Carried out under the employment of Penoyre & Prasad Architects, this was designed for the Peabody Trust under the ‘Rough Sleepers’ Initiative’ to provide permanent single bedroom flats for 12 residents alongside an office and residential space for support staff.

We also acquired funding for a series of on site consultations and ‘design walks’ with homeless people from the nearby hostel on Mare Street, under the Royal Society of Arts’ ‘Year of the Artist’ fund.

Working closely with the Bridge Housing Trust. (support team), artist Nayan Kulkarni and the homeless people we developed a set of materials that would create a familiar environment for residents of this building – and that would not be ‘too new’ to them when moving in. A series of window seats in the stairwell were upholstered with old leather jackets to give a familiar smell and texture to those waiting for interviews or to speak to friends in a semi-private area of the building.

The building design was imagined with a hard urban face in brick which then encloses a softer, landscaped courtyard that serves as a private shared garden for the residents.