This page is flash content for search engines only! Shape Architecture, London architects Please click here to enter main site Shape Architecture is committed to the creation of imaginative architecture. We respond carefully to our clients brief and work hard to establish a clear and collaborative process. Our buildings are different. Our approach revolves around the experience of the building user and their journey through space. We are committed to good composition, to the art in architecture, to strong image, the flood of daylight and the exploration of materials. In understanding the brief and site we identify those elements that will provide joy and interest and those which must be realised simply and efficiently. This clarity of approach determines a wide understanding amongst those involved of where money is spent and where it is saved and this echoes through the whole process. Our architecture is a strategic response to sustainability and this is integral in all that we do. Jason Wren Jason Wren founded Shape Architecture in 2006. He had previously spent 10 years at Studio E Architects where as an Associate he designed and led many of the practices most high profile buildings. On projects such as Classroom of the Future and the exemplar sustainable schools in Bexley, he has demonstrated the ability and experience to deliver innovative concepts as real buildings. These projects have been procured through a variety of routes from traditional contracts to design and build. His interests lie in the evolution of a design from concept to realisation allied to achieving sustainable and creative solutions. James Munro joined Shape Architecture in 2008. He had previously spent 5 years at Granit Architects working on a number of residential new build and refurbishments. In 2005 he joined Studio E architects and was project architect on a new sport and leisure facility in Dagenham and specialist gymnasium in Portsmouth. He also collaborated with Ross Sharp architects on a sustainable new office development in rural Gloucestershire. In 2006 he joined Bell Phillips & Kimble architects and was project architect on a 140 residential unit and commercial scheme for the redevelopment of an east London housing estate, part of which sought to achieve a ‘zero carbon’ exemplar development. He has brought to the practice considerable experience in the design and construction of housing. More recently he has worked on a number of projects that have addressed the Code for Sustainable Homes / BREEAM and the incorporation of Housing Association units. He is interested in the use of engineered timber solutions to construction projects . 2 Windward House Telephone The Exchange is a mixed use development on a prominent corner site in Battersea that currently houses the old dole office. The project includes 50 apartments split between private and affordable use, a large retail unit and an underground car park. At the heart of the scheme is a landscaped courtyard from which planting traverses the timber elevations of the various apartments, terraces and balconies. The street elevations are made in brick with gaps between blocks to allow glass clad circulation routes and a variety of views into the courtyard. Extensive use of pre-fabrication, high levels of daylight and combined heat and power system form part of the sustainable agenda which seeks to improve upon Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes Client: Private Developer Situated in the Dartmoor National Park, the Devon Eco House is formed from a series of timber hoops propped within an excavation. These elements are then reversed to form an elliptical spine: a continuation of a woodland walk. This is backlit from the southern orientation behind and so the building is seen to glow on approach. Below ground spaces and services under crofts, realised in local materials help to create a rich and diverse structure within which the occupants can live and work. Client: Private Client Conceived as a robust building with an elegant over sailing roof, the Burr Road workshops and studios occupy an interesting corner site giving onto playing fields opposite. The building is formed in a series of horizontal cladding and glazing systems. Glass fronted circulation cores provide interest and activity to the facade behind which sit a series of colourful goods and passenger lifts. Client:Private Developer The Wessex Primary School building provides a new focus, entrance and link between two existing schools, recently amalgamated. The rooms that make up the building are arranged as elements on a stage and enlivened by the daily passage of pupils between the buildings. Colour and form are used to create a distinct structure that provides views of the landscape behind and is a clear arrival point for all visitors. Status: Feasibility The Hansom Cab is a listed pub in Kensington and Chelsea. Our project has seen its conversion into a luxury apartment and the provision of additional accommodation to the public house. A new brickwork structure was built out over the existing flat roof to extend the pub’s accommodation and also to allow trading to continue. The internal layout has been re-worked with much care to create an elegant apartment. Client: Private Developer The house in Kensington sees the retention of the street side portion of the building and the removal of a more recent rear extension. A metal clad cube is then reinserted, separated from the existing structure by glass fronted circulation spaces. The cube itself hovers over the underground gymnasium. At roof level an office is located over a sedum roof from where views can be had down through the glass shaft to all levels of the building. A sustainable approach to design and