Baca’s retrospective in Dezeen

Baca Architects have been featured in Dezeen as part of their x MINI Living video series. This retrospective explores the “Aquatecture” of Baca Architects, which includes plans for floating houses, villages and even a Grand Prix track. 

 This article highlights Baca’s interest in research and innovation which has driven the practice to its current position as one of the most innovative architectural practices in the UK.

 To watch the video, click on following link https://www.dezeen.com/2017/06/09/video-baca-architects-floating-architecture-homes-movie/

 

RIBA President’s Awards for Research – Publication

‘UK’s First Amphibious House, the Can-float Amphibious Building’, by Baca Architects research leader Richard Coutts, with Robert Barker, has been published by RIBA.

 Baca Architects was shortlisted for ‘Design and Technical’ award by the RIBA President’s ‘Awards For Research’ 2016. As part of this commendation, the RIBA has published a paper which collects the principles established by Baca Architects after years of research on how to build in, on or with water. 

 The 2016 judging panel said: “This is a very interesting and timely project that very clearly demonstrates the importance of research to design. The wider discussion of flooding, an important topic, is well-presented and the project is an intriguing way of meeting planning regulations by building “underground” in a flood risk area. This exemplar design is a very useful piece of research, that is unique to the UK and is useful in pushing the specific boundaries of amphibious design. That the research component is taken through to a full build, adds value to this research. It has been concluded with rigour and reflection. ”

 You can download our publication on the following link http://bit.ly/2rEfsbs. The full notice can be seen in https://www.architecture.com/researchawards

Q&A with Richard Coutts

Welcome the first edition of the WAN Waterfront Focus.
WAN speaks exclusively to Richard Coutts, Co-founder and Director of Baca Architects Ltd on research into flood risk management and on their interesting waterfront schemes: Life Project, Amphibious House and floating homes. We also feature the newly completed floating hotel on the Seine designed by Gérard RONZATTI, the president of Seine Design.

Read about it on: http://backstage.worldarchitecturenews.com/wanawards/page/q-a-with-richard-coutts

The WAN Waterfront 2016 Award now in its second year will celebrate and highlight architecture that embrace and exploit the benefits of sites in proximity to water.

Read more on http://www.wantoday.com/WAN-AWARDS/2016/waterfront/3/index.html

Present and Future Publications

The latest book from Baca Architects, Aquatecture, will be published by RIBA in the spring of 2015.  Co-authored by Robert Barker and Richard Coutts, Aquatecture looks to the past and the future as it explores the importance of designing for water in flood-risk areas, in order to best prepare us to adapt to the uncertainties of future climate change.

2014 saw the release of the splendid Built on Water book from Braun, showcasing some of the best approaches to dealing with water in architecture. Three Baca projects, The Crown floating village with Water Studio, Amphibious House and floating racetrack concept are each beautifully featured in this impressive hardback book by Lisa Barker.

To order copies of either publication, please click on the links above.

Presenting to China at the TCPA

 

 

The Practice is delighted to have been asked to present to a group of visiting Chinese officials on Monday the 27^th of October at the Town and Country Planning Association.  The twenty Chinese delegates, largely from Guangzhou’s Zengcheng District, are local government officials working in the areas of water, planning, land resources and environmental bureaus.  The presentation will focus on the Practice’s specialist expertise of designing with water. Baca projects that will be discussed include:

– The award-winning LifE Project (Long-term Initiatives for Flood risk Environments) for DEFRA
– Flood resilient typologies, including our Amphibious House, Elevated House and Hybrid House
– Island Veur Lent, Netherlands – Holland’s most ambitious room for the River Project, designed by Baca and Winner of Best Global Masterplan at MIPIM 2014
– Zac Seine, Paris – the Practice’s proposals for a France’s largest new scheme, a flood resilient district of 4,500 new units and a new park.
– Future City, Shanghai – a life study for a speculative city of £1 billion in Shanghai featured in our new book, ‘Aquatecture‘, published by RIBA Publishing in the New Year

 

 

Forest Mews features in Evening Standard Homes & Property

Evening Standard’s Philippa Stockley meets Robert and Jessica Barker at Forest Mews. Robert and Jessica are featured on the front cover of this weeks Homes and Property in the wonderful Thomas Heatherwick golden spun chairs. Given a full tour of the house, Philippa was impressed by the attention to detail and exquisite finishing, not to mention the added value brought about by the architectural design.

To read the whole article on the evening standard website, click here.

New Baca Book – Aquatecture

 Aquatecture, a new book authored by Baca Directors, Robert Barker and Richard Coutts, is now being advertised on the RIBA bookshop website. Due to be published by RIBA Publishing, the specialist book incorporates the Practice’s considerable knowledge and research experience in designing with water, from building to masterplanning levels.

With water playing such a vital role in our lives and societies, the book lays out the case for the importance of designing for water, now and in the future, in order to best prepare us to adapt to the uncertainties of future climate change. Historical cases of issues with water and innovations in designing with water are examined, along with measures to mitigate the threat posed by water in the form of shortages, such as droughts, and excess, in the form of flooding.

Metric Handbook, ‘Flood-aware Design’ Chapter

Baca has contributed a chapter on Flood-aware design to the next (5^th) edition of the architects’ reference book, The Metric Handbook.  Since its conception, The Metric Handbook has become the major handbook of planning and design for architects.  Due to be published in early 2015, the forthcoming edition has been updated to take account of the most recent changes to regulation and practice, in particular the increasing emphasis on environmental legislation.

The Practice was approached to apply its expert knowledge of flood mitigation and masterplanning by providing a dedicated chapter on ‘Flood-aware Design’.  This will be the first time that such a chapter has ever featured since the Handbook’s debut edition was published in 1968, another indication of the vital need for flooding and flood-aware design to be considered during the planning and design process.

‘South-Berg’ floating art gallery

With the Southbank Centre set to be closed for up to three years while a £120million revamp gets underway, Baca have suggested the ‘South-Berg’ a temporary archipelago of floating pavilions which could provide a creative solution for the displaced theatres and galleries.

The pavilions could be prefabricated off site and towed into place causing minimum disruption to the busy spot.  And, once the construction of the new gallery is complete, the temporary buildings could be simply towed away to be re-used in one of the many underused docks in London.

Baca in the Architect’s Journal

Baca’s Director, Robert Barker has published an article in the Architect’s Journal on Flood Prevention.

Robert writes how integrated flood planning should be considered from the outset of the design process. “A new approach to living with floods, can be the driver of more innovative architecture and landscape design, rather than just designing it out.”

Please click on the image to read the article.