HOUCHELL Studio

GAINSBOROUGH RIVER TRENT FOOTBRIDGE
LINCOLNSHIRE, UK
Gainsborough Stakeholder Network, 2010

HOUCHELL STUDIO is a young architecture and design practice. The studio specialises in technically demanding projects with an emphasis on the design process itself and its application across a broad range of scale, from the design of products and installations to bridges, buildings and urban projects. The practice also undertakes consultancy work, conceptual projects, critical writing and teaching.

Each new project provides an opportunity to refine the design process led by clear, strategic thinking in pursuit of legibility, functionality and economy.

HOUCHELL STUDIO works closely with other like-minded professionals with commitment and passion for their work - predominantly in engineering design - to deliver projects of high value for demanding clients.

GAINSBOROUGH RIVER TRENT FOOTBRIDGE
LINCOLNSHIRE, UK
Gainsborough Stakeholder Network, 2010
Budget: £6m
Status: Concept design

Detailed briefing and concept design commission for a pedestrian and cycle bridge across the River Trent at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.

The 276m long deck, which is suspended from stay cables by a pair of sharply raked masts, is rotationally symmetrical about its midpoint, and uses the engineering principles of the ring girder to allow for a uniform deck cross section along its entire length, despite being supported from only one edge of the deck.

The non-segregated deck is intended for use by pedestrians and cyclists, and will form a new connection to the town from the Beckingham Marshes to the west of the Trent, completing a circular route comprising riverside paths and the existing Trent Bridge to the south.

The concept design was undertaken in collaboration with Toby Maclean of TALL Engineers.

Funding is now being sought for the project.

PROJECT 1 2 3

SECOND OPENING BRIDGE, POOLE
DORSET, UK
Hochtief (UK) Construction Ltd/
Borough of Poole, 2009
Budget: £11.9m
Status: On site

Construction team architect working with Hochtief (UK) Construction Ltd to manufacture and install a 90m bascule road, cycle and pedestrian bridge, linking the old town of Poole with Lower Hamworthy across Poole Harbour.

The new crossing is the key component in the town's strategy for future growth, and will have to open up to eight times per day for maritime traffic, giving rise to a design driven by the need for robustness and reliability.

The restrained design of the structure when closed undergoes a dramatic transformation during its opening sequence, the geometry of the opening leaves evoking the maritime context of Poole.

Oliver was the project architect for this competition winning design whilst working for Wilkinson Eyre, designers of the bridge.

Currently on site, the bridge is due for completion in 2012.

PROJECT 1 2 3

AIRPLOT: THE HEATHROW CONTEST, SIPSON
LONDON BOROUGH OF HILLINGDON, UK
Greenpeace, shortlisted (top 5) 2010
Budget: Undisclosed
Status: International, open ideas competition

Competition submission proposing a defensible structure on a site in the village of Sipson co-owned by Greenpeace and numerous supporters of the campaign to stop the development of a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

The brief asked for ideas to allow prolonged occupation of the site for approximately 30 activists, intended to slow the compulsory purchase process and render the campaign as visible as possible to national and global media.

The proposal suggests a network of reinforced concrete tunnels interconnected by nodes, each of which provides key facilities for the activists. The tunnel network, which was designed to be built by the activists themselves, is submerged beneath a reed bed created across the site, the only visible indication of occupation being the flues which form part of the ventilation and security strategies. All construction materials are demountable and re-usable.

The competition was undertaken in collaboration with Toby Maclean of TALL Engineers.

Development plans have since been cancelled.

PROJECT 1 2 3

The studio is run by Oliver Houchell (1971), who was educated at the Kent Institute of Art and Design (1990-1992), Oxford Brookes University (1992-1995) and the Architectural Association (1998-2000 and 2002-2003).

He has worked for Collett Zarzycki (1996-1998), Brookes Stacey Randall (2000 - 2001), now Space Craft Architects, Allies and Morrison (2001-2004) and Wilkinson Eyre Architects (2004-2008).

BUCHANAN GALLERIES FOOTBRIDGE, GLASGOW, UK
Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Ltd
Project Architect

Project Architect for a dramatic, covered pedestrian bridge which will form the gateway for the refurbished and extended Buchanan Galleries shopping centre in Glasgow.

The bridge spans nearly 30m across a busy street to provide direct access from a new multi-storey car park. It was conceived as a rotationally symmetrical, tapered volume enclosed by an array of converging, horizontal louvers, the form significantly reducing its apparent mass to pedestrians in the street below.

MANHATTAN DRIFT BRIDGES, NYC, USA
Architectural Association 1999
AA Diploma Year 4

This conceptual project suggests typologies for an architectural hybrid between building and bridge.

