A design for a housing block that could be inserted within existing estate plans to maximise the visual and physical use of the ground floor – in this case making links through to a landscaped courtyard and sports provision. The building plan floats above a sheltered urban space where residents can create safe playspaces, store bicycles and create a shared threshold space between the privacy of their flats and the streetscape.
Each floor comprises a mix of flat types – from 1 bed 2 person flats to 3b 6 person flats. Every flat has a generous balcony that connects directly to the main living and dining rooms and creates an outdoor room .The cladding for the building is a colourful device to contrast with the overwhelming brick built context and would be tailored in material and colour to each site where the scheme is developed – depending on the surrounding context. The metalic aluminium cladding was chosen in this competition entry to create a ‘jewel-like’ set piece within the otherwise matt environment. Inspired by Dutch and Danish housing models we proposed a climbing wall and active landscape space here to reflect the former youth club on the site and sustain the idea of a local pocket park.
