Portfolio project
A stone memorial for a Jewish congregation

Tom Hughes

This project is the result of our combined interests in public art, craftsmanship and education. Starting as a student design competition that we organised at Nottingham Trent University for the Nottingham Progressive Jewish Congregation, our design process became an involved exploration of traditional stone walling techniques and complex numerical modelling to create a solemn yet welcoming landscaped space.

This project was shortlisted for the RIBA East Midlands Award for Architecture 2011.

The completed stome memorial, with collaborating artist Igor Barteczko

We were approached by the client to create a memorial structure for their congregation’s cemetery on an exposed hillside with excellent views over the Trent valley. We proposed, set up and ran a design competition for students, then collaborated with the winner to bring the project to completion. We redesigned the competition winning entry, working with the student in the role of project artist, to ensure buildability and adherence to a very restricted budget.

Our innovations on this project include a rejuvenation of traditional craft building techniques and the use of three dimensional computer modelling to achieve the twisting shape using stonework. We developed a custom plugin for our 3D modelling software to help us explore alternative geometries with the stone masons and produce the required three-dimensional templates for the preparation of the curved ashlar stonework.

The first commemorative plaques, on the curved ashlar.

The resulting structure creates a strong sense of place with an intense focus for ceremonial purposes, whilst also framing views out and welcoming visitors in.

The Memorial viewed from the cemetery entrance.

All articles about this project:
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The art of ageing gracefully
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Jewish Memorial in Arthitectural magazine
A stone memorial for a Jewish congregation
A stone memorial for a Jewish congregation
Two 2hD projects shortlisted for RIBA EM Awards
Two 2hD projects shortlisted for RIBA EM Awards

New build house using the PassivHaus Planning Package

Tom Hughes

We're designing a new build house for a village in Nottinghamshire, using the PassivHaus Planning Package (PHPP) as a design tool.

The site has an excellent orientation, allowing extensive use of passive and active solar collection to the rear of the property. The north, street-facing facade has been developed to respond sensitively to its Conservation Area setting.

The project is currently going through consultation with the village residents and Local Authority planning department prior to the submission of a planning application.

Tune House on site

Thibaut Devulder

The Tune house is now on site, with the roof going up. The project, located on the bank of the Mjøsa, Norwegian's largest lake, involves the rebuilding of a two-story building into a family house and an attached workshop.

The upgraded roof, under construction.

Sketch view of the new roof and glazed gable

We are reusing part of the existing concrete structure — an unusal object in the Norwegian housing world! — and fully glazing the south facing gable wall to frame stunning views to the surrounding hills and neighbouring lake.

Our landscaping proposal

Portfolio project
Upgrading a 1920s house

Tom Hughes

This project is currently on the drawing board in the practice, and we thought it worth sharing some interesting aspects of the process so far.

We started out with a client with a beautiful property... that is unfortunately an energy guzzler and has a layout that just doesn't work for the family's lifestyle. The house features a half-timbered front and an interior with many Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts features. The rear elevation however has many problems with the detailing and a too-hot/too-cold (and out of keeping) conservatory.

With ambitious ideas for remodeling and extending, and a great set of intentions to create a sustainable and energy efficient building we straight away knew that this was a client with whom we could do something special. We also know that these kinds of great ideas can sometimes clash with the realities of programme and budget, so we agreed with our clients that the first step would be holistic: to develop an architectural strategy hand-in-hand with budget costings and a sustainability assessment.

We brought Hockerton Housing Project in to create a 'Home Energy Masterplan' for the property. They thoroughly surveyed the existing fabric and identified cost-effective and practical methods to improve the energy performance of the building. Their report identified measures and payback times for a range of approaches, from the 'no brainer' moves that would pay off straight away to the 'green halo' measures that improve sustainability but might not pay off for years or even decades to come. 

We took that information and worked with Branch Construction, an environmentally aware building company, to develop budget costing and buildability strategies on a number of different design options. Having worked out what the current problems were with the house, we developed some ideas for solving them and creating an amazing new home for our client. This centres around a completely remodeled core to the house, linking front to back and interior to garden.