The 3 distinct sites extend across the city towards the Hudson River piers on the west embankment of Manhattan Island, providing a counterpoint to the Jeffersonian planning grid of the city.

Each structure coexists with existing buildings, the abutments providing enclosure, programmes and intricate circulation strategies in conjunction with the spans between them.

REANIMATOR HABITABLE BRIDGE, LONDON, UK
Architectural Association 2000
AA Diploma Year 5

Reanimator is a habitable bridge concept design comprised of a number of abutting linear volumes interconnected by structurally discrete connecting spaces.

The bridge is intended as a social condenser: a publicly accessible place which seeks to encourage the dynamic coexistence of activities, generating unplanned events at their intersection by control of circulation.

Intricate studies of circulation provided a matrix of possibilities for spatial articulation suggesting an architecture which might adapt to any given urban context, in this instance spanning the River Thames between Tate Modern and St. Paul's Cathedral.

CERAMICS GALLERIES FOOTBRIDGE, LONDON, UK
Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Ltd
Design Architect

Design Architect for a pedestrian bridge connecting the Ceramics Galleries to the Secretariat Building at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

This elemental structure only offers rudimentary enclosure on 3 sides, and is comprised of a staircase supported by a non-linear array of portal frames cantilevered off a torsion beam. The torsion beam is hidden by full-height, backlit glazed panels, rendering the skeletal structure visible at night to museum visitors 4 storeys below.

The bridge was completed in October 2009.

VIADUC DE LA SAVOUREUSE, FRANCE
Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Ltd
Project Architect

Project Architect for the competition-winning viaduct extending more than 1km across the Savoureuse Valley.

Part of the new Rhin-Rhone high-speed LGV train link, the viaduct will cross the valley between Montbeliard and Belfort. Despite the requirement to accommodate trains travelling at 350km/h, the structure was carefully considered to sit in the context of the valley, minimizing obstruction to views of the surrounding landscape.

The project was completed in 2010.

CORK DOCKLANDS BRIDGE, IRELAND
Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Ltd
Project Architect

This competition-winning scheme provides a gateway structure to the eastern region of the Cork Docklands redevelopment.

The asymmetric swing bridge proposal was selected following rigorous analysis of potential opening bridge typologies of this scale, allowing for the continued transit of large-scale commercial vessels upriver of the site.

The design exploits the geometric possibilities inherent in a cable stayed bridge with a curved horizontal alignment, providing bridge users with a powerful spatial experience and a visual cue emblematic of the City of Cork's bold ambitions.

BALLINGDON BRIDGE, SUFFOLK/ESSEX BORDER, UK
Brookes Stacey Randall (now Space Craft Architects Ltd)
Design Co-ordinator and 3D Modeller

This is a competition-winning scheme which replaces an obsolete bridge across the River Stour on the Suffolk/Essex border.

Central to the design co-ordination of the project was a 3D computer model used to test and coordinate information from both architect and engineer. The model provided an opportunity for rapid prototype testing prior to being issued to the contractor for specialist fabrication of key elements.

The bridge was completed in 2003.

SECOND OPENING BRIDGE, POOLE, UK
Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Ltd
Project Architect

This competition-winning 90m bascule road, cycle and pedestrian bridge will link the old town of Poole with Lower Hamworthy across Poole Harbour.

The new crossing is the key component in the town's strategy for future growth, and will have to open almost hourly for maritime traffic giving rise to a design driven by the need for robustness and reliability.

The restrained design of the structure when closed undergoes a dramatic transformation during its opening sequence, the geometry of the triangular opening leaves intended to evoke the maritime context of Poole.

The project is due for completion in 2012.

UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK FOOTBRIDGE, IRELAND
Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Ltd
Design Architect

This award-winning 320m bridge provides a pedestrian link over the River Shannon at Limerick. Commissioned by the University of Limerick, the crossing connects the university's library and concert hall on the Limerick embankment to its North Bank Campus in County Clare.

The bridge takes the form of a string of cable-trusses arranged on an arc between islands in the river, and includes 'refuge' points at each pier location enabling people to congregate along the route.

The bridge was completed in 2007.

For all enquiries please contact:

Oliver Houchell BA(Hons) AADipl RIBA
HOUCHELL STUDIO
242 Friern Road
London
SE22 0BB

Tel: +44 (0) 7810 445 427
Email: oliver@houchell-studio.com

'The design [for Gainsborough River Trent Footbridge] is superb, functional and beautiful, the structure creating an impression of flight in the deck. The design makes a statement of confidence in the future of the town which will be unmistakable.'

Charles Cooke, Lincolnshire CDA, 2010

RIBA Crest (image) Houchell Studio is an RIBA Chartered Practice