Hawkins\Brown have been at the forefront of British architecture for seventeen years, producing buildings of a consistently high quality for a wide variety of clients. Their approach to architecture is about finding a solution which is appropriate to the task, to the client and to the site.
Hawkins\Brown are a professional multi-disciplinary architectural team with expertise ranging from conservation to modern technology and from landscape to interior design, but are open to input from other professionals and establish close working relationships with artists, craftsmen, other professional advisors, contractors and clients.
http://www.hawkinsbrown.co.uk/
2 comments:
Russell starts off with a frank admission. He just wants to build, really.
Throughout, we are treated to refreshing and honest opinion.
‘Don’t worry too much about the niceties of drawing, just get on and (bloody) well build!’ ‘If it’s not built it’s not architecture!’ Really? Doesn’t this simply consign victory to an unforgiving world? What about the deliberately unbuilt, as opposed to the unfortunate failure to build? Does this not at least deserve the credit of having shown up the world to be flawed and in need of serious questioning? Leon Krier once asserted, equally dogmatically, ‘I am an architect Because I do not build!’ But that was before his unholy alliance with sentimentality. It is surely at least arguable that ‘Unbuilt Britain’ (in Peter Cook’s title) is more interesting than Britain built. How would Russell’s beautiful blob (or was it bubble?) in Oxford fare in this debate?
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In between beginning with an exhortation and ending with very human advice, we are taken through projects in decreasing stages of being built. Starting closer to ‘our’ (Portsmouth) home and ending up closer to his (Nottingham) stamping ground. Noticeably, the drawings get more rich and persuasive, the building less basic. Building a Play Barn sounds fun and direct; and by the end decorating and animating Park Hill still looks as if they’re enjoying themselves.
An evening rich in common sense and really useful straightforward advice. Students about to step forth on the slippery path to professional practice take note: it can be tough out there, but hold onto your vision. Take courage.
And don’t take the knocks the world will dish out too seriously.
Russell Brown from Hawkins Brown architects has an approach to architecture which is pragmatic. He is interested in 'getting on with the building'. It an important perspective in a school of architecture, where we are concerned with the image, the drawing and how the idea is communicated.
There was a clear excitement about the making of architecture that Russell expressed, the process of building is never predictable and requires a lot of skill in negotiating unforeseen obstacles and problems . Every building built has a story to tell and Russell is a good storyteller...........................
The series of comments that Russell flagged up at the end of his talk, identified the problems of practice, he encouraged students to get on with building and be wary of quantity surveyors and project managers.
It is clear that to finish a good building requires foresight, a sense of humour and tenacity, Hawkins Brown as a practice appear to have blended these qualities in good measure and Russell will continue to tell the stories of the practice’s architecture with his own unique sense of humour and style.
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