Glenn Howells
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Glenn Howells is a British born architect. His practice, Glenn Howells Architects, has offices in Birmingham and London.
Notable projects include Timber Wharf and Burton Place for innovative developers Urban Splash in Manchester.
Howells founded his practice in London in 1990 but later moved the main office to Birmingham in 1992.
His first big break was being appointed architect for the Custard Factory in Birmingham by developer Bennie Gray. The Custard Factory has gone to become an award winning example of affordable office development, aimed at small arts and design businesses, such as the Maverick TV production company.
This was followed by the Market Place in Armagh, Northern Ireland. This elegant arts centre won numerous design awards, including an RIBA regional award.
A more recent project is the Savill Gardens Visitor Centre at Windsor Great Park, which opened in June 2006. The competition winning scheme run by The Crown Estate, will create a new landmark structure that creates a gateway to the listed gardens reflecting the character and quality of the park. The building unites all visitor facilities under one gently undulating grid shell roof creating a series of spectacular linked spaces. The grid shell roof is constructed from larch and clad with green oak from The Crown Estate’s own sustainable sources from the Windsor Estate. The grid shell is supported by an earth structure on the entrance side which houses ancillary facilities, while the garden side is elevated on legs to open up spectacular views.
In October 2006, it was announced that Glenn Howells had been appointed to design a large hotel and residential scheme as part of the Snow Hill development in Birmingham[1]. Initial renders showed a 40-storey grey curved tower with a smaller tower along side. However a public exhibition revealed the tower to be 43 storeys and with amendments to the previously shown render. If constructed it would be the second tallest building in the city behind the BT Tower dispite an equally tall tower, Broad Street Tower, set to begin construction in early 2007.
In early 2007 Glenn Howells was reported in the Birmingham Post as advocating a new modern art gallery for Birmingham, to add to the existing Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and Ikon Gallery.
