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2023

The best art and architecture of 2023

[The Guardian]

As space for manufacturing is pushed ever further out of our cities, or obliterated altogether, dRMM’s ingenious project in Charlton, south-east London, shows how workshops and studios can be cleverly piled high on a tight site.


Putting research into practice

[Structural Timber Magazine]

Finbar Charleson, Architect and Research lead at dRMM outlines some key projects the pioneering practice has embarked on and what it hopes to deliver.


Stacks of timber inform "inspirational" industrial units by dRMM

[Dezeen]

London studio dRMM has completed WorkStack, a top-heavy stack of industrial units in Greenwich that is constructed from cross-laminated timber.


How can timber be used to produce sustainable, high-density workspaces?

[Frame Magazine]

Charlton WorkStack, a collaboration between dRMM and the Greenwich Enterprise Board, displays how material choices and spatial planning can significantly enhance the sustainability of co-working spaces.


"Having outspoken team members has always been very important to dRMM"

[Dezeen]

As part of our Dezeen Jobs: How We Recruit series, architecture studio dRMM’s director Saskia Lencer explains what the practice looks for when it hires new staff and how its recruitment needs have changed over the years.


‘We’re here to stay’: the stack-em-high wooden workspace fighting the luxury flats plague

[The Guardian]

Huge numbers of vital workshops have been lost to more lucrative housing. But one architect is creating budget spaces by building upwards – with wood. We meet the busy tenants of his £5m WorkStack


Active collaboration is the key to progress in the built environment

[Building]

As business and practice leaders, we spend a lot of our time talking about the importance of “collaboration”. We spend less time, however, defining exactly what it means.


dRMM team takes over from Sheppard Robson on major Peckham regeneration

[Architects' Journal]

A team led by dRMM has been picked to draw up a replacement for Sheppard Robson’s ditched designs for the Aylesham Centre site in Peckham, south London. The practice – working with Jas Bhalla Architects and nimtim architects – has won an invited contest held by developer Berkeley Homes and Southwark Council to rethink the site.


dRMM replaces Sheppard Robson on contested Peckham redevelopment

[Building Design]

Sheppard Robson has been replaced by dRMM on a controversial redevelopment of Peckham’s Aylesham Shopping Centre following a local backlash.


What does ‘fit for purpose’ mean for today’s world?

[Building ]

The past few weeks have delivered a rather unwelcome reminder of how much our workplace practices still need to be monitored and reckoned with. The scandal that has erupted from years of alleged misconduct at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a serious caution against resting on our laurels when it comes to workplace conduct.


dRMM and McCloy + Muchemwa picked for latest Old Kent Rd estate job

[Architects' Journal]

dRMM and McCloy + Muchemwa have been chosen to design the second phase of an estate regeneration in Old Kent Road, south London, following an invited competition.


Architects reveal new Earl's Court vision

[Architects' Journal]

The Earls Court Development Company (ECDC) has revealed the first details of its fresh masterplan for the redevelopment of the former exhibition centre in west London.


London mayor reveals 65 architects on rebooted 'ADUP3' framework

[Architects' Journal]

Sadiq Khan has revealed the architects on the new Architecture and Urbanism (A+U) framework intended to boost diversity in the design process and help London’s zero-carbon post-Covid recovery.


Six ways to prevent a dystopian future

[RIBAJ]

Landsec’s Shaping Successful Future Cities white paper maps out the possible scenarios cities will face over the coming 10-plus years, based on how decision-makers act today. It was developed in collaboration with strategic foresight consultancy The Future Laboratory with input from experts from, among others, Google and architectural practices BIG and dRMM.


Lendlease submits plans for £1.9bn Birmingham Smithfield project

[Architects' Journal]

Developer Lendlease, working with a rota of top designers including David Kohn Architects, has lodged plans for the first phase of the massive £1.9 billion Smithfield project in Birmingham city centre. 


