img(height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=2939831959404383&ev=PageView&noscript=1")

London Zoo: Bars everywhere

London Zoo’s reinvention (its ‘Zoo Lates’ summer night event is a racy staple for young adults on the prowl), included architect and designer SHH’s appointment to transform its restaurant – part of a 3-year, £4.6m upgrade of the original 1920s building. Now an area increased by nearly 1000m2 includes two expansive restaurants and much-increased mezzanine floor space to deal with almost 10,000 visitors a day. This involved replacing a 1960s wing with a new tiered extension including a 6m high space at the front, re-revealing arches to the main building. The new structure is all steel columns and plenty of glass, with plant areas hidden by Parklex-clad timber wings. The work has boosted covers from 240 to 700, tripling capacity for all those hungry little monsters.

Latest

Jestico + Whiles maintains a healthy respect for Nottingham’s past with its bold new number 1, part of the Island Quarter regeneration project

Heritage references help regeneration project blend in

LEAP achieved the North East’s first Passivhaus certification for its Durham retrofit with an EnerPHit Plus rating, selling on the surplus energy it generates

EnerPHit Plus-rated barn is North East’s first Passivhaus retrofit

OGU’s interventions in Belfast are often small and temporary, but the practice hopes that their disproportionate impact can change the conversation about the city

Small, temporary interventions can change the conversation about the city

Jay Gort of Gort Scott reveals the importance of pears, designing Epic Iran and challenging detail as he shares some of his key collaborators

Pears for the Rock, Epic Iran, and a great many details

The co-founder of Pringle Brandon and former RIBA president looks back on how dyslexia led him to become an architect, being bought out by Perkins & Will and setting up practice with two of his daughters

The co-founder of Pringle Brandon and former RIBA president looks back on his career