Charging Point /  by James Whitaker

Whitaker Studio’s concept design for a curb-side electric vehicle charging point.

Whitaker Studio’s concept design for a curb-side electric vehicle charging point.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders estimates that the UK needs to have 1.9million road side electric vehicle charging points by 2030. That means that the UK needs to install approximately 700 charging points every day over the next 8 years. (There are currently less than 40,000 public electric vehicle charging points.) So, during this summer the UK government ran a tender to appoint someone to design an affordable cabinet that could be rolled out across the country.

We didn’t win the tender, but it did spark our imagination. I wondered about creating a design that could be fabricated using the same processes and materials already used for street lights. A design that would lend itself to being made by existing manufacturers with their existing tools. Something that’s robust, both in terms of life on a city street and also its resilience to the weather.

Now, I’m a dad as well and have spent plenty of time trying to wind through congested pavements with a buggy. Also, electric vehicles are very much in their infancy at the moment and the equipment that we need to charge a car well might be different in 8 years time. So I concentrated on designing a slender bollard for the curb-side that would really just be a terminal, and then the transformers, fuses, meters etc could all be consolidated into a separate box set back from the edge of the road, so that hypothetically if a council upgraded the system at some point they could just upgrade the equipment in one box, rather than every terminal down the street.

Charging_Points_Street_Sketch.jpg

Anywhere House in Montana /  by James Whitaker

Summer photo of site.jpg

I just realised that we’ve been neglecting our blog this year!

Things are progressing well in Montana, USA where our first Anywhere House is due to be built over the next 12 months. The site is magnificent, sitting on a hillside at the edge of a large reservoir.

180005 - The Anywhere House_Corridor Lights 01_02.jpg
180005 - The Anywhere House_EN01-W01_01.jpg

The internal finish in the house is going to be exposed cross laminated timber. Cross laminated timber are structural panels that are made to order and robotically cut to size in the factory, so they arrive on site as a flat pack kit of parts. By keeping the CLT exposed we will get the dual benefits of the texture of the timber and a lovely crisp geometry.

180005 - The Anywhere House_Front Door_01.jpg

Outside the house is going to be clad in charred timber on the walls and black zinc on the roof.

The image above is of the entrance to the house.

The Anywhere House on Business Insider /  by James Whitaker

This home made out of tiny units can be built in any configuration and proves prefab architecture doesn't have to be boring

It's terrific to have an article in Business Insider about The Anywhere House. There have been a couple of articles about the Anywhere House in major publications in the last few weeks and we are now in conversation with people from Israel, Egypt, Sweden, Italy, USA, Panama… the list goes on and on. A giant thank you to Mary Meisenzahl for shining a light on a project that I am very proud of, it’s really appreciated.

Business Insider reports on the Starburst House /  by James Whitaker

Whitaker Studio's Starburst House in Joshua Tree

Business Insider have featured our Starburst House this week. If you visit our instagram feed you’ll see a special little animation that we made for the article that shows the house in a new way!

We're Hiring /  by James Whitaker

Whitaker Studio is Hiring

Whitaker Studio is on the hunt for an excellent new team member to start immediately.

We have a bunch of projects scattered around the world, and as the number of projects grows our team needs to grow. We need people to help us turn these projects into reality. Sometimes we’ll need you to come up with great, bold ideas, and sometimes we’ll need you to be able to critique ideas and say it as you see it in a clear and articulate way. Other times we will need you to just knuckle down and get the work done; no questions. Sadly, great work isn’t easily done, and we have no appetite for the average. We work really hard every day to create the best possible designs we can. We want our work to be site-specific and original. We want to create work that people haven’t seen before. If you’re happy drawing up the status quo read no further.

But working hard doesn’t mean that we’re keen to work late every night. Sometimes we need to burn the midnight oil but rarely is great work done when tired and worn out. We’ve got friends and family too. If you need to arrange your day around childcare we can make that work. Or if you’d really like to start late on a Wednesday so you can go to yoga that can work too. We will measure you on the work you produce, not the hours you sit at your desk. But this means we need someone with good time management skills. If you always handed your work in late at uni we probably aren’t the right place for you.

So down to the specifics. We are looking for a RIBA Part 2 or Part 3 to join our team.

Applicants must:

  • be good at managing their own time

  • be eligible to work in the UK

  • be fluent in English, both spoken and written

  • have strong Adobe Illustrator skills

  • be quick and proficient in AutoCAD

  • have good 3D modelling skills. 3DS Max proficiency is desirable but a good level in Rhino would also be considered

The role is short term with the possibility of being extended. It will start immediately.

Send CVs and concise portfolios to jobs@whitakerstudio.co.uk