Bringing together a decade of hand drawings by Baca Directors Richard Coutts and Robert Pattison. “It’s been almost 20 years since we both collaborated as master’s students to design the ‘Studium’ at university—an ambitious proposal for a mini-campus combining Architectural School, Planning, Landscape, and Geography Departments. It was the connecting spaces in-between—the communal staircase, lobby, and refectory spaces—that encouraged social interaction. Who would have thought nearly 20 years later that we would still be collaborating and developing some of the most ambitious buildings in the world that are in, on, near, and under water!” says Baca's Creative Director Robert Pattison. Hand drawing has played an integral part in Baca’s design process. It captures the genesis and energy of the concept—a simple stroke of the pencil capturing the movement of the roofline or the flow of water through a master plan. Richard recalls sketching the ‘Whale’ during a 7am call with the Australian counterparts during lockdown. The tender winning designing of a ‘rock’ was quickly dismissed by the mayor who wanted a pirate ship, complete with mast and flag. A cup of coffee was needed, then a quick sketch, a photo on an iphone, a whatsapp message and then on a screen via Matt at Subcon. They loved it and the designs went out in the press that Christmas. If they built it – then it’s a great origin story. Do enjoy the sketchbook as much as we enjoyed creating the images! #design #sketch #handdrawing #handdrawn #architecture #innovation​

New Flood Resilient Homes.After the long lag caused by the covid pandemic, we are pleased to report a wave on new flood resilient homes will start in site this year that will test new technologies and with innovation at the threshold of current policy parameters.  Weave House has secured full planning permission in Chelmsford. A suburban infill site next to a river the site has provided both a challenge in terms of tackling traditional infill policy with the complexity of flooding. The 285m² (3000sq ft) 'part flood-resilient, part-elevated' Weave House will replace an existing, rundown house and outbuildings. The project, which is expected to cost around £900,000, features two blocks connected by a ramped spine. The landscaping will re-wild several areas of the garden by removing much of the existing hard standing.  Featured on AJ ​: https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/baca-wins-approval-for-flood-resilient-house-in-chelmsford

Since our scheme on the Isle of Man has gone public, we’ve received a few requests about the flood-resilient planning theory that informed the designs. Enclosed is an abstract of ‘The Blue Drempel’ or blue thresholds, which was first presented at the Architectural School in Warsaw, Poland, as part of the international symposium on amphibious architecture. This thesis sought to explore how amphibious houses might work in larger numbers alongside other resilient archetypes, as part of a landscape-led masterplan that makes space for water.  Credits: Richard Coutts, Matthew Sharman-Hayles, and John Napier.Designs also include concept plans developed in collaboration with our friends at Waterstudio in the Netherlands.  Further publications include "Aquatecture: Buildings and Cities Designed to Live and Work with Water" by Robert Barker & Richard Coutts, RIBA Publishing.​

Baca Director, Richard Coutts attended the launch of Flood-re’s ‘Build back better initiative’ at the House of Commons. Build Back Better is an innovative new way of thinking about home flood insurance. The initiative means families are out of their homes for a fraction of the time and insurers can have the confidence that the properties they cover are more resilient to flood events meaning much lower future claims    What Flood Re isFlood Re is a re-insurance scheme that began operation in 2016. It allows insurance companies to pool the potential costs of the higher risk to many properties by paying a special levy. Because Flood Re is a re-insurance scheme, it works with insurers rather than customers.The eligibility rules for Flood Re are however sometimes complex. The scheme excludes commercial properties as well as certain leasehold properties. It also generally excludes buildings constructed since 2009. This is to help dissuade developers from building on land at risk of flooding. Flood Re is due to end in 2039. By that time it aims to have paved the way to a free-market approach in which policy prices reflect risk.  How it came aboutThere had been earlier agreements between the Government and the insurance industry to help manage the market. But more severe floods (such as in 2007) had led to large payouts and subsequent increases in prices. This situation threatened a failure of the market in many areas. Parliament set out general arrangements for Flood Re through the Water Act 2014.  Performance so far and issues for the futureSince its launch, Flood Re has been able to report strong and clear benefits for most domestic customers in areas at risk. By 2019, for instance, four out of five households with a history of flood claims had seen prices drop by 50%. Flood Re has effectively stabilised the domestic flood insurance market. It now faces the challenge of helping to promote more sustainable approaches to flood prevention, resistance and resilience. These will ultimately be needed if the market is to be able to reflect risk. There is a paradox in this. If customers can buy cheaper flood insurance, they may be less concerned about taking wider action to manage flood risks. In addition, Flood Re doesn’t cover commercial or all residential properties. The Government has tended to highlight industry-led solutions to those problems. After prolonged and repeated flooding events over the winter of 2019-20, the Government announced the launch of the Blanc review, which considered the level and adequacy of flood insurance in affected areas. The report from the review, published in November 2020, found “worrying” levels of coverage in Doncaster, particularly among tenants. It has called for better information and support for both owner-occupiers and tenants, as well as better monitoring of progress. Defra launched a consultation on amendments to the scheme in February 2021. This reiterates the importance of supporting resilience and proposes no changes for general eligibility. 

