46 PROJECT REPORT: SOCIAL & AFFORDABLE HOUSING


equal access to all housing units. These homes are organised as a small pedestrian village, with narrow paths, open areas and frequent areas of vegetation offering important amenity to residents. The 109 flats providing for senior residents function as though it were a hotel, the ground floor offering communal services such as a lobby, restaurant, lounges, a games room and a hairdresser. Each of the 97 ‘higher end’ flats are distributed around a large central six-storey hall, with the top floor occupied by a common terrace.


Distinct geometry


The form of the apartment buildings provides a paradox of seeming somewhat random while uniform, maintaining order despite each storey being offset visually thanks to the intermittent protrusions of their balconies. A large, white-rendered balcony, cantilevered around the perimeter of the buildings, delineates each storey. These balconies protrude from the building’s core to varying degrees, with their sharp corners placed at different, unaligned points. This creates a complex offset form, which seems without an obvious analogue in terms of function, but provides a visual playfulness, the balconies shifting and warping as they run around the buildings. A distinct geometry provided to the apartment buildings helped drive this dynamic aesthetic, and provides large, functional outdoor space. To meet local planning laws, and in order to attain the targeted density and heights, the architects designed the deep balconies, protected from the sun, for all the apartments, bringing an element of the outdoors into living space for residents. Two types of railings were specified on the balconies, with both screen printed glass, as well as laser cut and powder-coated steel. The balconies are also intended to reinterpret the site’s former use, mimicking the rough and unpredictable landscape. The stone cladding (sourced from China) used on the lower parts of the homes further the project’s depiction as a ‘piece of the earth’, adding a natural texture to the facade. The architects claim the intricate but somewhat haphazard form is inspired from the ground beneath and around the project, which is displayed proudly in the development’s colour palette. Across the development, the facades offer earthy tones reminiscent of rough sand and dirt, contrasted by the bright whites of the


WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK ADF SEPTEMBER 2018


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