AHR architects is a u.k based firm founded in the year 1835 working across the u.k and internationally. The firm offers services into many fields from architecture, master planning to consultancy and interiors. Their sole aim is to utilize the shared knowledge across the practice within the employees and to collaborate and build expertise on the latest market techniques thus creating a model for team building which acts as a crucial factor when it comes to designing. Again due to expertise in major sectors across the field ensures innovation and provides understanding of the project and deliver outstanding solutions through design. Some of the projects are listed below.
1. Blashill Court
The intent for the project was to provide community infrastructure as well as 100 family homes for existing residents under the first phase of the regeneration project of the blackwall reach. The design focused on providing lesser flats per floor and communal lobbies in order to allow interaction and maintaining high efficiencies to meet sustainability standards.
2. The Deanery CE Academy
Built in swindon, it is a distinctive school for year 7-13 pupils forming a part of the education campus. The school provides a landmark at the entrance situated on a public thoroughfare to the central zone of the new district and with select facilities open to parents and local residents that act as a focal point for the community. The site features a specialist multi-use games area along with the four court sports hall, provides state-of-the-art sports facilities. It also houses a large atrium bounded by a theatre and lecture hall for a large public capacity. The facades are glazed in order to provide light and an open environment.
3. Hylton Castle Primary
The school is part of north east batch programme of six primary and six secondary schools for which the firm designed a flexible typology allowing elements of standardization across the batch and in turn provides both cost and time efficiencies. This flexible approach also implies that schools can be easily reconfigured in the future according to the educational requirements.
Spaces such as dining hall, drama room can be securely zoned off during the day to provide a useful resource for community activities and larger scale events.
4. Watermill Lane
It is an urban regeneration project aimed at replacing the existing 1970’s cluster accommodation which used to be used by the hospital staff adjacent to watermill lane. The new apartments provide a mixture of key worker accommodation and shared ownership. The project has been carefully designed with merging landscape and housing and providing maximum social interaction between the residents taking a form of an urban village. Many of the architectural elements are repetitive, to achieve economies of scale and enable modern methods of construction. With green roofs, suds and high performance building fabric, the development has large areas of terraces and balcony space to increase the potential for wider biodiversity appeal.
5. West Tower
West tower is a mixed use landmark tower comprising of 35 floors and office spaces located at the corner of brook street and king edward street. The tower was planned to provide an elegant profile around a concrete structure and the apartments are glazed are orientated to provide views of both the city and river. The external public realm works complete the existing integrated hard and soft landscaping to the whole site and incorporate a public artwork. The office spaces of five floors beneath are set back between concrete columns and are also glazed to provide an effect of animated facade.
6. Bauhaus
Bauhaus at rossetti place is the second phase of rossetti place development in manchester which provides space for living and working under one roof. The residential quarter comprises of 65 apartments and commercial offices are spread over eight floors covering a total of 50,000 sqft internal area. Both the residential and commercial proposals required continuous discussions with the planning authorities for its development as the building is situated within a conservation area and adjacent to grade ii listed building.
7. Colne Valley Museum
Ahr was commissioned the project to refurbish the existing museum premises which consists of four historic grade ii listed weaver’s cottages in huddersfield. The project included providing adequate toilet facilities and improving exhibition spaces along with external facade repairs and mep works. The refurbishment works have greatly improved the museum, while preserving the historic nature of the building.
8. Peterhead Court
It is a mixed used development in the golf links estate and the project was handed over to ahr through a design competition and had been appointed for the regeneration of the site with 68 homes and a community centre. The design and touches of colour that pop on the facade imply a sense of identity to each home and a sense of wider belonging within the neighborhood along with balconies that allow residents to relax in the open air. The new and improved community centre provides multi-purpose amenity space for local groups to meet thus making the entire place more welcoming and attractive.
9. Stockport Academy
Ahr had been appointed by the united learning trust to design the academy holding a capacity of 1150 students and providing with new facilities and improved infrastructure. Particular thought was given to design due to the academy’s location under the flight path of manchester airport. The design solution was thus to create a flexible internal social space and providing an acoustically sound environment for performance, display and learning. The atrium space thus becomes the focus for circulation and provides a point of reference when moving around the school. Externally, the building is expressed as a single brick clad form with punched window openings and stair cores treated as individual elements extracted from the whole.
10. Barbara Hepworth Building
The barbara building was designed as an annex to the university of huddersfield’s faculty of art, design and architecture with an aim to create a learning hub uniting all design disciplines and encouraging creativity. The design addresses challenging topography by ‘folding’ its way up the sloping site and forming a central atrium space that provides open views throughout, eventually terminating in an 18m cantilever over the
Adjacent canal. Through design and choice of materials, the architecture thoughtfully integrates with its historic surroundings. Extensive light and sound equipment has been installed in the atrium, and all furniture in this space is loose for maximum flexibility. This space is available for use by both students and the wider industry to host exhibitions, presentations and fashion shows.
11. Brook Avenue
Brook avenue is a housing development project for 111 homes including a mixture of different unit types designed in order to meet the changing needs of the residents and thus enhance its longevity and sustainability. 30 of the homes are for affordable rent, 25 for shared ownership, 22 for private sale and 34 through the mayor of london’s housing covenant. The project encourages the scheme of replanting the mature trees to create landscaping with a woodland character which encourages local biodiversity.
12. Leftbank Apartments
Located in central manchester this site forms a part of the continuing regeneration of the spinning fields area. The 400 apartments occupy a riverside wall punctuated by penthouse towers and residential accommodation bridges the central landscaped space surrounded by restaurants and commercial spaces. Dual aspect shops and cafes encourage pedestrians to circulate between the waterfront and the streets behind.
13. Talbot Gateway Blackpool Council
Ahr had been a part of this project to deliver design for the council offices along with interior works for the buildings. The new council offices form part of the overall redevelopment of the talbot gateway area of blackpool and is centered in phase 1 of the master plan, situated on cookson street and talbot road with a total area being covered up to 85,000 sqft under the design plan. The design of the building was thermally modelled to allow the facade design to develop and optimize daylight penetration into the office space whilst the provision of vertical fins that reduce the solar load on the southern facades.
14. BBSP One
Located at the entrance to the new science park in bristol this building provides a social hub for the rest of the site comprising of 2 wings used for small start-up businesses as well as and expansion centre that can be split into larger sized units. Accommodation is housed within two storey designed in post tensioned concrete frame structures and cladded with a combination of timber and metal. The structure has a 14 metre high atrium with striking curtain walling giving an experience of grand welcome. Also, the architecture is complimented by the high quality landscape design and materials palette that is inspired by agricultural typologies. Featuring a courtyard entrance, it provides external social and networking spaces which subtly connect into the landscape beyond the site boundaries.
15. Rotherham Central Station
The most striking feature of the project is the roof structure built to create a landmark gateway to the town centre and create the city centre model. The design of the transport hub unifies the station’s elements within an architectural and landscaping strategy, enhancing the user experience and thus embracing the principles of social, economic and environmental sustainability. The station presents a dramatic and architecturally impressive gateway for visitors and daily users.
