HOUSING 093
CASE STUDY STOLON STUDIO
When Kaolin Court, a development of affordable rented homes near Forest Hill started winning major awards, including The Developer magazines ‘Place of the Year’ award, it signaled a massive thumbs-up for the kind of innovative and sociable housing typology that is fast becoming architects Stolon Studios’ calling card. Similarly to their own home, built alongside two others around a shared courtyard (Forest Mews), Kaolin Court was also designed and funded by the practice. Their unusual methodology and typology, intended to enrich a sense of community, identity and quality of life with minimal damage to the environment, attracted an unusual private developer client, in Beckenham, south London, who also wanted to establish sustainability as one of the drivers for his scheme Stable Yard’s appeal. On a backlands site behind terraces of Victorian houses, Stolon has arranged six semi-detached, eco-friendly homes with both private space and a shared garden. It is both low carbon and flood resistant. True to their Kaolin Court style, there is great use of colour across the site, including pink window frames and durable cementitious plank cladding in playful shades of terracotta. Living areas open on to private decking at the rear of the house (raised above and protected from a culverted river) and a shared garden runs the length
of the scheme. Dining areas open onto another shared deck at the front of the properties. Landscaping includes meadow-like planting to boost biodiversity.
The homes benefit from an air source heat pump, solar panels and a mechanical heat recovery system. Says Jessica Barker, co-director: ‘In terms of energy, it looks to be about 1/60th of the cost of running a Victorian house of an equivalent size.’ The client, says Barker, ‘has spent his life building places. But he didn’t just want to do housing but something different – something that goes above and beyond the minimum. He’s been amazingly supportive all the way through. Our approach has been: If you were doing this for yourself what would you do? It’s a very high standard of development. All of these things shine through with the environmental performance. He wanted to make it exemplary.’ For the client, the idea of having a shared garden and shared space, echoes ‘how he grew up, playing in the street when it was safe to do so, where he grew up in London.’
Clients Stables Yard Developments Architects Stolon Studio Completion Summer 2023 Consultants StructurHaus
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