Manchester-based architects and interior designers 74 have created the new 355 sq m ground-floor social and study amenity space within The Toybox, a new-build, 15-storey student accommodation block by architects Corstorphine + Wright, located on Bishopsgate Street in Birmingham. The client and project developer is Moorfield Group, for whom 74 previously completed the multi-award-winning Hox Haus, where a former Victorian gym was expanded and repurposed as a social and study clubhouse for students of Royal Holloway College.
The Toybox is a new glazed, green brick and zinc-clad block in the Westside area of Birmingham, just south-west of the city centre, The interior is comprised of 290 new student apartments, with 74 commissioned to create the dynamic series of communal spaces that make up the ground floor area, including a reception, lounge, study area, gaming area, kitchenette, staff welfare space, toilets and fitness suite.
A flourishing multi-disciplinary strategic branding & creative agency located in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, found themselves rapidly outgrowing their existing office space. Chief among their goals for their new headquarters was ensuring that collaboration and creativity stayed at the core of their identity as their agency grew in organizational complexity. Birmingham-based ArchitectureWorks worked closely with Cayenne Creative in the development of a space fueled by the power of communication and collaboration and that promotes people, passion, and ideas.
The radical triangular form of the project underpins the building’s sustainability credentials, as well as fostering interaction Sheppard Robson, with its interior design group ID:SR, has completed the 12,000m2, highly sustainable building for the FTSE support services and construction firm Interserve. The building has instigated a cultural shift for the company, consolidating four satellite offices into one collaborative atmosphere, which is centred on a dramatic, open, central space.
Restaurant design specialist, Faber, has completed the design for Thai Express’s new flagship store in Birmingham city centre.
Headquartered in Canada, Thai Express opened its first store 10 years ago, and now has more than 200 locations worldwide.
Faber was enlisted to adapt the global quick-service brand’s concept for the UK market. The design created for the Birmingham store will be rolled out across multiple locations nationwide, with another store opening in Derby city centre soon.
Centenary Square, the largest public square in the heart of Birmingham, currently lacks cohesion or a clear identity or atmosphere. Mecanoo’s design transforms the square into one with three distinct realms: monumental, cultural and entertainment. These palazzos form an urban narrative of important periods in the history of the city; The Repertory Theatre (REP), a 1960s concrete building, the Library of Birmingham, designed in 2009 and Baskerville House, a listed sandstone building designed in 1936. The busiest pedestrian route in the city, what Mecanoo calls the red line, leads pedestrians into Centenary Square. The cantilever of the library is not only a large canopy that provides shelter at the common entrance of the Library of Birmingham and the REP, but additionally forms a grand city balcony with views of the events and happenings on the square.
London-based practice Architects of Invention (AI) has submitted a design proposal for 500 residential units in Birmingham’s Digbeth area.
The practice was approached by Chinese private equity fund PGC- Capital whose The Jewel Court, 77 one-two bed luxury apartments, is already on site in Birmingham.
Park View Secondary School in Birmingham has been radically transformed by architects Haworth Tompkins as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme, providing a template for low-cost interventions in schools across the country. The school is situated in inner-city Alum Rock, the 3rd most deprived area of Birmingham with a predominantly Muslim population. Results have improved dramatically in recent years, going from 4% of pupils gaining five or more A-C grades at GCSE in the late 1990s to 72% in 2011.
London based Two Create were commissioned to design the latest Teenage Cancer Trust Unit in the brand new state of the art Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. Known as the Teenage Cancer Trust YPU (Young Persons Unit) the 12 patient ward consists of four single bed bays, two four bed bays and three social spaces including a study room, cinema room and kitchen/day room.