Photographer Martin Gardner has turned his lens from celebrities to a prize-winning building and its surrounding landscape.

The RIBA South award-winning University of Southampton Life Sciences building is one of three designs in the southern region to win the prestigious award in 2011. After completing the implementation of the landscape around the building while at Plincke, Ubu designed the adjacent George Moore Square with a complementary high quality treatment.

To capture the grain and tonality of the building’s materials and the richness of the landscape, the images are taken at a variety of exposures. These are then combined to produce a high dynamic range (HDR) result.

Please visit our website to see a selection of the photographs.

Ubu Design has been appointed by Guernsey Housing Association on the development of a new 83 unit estate in Guernsey’s capital, St Peter Port.

The scheme at Grand Bouet will see Ubu Design work closely with architects Lovell Ozanne to design an estate based on the Home Zone concept. The aim will be to create a vibrant, community-oriented space that minimises vehicle impact.

As you can see from the picture, there’s ample scope for improvement!

A University of Southampton building designed by NBBJ, with external design carried out by Ubu while working at Plincke, has scooped a prestigious RIBA award.

The 2011 RIBA Awards, which highlight the importance of quality architecture and urban design in contemporary society, will this year be presented to 97 buildings in the UK
and Europe. The shortlist for the highly prized RIBA Stirling Prize for the building of the year will be drawn from the 97 RIBA Award winners.

RIBA President Ruth Reed said:

‘For 46 years the RIBA Awards have reflected the health of British architecture. This year’s winners show that in spite of a terrible worldwide recession, many exceptional buildings have been, and continue to be, built in the UK and overseas. Winning projects demonstrate that even in constrained times committed clients working with talented architects can achieve architectural excellence.

These well-designed buildings will add huge value to the lives, prosperity, health and pride of their owners, users and communities and I am delighted with year’s selection. We are promised an interesting RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist.’

University of Southampton Life Sciences building: RIBA 2011 award winner

The other RIBA South award winners are:

Kendrew Quadrangle
Architect: MJP
Client: St John’s College, Oxford

The Rothschild Foundation
Architect: Stephen Marshall Architects
Client: Alice Trust

Watson House
Architect: John Pardey Architects
Client: Charles and Fiona Watson

To read more about the exterior design for the University of Southampton RIBA award-winning building, visit the Ubu Design Life Sciences building project page.

To see the full list of RIBA 2011 winners, visit: 
RIBA (UK & Europe) winners 2011
RIBA International Award winners 2011

A slideshow of the RIBA award winning buildings can be seen on the BBC website

RIBA has announced the buildings in the South Region shortlisted for the RIBA Awards in 2011. In Hampshire, those shortlisted are:

Private House – John Pardey Architects (JPA), Lymington
Private House – Perring Architecture & Design (PAD), Lymington
The Life Sciences Building, University of Southampton, Southampton – NBBJ, London

Of the three schemes nominated in Hampshire, Ubu designed the externals on the Life Sciences building while at Plincke and have worked with John Pardey Architects on a private dwelling in the New Forest.

RIBA use the awards to highlight the importance of quality architecture and urban design in contemporary society and the excellent work produced by architects and their teams. Winners for the South region will be announced on 19 May.

Entry for SCDF 5th anniversary publication

Ubu have designed an abstract representation of the number 5 for the 5th anniversary publication of the SCDF.

Entitled “Fivebonacci”, the piece is based on a spiral derived from the Fibonacci sequence of numbers.

A number 5 is positioned at each locus of the spiral and scaled and rotated by a factor of Phi (the golden ratio).

The piece is modelled in Rhino and Grasshopper, rendered in Kerkythea and breathed on in Photoshop.

Creatives living in and around Winchester can look forward to guest speakers and lively discussions at the new Winchester South Coast Design Forum (SCDF) group meetings.

Organised by Ubu Design in partnership with local artist and facilitator Katie Faddy, the monthly meetings aim to give those working – or involved – in design the chance to forge new friendships and share ideas in a relaxed and stimulating setting.

The inaugural networking event of the Winchester branch will take place at the Black Boy Pub, Wharf Hill, Winchester SO23 9NQ on 10th March 2011 at 6.00pm. and on the second Thursday of the month thereafter.

Far from being a hard-nosed speed networking event, it is intended to be a more informal relaxed affair involving conversation, the exchange of ideas and potential business opportunities.

We will gather in the far left-hand area of the pub, on the raised level near the kitchen.

Hope to see you there!

Life Sciences building at the University of Southampton - featured in Architecture Today

A project undertaken by Ubu while working at Plincke with NBBJ Architects and contractors BAM Construction has featured in this month’s Architecture Today.

Reviewed by architect, lecturer and author of University Builders Martin Pearce, the new building is credited with possessing “control and clarity”.  The external elements were carefully crafted to create a functioning landscape that maintains a dialogue with the building while overcoming some difficult level issues

To read more about the exterior design for this project, visit the Ubu website Life Sciences building project page.

images courtesy of elfin presentations

Ubu Design are working with Plincke, architectureplb and contractors Warings to achieve BREEAM Excellence in the building of a £9m school in East Sussex.

Bowden House School, a Special Educational Needs (SEN) residential school for boys with emotional and behavioural difficulties, is part of the Tower Hamlets BSF programme.

The new building will provide purpose-built teaching blocks, a residential block and an independence unit with extended provision within the community for college and work experience. It is due to open Spring 2012.

Creatives living in and around Winchester can look forward to guest speakers and lively discussions at the new Winchester South Coast Design Forum (SCDF) group meetings.

Organised by Ubu Design in partnership with local artist and facilitator Katie Faddy, the monthly meetings aim to give those working – or involved – in design the chance to forge new friendships and share ideas in a relaxed and stimulating setting.

The first Winchester SCDF meeting will be held in early 2011, with the exact date and location to be confirmed. To find out more or to suggest a guest event, send an email to: Mark Johnson at Ubu Design or subscribe to our blog by RSS.

More details will also be available via the SCDF website: www.scdf.org.uk nearer the time.

Hope to see you there!

Simplicity and clarity are increasingly important in today’s complex and cluttered environments. We pursue simple, efficient and elegant solutions for all our projects, large and small.

Download our brochure to find out more.

Ubu Design Brochure