Inflatable events space debuts at Lille Museum of Modern Art

Thibaut Devulder
September 22, 2010

Alina and Thibaut are on site for the official opening of the Lille Museum of Modern Art and have been hard at work seeking opinion on — and taking photographs of — our inflatable event space in the grounds.

French Culture and Communications Minister, Frédéric Mitterrand, described it as “very beautiful” during an official tour of the reopened museum yesterday — after diverting from his official route to view the inflatable.

Alina spoke to artist Barbara Gaul (a.k.a. ANNAH), from Düsseldorf, Germany, who said: “The enjoyment with this wonderful pavilion is so great that everyone — despite the summer weather outside — wants to be inside it, and all faces are lit up with joy!”

She also spoke to guest Simone Few, who told her: “Not only is it functional but also very sensitive and protective”. Clearly a woman of excellent judgment and, as it turned out, wife of jazz musician Bobby Few.

For more information, see our press release section and our portfolio page about this project.

Portfolio project
A painter's studio and home office

Tom Hughes
December 21, 2009

After retiring from his career as a journalist, our client needed additional space at home and asked us to design a new art studio that could also be used as an office for his freelance work. Our design was Highly Commended by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

The studio provides an ideal environment for focused work while establishing a strong relationship with the garden.

This is the kind of project that is set for architecture students as a way of exploring space, light, and client needs, but few get the chance to actually make such a building later in their careers.

Primarily, the need was for space to focus on his artistic endeavours as a painter, but also to allow for freelance home working. This gave us the chance to design for excellent daylight quality and a quiet, contemplative, single person space.

An interesting aspect of this project was that the client had already chosen a local craftsmen builder, so we were able to collaborate from an early stage to achieve an exciting design with confidence that it could be built. The unusual design of the roof and structure, necessary to achieve the quality of space and light that we wanted, pushed the builder into some unfamiliar territory, but he responded with some excellent craftsmanship and produced a building of which he and the client are very proud.

The studio is carefully placed to complete the layout of the garden and to make best use of natural light and views out. The interior space is dramatic for such a small building, but it also has a cosy and relaxed feel, supporting long periods of focused creative work. The building is very well insulated with a small woodburning stove, used only in the coldest times, to provide all the heating needs.

This project has been Highly Commended at the RIBA East Midlands Awards 2009!

Sketches were an essential communication tool throughout the design process, from the early briefing with our client to the discussion of construction details on site with the builders

Our client was delighted with the thermal comfort and the quality of natural light in his new studio

“As a freelance journalist and amateur painter I wanted a flexible working space set apart from the house, with a district personality that would, nevertheless, not clash with the village setting. 2hD’s proposals fulfilled my checklist and the practice worked intelligently with us and our builder to realise these ambitions.

The studio is a real joy. Being flooded with natural light and with high levels of insulation, it uses little energy. I seldom turn on the lights, even on the gloomiest of days, and the stove is only lit occasionally, as the building keeps a regular temperature throughout the year.”

— Michael Hughes, client and user

Portfolio project
iHub competition

Thibaut Devulder
November 4, 2009

This joint entry project, involving 2hD, Boden Associates and Shared Design, provides a beacon for projecting creative thought through a strong formal and spatial presence, connected with the surrounding canal, road and cycle routes and characterised by a light ecological touch.

The Heart of the iHub: a brightly coloured conference theatre in the social exhibition space

This Building Research Establishment (BRE) competition called for an innovative hub and ofﬁce building to link centres of excellence in the built environment with entrepreneurial business in order to promote innovative and sustainable technologies. Submitted designs were also encouraged to connect the local town community with the building and its agenda of sustainability and innovation.

The brightly-clad conference theatre pod sits within a highly ﬂexible and dramatically-lit exhibition space, which in turn acts as the activity heart and connective node of the complex. The greened roof above the exhibition hall innovatively reconﬁgures the site topography providing a new habitat for local ecosystems and driving the natural ventilation inside.

For this competition entry, we extensively used storyboarding techniques to communicate the social dynamics of our proposal. In particular, we presented the way the public would experience the spaces, from the dual perspectives of two fictional characters meeting at iHub: Tony, a resident innovative builder, and Deborah, a potential investor visiting the centre.

Our key achievements in this project:

establishing the right level and pattern of connections with the local town
distilling the client’s main values needing to be addressed in the project
establishing the relational logic of the set of activities to be accommodated
determining a fundamental and innovative sustainability strategy
marrying sustainability aims with an exciting experience of visiting or working in the building

Portfolio project
Broadway School

Thibaut Devulder
January 12, 2008

As part of the nationwide programme Building Schools for the Future, 2hD were asked by Lathams Architects to work on the conceptual development of one of the exemplar designs — the renovation and rebuilding of an existing 1960s school to accommodate an additional 300 pupils on a tight inner city site, within a limited £15m budget.

