RCKa Blog

RCKa Appointed to Lewisham Council Framework

Russell Curtis — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:24:44 +0000

RCKa has been appointed to Lewisham Council’s consultancy framework, one of only four practices that have been chosen to provide architectural services in this capacity. The framework will run for four years from the end of April 2012.
RCKa has worked extensively with Lewisham Council, most recently on the TNG Wells Park Youth Venue, which began on site on earlier this year and is due for completion at the beginning of 2013. Other projects in the pipeline include the redevelopment of the Ladywell Playtower to provide a range of community uses within this historic listed building.

Demolition underway at site of TNG Wells Park Youth Venue

Russell Curtis — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:00:27 +0000

Demolition of the existing community hall on the site of our TNG Wells Park Youth & Community Centre in Lewisham has started.

Once the existing building has been taken down, work will begin on the main building itself, and the project is due for completion early in 2013.

Comprising a range of vocational and leisure spaces for use by local young people and the wider community, our design was a finalist in the inaugural New London Awards 2011.

Talented Post-Part II Required for immediate start

Russell Curtis — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:44:47 +0000

We have a number of interesting projects coming up over the next few months and are looking for a talented post-part II architectural assistant to join our team. A good knowledge of Microstation, Adobe Photoshop and Indesign, and with experience of running projects on site is essential.

CVs and portfolios should be less than 5Mb in size and emailed to jobs@rcka.co.uk.

RCKa is an equal opportunities employer.

RCKa Featured in Brick Bulletin

Russell Curtis — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:29:09 +0000

The Winter 2010 edition of Brick Bulletin will shortly be published, and includes a number of quotes from RCKa Director Tim Riley, as well as illustrations of some projects we are currently working which employ brick in innovative and interesting ways – including the Meadow Street Redevelopment in Preston and the Moreland Street Redevelopment in Islington, London.

In the profile, Tim discusses the practice’s use of brick, and its appeal to architects:

On close inspection, the depth of colour and texture become very apparent. But stepping back, the façade as a whole adopts a natural patina, properties not apparent with many other materials.

The Brick Bulletin is a long-standing journal which consistently features beautiful buildings, and we are delighted to have contributed to this latest edition.

RCKa Christmas Opening Times

Russell Curtis — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:40:45 +0000

RCKa will be closing for the day on 22 December 2011 (we’re taking the day off for a Christmas trip to Cambridge), and we will be reopening in the new year on Tuesday 3 January 2012.

We wish all of our clients, consultants, community partners and colleagues a peaceful Christmas and a prosperous new year.

New videos from Open Eye Gallery

Russell Curtis — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 11:49:04 +0000

There are two more videos of the Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool, designed by RCKa.

The first is a timelapse sequence showing the installation of the graphic installation by S Mark Gubb on the Western Wall, entitled “Good Sailing“.

Wall Work Installation, November 2011

The second is a short piece by Sky Arts, broadcast in November, with Liverpool-born comedian Alexei Sayle interviewing members of the gallery staff as well as photographer Martin Parr about the new home for the gallery on Mann Island.

Hampstead House wins Planning on Appeal

Tim O'Callaghan — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:45:56 +0000

This post is rather late but our Hampstead House extension won planning approval earlier this year. The application was refused at committee despite strong support from planning officers. The decision was overturned on appeal and the sensitivity of the design and quality of the application was praised by the planning inspector.
The project will begin on site in the new year.

Tim O learns Bricklaying

Tim O'Callaghan — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:06:34 +0000

I completed my 8-week beginners brickwork course last night which culminated in the completion of a 9 inch brick wall laid in English bond (see picture below). We covered single skin stretcher bond walls, stretcher corners, conjoining walls, 13 inch piers, the use of a trowel, finishing trowel, pointing iron, level, gauge, mortar board, chisel and learnt about half-bonds, quarter-bonds, English, Flemish, Dutch and ratrap bonds, sleeper walls, cavity walls, soldier courses, engineering bricks and queen closures during the course; raising wobbly walls with old bricks and lumpy lime mortar during the class only to raze them at the end of the evening.
Well done to the fantastic Greenwich Community College who run the course along with jewelery making, plumbing, woodwork, ceramics, photography, yoga and clock repairing amongst many others.

‘We love bricks’

alice — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:04:43 +0000

Last week Tim and Alice went to the Freshfield Lane Brickworks in Sussex. The brick works literally sits on top of the clay pits, a short distance from raw material to finished product. This proximity to the materials seems apparent in the landscape, the colours of the earth, the local use of brick as a building material, the tones of the clay. There are three enormous mountains of clay in front of us; one black, one yellow and one more orange. It is the combination of these 3 quite distinct clays that seems to be the no 1 secret ingredient.

We enter a series of large sheds, there is pounding, sieving, hydrating, conveyor belts, funnels, moulds, tipping and then bricks. They still produce a number of handmade bricks, a skilled brick maker can produce just under a thousand bricks in a day. These have a distinctive surface quality that differs from the machine moulded brick. Clay has ‘memory’, it is a material that keeps the marks of its process and the way it was handled is always apparent.

The bricks are stacked ready for firing, all by hand,it takes around three weeks to build the clamp kiln. Bricks are carefully arranged leaving space for the firing chambers, The bricks themselves form the kiln and also contain fuel that helps the process. It takes 17 days to fire, 3 weeks to cool and another 3 weeks to unpack. The clamp kiln that is firing is a dramatic smouldering mass around 6 metres high by 30 m long.

The beauty of these bricks really comes from the firing process, as we see another kiln being unpacked it looks like they are uncovering archaeological layers. The bricks are marked depending on their position in the kiln, the amount of oxygen and the heat and temperature they have reached. Some bricks are quite speckled with iron spots, some with warm flashes of yellow, some darkened, because they have received less oxygen in the kiln.

The final ingredient of FLB bricks is the passion of everyone who works there. Everyone we talked to said ‘I love bricks’. A final trip to the sample store and we head hot footed back to the office ‘loving bricks’ too.

Many thanks to Justin Underwood of Just Facades for arranging the visit!

“Heady mix of art and activism”: Open Eye Gallery reviewed in the Financial Times

Russell Curtis — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 07:55:10 +0000

The Financial Times has given a glowing review to the Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool, designed by RCKa.

The inaugural shows, by Magnum photographer Chris Steele-Perkins (“The Pleasure Principle”), and American photographer Mitch Epstein (“American Power”), are well-received, and the FT applauds our design for the gallery spaces:

“London-based architects RCKa have exploited the awkward proportions to gracious effect. The result – clean but intimate, discreet yet dynamic – is ideally suited to the blend of grandeur and detail of much contemporary photography.”

There’s more on the Open Eye Gallery on our website.

(Photograph above of Mitch Epstein’s “American Power” in Gallery 2 by Mark McNulty)