16 INSIGHTS Design principles
“When we talk about ourselves, we say ‘creating places together’ – for me it’s all in those three words,” says Apsley. The ‘together’ part refers to putting collaboration at the forefront, he says. “We’ve been very clear that we’re never going to be able to do everything under our own roof.” The practice now works with a number of individual consultants and startups, a lot of which contain former colleagues. “We have a network of people we reach out to for specialist skills.”
Ensuring that projects respond to their context is key, but doesn’t just mean the physical aspects of a site, assets Apsley. “On some of the projects we get involved in, particularly in developing countries, context is around what will be there in 20-30 years. It can also be about something spiritual.” Allied with this is their “big idea” concept, which drives the narrative throughout a project, to foster clarity of thinking as well as refinement of that idea. Apsley explains how this iterative process “simplifies a project, strengthens it, and in turn makes it easier to build – meaning the quality is higher. It’s a virtuous circle.” One thing that underpins everything Broadway Malyan do is the fact they don’t promote a ‘house style.’ “We don’t impose predetermined ideas or visual identity on clients.” The practice spends a lot of time working with clients to "really understand what’s key to them, to the place, and more than ever now to the environment.”
Research & sustainability With the housing crisis becoming even more acute after increased demand post-pandemic, the practice has recently published ‘Reimagined Village’ – a report they hope will trigger a ‘national conversation’ on logical non-urban housing solutions. With rural villages in the UK having less environmentally friendly credentials or economic accessibility compared with their city counterparts, the report highlights the urgent need to act to ensure these places become sustainable alternatives to city living. Apsley expands on this: “Not every site or new community should be an extension to an existing town, putting more pressure on its infrastructure.” Instead the report gives insights into how planners and developers can transform these villages to meet the needs of the future. To ensure Broadway Malyan’s climate goals are met, an ‘environmental design group’ supervises its internal and external operations. Internally, looking at the practice’s infrastructure and how they work as employees, they have set a daunting target to become net carbon zero over the next three years. However, “with a
“Housing and designing for the community has always been one of our main priorities – this has included some very big masterplans with thousands of homes, but also many designs for individual houses”
Ian Apsley, group managing director, Broadway Malyan
pause on travel from Covid,” says Apsley, “there’s a chance we could potentially achieve it ahead of this.” Externally, as well as designing projects with minimised energy use, they are putting the emphasis on producing climate-resilient buildings. “We believe that from a more holistic building design and masterplanning point of view, this is where the focus really needs to be.” Apsley adds: “This is about working at multiple scales at once. I genuinely believe there are a lot of opportunities in that area.”
Moving forward
Despite the practice already having a strong education offer in both Asia and the Middle East, as well as university projects in the UK, it’s a sector they are keen to grow. This ambition has led to them recently breaking ground on a new international school in Cairo – their first school in Africa. The £25m project will accommodate 1,500 pupils from nursery to year 12, including 70 classrooms, laboratories, a library, a 450-seat auditorium, sports facilities and a full-size football pitch. “This is a project we love doing, and we want to do more!”
Apsley also picks out a masterplanning project in Indonesia, ‘Redeveloping Dolly (part of the UK Government’s Global Future Cities Programme), as showcasing their current philosophy, and being an example of where the firm is heading. Putat Jaya, a former red-light district in Surabaya – known colloquially as ‘Dolly’ – is being regenerated. Broadway Malyan is developing a set of “replicable” design standards and urban design guidelines to help support the local community through skills and entrepreneurship training. “We led a big consultation on urban transformation and the project has been really well received so far, not only by the Indonesian government but by local residents too.” Apsley says the project demonstrates “an evolution of the kind of work we do at that scale.”
Redeveloping Dolly – masterplanning in Indonesia
In terms of the goals moving forward, the practice is looking to broaden its horizons still further. “We want to expand on our services and provide a greater range of consultancy, away from the traditional architectural offerings,” says Apsley. He adds: “You’re going to see more blurred boundaries between studios, specialisms and our traditional sectors such as residential and commercial.” And finally, in terms of the firm’s many collaborative aspects going forward, the pandemic has actually strengthened them, says Ian Apsley. He concludes that they are now taking a “less corporate, more agile approach to everything.”
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK ADF OCTOBER 2021
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
