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NEWS 2009 |
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DECEMBER 2009
LUKE HUGHES AND COMPANY COMMISSIONED BY WESTMINSTER ABBEY TO PROVIDE CLERGY SEATING
Luke Hughes & Company have this month been commissioned by the Dean & Chapter of Westminster Abbey to design and make new clergy seating to be used over the Cosmati Pavement, one of the most important medieval floors in Europe, incorporating symbolic patterns and innumerable semi-precious stones. The four-year restoration of the Pavement has been carried out by the conservation team at the Abbey and is due for completion in May 2010.
One of the practical considerations for the furniture is the unevenness of floor surface, varying as much as 40mm in localised areas. Any clergy seats have to be moved into a variety of positions for grand ceremonial occasions (such as royal visits) as well as the more usual weekly liturgical requirements. The furniture must be easy to adjust to ensure it is both level and stable. It must also spread any weight across the feet to minimise point-loading.
Our unusual solution uses of a series of felt-lined folding wedges, retained in position by earth-magnets. These can be swiftly adjusted by Abbey staff to take up any discrepancies in the floor levels. Walnut will be used since it is much lighter than oak, the conventional timber for ecclesiastical seating.
The prototype (see illustration) has been approved and the final set of clergy seating will be unveiled in April 2010.
Westminster Abbey web site.
Images:
1.
Preservation work on the Cosmati Pavement, one of the most important medieval floors in Europe
2.
The new clergy seating needs adjustable feet to deal with the uneven surface of the Cosmati Pavement
3. Variations of up to 40mm in levels are dealt with by the LHCL solution
(Photos by permission of the Dean & Chapter)
© Luke Hughes & Company, December 2009.
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NOVEMBER 2009
LUKE HUGHES GIVES PRESENTATIONS AT THE 'IFID 09' CONFERENCE IN DUBAI
Luke Hughes was invited to Dubai in November to give a number of presentations at the annual conference International Federation of Interior Designers (IFI09). The conference was held in association with the Dubai-based Association of Professional Interior Designers (APID).
Others speaking at the conference included Ross Lovegrove and Sebastian Conran.
The two principal topics addressed by Luke at the four-day conference were:
a) 'Sustainability and Materials in Design', and
b) 'Economic implications of health tourism to the design of luxury hotels'.
The former was an extension of Luke's provocative views about the real life-cycle costing of interior fit-outs and his unconventional approach to the sustainability of timber. The latter was as part of a high-level panel-discussion about hotel spa design - a principal market for Luke Hughes and Company and an area where getting the furniture right can make a huge difference to the economics of the whole building. The panel included Dr Gerald Huber (Regional director of Schletterer, the global spa design company), Markus Stebich (CEO of Stebich Hospitality Solutions), and Daniella Russell (independent spa consultant and the first operator of spas in Dubai).
Over the last ten years, Luke Hughes and Company have been involved with more than 40 major international luxury hotel spa projects. Clients including several projects for the Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula, and Ritz Carlton hotel chains.
The American Hardwoods Export Council were a major sponsor of the event.
Natasha Woodbridge is the principal Spa Consultant in Luke Hughes and Company. LHCL Spa Furniture
Images:
1
Luke Hughes and Company spa relaxation area easy chair and ottoman for the Mandarin, Las Vegas
2
Luke Hughes and company pedicure throne for the Mandarin, Las Vegas
3 Luke joins the panel-discussion about hotel spa design
4 The GEOr spa bed
© Luke Hughes & Company, November 2009.
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OCTOBER 2009
THE QUEEN OPENS THE UNITED KINGDOM SUPREME COURT
On October 16, the new UK Supreme Court was formally opened by Her Majesty the Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, and a tour was arranged for other holders of high public offices including the Prime Minister, Jack Straw (former Lord Chancellor, now Justice Secretary), the Archbishop of Canterbury, two Supreme Court Justices from the United States and most of the senior judiciary of the UK.
Luke Hughes and Company designed the new library (the centre-piece of the building) and, in collaboration with Tomoko Azumi, the furniture for the three courtrooms and the Justices' private rooms. The architects for the re-furbishment were Feilden and Mawson.