construction informs the project at all stages, from the high levels of daylight to the pre-fabricated wall sections. Client: Private Client On a prominent corner site in Battersea the scheme incorporates shop, office and flats. A series of strong forms give the building a significant presence. These include the stair access to flats set within concrete fin walls fronted by glass and uplit at night and the Cor-Ten rear wall set against the Sculpture School. The building develops the rhythm of the terrace within its composition and presents an active and colourful glazed corner as a key feature of the composition. Client: Private Developer Located at the rear of private gardens and facing due south, the Paintworks development is a housing scheme that in its form and material reflects the timber constructions found at the end of a garden. The scheme develops from north to south from solid coloured cube, via ribbon access decks to platforms and balconies bedded in a wooded landscape. It will contain a mix of private and housing association accommodation. Client: Private Developer The Courtyard office is located at the end of a mews and hidden behind a garden wall. A lightweight glazed canopy structure sits on the other side of the garden gate linking the new office with an existing office. Leading off the glazed entrance area is a courtyard garden. The composition of the building is defined by its key views from the neighbouring houses and realised as a sedum roof with various planted spaces around it. Beneath which a simple office building sits. Status: Feasibility The proposal demolishes an existing conservatory and out buildings to the rear of a 1950s terraced house in Balham, south London. A single storey extension creates a new kitchen dining space, utility area and enlarged living space. Sliding folding doors open onto a rear terrace and reconfigured garden. Client: Private Client A tight urban site between two buildings that differ greatly in scale has provided the opportunity for inserting a slender house with a colourful and elegant glazed facade, behind which a series of floor plates are linked by a top lit stair. Client: Private Client This is the second eco-shed for the Hammersmith Community Garden Association. It builds on the themes of the first of using recycled materials throughout, to become a building off-grid with a series of Photovoltaic and Solar Thermal panels installed on a sedum roof. As before, a series of reclaimed doors form internal walls, furniture and balustrading. Client: Hammersmith Community Gardens Association The Classroom of the Future at located at St. Francis of Assisi Primary School is one of a number of exemplar projects commissioned by the DfES to explore new forms of school design. The project incorporates an astrodome balanced between the teaching pod and the conservatory clad roofed in etfe. Many varied and diverse teaching spaces are incorporated into this exciting and inspiring building. All materials and technologies are exposed and technologies clearly visible to the children. The process of designing the building was equally rewarding as it involved the children teachers and builders. The classroom of the Future has also been open for exploration by all during London’s Open House programme. Client: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Orchard Primary was commissioned as a Benchmark Sustainable Primary school for Bexley Council alongside Upland Primary School. The new building sits at the foot of a sloping site in order that the existing school could function whilst construction was underway. Its orientation maximises the passive energy benefits of the sun. Each classroom includes a quiet room and store with a toilet pod accessible from the playground and an external landscaped classroom the centre of which is an allotment. A sedum roof covers the building which given the sloping nature of the site becomes a key aspect of the building. It is a roof alive with the elements of a sustainable building. An extensive Photovoltaic array sits within the sedum providing electricity for the school. A vast number of rooflights are scattered around the roof ensuring that all internal spaces are also lit with natural light. Each classroom faces the south and has clerestory glazing and solar shading to maximise the benefits of the sun. The building is clad in timber. Client: Bexley Borough Council Upland Primary was commissioned as a Benchmark Sustainable Primary school for Bexley Council alongside Orchard Primary School. The new building is set as two floors and as at Orchard orientated such that the classrooms gain from a southerly aspect. To compliment the approach taken at Orchard the roof here is designed to be a collector of rainwater which is then re-used within the school. In addition to the wide range of rooflights the roof also locates light wells that provide daylight to the ground floor classrooms. There is an extensive run of PV and Solar Thermal panels to one side of a further continuous light well. Additionally a large array of PV panels is set on the roof plate. Further sustainable measures include the collection of rainwater from the toilet pods for irrigating the allotments that form part of the outdoor classrooms. Client: Bexley Borough Council A high profile development for Haileybury College to house 130 girls with accommodation for housemistress and teachers alongside teaching facilities and ancillary accommodation. The project was built in 2 phases which are linked by a curved green roof. Built in a highly sensitive green belt location adjoining Grade 11 listed buildings and set in a landscape designed by Sir Humpfrey Repton Client: Haileybury College
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