PROJECT REPORT: RESIDENTIAL RETROFIT & REFURBISHMENT 41
brick at the base, an ochre-type brick in the middle, and a whitish cream brick at the top, denoting the different layers of the ‘streets in the sky.’
An early idea to apply a red and yellow palette was rejected in favour of the cooler tones, which work more in harmony with the brick, yet also stand out and give individual flats an identity.
Social streets
The streets in the sky were originally conceived as an outdoor social space where neighbours could meet and children could play. Hawkins\Brown’s design for Phase One stuck to this concept, but entrances to flats were built out into the access decks forming thresholds to each group of four flats. Phase Two sought to maintain the full original width, which demanded a different approach to define the thresholds. Entrances to two of each group of flats are recessed, and every property has a patterned ‘door mat,’ referencing the lino mats laid by original residents. There are 12 different decorative patterns, each one embedded into the new surface of resin bonded stone on recycled rubber.
The patterns add visual activity to the street and give each unit an area of personal space, whilst also discouraging people from walking directly past front doors by leading them towards the balustrade.
Problems with crime on the original Park Hill emerged, in part, because residents were closed off from the access decks with no view out. Mikhail Riches has addressed this by introducing a full height side light to front doors to allow passive surveillance as well as enhance natural daylight. Alternate flats feature an internal window, between the hallway and kitchen, so residents can see the street while cooking. “It’s a way of promoting neighbourliness and social interaction, which seems to be working really well,” says Saleh. Once hailed as the most ambitious inner-city development of its time and a visionary piece of modernist architecture, Park Hill failed to match expectations and soon fell on hard times. By paying respect to the aspects that made the building work, and finding effective solutions to those that didn’t, Mikhail Riches’ sensitive refurbishment should stand the test of time in a way its post-war forebear could not. The project’s success was recently recognised by the RIBA, who placed it on the shortlist for the 2024 Stirling Prize as one of only two refurbishments in the running. g
ADF SEPTEMBER 2024
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
