Buildings under construction
Case studies
The ArcelorMittal Orbit: Twist and shout
The ArcelorMittal Orbit in the Olympic park is being built to ‘arouse the curiosity and wonder of Londoners’. And the most curious thing of all is how this spiralling confusion of red steel actually stands up
Top of the class: Passivhaus school design
A primary school in Exeter won’t win any architectural awards, but is earning gold stars in zero-carbon and Passivhaus design. Thomas Lane swots up on how to deliver a low-energy building on a budget
The Shard: London's tallest building
Londoners have hardly been able to believe their eyes as the capital’s tallest building has shot up in front of them at dizzying speed. Building braves icy winds to report on an engineering triumph
Blackfriars station: Pulling out the stops
Blackfriars station is being rebuilt on a bridge right over the River Thames. With a four-lane road to the north, live railway lines on all sides and the river below, it’s not the easiest site on which to deliver a complex project. So how was it done? Thomas Lane buys a platform ticket
Laboratory of Molecular Biology: Master of science
The Medical Research Council’s new chromosome-shaped lab in Cambridge is an example of how attention to detail and planning can deliver complex buildings on time and to budget
2012 countdown: The velodrome
The plan with the velodrome was to make it as lean as a racing bike, says Chris Wise, one of its designers
2012 countdown: Jonathan Edwards and the Olympic village
Don’t worry. Jonathan Edwards hasn’t fallen on hard times since winning gold at Sydney in 2000. Rather, Locog is using his expert knowledge to help with the delivery of the £1bn Olympic village, right down to the fixtures and fittings
2012 countdown: The stadium
One year from now, the 80,000-seat Olympic stadium has to be ready. Will it make it?
2012 countdown: The aquatics centre
Since the aquatics centre’s 160m-long roof was lowered into place last year, work on the Zaha Hadid-designed venue has continued to power ahead
Support act: Cannon Place
Finding somewhere to lay the foundations for an office block above London’s Cannon Street station proved so difficult, the engineers had to call on the structural principles of the Forth Bridge to get the job done
Bankside: Have you met the Tate’s new neighbours?
Once snubbed as the poor relation of the trendy South Bank, Bankside has been transformed over the past decade by ambitious design. Now, finally, the residential sector is moving in
The Shard: Foot of the mountain
The Shard had already climbed to 21 storeys by the time 700 truckloads of concrete were poured to create its foundation. So what was stopping it from falling down?
Double crossing: Heneghan Peng’s Olympic bridge
Heneghan Peng’s 54m-wide central bridge at the Olympic park, which was lowered into place last week, has been ingeniously designed to form two narrower walkways after the Games have finished. Stephen Kennett explains how it all works
Zaha's Museum of Transport: The battle of the oil can
Zaha Hadid’s Museum of Transport in Glasgow was designed with gothic zinc-clad ridges and 100m-plus roof spans. They looked great on a computer screen, but led to memorable rows with the project team
Media City, Salford: This is the BBC
Developer Peel Holdings and Bovis Lend Lease enjoy a high level of trust – which is just as well, because when they took on the Beeb’s new studios at MediaCity in Salford, there was a fair degree of risk involved – and getting the project in before the pips was only part of it
Crazy angles, soaring steel: Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou opera house
As the Chinese city of Guangzhou races to build a new district in time for the 2010 Asian Games, the designs of two British architects enter the spotlight. Thomas Lane charts the trials, tribulations and triumphs of Zaha Hadid’s opera house and Wilkinson Eyre’s West Tower
Glamorous address: Candy & Candy's One Hyde Park
Candy & Candy’s One Hyde Park is coming along quite nicely, thank you. Which is just as well, because when you’re spending £100m on an apartment, you do rather want the builders out of the way before you move in
Liverpool One on-site: Welcome to paradise
How do you co-ordinate a £1bn budget, 40 buildings, 22 architects and 90 consultants to deliver the most ambitious regeneration scheme Liverpool has ever seen? Thomas Lane went to ask the man who has to do it
St Pancras Midland Grand Hotel: A hotel to remember
The Midland Grand Hotel used to be a vast, obsolete luxury liner moored alongside St Pancras station. Then it was an office, then a ruin, and in a few years it will become something truly splendid.
St Pancras Midland Grand Hotel: A hotel to remember
The Midland Grand Hotel used to be a vast, obsolete luxury liner moored alongside St Pancras station. Then it was an office, then a ruin, and in a few years it will become something truly splendid.