Baca Architects are honoured to update the chapter: Flood Resilient Design in the forthcoming 6th edition of the Metric Handbook.  The metric handbook is … … the major handbook of planning and design information for architects and architecture students. Covering basic design data for all the major building types, it is the ideal starting point for any project. For each building type, the book outlines the basic design requirements and all of the principal dimensional data, whilst also providing succinct guidance on how to utilise the information and any comply with design regulations.As well as building types, the Metric Handbook deals with broader aspects of design such as materials, acoustics and lighting, and general design data on human dimensions and space requirements. The Metric Handbook provides an invaluable resource for solving everyday design and planning problems. The updated chapter will feature the newly completed Shipston Road Flood Resilient Multiple Unit Housing scheme in Stratford-Upon-Avon in the UK - which is in close proximity to William Shakespeare’s birth-place! ​

The whale is making a big splash! Architecture and Design is ‘Australia’s largest commercial architecture, building, construction and design media network’ and have published an article on the new ‘Australia Underwater Ocean Discovery Centre’ designed by Baca Architects; of whom marine contractor, Subcon, appointed as lead architects for the project. A&D wrote:‘An underwater marine observatory resembling a huge whale surfacing from the sea will soon come up off the coast of Geographe Bay in Western Australia.’ ‘Designed by London-based architecture studio, Baca Architects for marine contractor, Subcon, the $30-million Australian Underwater Discovery Centre (AUDC) will be Australia’s largest natural marine observatory on completion. Located two hours to the south of Perth, the new marine observatory will be built at the end of Busselton Jetty, two kilometres out at sea, replacing an existing observatory that has reached capacity.’ ‘From the three designs developed by Baca Architects, the Cetacean design mimicking a whale emerging from the water was selected through a public voting process.’ ‘Construction on the AUDC is expected to begin in the middle of this year, with the underwater centre to open by December 2022. Once operational, the marine observatory is expected to draw more than 900,000 visitors annually.’ ‘The AUDC aims to become the world’s biggest natural marine observatory, complete with an underwater trail and dining facilities among others. Describing the approach to the observatory, the press statement says that guests will be taken ‘through a landscaped sequence from their moment of arrival, where they will leave their car behind in a park graced with rain gardens’.’ Read the full article here​

'The Australian marine observatory by Baca Architects [appointed as lead architects by Subcon] will resemble a whale emerging from wayer' is the headline used by Dezeen to cover the press-release of our Underwater Ocean Discovery Centre destined for western Australia. Dezeen wrote: ‘Baca Architects is a London architecture studio founded by Coutts in 2003. While the AUDC marks its foray into underwater architecture, the firm is familiar with building on the water and creating flood-resilient structures.’ Read the full article here​

This week, we are delighted to share some photos of our newly constructed Flood Resilient Houses in Stratford-upon-Avon!.With this, we also bring you an article by STIR World which describes the implimented flood defence strategies and showcase some extra details. Excerpt from the article below:.‘Their designs for 11-high quality homes have regenerated a brownfield flood-risk site that has laid inactive for over a decade, relieving the effects of inundation in an Environment Agency Flood Zone 2 and 3 designated area.’ - STIR World.You can read the full article here:.https://www.stirworld.com/see-features-baca-architects-elevate-residences-above-flood-risked-site-in-stratford-uk.And view the project in full here:.Baca Architects - Flood Resilient Homes