dot.tour 2009 - a success!!

So Dot. was in London this weekend for a bit of professional pleasure. With the weather forecast for some well earned sun, our cameras fully charged, oyster card loaded and our sketchbooks dusted off, we hit London on a tourist mission! Dot.tour 2009 was an organised architectural tour of London. We (along with various creative professionals) have been meaning to make this trip in a long time, and as such we took in the basics. A chance to have a few beers talk over business and the effects of the recession on our small companies, while enjoying some of the finest structures London has too offer.

Dot. were joined throughout the day by Henry Turner, director of www.gardenvisit.com, Steve Sayers of http://www.studio4photo.co.uk  fame and Green Rock Media's Simon Green, to name a few. Also on the trip was, soon to be launched www.youarearchitect.com David Oliver, who was compiling more content for his architectural reference website, ready to launch in the early summer. 

Above is the newly constructed and rather exciting visitors centre just south of St Paul's' Cathedral. Designed by Make architects, it creates an amazing old/new juxtaposition with London's most prolific building - St Paul's'.  Clad in Stainless steel panels, and with vast expanses of glass to the front, the scheme offers rather unusual reflections of St Paul's across its surfaces, which helps make the two sit so well together. We also managed to take in the British Museum, with Norman Fosters awe inspiring courtyard development. Again, we are shown how well old and new structures can meet, and work so well together, no better shown in this image, where the highly engineered roof sails down to meet the Ancient Greek Style foyer. 

A quick snap of the Tate Modern, always a favourite of mine, not only for the work, but for the Sympathetic renovation of one of London's largest stations along the Thames. 

We all had a superb day, other sites include, Libeskind's London Met Grad centre, Foster's Gherkin, Roger's Lloyd's Building and Somerset House. This is the first of what we hope will be many Dot.tours, look out for our next in the Summer, we are thinking Manchester, but who knows, will get feedback on this one and take it from there. 

Thanks to all that came along, beautiful weather, brilliant architecture, and plenty of beer and banter - what a weekend!

Dot. continue to rise up the Google rankings!

Dot. continue to increase its market share and are on the up in the Google rankings! We are by no means at the top just yet, but we would like to thank all those who have visited our site and this blog, it all contributes to our progress. Your support will always be appreciated by Dot.....

Dot.Eco....sustainable solutions for all!

Dot invest a lot of time and effort into keeping on top of any movement in our design fields of Graphics, Interiors and Architecture. Dot.Eco is our continued support for the need for more sustainable energy solutions within the design industry. We have focused a huge amount of energy in being sure that we can offer our clients everything from simple advice to full blown Eco solutions for all our design jobs.  We have met with some very informative people in the Eco scene and can now offer our findings onto our clients, new and old! Global warming is very much at the top of the governments agenda, and we want to be sure that we can offer a fully informed and design led opinion on all our projects, helping to create Eco friendly solutions for all!

Fridays Child - IMAX Proposal.

Our evermore popular 'Creative Fridays' are starting to produce the sort of free thinking we originally hoped. Every Friday afternoon, phones are off, emails are forgotten and the Dot. team are left to work on concept briefs. Our favourite design ideas are put to paper, and the afternoon is very much about expressing ourselves through rather less constrained design briefs, this is our blank canvas! The idea is so we can keep our fingers on the pulse with all things new within the design field. 

This week, we set the not too daunting task of redeveloping the IMAX site in Bournemouth. 

Our only stipulation was that it could NOT be a full demolition. After much research and plenty of Tea and biscuits, we decided to do away with the cinema portion of the property, which makes up the bulk of the property, and constructing a open air art gallery and roof terrace to the commercial properties beneath.  The whole idea is to give back the residents of Bournemouth their beloved sea views off Bath Road and link the award winning Bournemouth gardens with the amazing sea front. 

The proposal was worked up in a rather exciting and enjoyable afternoon, and was packaged and sent to all councillors involved at Bournemouth Borough Council, and we would like to thank all those who responded so positively to what we put together, it's refreshing to hear that they are trying all they can to amend what has become a huge Architectural and social cock up! We look forward to taking it further in the future. 

Here's to more 'Creative Fridays!' 

Christchurch Committee see sense.....finally!

We got it! Finally, our lovely scheme in Oak Avenue in Christchurch has been approved. The architectural style of Chalet Bungalow was raved about by the commitee of Christchurch Borough Council.  Our original proposal was refused by the commitee for....well, we couldnt work that one out, and neither could they, but they refused it anyway. So we came back and with close work with the planning dept we ended up with this really spacious and green scheme. 

Good luck to the client, who was a joy and a pleasure to work with, and we wish them all the best in the future. 

Top Photography from Studio 4

Dot. want to throw a shout out to the newly formed Studio 4 Photography. Bristol based Studio 4 are headed up by Steve Sayers and specialise in product/location phoography, their portfolio includes working for BBC magazines and soon to be updating Dots. built architectural works portfolio. Check them out at www.studio4photo.co.uk/ . Good luck guys.

As we are in the middle of a recession Dot. continue to receive instructions from firms looking to update their brand and increase their marketing presence. 

Our latest scheme is for Freeway Medical, a Reading based Medical Furniture manufacturer. Our brief was to update their previously dated image, and give the firm a new lease of life. 

With the logo and colour scheme finalised, we are now moving into their brochures and marketing literature, a very exciting and productive relationship between ourselves and client is forming!