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PROJECT REPORT: RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
© White Arkitekter – Studio Monolot
Central to the placemaking strategy was ensuring a greater level of safety for residents while providing a wide range of external spaces to enjoy and connectivity across the site
To optimise the potential of the site and provide the required density of housing, a combination of tower buildings and townhouses are arranged around courtyards to create three main blocks. There’s a mix of one, two and three-bed homes across this phase, and 10% of the units are wheelchair accessible. Within the city block structure, the towers are rotated at different angles, creating new and interesting views, improving visual connections within and without the site and enhancing the legibility of streetscape. The tallest of the towers overlooks a public square with “active street frontages,” which functions as a landmark and a welcoming entrance to the neighbourhood. A small community ‘hub’ occupies a prominent position at the heart of the development.
This phase also delivers a new children’s play park, which is a “shared space for all forms of community and social activity.” As in Phase 1, formal places to play and pocket parks have also been incorporated in other parts of the public realm, and the streets prioritise pedestrians over vehicles and create a safe zone close to the homes. Over 4,500 m2 of play and public space is being provided in Phase 2.
© White Arkitekter
Public realm & resident safety Central to the placemaking strategy was ensuring a greater level of safety for residents while providing a wide range of external spaces to enjoy and connectivity across the site. The most striking example
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© White Arkitekter – Studio Monolot
of this is White Arkitekter’s research project, ‘Places for Girls’ which centred on the design for Phase 1 and 2, and consulted teenage girls on their views on using public space on the estate.
The architects ran a series of workshops with Greatfields School, which is on the estate, informing them about the project’s intentions and asking them what they wanted from their neighbourhood. “That has also informed some of the informal routes and pocket parks across the project,” says Thiel.
She gives the example of one pocket park which was overlooked by ground floor flats, and which gave girls “what they wanted the most – places to hang out that weren't necessarily on the edge of something like a sports area.” She adds: “They really wanted to have their own space within their neighbourhood.” It’s a well-connected space, with pedestrian and cycle routes through the estate to and from the school.
‘Climate-resilient’ design London Borough of Barking & Dagenham has a goal to be carbon neutral by 2030. Gascoigne West has driven this forward in a way that both provides amenity to residents as well as ongoing efficiency benefits to the client. Phase 1 embodies “Scandinavian urban design principles of social wellbeing” says White Arkitekter, which have been embedded within the design that focus on providing community activities for children and seniors.
ADF MARCH 2023
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