D5 Architects LLP - Press
14/10/2008
'Port unveils a ferry bright future'
The Portsmouth NewsProject Ref: Portsmouth Continental Ferry Terminal
Portsmouth's ferry port is to undergo a £15m revamp to entice more passengers to pass through.
The aging terminal building - long seen as an embarassment for the city - will be turned into an airport-style lounge. With a modern glass facade and open-plan interior, its also hopped to attract more cruise liners to Portsmouth. This year 11 liners stopped in the city, while 21 have so far booked for 2009.
Ferry port manager Phil Gadd said: 'It's going to help in the cruise market becauseit's a very much bigger terminal, and we can put facilities in there that we don't allready have. We're trying to build what these kind of customers want and have come to expect. The cruise ships are of great value to teh city as well, because its also the customtheir visitors give to restaurants and tourist attractions. So it's something that's not just good for the port, it's god for Portsmouth overall.'
Built in 1976, the current pre-fab style building is the point of entry for hundreds of thousands of foot passengers comming to the UK each year... The new building will feature a newsagents, shop, coffee outlet, bureau de change and an upstairs bar...
10/11/2005
Design at the heart of community education
Building for Education
Project Ref: The Bordesley Centre, Muath Welfare Trust
Creating an outstanding environment for learning can be challenging, particularly when faced with shrinking budgets and a heightened concern for security, safety and the environment. But providing efficient, economical facilities, that enhance the quality of education and deliver community services with pride, have now become the hallmarks of a Birmingham based team of architects. High expectations of convenience and comfort, combined with innovation, are a common theme behind designs by D5 Architects within the education sector. Their focus, in particular, hones in on efficiencies in facility operation and flexibility in terms of space utilisation. These areas were certainly at the forefront of the team's plans for the refurbishment of the 1850's Bordesley Centre, a grade two listed former Victorian school building and one of Birmingham's most historic educational and community centres. The £3.5 million project was commissioned by the Muath Welfare Trust (MWT) and funded by AWM and the Government Office for the West Midlands.
08/12/2006
'pioneering inflatable roof'
Birmingham Post BusinessProject Ref: Heathrow Airport Central Bus Station
A pioneering inflatable roof is now a feature at Heathrow Airport's bus station. Conceived by Birmingham – based D5 Architects and engineered in conjunction with balloonist Per Lindstrand, it has enabled the creation of a column free, triple storey concourse. Eight million passengers use the station annually. National Express and BAA have worked together on the £2.5 million redevelopment. The roof is translucent and durable. The coach station redevelopment will be completed later this month.
13/01/2006
'Up, up but not away'
BuildingProject Ref: Heathrow Airport Cental Coach Station
The latest attraction at Heathrow Airport isn't another mega-terminal but a giant inflatable armadillo. It could prove to be a welcome diversion for nervous or fractious children coming in to land because its ribbed surface looks just like an inviting bouncy castle. But the kids will be disappointed once they discover that it is in fact the roof of the National Express coach station. Construction professionals, on the other hand, are likely to be delighted. This is the world's first permanent inflatable roof and its advantages mean we could see many similar eye-catching structures. The team took a risk with this untested technology because they believed it to be the ideal solution for a difficult site. Coach operator National Express wanted to create a 1100m2 column free, covered departures lounge from an existing, open space. Just to make the job more tricky, there was nowhere to put the foundations for a conventional structure because one of the airport's Tube stations is underneath the site.
02/02/2006
'Sounds like a fresh start'
Evening Mail
Project Ref:Deaf Cultural Centre, Birmingham Institute for the Deaf
Work is under way to build a cultural centre for deaf people in Birmingham. The Birmingham Institute for the Deaf will be moving to a new £2.5 million centre which will replace it's existing building in Ladywood. The centre will be staffed by more than 100 paid works and volunteers and will stage theatre performances, art exhibitions, social events and conferences for the public. Chief executive Bryan Sheppard said the centre would provide deaf people with valuable place to learn about their culture and history. He said: "The development of the deaf centre represents the progression of deaf culture and the diversity it incorporates. The old centre limited this progression through its design, but we will be sad to se it go because it has a huge heritage and holds some very good memories for lots of wonderful people."
05/05/2005
Olympic gold medallist Sir Matthew Pinsent CBE
The Birmingham PostProject Ref: N.E.W. College Bromsgrove
Olympic gold medallist Sir Matthew Pinsent CBE swaps his rowing boat for a motorcycle at the opening of a 9 million Bromsgrove college yesterday. After arriving on a Harley-Davidson, leather-clad Sir Matthew officially opened the new North East Worcestershire (NEW) College site and unveiled its Motorcycle Industry Training Academy. Representatives from Advantage West Midlands and the Learning and Skills Council also attended the opening ceremony. The new college site, which will feature a new school, took five years to build after a fire at the college's Redditch site in 2000. The motorcycle academy was built with the support of a new £1.7 million Advantage West Midlands grant and has been extensively equipped by Harley Davidson. It is the only centre of its kind outside the United States. Neil Bromley, principal of NEW College said, "NEW College now has a significant role both within the local community and the skills strategy for the West Midlands. We have built a college which is the envy of the sector."
14/02/2008
'a great place to be an architect'
Birmingham Mail
Project Ref: Deaf Cultural Centre, Birmingham Institute for the Deaf
Birmingham is a great place to be an architect – so says Hannah Jowitt, who has been living in the city for nearly four years since she finished her lengthy qualifications for the job. Anyone looking to embark on a career in architecture should be warned that it's not for the faint hearted. Before you even get to lay eyes on a drawing board, you have to spend three years at university just learning the history of the job and the basics of design. And anyone who thinks it’s just a case of sitting with a pencil in your hand and a head full of ideas can think again, as Hannah, aged 27, who works for Birmingham firm D5 explained.
17/07/2006
Japanese sculptor Hideo Furuta
The Birmingham PostProject Ref: Afro Caribbean Millennium Centre
When the Japanese sculptor Hideo Furuta first came to Britain in 1985, he was a single parent with a two year-old son, living more or less literally on the road. "At that time I hadn't got a studio, so I made all the sculptures on site," he explains. "So me and my son were both living in a transit van." They travelled from one commission to another, beginning at Builth Wells Comprehensive School in mid-Wales, an area where Furuta says he still has good friends - there are also pieces by him at Powis Castle and Newtown. Meanwhile Furuta, now based in Dumfries, has built a solid reputation in Britain for his carved abstract stone sculptures, themselves influenced by an interest in physics and mathematics. Last week he was in Birmingham to install his latest commission, Spinning Cubes, in the courtyard of the Afro-Caribbean Millennium Centre.