Luke Hughes had the honour to explain to the Queen some of the background to the evolution of the designs for the library and courtrooms, and to introduce her to other designers and artists involved on the project, including Ian Rank-Broadley (who created the magnificent new bronze bas-relief portrait of the Queen that now hangs in the entrance), Bettina Furnée (glass engraver) and Yvonne Holton (heraldic artist and designer of the new crest). Tomoko Azumi, with whom Luke Hughes & Company collaborated in the creation of the court-room furniture, was also introduced to the royal party and to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had just returned from a visit to Hiroshima, where Tomoko was born. He revealed that 'it was one of the most moving experiences of my life'.
The Prime Minister was amused to have pointed out to him by Luke three small stone carved figures which have adorned some of the corbels supporting the original library ceiling, one of the sculptor Henry Fehr, one of his principal carver Domenico Magnoni, and one of Lloyd George (then Chancellor of Exchequer and later Prime Minister) depicted avariciously holding back the money-bags. 'That's what artists do to immortalise former Chancellors who then go on to higher things, Prime Minister', said Luke Hughes 'Oh, that's excellent, I like that!' , said Gordon Brown, and then spent the next five minutes showing the figures to everyone else in the room.
Links :
e-newsletter
more photos
original 2009 story
download e-zine [pdf 941kb]
[Link to longer article by LH (currently Word document, as PDF??)]
Images:
1The gargoyle representing Lloyd George as Chancellor of the Exchequer
2
Tomoko Azumi with the Archbishop of Canterbury
3 Gordon Brown is amused by the gargoyle of Lloyd George
4 The Duke of Edinburgh admires the ceiling
5 The Queen meets Bettina Furnée
© Luke Hughes & Company, October 2009.
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SEPTEMBER 2009
THE BOTANIC INSTITUTE IN CAMBRIDGE
Luke Hughes and Company has just been appointed to design and procure all the purpose-made furniture for the new Botanic Institute in Cambridge. The new building, designed by Stanton Williams , is being built in the Botanic Gardens of Cambridge University and is being funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. The building is fine example of the one of the principal tenets Luke Hughes and Company's design philosophy, that in any good building, the connection between the architecture and the furniture should be seamless, creating a sense of 'rightness', functionally and aesthetically. Most buildings have neither function nor purpose without furniture: inappropriate pieces grossly undermine great architecture. The skill lies in matching the two: a building should be embellished by use, not embarassed by it.
Completion is expected in late 2010. Project Managers are Hannah Reed and Associates.
Upon completion at the end of 2010, the Sainsbury Laboratory, funded by the
Gatsby Charitable Foundation, will become home to 120 scientists and 30
support staff all dedicated to answering this question - to discovering and
understanding just how plant diversity arises and evolves.
Images :
1.
Tom Molyneux, Luke Hughes and Company designer discusses the project withGavin Henderson and Henry Williams at Stanton Williams architects.
2.
The Botanic Institute takes shape.
© Luke Hughes & Company, September 2009.
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AUGUST 2009
LUKE HUGHES AND COMPANY PROVIDES FURNITURE FOR HAMPTON COURT PALACE
Hampton Court Palace has, as part of the 500th anniversary of the accession of Henry VIII, recently upgraded its interpretation of the parts of the palace and the royal court. Luke Hughes & Company collaborated with the exhibition designer Karl Abeyasekera of studio associates and Della Cooper (Creative and Design Manager at the Historic Royal Palaces) on the furniture and AV display in the re-created Council Chamber, and some intriguing trestle tables - both for the body of the Great Hall and the dais on which Henry and his various queens must have sat. The tables had to express some of the Tudor feel but the light-weight, quick release table tops had to be designed for rapid removal by a single usher 'in a hurry' and stacked into mobile trolleys, to be wheeled away to be stored.
