paced and ever-evolving nature of broadcasting and telecommunications.

www.ft.com

Sky Central is a unique example of unconventional (workspace) design, efficient engineering and delivery combined to meet high aspirations around sustainability, flexibility and people wellbeing.

PLP Architecture was commissioned by Sky to design the interior architecture and develop the exterior for Sky Central - the main building of their 7,000 - person West London campus. The building is designed to to engage 3500 Sky colleagues in producing the best work of their career.

A design was conceived that promotes flexible, collaborative, task-based working. This flexibility was achieved through the creation across the vast floor plates, of multiple distinct neighbourhoods, linked together by the architecture of central mezzanines, stairs and ramps. This established a range of different work areas. This connective tissue encourages employees to take different routes around the office, allowing for unexpected and surprising interactions to occur naturally and act as a catalyst to internal business innovations. These various journeys also shape the central experience of the building: an open space where both ideas and people flow and interweave continually.

Cindy Lau, Director at PLP, joined the Mix Interiors Roundtable discussion on ‘Designing an experience’ on April 19th, 2017. Much talked about is the term productivity in the workplace; but many believe that even the end user client doesn’t know what productivity looks like.  What seems to be more relevant is focusing on the ‘experience’ and through that the client get the best out from their talents. Cindy  discussed the process of engaging the client to understand their aspirations and realise it through intelligent design. She also shared her views on the future of workplace and the importance of designing an experience in relation to productivity.

As an example, she introduced PLP’s design of the Edge, which has been recognized internationally as ‘the smartest and most sustainable office building in the world’,  and the new headquarters of leading broadcasting company Sky in West London, offering an interactive production hub to 3,700 creatives.

The London Planning Awards is organised in partnership with the Mayor of London, London First, RTPI, Planning Officers Society and London Councils, to recognise and reward best practice in planning in the capital.

PLP Architecture joined CBRE and HOK as a key party to the Planning Performance Agreement agreed with Camden Council which enabled intensive consultation with key development and design officers from Camden and the GLA.

This highly contextual building, that responds to its location next to St Pancras station and the British Library, and the external expression and massing of the building are the result of intensive consultation with the local planning authority in Camden, the GLA, stakeholders and local residents’ groups.

99 events were held in the months prior to the applications submission and this degree of consultation and the low volume of subsequent representations as a result have been highlighted as an example of best practice.

The Francis Crick Institute is an extraordinary example of collaborative work in science today. A consortium of six of the UK's largest organisations for biomedical research, the Institute brings together multidisciplinary groups of researchers to develop ground-breaking research for the improvement of human health. To house this centre, HOK with PLP Architecture devised a building that operates both as a complex laboratory as well as a place for collaboration and exchange.

Lee Polisano will speak about 'Pioneering Urbanity in an Expanding Capital' at the New London Vernacular Conference on April 26th. This event, initiated by UCL, will explore further with other planners, architects and practitioners some of the issues which are arising in their research project on "Governing the Future City".

For more info:

www.ucl.ac.uk

The Francis Crick Institute, designed by HOK with PLP Architecture, has been shortlisted in the UK National Royal Town Planning Institute’s Awards for Planning Excellence under the category ‘Economically Successful Places’. PLP Architecture has led the planning submission for The Francis Crick Institute, Europe’s largest biomedical research institute, housing more than a thousand scientists from different disciplines next to King’s Cross Station. The RTPI Awards celebrate exceptional examples of planning and the contribution planners make to society.

PLP Architecture has unveiled the concept design for CarTube, during the ‘Future of Urban Mass Transportation’ Conference held on December 2nd 2016 in London. The Conference brought together researchers and scientists from the UK and abroad to discuss the direction of future transportation technology. The CarTube concept translates a pioneering mobility solution which combines two existing modes of transport, automated electric cars and mass transit, into a single, seamless underground road system.

Lars Hesselgren, Director of Research at PLP Architecture: “CarTube is a direct response to mass transit and traffic congestion in the world’s largest cities. Moving high-speed car traffic below ground will revolutionise our concept of the city, allowing our urban spaces to be designed not for cars, but for people. CarTube has the potential to be the next best thing to teleportation and will revolutionise exiting cities and allow for unprecedented urban forms.”

PLP Architecture will continue their research on CarTube and will act as a catalyst for innovation, bringing together great minds from different  backgrounds to imagine a future where cars don't compete but  collaborate.

www.cartube.global

Sky’s new flagship building ‘Sky Central’  has opened at the company’s campus in Osterley, West London.

