Bere Admin May 4th, 2007
By Amanda Birch
Building Design
4 May 2007
James Bond eat your heart out. I’m standing in a vast, 12m x 12m x 13.4m, brick-built bascule chamber 5m below water level and a 420-tonne counterweight is slowly moving towards me.
London’s Tower Bridge is being raised and like Bond, I will manage to get out of this fix in the nick of time. When the bridge is fully raised, the counterweight will stop with inches to spare.
I am watching this dramatic event unfold in the underbelly of the grade I listed 1894 structure with Justin Bere, director of Bere Architects. We aren’t here just to witness a wonder of Victorian engineering: Bere has identified the bascule chamber as a source to provide cool air passively into Tower Bridge’s ticket office.
Bere Architects was commissioned in 2005 by the City of London to upgrade Squire & Partners’ 1993 entrance and ticket office building. “Our brief was to make the ticket office a pleasant place to work,” says Bere. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin April 5th, 2007
Published by Ecotech
Commentary by Justin Bere
5 April 2007
Each spring Germany’s Passivhaus Institute holds its annual conference within a European city. The conference probably represents the largest gathering of low energy construction research academics and professionals in the world and without a doubt it presents the most experienced, the most scientific and the most professional low energy and ecological papers presented to construction professionals at any single international conference. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin February 23rd, 2007
By Elaine Knutt
Building Design
23 February 2007
Surfaces lay bare the architect’s imagination and clients’ aspirations, say BD’s surfaces experts
In architecture, surfaces are anything but superficial. When the site is small, the programme rigid and the budget tight, they leave architects a layer of imagination and an affordable arena for innovation. “Often, the way you can be playful in the space is via the surfaces,” says Pippa Nissen, architect, theatre designer and partner of Nissen Adams. “It’s especially true for a small practice like us, given the scale of our projects - refurbishments or adaptations.”
For clients, surfaces are often a project’s voice and personality. “You can get clients to focus quite readily on the surfaces - it’s where they interact with the building. It’s often an area of quite intense discussion,” says Mark Hewitt of d-squared, ironic understatement audible just beneath his own surface. His practice has been experimenting with solar-collecting exterior surfaces, thermochromic furniture, and holographic video projections for daylit spaces. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin February 14th, 2007
In the Evening standard on 14th February 2007, Nicole Swengley wrote
‘Amid the Victorian terrace homes in one Islington street sits a modern gouse, glamorously clad in Zinc. The owner of this unusual property, which, surprisingly, does not look out of place, is graphic designer Edward Gibbs, who moved there with his wife, Felicity Canning, an NHS manager, and their children, Sarah, 28, Jack, 16 and Hugh, 12, from a four-bedroom house in Stoke Newington.
But it is only due to Gibbs’s vision and persistence that the house is there at all. “When the Islington house came on the market in May 2004, I immediately saw the potential for building a completely new house in its triangular-shaped garden,” he says.
Gibbs’s offer of ₤500,000 was accepted for the house and he called the Royal Institute of British Architects for a lost of architects. “Buying only made sense if we could get planning permission and an architect on board,” he says.
Architect Justin Bere responded enthusiastically and “straight away there was a rapport between us”. Gibbs recalls. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin February 2nd, 2007
BBC London have created a 360 degree image of the new Monument Square.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/panoramas/monumentsquare1_360.shtml
Bere Admin January 31st, 2007
In This Is local Lonon on 31 January 2007, Martina Smit said’An ultramodern block of glass and stone has been erected next to London’s historic landmark of the Monument.
The shimmering pavilion forms the centrepiece of a new public square alongside the 61m (202ft) column that commemorates the Great Fire of London of 1666. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin January 19th, 2007
Building Design
19 January 2007
Bere Architects has unveiled this image of its glass pavilion and landscaping works for Monument Square in the City of London, due to be opened on January 31. The pavilion, commissioned by the City, is designed with more than 100 pieces of angled mirrored glass on the roof reflecting the golden orb at the top of the 1670s Monument, which will be seen by visitors standing at the top of the landmark. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin January 7th, 2007
Bere architects’ Associate Director Dan Gibbons featured in Sublime Magazine’s January feature, ‘Warm and Very Cool’, discussing the passive enviromental strategies employed in the design of the practice’s Sylvanus House. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin January 7th, 2007
RIBA Journal
8 February 2007
He’s the design-minded planner in charge of Street Scene Challenge, an impressive urban improvement project in the Square Mile of the City of London, that’s who.
