The transformation of the Mansfield College estate has received unanimous planning approval by Oxford City Council. This is the most significant campus investment in the history of the College, featuring a new South Range that provides 174 study bedrooms, a new Porters’ Lodge gatehouse and entrance garden, teaching and learning facilities, social spaces, workspace and more, to support a broad range of College activities and uses. The project also includes refurbishment and additions to the Grade II* North Range, and a site-wide landscape design that consolidates the estate into an inviting, accessible, and coherent whole.
University of Cambridge ARCSOC Alumni Summer Party
Gold medal for Tom Stuart-Smith at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
We are delighted to see our collaborator, Tom Stuart-Smith, receive a Gold Medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for The Tate Britain Garden. The garden at Chelsea is an iteration of the new Clore Garden that we are designing with Tom at Tate Britain, Millbank. Surrounded by vibrant, resilient, and biodiverse planting, the space is designed to invite conversation and connection. It also demonstrates the importance of creating accessible green spaces in the city and highlighting the role of museums in providing significant public spaces that encourage art, nature, and community. (more…)
Urban Nature Project collects two RIBA London Awards
Our Urban Nature Project for the Natural History Museum has received a 2026 RIBA London Award, with Associate Director, Matthew Glen, collecting a further Special Award for Project Architect of the Year! The RIBA Awards have charted a cultural journey across the UK, reflecting how architecture has responded to changing needs in society. The twin crises of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are two of the most serious issues of our time; the Urban Nature Project has been recognised for leading the debate on how we can revitalise nature within our cities.
Feilden Fowles studio trip to Ghent, Belgium
Pioneering the Potential 2024
Our Director, Fergus Feilden, is looking forward to speaking at ‘Pioneering the Potential 2024’, a Wood & Natural Materials Micro-conference hosted by Fourth Door Research @fourth_door
The talks will be held at the Depot Cinema & Restaurant in Lewes from the 18-20 September. Fergus will present a range of Feilden Fowles’ completed and upcoming projects, focusing on those built with earth-based techniques. To join, head to Fourth Door’s website.
Fergus’ passion for socially and environmentally responsible architecture is born out of a love for the natural world, his enjoyment of low-tech design and using natural materials. Over the last fifteen years, Feilden Fowles have been redefining the British architectural scene, pursuing a low-tech, crafted and authentic materials led design ethos. Working across the education, heritage, arts and cultural sectors, recent projects have included the Dining Hall at Homerton College, Cambridge, the Weston at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and the Urban Nature Project at the Natural History Museum. Our current project at Black Robin Farm, near Lewes, is a new arts and education centre and eastern gateway to the South Downs National Park for Towner Eastbourne and Eastbourne Borough Council.
Working with Earth: Architecture and Landscape Symposium
The symposium on 3-4 October will be bringing together some of the most innovative, creative and acclaimed people working in sustainable Architecture and Landscape Architecture today.
Fellow speakers and demonstrators include: Cleve West | George Massoud and Paloma Gormley of Material Cultures | Sarah Price Landscapes | Studio Benjamin | Tom Massey | Loretta Bosence and Ben Bosence of Local Work studio | Tom Stuart-Smith | Millie Souter | Jamie Ingle and Simon Lovatt.
The programme of talks, demonstrations, tours and group discussions has been designed to deepen our understanding of using earth as a sustainable material and of the fundamental processes, benefits and techniques we can integrate into our own practices.
Tickets are limited and you can book two-day or one-day tickets at the Serge Hill Project website.
Vote for Homerton in the DETAIL Awards 2024!
“On July 2, 2024, the jury of the DETAIL Award selected their favorites for the DETAIL Readers’ Award from an impressive array of submitted projects. The nominated projects were chosen for their outstanding architectural quality and exemplary character. Neither the size nor the height of the construction budget played a role. Instead, the focus was on a convincing overall concept, a consistently implemented sustainability strategy, successful details, and a coherent choice of materials.
The DETAIL Readers’ Award is given to the project most favoured by DETAIL readers. The winner is selected through an online voting process hosted on detail.de from 1 August – 1 October 2024.
The winner will be announced at a festive award ceremony on December 2 in Munich.”
Urban Nature Project at the Natural History Museum review – it’s a wondrous jungle out there
To read this review on the Observer’s website, click here. Feilden Fowles led the transformation, working in collaboration with landscape architects J&L Gibbons and alongside Gitta Gschwendtner, engineersHRW and Max Fordham.
The Natural History Museum unveils 5 acres of transformed gardens
Driven by an ambition to conserve and enhance biodiversity across the site and working closely with the Museum’s expert scientists, the team developed a holistic plan which sensitively incorporates two new timber and stone buildings: the Nature Activity Centre supported by Amazon Web Services; and the Garden Kitchen, into a landscape of accessible outdoor living galleries, which provide a sequence of opportunities to learn about and explore urban nature, and the incredible diversity of life on Earth.
Respecting the heritage of the Museum’s iconic Grade 1 listed building, designed by Alfred Waterhouse and dubbed the ‘Cathedral to Nature’, has been a core guiding principle. Waterhouse arranged the Museum with past (extinct) nature in the east wing and present (living) nature in the west, an idea echoed in the thematic arrangement of the gardens. The Evolution Garden in the east tells the story of Deep Time, through The Evolution Timeline, supported by Evolution Education Trust, representing the strata of our geological landscape. A new learning landscape in the west, the Nature Discovery Garden supported by The Cadogan Charity, showcases the broad range of UK habitat types present today and future approaches to climate adaptation.
Bringing history to life, this immersive and awe-inspiring landscape is part of a national programme of activity aiming to inspire people, in particular young people, to fall in love with nature and become the naturalists of the future.
“For this to truly be an ambitious and pioneering project, this needed to be a collaborative effort, drawing in expertise, advice and input from inside and outside the Museum. We visited other gardens, learning spaces and ecology centres; we spoke to scientists, conservationists, geologists; we learned from our communities, teachers, families and accessibility experts and we tendered for the best design team who were equally inspired to deliver a sustainable, accessible and biodiverse-friendly design.” – Natalie Tacq, Urban Nature Project Programme Manager, Natural History Museum
To see more of the project, click here.
Image credit – Kendal Noctor / The Trustees of The Natural History Museum / Feilden Fowles