"...another magical performance... the scheme displays an assured delight in carefully considered detail... in the use of unusual materials and in a masterly handling of light and colour. ..here they come together to produce a joyful, therapeutic environment of exceptional quality." Housing Design Awards
The site adjoins a Sports Ground and Walthamstow Athletics track, and has a line of Poplar trees providing a wind shelter to the west. The building has been twisted relative to its modern boundaries, orientating all the main habitable rooms due south. The massing provides a visual closure to the terrace, while the views out of the site the south are framed against the line of trees. The building’s two stories are constructed as two distinct blocks, one finished in warm red brick and the other externally insulated and rendered yellow. They slip together in plan along the circulation route and beneath the butterfly roof.
The service accommodation is located in the northern brick block, with a common room and six self-contained sheltered flats in the south block. All flats are provided with direct garden access. The main entrance and access stair are located to the north-west corner behind a rain screening enclosure formed of open vertical York Board cladding. Transparent external wall insulation is used to clad the southern facade at high level.
Winner of a Housing Design Award, Sto Render Award and a Civic Trust Commendation.