The designs of the furniture derived from some of the designs found on board Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose. Luke Hughes had, as a student in the 1970s, been involved with the underwater excavations of the Mary Rose prior to it being lifted from the seabed
Images :
1
Visitors seated in the AV theatre
2
Bespoke oak chairs
3 Solid oak trestle tables
4 Luke Hughes on the Mary Rose dive
5 From the 'Anthony Roll' the only contemporary picture of the Mary Rose
6 Medieval shipwright's tools recovered from the Mary Rose
© Luke Hughes & Company, August 2009.
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JULY 2009
LHCL WORKS WITH TOMOKO AZUMI
Luke Hughes & Company have again been collaborating with designer Tomoko Azumi at TNA studio to increase their range of specialist furniture designs for the luxury hotel spa market. The company has, since the first installation at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge in 1999 (designed by Eric Parry Architects) now completed major projects with:-
The Peninsulas' - Hong Kong, Chicago, Bangkok and Tokyo
Bahia Del Duque, Tenerifie
Metropole Spa, Monaco
Maryborough, Ireland
Mar Menor, Spain
Grand Lisboa Hotel, Machau
Gleneagles Hotel Scotland
Hotel Europe Ireland
The Address Hotel, Downtown Burj Dubai
The Reval Hotel Riga
The G, Ireland
One and Only Palimia
Ritz Carlton Hotel Powerscourt, Bahrain and Moscow
Loch Lomond, Scotland
Sofitel St James, London, UK
Captains Club, Dorset , UK
Mandarin Oriental Knightsbridge
The first major project for the new designs was recently delivered to the Hotel Europe in Killarney. This has been followed by further orders from the Reval Hotel in Riga, Latvia.
The new designs are an expression of Luke Hughes & Company's commitment to meticulous research into the ways in which furniture enables sensitive architectural spaces to work, both efficiently and economically. Natasha Woodbridge and Naomi Greig head up the Spa team at Luke Hughes & Company. For more details, visit the Luke Hughes and Company spa beds site.
Images feature the EKO e+ spa bed
© Luke Hughes & Company, July 2009.
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JUNE 2009
ST GILE'S CATHEDRAL EDINBURGH, ALTAR
A radical new altar has been designed by Luke Hughes for St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh and in June 2009 was approved by the Office of Worship & Doctrine of the Church of Scotland. The altar will be made out of a solid 3-ton block of marble, quarried near Carara and is expected to be installed in the autumn of 2009. There have been intense discussions about the liturgical symbolism of the table and this has led to visits to various quarries, including the romantic, abandoned quarry on Iona, where Columba first re-introduced Christianity in the 6th century. Eventually, the choice of stone was for a Calacata marble which will be worked by Mauro Rovai in Pietra Santa, near Pisa in Italy.
Images :
1
St Giles Cathedral, gargoyle feature
2
St Giles Cathedral, spire and features
3 the altar mock up in situ
4 mason's yard in Pietra Santa
www.stgilescathedral.org.uk
© Luke Hughes & Company, July 2009.
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MAY 2009
CONTINUED WORK WITH UNILEVER
During 2009 Luke Hughes & Company have continued to supply Unilever's prestigious HQ with executive boardroom and dining furniture to match the original pieces designed to complement the highly successful rebuilding of Unilever House by architects Kohn Pederson Fox in 2007. 'It is very pleasing to see how much the newly designed furniture is working and how much it is appreciated by the client', said customer manager, Wendy Graham.
Original 2007 story
Download pdf story with pictures [pdf 1mb]
Images:
1 glass topped 'Mercury' based table
2 'Capital' boardroom table
3 'Curzon' cable managed meeting table
© Luke Hughes & Company, July 2009.
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APRIL 2009
CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST ALBANS
Earlier this year, Luke Hughes & Company was appointed to consider new liturgical furniture for the nave of St Alban's Cathedral and, in April, the resulting designs were approved by the Dean & Chapter and English Heritage. The designs include altar, altar rails, clergy seating, choir stalls and a radical storage arrangement under the organ loft that will deal with the storage problems associated with the inevitable clutter of a busy cathedral. The scheme has evolved in collaboration with the cathedral surveyor, RIchard Griffiths and the artist, John Maddison, who has designed a painted panelled ceiling for the storage area.
