OS has grown since our last photoshoot, so we thought we’d get some more snaps done for our website to show our new team members, Owen Mason and Andy Charlton. As we made our way to Cutting Room Square from our office, the Manchester heavens typically opened! We managed to find shelter in a little coffee shop whilst waiting for the sun to come out. And thankfully it did! We also had some photos taken of our lovely new office in the newly refurbished Sevendale House – you can see more of these on the ‘about’ page of our website.
Our Studio is seeking a talented Junior/Mid-level 3D artist that is capable of creating high quality visuals. We are looking for someone with an eye for detail and good at creative problem solving. This is an exciting role within a small team of highly motivated 3D artists working collaboratively to achieve the best result for every project.
Desired Skills:
– Proficient in 3DSMax, V-ray and Photoshop.
– Good eye for detail in modelling, lighting and texturing.
– Positive attitude towards learning new skills and techniques.
– Good understanding of architecture and interpreting architectural drawings.
– Passionate about architecture and creating believable environments.
– Animation experience is beneficial, but not essential.
competitive salary, 23+ days holiday, staff development and training, company bonus scheme, childcare voucher scheme
To finish off our year on a positive note, Our Studio made a donation to one of our favourite charities. The Gumboots Foundation (UK) is a small charity supporting projects in South Africa working to alleviate poverty. Gumboots provides avenues for people living in the UK who are interested in making a difference to the countrys future. By supporting community based projects with local leadership Gumboots helps change the life chances of some of the countrys poorest people.
The money we donated has allowed for two children living in the townships to receive private, weekend tuition for a year. This gives many of the children the opportunity to achieve the results to take them on to University. The results of this initiative have been impressive so far.
We were sent a wonderful photograph of the children saying thank you from the Sigiya Sonke Dance troupe that Gumboots supports.
We’d like to thank everyone who attended the Urbanized film screening on Thursday night at the Deaf Institute. We had 120 people join us to watch this inspiring and stimulating new documentary by Gary Hustwit.
We thoroughly enjoyed the film and open debate that followed. We noticed the strong appetite for urban issues in the room and think that this could be the start of something exciting … perhaps an ‘Urbanised MCR” group that could meet up to discuss Urban related topics? We could have:
seminar series & talks
design workshops
guerrilla gardening
lobbying on key issues
I wish this was… (remember Candy Chang?)
Perhaps, if we gain enough support and momentum, we could help to make some real positive changes, covering some of the issues that we feel strongly about – changes that could improve the city, our environment and the way the community engages.
In a time where councils are having to cut back spend and limit to essential costs, it’s more important than ever that grass roots movements such as this get involved in democratic urban design issues and ensure the importance and value of distinctive placemaking’ is not forgotten. To paraphrase Mark Covington, founder of the Georgia Street Community Garden in Detroit…’You need to get off your butt and take care of your own, if you take care of your own everything else will fall into place’
If you are interested in forming such a group and meeting again to carry on discussions, please email a YES to hello@ourstudioltd.com, and if you have friends or colleagues who were not able to attend but feel they would be interested, please forward on to them and ask them to get in touch.
If we can gather enough support from your responses, we’ll look into a venue where we can meet and discuss how to move this forward.
OS have just completed a Marketing Brochure and Images for Plumlife’s unique, new development in Blackpool.
The development, called South Beach consists of 19 two, three and four bedroom period town houses, refurbished and restored to offer stylish and contemporary living right in the heart of Blackpool.
Our friends and studio buddies NoChintz worked with us to help style and spec the furniture featured within the image.
Congratulations to Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and Royal Court Theatre who have been nominated at the World Architecture Festival under the category Future Projects: Cultural
World Architecture Festival is the world’s largest, live, truly inclusive and interactive global architectural awards programme. It is a unique meeting point for architects, suppliers and clients, attracting hundreds of entries and visitors from all over the world. OS attended WAF in 2009 in Barcelona, a truly fun and inspiring event!
Planning Images produced by OS for Royal Court Theatre
The interactive touchscreen app we developed for Manchester Art Gallery has gone live in the Galleries entrance hall.
We were approached by design agency Hemisphere to help develop an interactive app. The touchscreen will allow visitors who may not otherwise have been able to access the upper levels to view the newly hung paintings on the first floor balcony for the Myth, Dream and Reality exhibition. The app also lets the user learn more about the history of the hall, and view the details and decorations on the walls and ceiling.
Using a combination of 3Ds Max, After Effects and Flash CS5, we took Hemisphere’s UI design and turned it into a fully functioning application which lets the user take a 3D tour of the space, stopping along the way to view the artworks on the wall. You can touch an artwork and then zoom right into it (using a similar method to Apple’s Pinch to Zoom gesture seen on iPhones and iPads) to see the incredible detail of each artwork.
Take a look at the images below to see some screenshots of the app and a short video of it in use. If you visit the Gallery please have a go on the app and let us know what you think….
First post of the new year and thought i’d mention a bit about an exhibition i went to in Glasgow earlier this year.
The Natural Factory exhibition was held at the ‘Lighthouse’ designed by Glasgows most famous architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh with later modernisation and additional design by Gareth Hoskins Architects. The exhibition showcased the past, current and future uses of indigenous Scottish timber – from tree to paper – but in particular the potential to use timber as a building material. It is the first in a series exhibitions investigating sustainable construction products. One piece that really caught my eye was this staircase shown above, created by bonding layers of wood together along the line of the grain to create this amazing pattenation and texture when shaped and polished.
Also one of the architects showcasing their sustainable work was Gaia architects who specialise in sustainable and “PassivHaus” design. They are currently working on designs for Sam’s home in South Manchester which aims to get the PassivHaus standard of efficiency which typically achieve an energy saving of 90% compared to existing housing. We will keep you updated with progress on the design, but here’s an early design stage model of the project.