Running since 2003, the project mixes private sponsorship with public funds to improve streets for pedestrians. With 30 schemes under its belt, the project has chalked up its most prestigious one to date: the £1m re-creation of a traffic-free square at the foot of the Monument, complete with a freestanding pavilion by Bere Architects (above). It opened on 31 January. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin January 7th, 2007
In the Evening Standard on 26 January 2007, Fay Sweet said
‘With its glimmering glass pavilion, freshly laid stone and granite paving, a new public square will be unveiled in the capital next Wednesday.
Where once card, motorcycles and lorries wove their way through the tight mesh of streets around Monument in the City, now peace reigns – and it is pedestrians only.
This small oasis in the heart of the Square Mile has been reclaimed to improve the environment and quality of life for City workers. With traffic banished, now there is space to take a break and enjoy the views from the 200ft-tall Monument tower commemorating the Great Fire of London, which began just a spark away in Pudding Lane. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin November 10th, 2006
Building Design
10 November 2006
In tune with last month’s Stern Review, a house squeezed between Victorian terraces in north London takes its own action to combat climate change, observes Graham Bizley
Just as we were all enjoying the remarkably mild autumn weather and mulling the apparent benefits of climate change, the aptly named Stern Review arrived last month - the latest salvo to try and shake us out of our complacency. But without an immediate cost saving, the UKconstruction industry has little incentive to use sustainable products, leaving committed individuals at a grass-roots level to push the boundaries.
Focus House in north London, just completed by Bere Architects, is an example of how modern materials can be integrated with simple building services to make an architecturally inventive home on a tight, infill site. Low embodied energy and low lifetime energy consumption mean the home has a very low carbon footprint. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin September 22nd, 2005
By Richard Waite
The Architects Journal
22 September 2005
The history of 85 Swains Lane, next to Highgate Cemetery in north London, is not without complexity. Currently sitting on the site is a two-storey, steel-framed house from 1982, designed by influential Modernist architect John Winter. However the house, which is mentioned in Pevsner alongside Winter’s famous Cor-Ten house, will not be there for much longer – because Camden’s planners have agreed it can be demolished. The unlisted house will now be replaced by an Eldridge Smerin scheme. ‘We thought long and hard about the issue of demolition but we finally came to the view that it was an acceptable course of action in this instance, ‘ said Piers Smerin, a co-founder of Eldridge Smerin, which shot to fame with The Lawns house – shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2001. The approach represents an about-turn from earlier proposals for the site, including one by Bere Architects, which retained elements of the existing house. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin July 27th, 2003
In the Sunday Times on 27 July 2003, Victoria O’Brien said
‘The smoothly sculptural central staircase bears echoes of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and yet the outside is a traditional brick facade spanning the width of three London mews houses.
From the front door looking upwards, you have no concept of the glass roofing inside, the airy head heights and loft-style open-plan interior. What was an unpromising, wedge-shaped 1,500sqft site, has been transformed into 3,000sqft of modernist, museum-quality living space, including an outside terrace next to a glass-walled rotunda, providing a rooftop studio for Michael Ani, who does what every man-child wants to do - he designs cars for a living.
After completing a masters in vehicle design at the Royal College of Art, Ani worked for various car companies around the world, eventually becoming chief exterior designer for Volkswagen Audi in Barcelona. He met Alicia in her native Spain, they married and moved back to England, then he set up his own vehicle design consultancy. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin June 21st, 2003
In The Times on 21 June 2003, Jon Ashworth said
‘A Barrister’s chambers has turned the tables on some of Britain’s biggest companies with an innovative office makeover.
