Projects Category
Court Design in Session
Recently, Directors Junior Thompson and Gary Turton participated in a workshop entitled Court Facilities: A Primer for Planning, Design and Construction. The workshop was delivered by a partnership of the National Center for State Courts in the US and the Judiciary of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Junior and Gary are currently engaged in acla:works projects involving the design of court facilities. Junior is involved in completing the final report for the CDB funded Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Halls of Justice Project in 9 jurisdictions in the OECS; acla:works won this commission in the final quarter of 2010. Gary is involved in refurbishment works and accessibility upgrades to the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, originally designed by UK architect HKPA in collaboration with Anthony C. Lewis Associates [now acla:works] back in 1981.
The workshop provided acla:works with up-to-date information on the latest trends in court facility planning and design, as well as an opportunity to do an in depth review of a case study: the St. George West, Magistrates Court in Port of Spain. The workshop was equally useful for members of the judiciary, and other key users of court facilities in Trinidad and Tobago. It afforded the participants a broad view of the complex issues related to users, security, spatial adjacencies, and support systems, which are required for the proper function of a modern court. Whilst acla:works holds considerable experience in this area, the firm constantly welcomes opportunities to improve its expertise, and therefore is grateful that the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago invited the firm to participate in the workshop.
(above) Hall of Justice, Trinidad
New Manikin Review
It's been almost two years since acla:works published Manikin, a book on the work of Anthony C. Lewis – our firm's founder and Trinidad and Tobago's first local architect.
On publication of the monograph, there were several book reviews, notably "A Manikin for All Seasons" by B.C. Pires and "New Book Captures Lewis' Architectural Legacy" by Simon Lee.
Since then, naturally, press on the book has died down. So, earlier this month, when we received Issue 037 of Archivos De Arquitectura Antillana magazine, we were happy to see a new review . . . in Spanish. Thankfully, acla:works director, Peter Chandler, is fluent en Español and translated the piece into English so we could all read it.
You can read it, too, here. For the Spanish version, click here.
A TT + UK Collaboration
At the end of last week [and over the weekend and early this week] acla:works had the opportunity to work with a few of our British colleagues. We'll explain.
Last year our firm went in as part of a team bid on a multiple facility, design-build project. Other members of the team included local construction firm, Kee-Chanona, and UK-based firms Kier and S&P Architects and Interior Designers. A couple weeks ago we found out that we'd been shortlisted for the project, and that we would have roughly a week to prepare for The Big Presentation.
Realising how critical it was to get everything right, our colleagues—Tim Corrigan and Jim Ryan from Kier, and Mike Marlow and Isabella Luger from S&P—flew in to work with acla:works director, Junior Thompson, and the Kee-Chanona team headed up by Tommy Chanona and Tony Laban. Together they spent a few intensive days huddled in acla's conference room creating, editing, and revising presentation materials. Also present at these sessions: support in the form of Lisa from Kee-Chanona, Melanie from acla:works, and ample amounts of coffee and tea.
The presentation on Monday went well and, although we have no idea yet whether we will get the job, we're very happy to have met and worked alongside the warm and talented people behind the emails [and phone calls and Skype calls and faxes].
We'll post any updates on this project as they come.
Final presentation checks. Clockwise from left: Tony Laban, Isabella Luger, Tim Corrigan, Mike Marlow, Tommy Chanona, Jim Ryan.
Isabella and Junior practice presentations in the kitchen.
Final final presentation checks! Clockwise from left: Melanie, Mike, Tommy, Jim.
Ferrostaal
Last July we wrote about a fit-out we were designing in collaboration with Barbados-based firm, idesign limited. We're happy to report that this job – the regional headquarters of German industrial services company, Ferrostaal – is now complete.
According to acla:works director, Peter Chandler, who was one of the design principals on the job [idesign's Giselle Crayston was the other]: "It was challenging because of the timeframe in which it had to be done and the level of detail and precision required by our German clients. Our original time-saving approach was to use more prefabricated components in the design. Because of restrictions in time, we looked for local prefab alternatives to meet our expectations but we didn't always find them. This challenge led to our development of a set of standard details we could use in future interiors projects of this caliber."
Trinidadian Modern
Seeing a building through concept, commission, construction, and completion is a complicated process that can take years. Perhaps it’s this patient – and sometimes impatient – wait that makes us particularly glad when our clients finally get to move into a well designed space that they love. It also makes us glad when a third party thinks our spaces are well designed, too! All of this to say that, in the current issue of MACO Caribbean Living [Vol 12, Issue 4, pp. 20-27], one of our modernist residences has received a great write up. There are three ways to learn more about this house and its atypical move away from the local Neo-Colonial trend:
- Buy the magazine [available at newsstands throughout the Caribbean]
- View/ download a PDF of the article here
- Check out the house by clicking the "Private Residence" link over there on the right
Random Project
Frederick Street Mall
The narrow exterior of this urban mall appropriately references Spanish and Italian courtyard solutions.
