On a dull winter day in London, Southern Housing Group’s Wansey Street development is guaranteed to lift the spirits. Its street frontage positively glows, architect De Rijke Marsh Morgan having clad the building in a vertical timber-like boarding that graduates from yellow to red in colour. The rationale behind the colour scheme: the yellow blends with an adjoining terrace, while the darker red is inspired by the gauged brickwork of the former Town Hall. By contrast, the rear elevation of the scheme is a quieter monochrome.
Southern Housing Group have provided both social rented and private housing in the scheme, homes being ‘pepperpotted’ within four blocks. The apartments are cleverly designed with open plan lounge/kitchens and no corridors, so maximising the usable space. Our judges were impressed. “It is a brilliant open plan,” they commented.
The four blocks are divided by communal stairs which lead to a communal south-facing rear garden. The garden is a welcome addition on this wholly urban site, which was previously a staff car park for the London Borough of Southwark.
For the borough the scheme provides more than welcome housing for local residents. The site is in the Elephant and Castle area, which is the target of large scale regeneration. The site was the subject of a competition brief by the borough, which included the objectives of the development framework for Elephant and Castle. It has given the council a chance to express its ambitions for the area: to create high quality mixed tenure housing, where design is not an indicator of tenure.
|