Plans lodged for £3.5bn silvertown mixed-use scheme

[Building ]

A team featuring Lendlease, Homes England, the Greater London Authority and affordable housing firm The Guinness Partnership have submitted plans for 6,500 homes at the Silvertown site in east London.


Silvertown £3.5bn megascheme submitted for planning

[Architects' Journal]

Lendlease has submitted plans for around 6,500 homes at Silvertown in east London. The hybrid planning application covers a 20ha site in the Royal Docks and includes refurbishment of the long-derelict Millennium Mills building, which will ‘form the centrepiece of the new community’. The scheme will feature 50 per cent affordable housing.

 


2022

Pier review: revisiting Hastings Pier

[Architects' Journal]

When Hastings Pier won the Stirling Prize in 2017 I was glassy eyed and numb from five brutal years in practice. I chanced across the headline while flipping through the culture section of a national newspaper. Won by an established, London practice; hardly groundbreaking. Romantic, bijoux and picturesque; plus ça change. Yet a little part of me, a deeply buried optimistic part, was revivified that day. dRMM won the prize, according to the jury, not for its zeal, innovation or sense of humour, although these were evident in spades. It won because it ‘evolved the idea of what architecture is’.


dRMM's Eddington Hotel

[Architecture Today]

The browny-pink elevations of dRMM’s ingenious double-branded hotel for edyn Group add a welcome note of colour to the chalky-buff conformity of Cambridge University’s 150-hectare Eddington development. The project brings interest to the last urban block in Eddington’s emerging town centre, on Cambridge’s northwest fringe close to the M11.


Stirling Prize winners selected for Earls Court Redevelopment

[Architects' Journal]

The Earls Court Development Company has chosen three design teams, featuring three Stirling Prize-winning architects, to deliver the first phase of the redevelopment of the former exhibition centre site  The Stirling winners are Haworth Tompkins, dRMM and Maccreanor Lavington, while other selected architects include ACME, Serie Architects and Sheppard Robson.


We need evidence-based design to reach climate and wellbeing targets

[Building]

The world is not faring too well on its goal to combat climate change and avert the catastrophe of exceeding a 1.5C level of warming. At the time of writing, the US’s legal stance on climate change is hanging in the balance, with voices urging President Biden to declare a national climate emergency and help secure a climate action legislative agenda in congress.


We must put people and their homes at the heart of the planning process

[Building]

I have always been invested and interested in new models for residential development. From growing up on a cooperative commune, to designing houses with sliding roofs or made entirely as prefab flatpacks, to helping meet national housing targets as a board member for Homes England.


Is the city's future wooden?

[Financial Times]

dRMM-led team gets permission for estate makeover on Old Kent Road

[Architects' Journal]

dRMM, Adam Khan Architects and JA Projects have been handed permission for an estate regeneration project on the Old Kent Road in south London The 1960s Tustin Estate currently provides 299 homes in three 18-storey towers and a series of low-rise blocks.


dRMM to lead major project to boost timber construction through better data

[Architects' Journal]

The practice, which won the 2017 Stirling Prize for its timber-constructed Hastings Pier, will work with Edinburgh Napier University and the Quality of Life Foundation in a bid to create a reliable method of assessing the impact on carbon emissions and quality of life from using wood in buildings.


dRMM-led team submits masterplan for rebuilding of Old Kent Road estate

[Architects' Journal]

dRMM, Adam Khan Architects and JA Projects have put forward a masterplan for a 700-home regeneration of a housing estate in Southwark, south London.


Why don't we care more about preserving biodiversity?

[Building]

The devastating impact of climate change is now widely known but the gradual degradation of our planet’s biodiversity is just as detrimental to its health.


Brexit, new work and Europe's love for wood' - why dRMM is setting up in Berlin

[Architects' Journal]

Stirling Prize-winning architect and timber pioneer dRMM has set up a European outpost in Berlin.


Oxford University names finalists in 2,000 home masterplan contest

[Architects' Journal]

The University of Oxford has shortlisted five teams for the next round of its international competition to masterplan a £1 billion residential-led development at Begbroke Science Park in Kidlington.