Our consortium later on won the bid for the Building Schools for the Future programme in Birmingham.

We were approached at an early stage of the design process and we focused on:

carrying out key site studies, including access and climatic factors,
developing the initial conceptual design,
replanning the building and site to accommodate a new ﬂexible teaching model,
designing the interiors in response to the tight technical and financial constraints.

We worked closely with other consultants, including fire and structural engineers, landscape designers and education experts to integrate their input to the core of the design approach.

Our approach:

redesigning the school to ensure a friendly welcome and easy circulation for staff, pupils and the community.
Incorporating a deep understanding of the transition in teaching methods to allow this to happen naturally over time.
creating pleasant learning environments within the pressures of a tight budget and limited space on site.

We initially developed alternative design concepts exploring the subtle relationship between the school and the surrounding communities.

We sketched extensive and detailed views of the proposed teaching spaces to communicate design ideas to the client and the other members of the team

The evolution of educational methods was to be embedded into the design and we made sure that all teaching spaces were flexible to allow a smooth transition over time

Portfolio project
Broadsheet Trees

Thibaut Devulder
October 12, 2007

What do the people of Nottingham think about the built environment around them? How do they interact with it? What role do they have in the future development of the urban space in which they live? How do they imagine this future?

As part of Architecture Week 2007, we teamed up with people from Casciani Evans Wood to create an interactive exhibition — Broadsheet Trees — that would voice the opinions and aspirations of the Nottingham people about their city.

Situated in the neoclassical Arcade Exchange in the heart of Nottingham, just a few steps from the City Council, the exhibition took the form of a series of stylised ‘trees’ on which passer-bys were invited to express themselves using colour-coded leaves that they pinned up on the branches. As the exhibition went on, the trees grew into large colourful objects, creating an intriguing and engaging platform for public expression.

*As the exhibition goes on, the trees grow into large colourful objects, creating an intriguing and engaging platform for public expression*

With more than 500 entries in a single week, the exhibition was a great success. The Broadsheet magazine later added the voiced opinions to their website, inviting visitors to participate in a public debate about the future of Nottingham’s cityscape.

Designed to be easily manufactured on a tight budget and assembled with simple handtools, we have since helped on many occasions local grassroots organisations to use these trees as a friendly and fun way to engage their communities in public consultations and events.

This project was commissioned by Arts Council England, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Architecture Centre Network.

The project was run on a very tight budget and timescale, so we made sure that all the elements of the installation could be made quickly by ourselves

Portfolio project
A beach hut

Tom Hughes
November 19, 2006

Netker 10 (pronounced ‘net curtain’) was 2hD’s entry to the Bathing Beauties competition to design a landmark beach hut for the Lincolnshire seaside. The project allowed us to explore our interests in site, identity, materials and prefabrication. Great fun and we even got to play with models!

Our physical model for the Netker 10 beach hut, submitted for the Bathing Beauties competition — Our physical model for the *Netker 10* beach hut, submitted for the *Bathing Beauties* competition

Netker 10 is a landmark and hideaway for Lincolnshire. Strikingly different from its neighbours, it celebrates the traditional English seaside holiday.

Netker 10 encourages play – inside and out. Flexible to allow the comings and goings of a beach holiday, the hut also allows people to play with their public profile – be it fun, reserved, chilled or outgoing. True to beach hut history, Netker 10 provides privacy for a decorous seaside sojourn, but takes this further by engaging passers-by in a game of peek-a-boo in which the occupant decides just how much to reveal.

Lower the outer mesh doors to take a snack whilst keeping an eye on the beach, the sunset and the folk strolling by. Raise the outer doors to shade the promenade or welcome visitors. Pivot the inner doors to slip into your swimmers. Shut all doors for lock-down mode, and do what you like in there. Or open it all up and let it all hang out.

The randomly-laced cables allow views out, but catch the eye of passers-by, making it tricky to see in. By rediscovering the net curtain, Netker 10 plays with inside and outside, with seeing and being-seen. It filters the elements, creates patterns with light, controls views and access.

The inner layer of pivoting and sliding doors allows fine-tuning of the connection to the outside, creating the ideal family hide. It also gives flexibility for Netker 10 to become a micro-café: ground floor servery, rooftop mini-terrace. Nested in the elevated platform, breathtaking views of Lincolnshire can be enjoyed.

The diaphanous skin is created with vandal-proof and weather-resistant steel reinforced nylon rope (commonly used in playgrounds), laced over an engineered timber frame with marine ply infill panels. Exterior timber is stained, interior surfaces exposed to create a welcoming and warm space.