Our Winter 2009 newsletter is now available to download from our website by clicking here.

If you would like to be kept up to date with our latest work, you can join our newsletter mailing list by emailing us at mail@sjolanderdacruz.co.uk.

Our Summer 2009 newsletter is now available to download from our website by clicking here.

If you would like to be kept up to date with our latest work, you can join our newsletter mailing list by emailing us at mail@sjolanderdacruz.co.uk.

Our Winter 2008 newsletter is now available to download from our website by clicking here.

If you would like to be kept up to date with our latest work, you can join our newsletter mailing list by emailing us at mail@sjolanderdacruz.co.uk.

Sited at Penn Island Skate Park, Wolverhampton, our recently completed Youth Shelter has a form derived from an analysis of the movement of skaters as they perform their gnarliest tricks and moves.

Commissioned through MADE (Midlands Architecture and the Design Environment) and the Government Office for the West Midlands, the shelter was designed and constructed in conjunction with the users of the skate park, artist Gwen Heeney and Structural Engineers Buro Happold. The project was a collaborative process throughout, from the initial consultation events held at the skate park, to the carving and construction of the brick base.

The finished shelter comprises of two distinct elements; the organic brick base and a dynamic steel cantilevered canopy structure. The project was shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2009.

Percy Shurmer Primary School in Birmingham has been highly commended in the best external learning environment category at the British Council for School Environments Awards, held at the Emirates Stadium.

Ian Fordham, the Deputy Chief Executive of the BCSE described the awards shortlist as representing a "gold standard reference point for anybody involved in the school design or construction process".

Our masterplan re-ordered the school site and provided unique learning exploration and play areas. The key additions included a new school square, bespoke brick huts and a woodland adventure area.

King Charles I Arts Centre in Kidderminster has won a Green Apple Award, celebrating environmental best practice.

The building, completed last year in partnership with Worcestershire County Council, showcases a variety of environmental technologies and low carbon building strategies including solar water heating panels fixed to the sedum roof; highly insulated timber framed walls clad in cedar; and a wood pellet powered boiler for the heating system.

We have been taken on to provide a feasibility study for Megan Baker House; a Centre for Conductive Education based in Herefordshire. This inspiring project will supply education and therapy services free of charge to children and teenagers with motor disabilities such as cerebral palsy and dyspraxia, and also to adults with Parkinson's Disease, giving people with disabilities an exciting environment to help develop a pathway towards independence.

After completion of a series of projects with contractors Framework BSL, we have been chosen to design a pavilion to provide a full scale example of the offsite building system we have used previously on a number of Children's Centres, Schools, and Arts Centres. This temporary structure allows people to easily see how the building system works and can be used for the construction of their own projects.

Sjölander da Cruz has designed a competition entry for the recent Art Fund Pavilion competition to provide The Lightbox gallery and museum, in Woking, with a semi-permanent summer pavilion. Our design explores the connection to the landscape with facades of variable permeabilities. The shortlist for the competition will be announced on 12th March by Tent London and The Lightbox.

After working together with Creative Partnerships and students from Percy Shurmer Primary School in Birmingham, construction of a stimulating outdoor learning and play area has been completed. We hope that the new external learning environments will help raise the aspirations of the pupils and provide an exciting facility for the whole school.

The manufacture of Amington Heath Youth Shelter has begun. This project, undertaken in partnership with MADE, has been developed from the inspiration of the site and the designs and ideas of local young people. It is envisaged to become a meeting and focal point for community activities, which can take place within the natural surroundings of the local wooded area.

Construction has been completed on a series of Children's Centres and an Arts Centre in Worcestershire. Each contemporary building provides a welcoming environment to satisfy the need for childcare, training, and social facilities in their local area.

In partnership with Buro Happold, we entered the recent RIBA international design competition to design a new bridge over the River Douglas in Lancashire. Our proposal intended to achieve a lightweight structural solution based upon the geometry of a helix. The design simultaneously provided a pedestrian crossing and habitat for birds, insects and small mammals within the area.

Sure Start Tamworth and our Warwickshire Children's Centres have received excellent enabler feedback reports from CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment). This recognition follows on from receiving a CABE 'Festive Five Award' which commends design champions.

Our scheme for a new five bedroom villa in Edgbaston has begun on site. The new house is conceived as a series of interlocking flexible living spaces, which form a carved cube. We are looking forward to the realisation of this exciting contemporary project with the client.

Sjölander da Cruz are among six practices shortlisted in an RIBA competition to design a new landmark building in Walsall. Schemes for the new library in the Bentley area will go on public display in the January with the winner announced in March.

We have been selected through a competitive interview process to carryout a feasibility study for a new community centre in Walsall. The new building will replace existing temporary buildings and provide a range of community facilities including a new home for the Pleck Boxing Club.

Westwood High School has been awarded a regional Built in Quality award. Built in quality awards recognise 'high quality building projects that deliver partnership, innovation and sustainability'.

Bedworth Heath Children's Centre was commended at the BDI Industry and Genius awards. The judges commented, 'The architects have used the constrained site in an imaginative way. They have created a real gem out of an extremely tight space, scooping light into the internal spaces to make it a bright and functional space for small children'.

The studio went to Stockholm over the August bank holiday weekend. The highlights included Asplunds Woodland Cemetery, Lewerentzs Church of St. Mark and fishing in the Archipelago.

In conjunction with off site fabrication company Framework CDM we have just won a commission to design a Resource Centre for the young people of Neston, near Elsmere Port. The building will combine spaces for the young people, with training, education and community facilities.

We have been commissioned to design the new village hall in Hawkesbury Village near Bedworth. The new building will be a focal point for the local community, facilitating a wide range of local activities.

Each Year Campaign for Architecture and the Built environment (CABE) highlights five individuals, five organisations and five private companies who are setting the standard for Architecture and design. In 2007 the focus for the awards was on school and inclusive design. Sjölander da Cruz Architects was chosen for an award for our work on the Warwickshire Children's Centres projects.

"Sjölander da Cruz Architects have made a particularly impressive contribution to Warwickshire County Council's Sure Start programme. Their work includes Newdigate Children's Centre in Bedworth Heath, Newbold Riverside Children's Centre in Rugby, Hatter's Space Children's Centre in Nuneaton, and Bedworth Heath Children's Centre, which has been shortlisted for the 2007 Architect's Journal Small Projects Award. All are simply designed but well planned and detailed, with flexible spaces and good use of colour. The architects have demonstrated both that difficult briefs, such as refurbishment and extensions to existing buildings, can be overcome with considered architectural thought and also that well-designed and functional buildings which fully meet the needs of children, parents and staff can be achieved within modest budgets. This is all the more impressive given the mediocre buildings that many local authorities still produce."

Extract from CABE News. www.cabe.org.uk

Sjölander da Cruz Architects won an RIBA Award in 2005 with the successful Sure Start Tamworth building, which was also shortlisted for the architects journal First Building Awards.

"While its neighbours shelter behind shutters, boards and barbed wire, the Sure Start building is transparent, colourful and cheerful. Its entrance and foyer engage with the surrounding streets and revitalise what was a run-down square in the middle of the estate".

Architecture 05.

The Guide To The RIBA Awards

"It is an inspiring example of a successful partnership between a determined and intelligent client and an architect who was prepared to devote considerable time and effort to engagement with the community during the design, construction and post-completion phases".

Architecture 05.

The Guide To The RIBA Awards