2010 WINNING SCHEMES > Completed Winners

 

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Richard Feilden Award for Housing Presented by the Homes and Communities Agency
The Homes and Communities Agency presents its award in memory of Richard Feilden OBE (1950-2005). Richard championed the highest standards in architecture and had a strong commitment to environmentally friendly design in both housing and public buildings.

Tower Hamlets Community Housing (THCH) has been developing new homes in London’s Bethnal Green since it emerged from an Estates Renewal Challenge Fund bid in 2000. These latest 77 are on Claredale Street next to Keeling House, Denys Lasdun’s 16-storey residential tower which was remodelled for sale just before THCH was set up. .

The scheme replaces Lasdun’s accompanying low-rise block by restating two north-south streets in the original grid. An abiding impression of the new scheme is that it takes great care in defining home from public space. It does it with three elements: an apartment block, a perimeter block of 2- and 3-storey houses and another 3-storey terrace apparently of town houses.

But many houses in this 3-storey terrace whose massing, window lines and even colour palette echo the Victorian terrace to its south, have two doors to the street. One opens to a ground-floor flat whose deep plan pushes some accommodation to the very back of the site, wrapping a private courtyard space with glazed walls. The other door opens to stairs taking residents up to a duplex apartment on first and second floors. These have a small recessed balcony to the street’ and a rear terrace at second storey. These units, which face real 4-bed 6-person town houses across a pedestrianised street are mostly shared ownership. The range of types and tenure mix quietly parcel up a street into town houses designed for big families and smaller units aimed at small ones, smartly managing child density.

The perimeter block puts town houses on three sides for social rent with rear gardens behind, and on its western edge shallow 10 m frontage single-aspect 2-storey market sale units with private terraces in front. These wrap a semi secure courtyard shared by a 7-storey apartment block. Its penthouses have a continuous glazed balustrade to the balcony giving exceptional unbroken views through. The six storeys of apartments below range from studios to 3-bed and have large cantilevered balconies facing east or west. The cross subsidy from these cut deeply into the level of grant support needed.

All three building blocks have green roofs with solar thermal panels for hot water. The facing material is predominantly copper sheet which is fixed with an irregular pattern of joints that make it look man-made, a nod to the area’s artisanal history.

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