 

Finally, we rated the options for cost/buildability, sustainability and design – presenting the conclusions as an architectural strategy report. You candownload a public version of this report.

This thorough-going approach has helped our client through some tough decisions on the project scope, and the trade-offs between cost, sustainability and payback time. Having established a scheme that can be completed as a Permitted Development (not requiring planning permission) we are now developing the project into the detailed design stage.

More articles about this project:
New light filled heart to a 1920s home
New light filled heart to a 1920s home
Into the void: 1920s house remodel gets off the drawing board
Into the void: 1920s house remodel gets off the drawing board
Upgrading a 1920s house
Upgrading a 1920s house

2hD's inflatable pavilion wins RIBA East Midlands Award

Tom Hughes

We're proud to announce that our inflatable pavilion for Lille Museum of Modern Art has been awarded an RIBA East Midlands 2011 award.

The annual Awards celebrate 'excellence in architecture and encouraging sustainable design' and were held at the Athena in Leicester on 22nd September.

Tom and Alina accepted the award from Ruth Reid, ex-president of the RIBA and were joined at the ceremony by Nick Crosbie of Inflate, who did the specialist design, fabrication and erection of the pavilion.

2hD shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival Awards!

Thibaut Devulder

Our inflatable pavilion for the Lille Museum of Modern Art, in France, has just been shortlisted for World Architecture Festival Awards 2011. No need to say we are chuffed! We'll be presenting the project to the jury in Barcelona on 3rd November. We are shortlisted in the Display category, along with seven other projects from all around the world.

Our shortlisted pavilion at night, next to the Lille Museum of Modern Art and its sculpture park

Our shortlisted pavilion at night, next to the Lille Museum of Modern Art and its sculpture park

Work underway on the 'eco garage'

Tom Hughes

The new roof is on and first sheepswool in place for this garage conversion in north Nottingham.

We have something of a dream team for us on this project, with an all-female building team led by Clare Davies, Price and Myers engineers and Turton doing building control. Add a client with genuine passion for environmentally friendly building and it promises be a very nice project indeed.

Update: October and the project is nearing completion. With the mezzanine installed and the walls insulated, plastered and painted it is really taking shape. Nice joinery work from Clare and this is turning into a desirable, cosy living space.

A living-room in a children's home

Tom Hughes

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the making. I spent Sunday volunteering at the site of our Childrens' Home project, helping them to get the building phase of their Living Room project underway.

The shared living room, before we started

It's been a fascinating project to be involved in. We were approached by The Mighty Creatives who were looking for someone who could work with the staff and residents at the Home to redesign their living room, making use of IT to communicate and visualise the process. In the end, we used StickyWorld and SketchUp with the LightUp plug-in… and if we could have found another software with a JoinedUp name, we'd have considered that too.

It's a tiny but intense project, and I found the design process really challenging. Working on occupied houses is always pretty involved, as being invited into the home requires a great deal of sensitivity to residents' preferences and relationships. At the same time, your own knowledge and experience as 'the professional' needs to be given a voice. As you'd imagine this particular living space is charged with a lot of meaning for many different people... But, by working together, we gradually achieved a design that everyone could take pride in.

The idea is that as much of the making work as possible is done by the staff and residents of the home, but I invited myself along on Sunday to lend a hand as they got underway. The electrian had already been in to do the first fix, so the next stage was setting out the studwork for the 'portal' feature, the lighting raft and the storage/entertainment wall. We made pretty good progress- a bit slowed by the effort of breaking up the world's densest fireplace hearth, but by the end of the day the design was beginning to pop off the page and in to the space. I loved being there to see this happen and hope to be back again as the project progresses.

In the meantime, we made a little film to celebrate the success of the collaborative design, and keep spirits up during the hard messy work ahead:

Living Room Project from 2hD Architecture Workshop on Vimeo.