News - Jamie Fobert Architects

@JamieFobert

Two years and six months after having been made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) I was finally able to have the investiture on Wednesday morning.

The day was beautiful and my brother and two sisters from Canada came to Windsor with Dom and me. Prince Charles did the ceremony and we had a brief chat about the work we are doing at the National Portrait Gallery. I don’t recall exactly what I said that generated the laugh in the first photo, but I think I said we’d do our best to get his family portraits back on the walls as soon as we could.

The visit to Windsor was followed by an afternoon and evening of celebration. Photos of these to follow.

While the honour and the ceremony were lovely, it was the day surrounded by family, colleagues, supporters and friends that left me with a deep sense of gratitude.

We are delighted that the House in Primrose Hill is the winner of an RIBA London Award 2022.

The jury said: “This refurbishment and extension of a Victorian house in Primrose Hill is a superb example of a close working relationship between architect and private homeowner client. The success of the collaboration is evident in the way that beautiful new spaces complement the client’s distinct personal taste, creating an extraordinary contemporary family home.”

Applications are invited from outstanding Part I Architectural Assistants graduating this Summer.

We love to see candidates with beautiful, precise model-making skills, confidence with CAD software, an intuitive understanding of 3D space and an enthusiastic approach to being part of the JFA team. Successful candidates will be working on a range of cultural, retail and residential projects.

Please send a cover letter detailing your relevant experience with a CV and concise illustrated portfolio to recruitment@jamiefobertarchitects.com or in hard copy to Benna Schellhorn, Practice Manager, Jamie Fobert Architects, 22 Club Row, London E2 7EY.

Photograph ©Olivier Hess

Jamie Fobert Architects has been appointed to reconsider the architecture of the Royal Observatory Greenwich, a Scheduled Monument located within the Grade I-listed Greenwich Park and Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Royal Observatory Greenwich is an extraordinary site; a unique collection of buildings designed to hold astronomical instruments. From its inception in the form of Wren’s octagonal Flamsteed House (1676), the site has been in a state of constant flux of construction and demolition as new telescopes were required. It is a great privilege to be tasked with considering how best to add to this ‘constellation’ of buildings, to better welcome visitors and to create galleries where the full story of time and space can be revealed, ahead of the Royal Observatory’s 350th anniversary in 2025.

We will be working in collaboration with engineers Price & Myers and Max Fordham and Heritage Consultants Purcell, supported by OFR and G&T.

Royal Museums Greenwich director Paddy Rodgers said: ‘We are glad Jamie and his team will be joining our exciting plans to inject awe and wonder into an incredible celebration of celestial observation, the observatory, and its famous prior residents.’

One of our very earliest residential projects, in 1998, was to reconstruct the rear elements of a Victorian villa on Love Walk in Camberwell, for artists Christopher Le Brun and Charlotte Verity.

Now on the market with Inigo, Christopher and Charlotte open the doors to their home and describe life in their house on Love Walk.

Our addition to their Victorian villa was designed to redirect the focus of the house to enjoy its attractive side garden, and to create an interior space with gallery-like simplicity and calmness – including a top-lit wall for hanging a large painting.

Read Inigo’s full article or take a look at the listing here.

We are currently looking to recruit two or three recently graduated Part 2 Architectural Assistants and Interior Designers to join our London studio to work on a range of cultural, residential, and retail projects

We are keen to meet candidates with an intuitive understanding of 3D space, an interest in materiality, and excellent CAD skills. Applicants should be able to demonstrate self-motivation, enthusiasm, and the ability to work well as part of a team.

Applications should comprise:

a cover letter introducing yourself, outlining your motivation, and highlighting relevant experience
a CV detailing your education, work experience, software skills, and languages
a concise illustrated portfolio

How to apply:

send a PDF under 10MB to recruitment@jamiefobertarchitects.com
or send a hard copy to Benna Schellhorn, Practice Manager, Jamie Fobert Architects, Rochelle, 22 Club Row, London E2 7EY
DEADLINE: Monday 14 March 12:00.

Dezeen have today published a piece about our House in Primrose Hill featuring a movie by Tapio Snellman and photographs by Jim Stephenson.

Amy Frearson writes: “The project took a feat of engineering. Two original floors of the house were temporarily suspended, allowing a previous floor to be rebuilt and an extra floor to be slotted in underneath. ‘The house presents itself to the city in a very unassuming way,’ said Fobert. ‘It feels as if nothing has changed since it was first built. But when you walk through the door, you are met with an extraordinary transformation, with a space which seems like it shouldn’t fit inside.'”

Wallpaper* has published a feature, written by Ellie Stathaki, about our House in Primrose Hill.

Accompanied by photographs by Jim Stephenson, Ellie writes that the house ‘balances a discreet, street-facing frontage with a distinctly contemporary interior of minimalist architecture and subtle spatial luxury inside’.

