blog.strakt

Planning permission has been granted for Birmingham’s V Building, what is said to be Britain’s tallest all-residential tower. Scheduled for completion in 2013.

danadra.com
BBC news
thevbuilding.com

more info at the Custard Factory blog

This weekend we headed to WordCamp UK 2008 which was, conveniently for us, held in Brum. We only made it to the Saturday due to other commitments, so are looking forward to seeing the feedback and resources from the Sunday.

The day was very interesting, and it was especially encouraging to see that other people, like us, are making the most of Wordpress as a CMS. The SEO for Wordpress was also of great interest, so we can help fire our clients fresh WP sites up the web ranking! It was also good to meet and network with a few like minds from Brum as well as from all over the UK and further.

More resources and info to be found on:
The WordCamp UK 2008 Blog
&
The Wiki

A few pictures of the yearbook we recently produced for Birmingham’s School of Architecture

Another date for ya diaries… in fact, it’s probably all a bit late for that, so forget ya diaries and just head down there later!

A date for ya diaries…

We have just uploaded a new web site for St George’s School in Edgbaston. It was a great pleasure to work with the school and both parties are very pleased with the final result. The site runs a full content management system and has brought the school into the digital age with the likes of RSS feeds and an online calendar that allows the school staff to input and organise all events within the school calendar.

We are looking forward to seeing how the site is received and developing the site in the future with possible additions such as the implementation of more social/community features.

Visit the site at www.sgse.co.uk

Thanks to Stef Lewandowski, who is on the School’s Council of Trustees and Marketing Group, for preparing a clear and comprehensive brief as well as helping us to communicate the more technical elements of the web site to the staff and board members.

The Birmingham School of Architecture are celebrating their 100 year anniversary this year, and needed a logo and a web site.

For the logo we worked with the head of department and tutors. They wanted something that would represent the school’s various locations over the past years and for the future. The school began at Margaret street, then moved to Gosta Green, to Perry Barr, back to Gosta Green, and then will move down to Eastside in the next few years. Hence the curve, which references the points of the geographical locations. This logo will be used to represent the school after the centenary has passed.

The web site’s main function is to advertise the centenary ball and allow students and alumni to purchase tickets. Once registered the alumni are given the opportunity to add a profile and search for other alumni and view their profiles (a sort of ‘friends reunited’ come ‘facebook’, only a tad simpler!). This web site will be reviewed after the ball and developed to use as the school’s main web site.
www.bsa-alumni.org.uk (won’t be able to view many pages without being a registered student or alumni of the school i’m afraid)

We have recently uploaded a web site called ‘first site‘ for MADE. This site will be a grower, and aims to represent young people’s views and voices on architecture and the projects they have engaged in. It is being launched officially tomorrow, along with other projects, at MADE’s symposium titled ‘Under the Influence - The power of young people to inform public space’. I’ll let Julia Ellis (Chief Executive of MADE) do the explaining…

‘Creative Communities is directed to increasing the voices of young people and helping to ensure their opinions are heard and acted upon. It started with Youth Space, a Government Office West Midlands Commission, where young people worked collaboratively with architects and artists to create their own spaces in 6 different parts of the region. Leading on from this, Creative Communities is strengthening the strategic regional context for young people’s sustainable and self-directed engagement with the designed environment, particularly within the planning and regeneration contexts. Creative Communities comprises three live projects and First Site, a virtual architecture centre for young people.’

The ‘First Site’ logo we created:

and the web site:

www.firstsite.org.uk