Architectural Design

1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design

Job No: PD0710-67/4028

Chapter 3 final (3.5)_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/24/10 12:24 PM Page 160

Construction and occupation

The design project

What can be gained by not tying a design up too tightly?

Steve Tompkins

Often things will happen on site that were unintended,

which, because of the methodology and the construction,

we were able to commandeer into the finished language of

the building; that sort of forgiving aesthetic. It not only means

that the finished building is interesting and perhaps more

humane but also that it can carry on moving, albeit in slow

motion, throughout its life. They are able to accrete change

in a way that doesn’t feel threatening.

Graham Haworth

The areas we do leave open to change are really carefully

controlled. For the Young Vic the contract was to finish the

building to within about 95 per cent of the completion in

conventional terms and then for the contract to stop, which

would mean that the theatre production team could move in,

having fitted out the carpentry workshop. We knew that we

had the technical capabilities on site within the client body to

make that perfectly possible and as a deliberate by-product

of that, it meant that the building was owned and absorbed

into the creative organisation and they weren’t frightened of

changes. So you almost gave them permission to take the

building on and kick it around, because that’s what it’s for.

Do you use sample panels to help make decisions about

materiality before work starts on site?

Graham Haworth

You need to know what you’re getting before you get on site,

so the Young Vic panels for example [hand-painted by artist-

collaborator Clem Crosby] were mocked up in the studio

at first. Most of our projects have a warehouse somewhere

with big things in them six months before they’re needed.

There’s one at the moment for the London Library, which has

got the Art Room steelwork in it. We’ve been fiddling with

that for the past six months. So one-to-one mock-ups are

really essential to us.

Project: Snape Maltings

Location: Aldeburgh, UK

Architect: Haworth Tompkins

Date: 2009

above right:

Foyer to performance spaces. The

architects’ choice of materials makes

the difference between original fabric

and new insertions very legible.

below right:

Britten Hall. Acoustic testing in the

new hall following construction.

Text

1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design

Job No: PD0710-67/4028

Chapter 3 final (3.5)_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/24/10 12:25 PM Page 160