'There are many challenges in working in one of England's finest Romanesque ecclesiastical interiors, not least enabling the space to work for worshippers and and cathedral staff. It may be challenging, but it is certainly stimulating - as ever, we are committed to getting the details absolutely right'.
link to Richard Griffiths Architects
www.rgarchitects.com
Images:
1 floor plan
2 rood screen and columns
3 John Maddison's painted ceiling proposals
© Luke Hughes & Company, July 2009.
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MARCH 2009
COMPLETION OF THE UK SUPREME COURT LIBRARY
This month saw the completion of the building works of the new Supreme Court, for which Luke Hughes & Company have designed the library fittings to fit in with the Feidlen and Mawson's architectural scheme. This appointment followed Luke Hughes's award-winning designs for another major law library - the Supreme Court Library in Edinburgh completed in 2004. Luke Hughes & Company have also designed, in collaboration with Tomoko Azumi, the furniture for the three new courtrooms, as well as the furniture for the Justices's new private rooms. The completion of the library, manufactured by joinery company E.E. Smith as sub-contractors to the Kier Group, has presented unexpected challenges including incorporating water-sprinkler fittings within the book-stack lighting. It has also meant collaborating again with the letter-designer, Richard Kindersley, who also designed the lettering for the Luke Hughes Millennium Altar for Bristol Cathedral in 2001.
www.feildenandmawson.com
www.justice.gov.uk/about/supremecourt.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_Kingdom
www.kindersleystudio.co.uk
Images:
1 Tomoko Azumi with a model of the court
2 Computer generated image of the proposed plan
3 Computer generated image of the Justice's desk in a private study
© Luke Hughes & Company, September 2009.
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FEBRUARY 2009
KING & SPALDING
Another milestone was reached when Luke Hughes & Company completed the corporate dining and boardroom furniture for their 40th London legal practice in 12 years. This project was for King & Spalding, the international law firm who have more than 880 lawyers in their offices in Abu Dhabi, Frankfurt, London, Riyadh and major cities all over the USA. The firm represents more than 250 USA public companies, including half of the Fortune 100 and follows closely on the heels of the fit out for Mayer Brown in Bishopsgate.
Their newly refurbished offices in Old Broad Street were designed by Oliver Associates, with whom Luke Hughes & Company collaborated in the designs of the meeting room furniture which are made in exotic burr walnut veneers, marble, stainless steel and a wide variety of other materials.
Download pdf story with pictures [pdf 868kb]
www.oliver-associates.co.uk
www.kslaw.com
Images:
1 burr walnut veneered credenza
2 radial cut, slip matched american black walnut table top
3 'Mercury' based 'Triarc' table top in Satin Walnut
4 Dining table
© Luke Hughes & Company, July 2009.
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JANUARY 2009
HENDERSON GLOBAL INVESTORS
Luke Hughes & Company have just completed the loose furniture for 15 client meeting and dining rooms, a boardroom and flexible presentation rooms for Henderson Global Investors, as collaborators in a scheme by leading interior and workplace interior consultants, Pringle Brandon. The result is a 125,000 sq ft carbon-neutral office for up to 900 people - and includes 6 fish-tanks in the break-out spaces. The scheme was winner of the Fit Out of Workplace (London) category at BCO Awards.
The project saw the first use of the new MOKI cable-managed table leg system, developed by Luke Hughes and Company in collaboration with Tomoko Azumi. One of the great advantage of the design is the considered use of folded steel-sheet, based on Japanese origami principles - a cost-effective production technique that minimises welds and polishing and therefore greatly reduces energy costs in manufacture. The cable management up the legs is simple and easy to use. Luke Hughes & Company are committed to much more of this kind of 'clever thinking', appropriate to the ecological challenges of the age.
Download pdf story with pictures [pdf 915kb]
www.pringle-brandon.co.uk
www.henderson.com
Images:
1 'Curzon' reconfigurable tables in meeting rooms layout
2 Award winning office setting
3 'Mercury' based 'Triarc' table top in Satin Walnut
4 'Moki' table leg in polished stainless steel
5 & 6 'Moki' cable access arrangement
© Luke Hughes & Company, July 2009.
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