AJ Retrofit Awards 2021 winners revealed
with Pearson Lloyd has been named AJ Retrofit of the Year 2021
The conversion of a warehouse in Hackney, east London, not only found a new use for a building that faced demolition but reused as many materials as possible – both from the site and reclamation yards.
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The AJ’s Rob Wilson and Fran Williams, who chaired the various judging panels, said the winning project was ‘notable for having transformed some previously unremarkable and ramshackle commercial structures into a rather poetic and beautiful whole’.
The scheme, which also won the Workplace under 2,000m² category, was revealed as the overall winner at the AJ Retrofit Awards virtual awards event held on Wednesday 24 February.
Setting up your own architecture studio: the dos and don’ts that will get you through
Kunle Barker gives some vital practical advice for those launching a new practice
All you really need to create good architecture is a pencil and a piece of paper. It’s a sentimental statement, but the sentiment is real nonetheless. I am, of course, aware that computers, offices, and Revit licences are also needed. However, the creative nature of architecture is liberating, fostering entrepreneurship, encouraging architects to pick up pencil and paper and set out on their own.
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There are many examples of small practices producing great work that have been set up by architects (often refreshingly young) who have met ‘cutting their teeth’ at larger firms. This creative entrepreneurship is the envy of the medical, finance and legal professions. But entrepreneurship is not without risk, so here is my guide to what new practices should and should not do in the crucial first 100 d