Exclusive: Architects named for phase 1 of huge Smithfield Birmingham job

[Architects' Journal]

Stirling Prize winners dRMM and Haworth Tompkins are joined by RCKa and up-and coming local practices Intervention Architecture and Minesh Patel Architects on the massive project to redevelop the home of Birmingham’s historic markets.


The best buildings have the best clients - and the public sector is lagging behind

[Building Design]

Architects often say that the best buildings they have made have strong client leadership at the helm. This needs to be qualified. What makes a great client?


2021

No patient should wait in a corridor when they've been told they have months left to live

[The Telegraph]

A comprehensive look at the reach of Maggie’s Centres and the positive impact they have had on the lives of those who have used them, featuring dRMM’s Maggie’s Oldham


Southwark picks dRMM and Okra in Old Kent Road net zero carbon contest

[Architects' Journal]

A team led by dRMM and featuring emerging practice Okra has won Southwark Council’s competition for a mixed-use regeneration scheme on Old Kent Road.


Southwark Council selects dRMM-led team for Tustin Estate regeneration

[Architects' Journal]

A team featuring dRMM, Adam Khan Architects and AJ 40 under 40 star JA Projects has won a competition to redesign the Tustin Estate on Old Kent Road in Southwark.


A grove, not Gove – the primary school with nature at its heart

[The Observer]

You won’t find any little rows of government-sanctioned classroom cells at this new Cambridgeshire primary school, whose bright, timber-built design lets the outdoors in.


Severe timber shortage as ‘perfect storm’ brings price hikes and delays

[Architects' Journal]

The Covid crisis, Brexit hurdles and surging construction activity have combined to create a ‘huge’ timber shortage across the industry, architects have told the AJ.


dRMM unveils re-usable Timber Beacon concept for COP26

[Architects' Journal]

dRMM has revealed its proposal for a timber pavilion to be erected at autumn’s COP26 summit in Glasgow by an alliance of timber trade groups.


2020

Do you want beautiful, sustainable and safe tall buildings? Use wood

[The Guardian]

A ban on constructing with timber is one of the more misguided responses to Grenfell writes Rowan Moore.


Journey towards a plastic free future

[The Guardian]

What happened to the promise of wooden buildings? They’re more sustainable, aesthetically pleasing and top architects are enthralled by them – so why are we seeing so few wooden buildings on our city skylines in the UK?


A treasured wooden object

[Wood Awards Online]

Alex de Rijke talks to the Wood Awards about a favourite wooden object – a tulipwood CLT sample.


Benefits to timber architecture and sustainabily sourced timber

[Archivibe]

Director Jonas Lencer talks to Archivibe about timber and sustainability.


This is what coronavirus will do to our offices and homes

[BBC News]

One day, the virus will subside. It could be eradicated. But even then, life will not simply return to the way it was before Covid-19. Spurred on by the coronavirus crisis, architects have been rethinking the buildings we inhabit.


Rethink: What has Covid-19 taught us about designing schools?

[RIBAJ]

How best to spend the government’s £1bn school building bonanza? Four sets of priorities range from better access and bigger spaces to flexibility and promoting hygiene.


Architects urge prime minister to protect BAME-led design firms

[Building Design]

More than 100 sign letter to Boris Johnson over concern for small and BAME-led practices.


Young people are lockdown’s losers – but architects can help

[Architects' Journal]

Designs need to adapt to mitigate the stresses highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic, says dRMM director and Quality of Life Foundation founder Sadie Morgan.


A new moral and aesthetic code for architecture

[Architects’ Journal]

Architects must stop following style or theory, writes Jonas Lencer.


Architects tell government radical changes needed to combustibles ban

[Building Design]

Stirling Prize nominees call for structural timber to be excluded, while RIBA argues for more buildings to be covered.


