Journal Posts - Page 2 of 21 - Jamie Fobert Architects

We are delighted that Kettle’s Yard is the winner of an RIBA East Award 2019, announced last night at the regional awards event in Cambridge.

The jury commented, ‘Jim Ede’s domestic museum, Kettle’s Yard, which was established in the 1950s and extended by Sir Leslie Martin in the late 60s, has been given an authentic and faithful enhancement through this careful and sensitive project. Rectangular gallery spaces, perfectly proportioned and laid out for international exhibitions, have been set into the random shape of the site with all its nooks and crannies. A deep coherence has been achieved within what had been a disparate collection of parts, and a very pleasing combination of rational and idiosyncratic architectural spaces has been created.’

This week, the Burlington Arcade celebrated its 200th anniversary.

But we wonder how many visitors who stroll through the arcade today realise that its striking stone floor is a very recent addition?

Built in 2016, the new floor was designed by Jamie Fobert Architects. The ambiguity – is it old? is it new? – is intentional. It does not compete with the Regency architecture, but responds sympathetically in terms of geometry, tonal variation and craftsmanship. We are delighted when visitors assume that it too has been there for 200 years.

Jamie sat down with Nick Carvell, Editor of The Jackal, as part of the magazine’s Citymakers portfolio to discuss architecture in the city, including the proposed new public space at the National Portrait Gallery:

“Public space is an integral part of what makes a city great – or not. Many of these places already exist, but what is important is how they are handled, how inviting they are, how open they are to having events, or to having people sit.”

This article is out now in the latest edition of The Jackal Magazine or you can listen to their conversation on the podcast by clicking here.

The first courtyard at Les Cours de BHV in Paris is complete.

In 2014 we began studying how timber paving could be introduced into our project to bring disused courtyards back into the public life of Paris. We considered various shapes and sizes of wood blocks and were drawn to the hexagon patterns but as the project was about a public route leading from one court to the next we began to introduce a chevron path of rectangular blocks that playfully lead you on your way.

LES COURS DE BHV, Le Marais, Paris. Prior to 1910 many of the streets of Paris were paved in blocks of hardwood, mainly oak. But in that year “La Grand Crue de la Seine” (the great flood) lasted so long that the blocks came loose and floated away. I loved when our historical advisor on the project Thierry Glachant found this image. You can see the floating timber filling the street. Yet in a few places timber paving survived and still exists. The second image is of very old paving that has gone dark and cracked. These images set us off on an investigation as to how timber paving could be brought back to La Marais in our courtyard project for BHV. #architecture #historicparis #historic #photography #1910 #floods #timber #paving @houze_guillaume @erccst @le_bhv_marais @g.lafayette

We are delighted that Jamie Fobert Architects is shortlisted alongside five other practices in the Public Building category of the BD Architect of the Year Awards 2019.

Our submission included three completed public gallery projects – Tate St Ives, Kettle’s Yard and Charleston – and our reconfiguration of the National Portrait Gallery, which is currently in the design process.

Read more about all the shortlisted practices and their work here.