Tony Whitehead
FeaturesLondon's concrete quarter
The transformation of King’s Cross includes some of the UK’s most sustainable office buildings - and concrete is key to all of them
FeaturesAires freshener
Foster + Partners brings something new to Buenos Aires, with an apartment block that uses fair-faced finishes to redefine the Argentinian capital’s idea of luxury living
FeaturesSt Paul's School, London: Best days of its life
Architectural standards were slipping at the 500-year-old St Paul’s School in London, but the elegant exposed interiors and concrete colonnades of Nicholas Hare’s new science building augur well for the future
FeaturesFoster + Partners' Queen Alia airport
Foster + Partners’ new airport in Jordan uses a mix of in-situ and precast concrete techniques to create a mesmerising pattern of shallow domes, curving beams and tapering columns
FeaturesCo-op’s Manchester HQ: Invisible touch
Hidden within its structure and deep underground, concrete has played a central role in turning the Co-op’s new Manchester HQ into the UK’s greenest office
FeaturesBiophilia: Natural resources
Big windows, natural light, pot plants… Sometimes the simplest things in life make the most business sense. We explore the value of biophilia in the office environment
FeaturesWhirl pool
From the swirling, curving walls and diving boards to the pools themselves, concrete makes a big splash at Zaha Hadid’s awe-inspiring aquatics centre
FeaturesStar jumps: how the diving boards took shape
Variously likened to the stamens of an exotic flower, a splash or even poised cobras, the dramatic lines of the aquatics centre’s six diving boards have attracted much interest – not only as a natural centre of attention during the Games, but because they are visually fascinating in themselves.
FeaturesWall-to-wall coverage
The curving concrete walls of the aquatics centre are one of its defining characteristics. They are first seen in the centre’s welcome area and provide a top and tail to the competition pools, as well as a stylish backdrop to television coverage of the diving.
FeaturesKisho Kurokawa's Maggie's Centre
Before he died in 2007, the legendary Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa sketched out a swirling, ‘dragon-tailed’ cancer care centre in Swansea. Now the UK’s 13th Maggie’s Centre has been completed in titanium-studded concrete by Garbers & James
FeaturesSolving the panel puzzle
The Maggie’s Centre certainly provided a stern test of the capabilities of precast concrete supplier Thorp Precast. The job involved creating 56 precast panels, and although many of these were similar, very few were identical.
FeaturesThe ‘cosmic whirlpool’ and other Maggie’s Centres
When writer and garden designer Maggie Keswick Jencks was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993, together with her husband, the architectural writer Charles Jencks, she set about her creating a charity project to provide cancer sufferers with expert support within a more sympathetic built environment.
FeaturesIdeal for swimming pools
Paints should do exactly what they say on the tin. But in the celebrated case of Bath Spa, they didn't - and the result was a public disaster for everyone involved. We report on what went wrong
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The gain in panes
After seven years in development, the European Window Energy Rating System is ready to roll, and it's intended to be a better test of performance than U-values. We report on a scheme that's coming soon to a glazed area near you
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Ticking away
Housing associations have three years to become Egan-compliant if they want funding for their schemes. Does this herald a real change in culture – or just a bureaucratic obstacle course?
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The good life
They feud about tea bags and rodent rights, they take afternoon tea together every day and have cycle paths in the office. Meet Feilden Clegg Bradley, the firm that won Building's best practice award.
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Becoming unattached
BT claims its new cordless workstations will halve companies' space requirements and slash their overheads – Laing says they have cut one of its firms' rental costs 40%. Here's how they work.
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Spot the difference?
There is some confusion over their exact powers, but with £800m a year, the eight new regional development agencies could change the face of regeneration in England.