RetroFirst: Flexible new-builds are essential to future-proofing

[Architects' Journal]

Choosing high-quality, robust materials that lend themselves to future adaptation should be the starting point for any project – new-build or retrofit, says dRMM’s Saskia Lencer.


Is timber the future of architecture? Find out with Forest of Fabrication at RIBA North

[theguideliverpool.com]

RIBA North, The Building Centre and RIBA chartered practice dRMM present Forest of Fabrication, an exhibition celebrating the possibilities and significance of modern timber architecture.


New design principles demand infrastructure ‘celebrates nation’s ambition'

[Architects' Journal]

New infrastructure projects should consider four key principles covering not just value for money but also fostering a sense of local identity and cutting carbon emissions.


2019

Sadie Morgan and Jamie Fobert land New Year Honours

[Building Design]

dRMM founding director among 2020 recipients.


RIBA names all-female list of new honorary fellows

[Architects' Journal]

The RIBA has named an all-female list of recipients for its honorary fellowships for the first time since the awards began. Recipients include Sadie Morgan.


Cork and bottle

[Architecture Today]

Alex de Rijke admires the creativity and commitment in a self-built experimental house by Matthew Barnett Howland with Dido Milne and Oliver Wilton.


How is CLT industry responding to the combustibles ban?

[Building]

Proponents of cross-laminated timber were up in arms when the government announced its plans to ban combustible materials from the external walls of high-rise buildings.


Sadie Morgan lands Homes England role

[Architects' Journal]

Design guru Sadie Morgan has been appointed to the board of Homes England.


Why Sadie Morgan is a role model for us all

[Building Design]

Architecture needs to make its voice heard in government and client circles – and that’s exactly what the first winner of BD’s Female Architectural Leader Award is doing, says Elizabeth Hopkirk.


Forest of Fabrication

[Architecture Today]

dRMM celebrates modern timber construction at the Building Centre.


Sadie Morgan launches foundation for wellbeing in developments

[Housing Today]

Sadie Morgan has created the Quality of Life Foundation to drive improvements in the way life-quality and wellbeing are factored into the development process.


Sadie Morgan honoured with AJ100 Contribution to the Profession award

[Architects' Journal]

The co-founder of Stirling Prize-winning practice dRMM has taken on a broader role, ensuring that design is valued on major public projects writes Pamela Buxton.


First phase of £3.5bn Silvertown Quays scheme approved

[Building Design]

Architects on project include AHMM, dRMM, PTEa and Maccreanor Lavington.


2017

dRMM Stirling Prize interview: ‘Sometimes you don’t need a building’

[Architects' Journal]

Alex de Rijke of RIBA Stirling Prize-winning practice dRMM talks to the AJ’s Richard Waite about its Hastings Pier scheme, describing it as ‘less of a building and more of a platform for future architecture’.


Architects must muscle in on infrastructure, says Sadie Morgan

[Building Design]

Drop the jargon and charge for your ideas, adds Alex de Rijke


Hasting Pier deserves its Stirling Prize

[Evening Standard]

Sadie says the pier has risen, phoenix-like, from its all too real ashes thanks in large part to local craft and ingenuity.


Walking tall: Hastings pier wins the Stirling architecture prize

[The Guardian]

Nicknamed the Plank, de Rijke Marsh Morgan’s stark wooden wonder – using timber reclaimed from previous fires – was praised for changing ‘the idea of what architecture is’.


Hastings Pier named UK's best building

[Financial Times]

The Royal Institute of British Architects has awarded its annual Stirling Prize to an example of an enduring British archetype: the seaside pier.


Stirling Prize 2017 awarded to dRMM for "masterpiece of regeneration" at Hastings Pier

[Dezeen]

dRMM wins the biggest prize in UK architecture for transforming a century-old, ruined pier into a new attraction for the seaside town.


Maggie’s cancer centre in Oldham: a balm for the senses

[The Observer]

This, the 21st of the cancer centres begun by Maggie Keswick-Jencks, stays true to the group’s founding mission to create spaces of calm and light to help support patients and their families.