To read the full article visit Wallpaper* or read more on our House in Primrose Hill here on our website.

Our House in Primrose Hill is one of 9 houses over £500k shortlisted for the AJ Retrofit Awards, which celebrate the design expertise behind the vital renewal and repurposing of existing buildings. While the house presents to the street a discretely extended Victorian façade, this disguises an extraordinary contemporary interior.

Part of our redevelopment at the National Portrait Gallery includes a new Learning Centre for visitors of all ages, with studios, breakout spaces, and high-quality practical facilities.

Film courtesy National Portrait Gallery.

Here, Jamie talks with the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, about some original architectural details of the Gallery that have been uncovered during construction.

Film courtesy National Portrait Gallery.

In conversation with the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, Jamie describes the welcoming and accessible new entrance and forecourt which are currently in construction.

Film courtesy National Portrait Gallery.

We have designed a new London home for Pace Gallery at 5 Hanover Square. We have transformed the interior architecture of the existing building to incorporate flexible galleries across two floors. The levels are connected by a feature staircase rendered in black steel, integrating the entire space and allowing for dynamic presentations and installations.

Pace’s new home in London opens on Friday 8 October 2021 with an exhibition of paintings on paper by Mark Rothko and a multi-media installation and series of performances by Torkwase Dyson, commissioned for Pace Live.

Photography by Matt Clayton, courtesy Pace Gallery

On Wednesday 17 February at 6pm, Jamie will be talking about ‘Designing great art spaces for the twenty-first century’ as part of a series of online talks for the Friends of Kettle’s Yard.

Jamie will give an illustrated 45-minute talk about designing galleries and support spaces that anticipate current art practice and allow curators maximum freedom. He will include our work at Kettle’s Yard, Tate St Ives, the National Portrait Gallery, and more. There will be a chance for audience questions.

Find out more and book your tickets here

(Pictured: ‘Jennifer Lee: the Potter’s Space’ at Kettle’s Yard in 2019)

Jamie invited The Modern House into his Clerkenwell home, to tell them the story of its design, and talk about what it means to live in a modern way:

“Designing someone’s house, you have to be very careful not to make it sensational, because a home is where people have to wake up every morning, somewhere where they have to come home to, where they have to be on a rainy day, where they have to be when they’re feeling ill and where they celebrate and entertain.”

Read more and see the beautiful photographs here.

Pace Gallery have announced plans to open a new London gallery on Hanover Square in Autumn 2021. We are delighted that Pace has chosen Jamie Fobert Architects to design this 800m2 space.

We have very much enjoyed the challenge of re-configuring the premises at Hanover Square to provide Pace with excellent facilities for the display of changing exhibitions and to create a beautiful working environment for their staff. A complex of workspaces, including a library and viewing rooms, are centred around a new double-height void which allows daylight into the lower level work environment.

Our new work for Pace continues a a longstanding relationship; we designed their first London gallery on Lexington Street in 2011.

We are very excited to be supporting this year’s Accelerate programme, a design education and mentoring scheme developed by Open City in partnership with The Bartlett, which aims at widening diversity in the architecture industry.

We will be providing two mentors for sixth form school students from underrepresented backgrounds taking part in the programme. We hope that we might encourage and help these students prepare to study architecture at university.

To learn more about Open City’s Accelerate programme click here.

The Modern House has commissioned a lovely new set of photographs of Kander House, which is currently up for sale. See the listing and images here.

Kander House, a Victorian townhouse situated in London’s Primrose Hill is structured around a distinctive concrete figure, a compelling object in its own right, which also acts as structural support for the building. The garden was embraced as integral to the design of the main living space. It has made a wonderful family home for our clients for the past 15 years.

The house was awarded the 2007 RIBA London Award and shortlisted for both the Manser Medal and the Stephen Lawrence Prize. To learn more about the project click here.

Jamie contributes to Pamela Buxton’s article on how the Covid-19 pandemic has influenced and may affect museums and galleries, as they begin to open their doors once more to visitors. Topics from safety to funding and sustainability are discussed, along with some possible changes we can expect to see put in place moving forward.

Jamie comments that “The one positive thing that might happen is that when they [galleries and museums] do come back, people will appreciate the experience they offer all the more.”

Read the full article in The RIBA Journal.

We are very happy to have been appointed to the new Southwark Council architectural services framework; from a ‘fiercely competitive’ shortlist, we have been selected for ‘Education, social care and community projects’ over £10m.

The framework, administered by LHC, is open to any contracting authority in London. It intends to be an antidote to typical local authority frameworks, opening up public sector opportunities to ‘the best architectural practices able to deliver innovative construction services’. Certainly, the line-up of designers appointed is very impressive. We are proud to be among them and excited for the future opportunities offered.