The new office was completed in July, and accommodates 3,500 employees. Designed for flexibility, openness and to foster the lively flow of people and ideas around the business, the building is the centrepiece of Sky’s group headquarters.

PLP Architecture was invited to re-think and design the building’s interior, develop the external envelope to respond to the changing interior programme and deliver the project through to completion following an invited design competition via the main contractor bid.

Launched in March 2016, Studiomakers aims to provide entrepreneurial solutions to retain existing and create new affordable artist workspaces in London. The initiative is led by Outset Contemporary Art Fund in association with its founding partners The Mayor of London, Second Home, Create London,  PLP Architecture and Bolton & Quinn.

studiomakers.com

PLP Architecture, together with Cambridge University and Smith and Wallwork, won the Royal Institute for British Architects President's Award for Design & Technical Research and will go forward for consideration for the President’s Medal for Research.

The RIBA annual President’s awards celebrate the best research in the fields of architecture and the built environment. This year, a record-breaking 75 submissions were received from 14 countries. Our research project, entitled Supertall Timber: Design Research for the Next Generation of Natural Structure, was developed together with The University of Cambridge’s Centre for Natural Innovation and the engineering firm Smith and Wallwork.

The project aspires to make tall timber buildings a reality. Through a combination of feasibility study involving design for a real world site in the Barbican London and involving manufacturers and physical lab testing, this research demonstrates the viability of timber buildings to modern urban centres.

ULI honours outstanding development projects with the ULI Global Awards for Excellence program, which today is widely recognized as the development community’s most prestigious awards program.

Winning projects represent the highest standards of achievement in the development industry.

The Tall Timber Tower

PLATINUM AWARD - Architectural design / Tall building category

The Edge

GOLD AWARD - Architectural design / Green architecture category

Skypod

SILVER AWARD - Architectural design / Transportation

The Nexus

HONORABLE MENTION - Architectural design / Commercial architecture

The AAP American Architecture Prize honors exceptional designs in 41 categories across three disciplines: architectural design, interior design, and landscape architecture.

The winners were selected by a panel of esteemed experts including Troy C. Therrien, Curator of Architecture and Digital Initiatives at the Guggenheim Foundation and Museum; Peggy Deamer, Professor of Architecture at Yale University; Ben Van Berkel, Principal of UNStudio and Professor at Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Alan Ricks and Michael Murphy, Founders of Mass Design Group; and many more.

The Francis Crick Institute is an extraordinary example of collaborative work in science today. A consortium of six of the UK's largest organisations for biomedical research, the Institute brings together multidisciplinary groups of researchers to develop ground-breaking research for the improvement of human health. To house this centre, we devised a building that operates both as a complex laboratory as well as a place for collaboration and exchange. Working together with HOK, we have designed the building to be highly interactive and open, with five floors of laboratories above ground specifically designed to promote interdisciplinary work.

The RIBA annual awards celebrate the best research in the fields of architecture and the built environment. This year, a record-breaking 75 submissions were received from 14 countries. The research project, entitled Supertall Timber: Design Research for the Next Generation of Natural Structure, was developed together The University of Cambridge’s architecture school, along with engineering firm Smith and Wallwork.

The project aspires to make tall timber buildings a reality. Through a combination of theoretical design and physical testing, this research demonstrates the viability of timber buildings at much greater heights than has previously been possible.

Building work is finally complete at the biggest biomedical facility in Europe, the Francis Crick Institute. Scientists will start to gradually move in over the next month, and it will be open to the public in early 2017. The Crick, which has cost 700 million pounds, and will house more than a thousand scientists, claims to offer a radical new approach to medical research by encouraging scientists from different disciplines to work together in new and imaginative ways.

PLP Architecture’s in-house research group has had a chapter dedicated to its work in a new monograph on architectural practice and design-led research. The Changing Shape of Practice is a handbook for practices that wish to integrate research into their work and a reference book for students that seek to prepare themselves for the future research trajectories of the discipline. The book details PLP’s work on 3D city modelling, interactive systems and advanced visualisation techniques, parametric and performance based design, and genotype algorithms in architecture.

To find out more about PLP’s research group, visit the research page or to buy the book visit:

www.amazon.co.uk

We have partnered with The City Centre, The City of London’s centre for the built environment, to design and deliver workshops to children of various ages from participating schools. The workshops are designed to stimulate students’ interest in the built environment and show them how to pursue architecture and urban planning as a careers path. Activities have ranged from simple careers presentations, explaining the day to day work of architects, to full day workshops creating scale drawings and models, proposing new tall buildings for London, and learning about planning processes and their effect on the city.