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INSIGHTS
Being onsite with contractors during the latter stages of the project can be “the difference in improving on that last 10 or 15% in quality”
make “subtle and sensitive” interventions to the fabric that will “encourage anyone interested in architecture to enter.”
Context-specific RIBA HQ
Benedetti Architects has been appointed to modernise RIBA’s Grade II* listed head- quarters in central London, improving its sustainability and accessibility © Andrew Hendry
metres, and along with a new station, facilitates the city’s expansion with its 60 metre inverted ‘tripod’ tower and pair of rings.
Being bold with high-profile heritage While the practice takes a “very sensitive” approach to historical and heritage projects, Benedetti advocates they “should never shy away from being bold.” He explains this means “analysing the problem and working out how we can improve something in a holistic way.”
The practice will look to apply this ethos to a refurbishment that
doesn’t get more high-profile in terms of architects. It recently won the hotly-contested competition to redesign the RIBA’s headquarters at 66 Portland Place, London. The ‘House of Architecture’ project is “an amazing responsibility,” admits Benedetti, “on behalf of 50,000 architect members of RIBA; it’s a real honour to be chosen.” While a “magnificent building” filled with “beautifully detailed materials,” the 1934 building’s heating, acoustics, lighting, accessibility have deteriorated, and desperately need updating. The goal is a carbon neutral building – a “hugely difficult, but great ambition for a listed building in the centre of London,” comments Benedetti.
Alongside the sustainability aims, he says the brief focuses on improving the building’s “physical and social accessibility” so it gives a greater welcome to a more representatively diverse group of users. Benedetti explains: “As an 18 year old who had never met an architect, I don’t think it would have encouraged me to go inside and ask ‘what is it like to be an architect?’” He says the building is now “quite austere and offputting, especially to young people,” adding that it “lacks the vitality I remember from 25 to 30 years ago.” The practice’s goal is to
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Benedetti says the practice doesn’t have a consistent design signature that is used on each project – because “freshness isn’t about a recognisable style.” Instead, each project is tackled differently, in its own context. “If you constantly plough a certain furrow, and a certain design, it wouldn’t interest us as much.” However, while their Castleford Bridge and BAFTA Headquarters are two very different projects, the similarity is in how carefully considered the timber elements have been detailed. “If there’s an identity, it’s about the quality of detailing,” explains Benedetti. A strong emphasis is placed on ensuring the staff’s workload varies day to day. “Changing things keeps things fresh,” says Benedetti. One day he could be working on the detailing of a piece of furniture, and then the next, doing strategic masterplanning. “If you’re always doing the same thing, it can feel a little bit stale.”
Collaboration
The practice is attracted by clients with ambition, and whose values and interests align with its vision. “Architecture is expensive and takes a long time. It’s very difficult for an architect to generate really good architecture purely on their own. It needs to be collaborative, and that starts with the client!” One of the areas of collaboration the practice prioritises is working with artists; Benedetti has worked with Richard Wentworth, Antony Gormley, and Hannah Collins for example. The practice’s recently completed BAFTA Headquarters refurbishment in London (covered in ADF September 2022 issue) saw a successful partnership with young art student Maya Simms. BAFTA took a “bold decision” to run a competition for a diverse array of young designers to create a concept for the ‘donor wall,’ which Benedetti himself helped judge. What he says was a “fantastic idea” by Simms was a play on the famous BAFTA mask, combining abstract figurative forms, stained glass and mirrors – reflecting the diversity of the people using the national institution’s headquarters. With it being “big and complicated to make,” the design team mentored the artist through the whole process, helping to achieve her vision. The result is “an amazing piece – big, bright and bold, exactly how she wanted it.” Benedetti adds: “We want to involve artists wherever possible.” Looking ahead, the RIBA refurbishment is going to absorb a lot of the practice’s energy and attention, with construction due to take place in the fourth quarter of 2024. However the practice founder says that they are “really looking forward to the challenge.” The plan for this already high-flying practice’s future is to work on more cultural buildings and cultural institutions, as well as to collaborate with more architects. In terms of growth, says Benedetti, the aim is “to grow the quality and grow the type of projects we’re doing – but not necessarily grow physically.” g
ADF JANUARY 2023
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