The chambers of Mark Platt-Mills, QC, who represented the Beatles in a landmark action over amateur tape recordings, is among the top entries in The Times & Gestetner Digital Office Collection 2003. This seeks to showcase visually exciting and inspirational workplaces.
The chambers specialises in intellectual property. Justin Bere, of Bere Architects, says the interior of the Grade I listed building was made over with glass, oak, and leather, all far removed from the legal profession’s Dickensian image. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin February 5th, 2003
Superior Interiors
5 February 2005
Mark Thompson, a theatre designer, has worked extensively with the Royal National Theatre and RSC, as well as on several West End hits including Art, The Blue Room and Arcadia.
I was designing The Unexpected Man at the RSC when I met Justin Bere. The set design incorporated a glass floor, and since he specialises in glass he became involved. He found it intriguing as he’s never worked in theatre before. We got on immediately; when my partner, Anthony Ward (also a designer), and I bought our house in Kent, it seemed mad to keep a large flat in town. A smaller place with a studio was ideal, and when we found this shell in an old Scholl shoe factory, we thought of Justin. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin February 16th, 2001
Comment by Justin Bere
Building Design, New Architects
16 February 2001
We were first involved with the Architecture Foundation through the publication New Architects, published in 1998. As a fledgling practice, we had just reached that magic three years lifespan that is widely regarded as a benchmark. If you last three years you’re probably a survivor.
During that time we developed our approach to building, and it was naturally pleasing that this was recognised by the AF. In the period following the publication, we felt an increased responsibility to continue to develop our own approach. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin January 24th, 1998
In the Independent on Saturday Magazine on 24 January 1998, Bridget Bodano said
‘A large table dominates the offices of bere:architects - a huge slab of glass supported on cast aluminium legs, connected by what looks like a sparkling glass backbone. The analogy is not accidental: Justin Bere had been working on the idea of a system of construction based on timber “vertebrae”. To fulfill his philosophy of creating new systems using cheap, readily available components, mass-produced but using high-quality materials and craftsmanship, he was trying to find a supply of large wooden cotton reels. He spotted the glass equivalent masquerading as a candlestick in a friend’s house.
These big, chunky glass reels turned out to be isolators - a component in everyday use on top of electricity pylons used to carry high-voltage cables. Invented by Pilkington some years ago, manufacturing rights for the isolators had been sold to a French company but they were easy to obtain and well priced. Each is capable of supporting 18 tonnes, and when threaded on to a high-tensile stainless steel rod, they form an incredibly strong column which is slender, elegant and quietly dramatic. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin January 1st, 1998
A guide to Britain’s best young architecture practices
Supported by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport
Assessor’s Comments
This small practice is strongly lead by Justin Bere who takes a craftsman-like intensive approach to all office projects. Attention to the smallest detail is impressive and this is strongly shown in furniture and lighting design.
Management is professional and responsible using a management handbook, which draws heavily on RIBA established procedures. Meticulous care is taken over all project work, which currently ranges from product design to buildings up to £1 million in value.
Bere Admin January 16th, 1997
By Susan Dawson
Architects’ Journal
16 January 1997
The glass walls of a new City pizza restaurant, which straddles a busy street, are supported by an innovative cast-glass system. By Susan Dawson.
The Pizza Express restaurant is directly over London Wall, on the first-floor public walkway of Alban Gate, Terry Farrell’s 20 storey ‘air-rights’ office block which straddles the street. The distinctive blue neon logo of the restaurant chain looks down on traffic coming from both directions.
The restaurant is divided into two self-contained units facing each other on each side of the walkway. One was originally intended to be a bar and the other a restaurant, but the demand for tables at lunch-times forced both into restaurant mode. Generally only one stays open in the evenings, which are less busy.
The restaurants, designed by Cantos Architects, have elegant interiors with circular staircases leading to mezzanine dining decks looking out over London Wall. The practice commissioned bere:architects to design the facades, comprising revolving glass doors, stacked-glass columns and glass walls which face each other across the walkway. Continue Reading »
