An external room

Our scheme responds to the street-based sociability of the area: the park is conceived as an external room, its volume clearly defined by the surrounding blocks, accommodating a diversity of activities under a canopy of Scots Pines. The change of level established by the existing retaining wall is used to create a number of balconies overlooking the park, supporting its sociable and safe use. We have articulated the north and south blocks into legible identities: the northern block is a single entity, a London terrace distorted to its slope, and with a loose symmetry of centre and end pavilions. Flats are three rooms deep, with south-facing living/dining rooms and either a projecting bay window or recessed balcony. On the south side, paired ‘mansion’ blocks, five storeys high, framing a route to the high street, joining the new park to a wider network of open spaces. The flats are only two rooms deep, with through living-dining rooms which have both a south aspect and a view over the park. The modest, repetitive buildings frame the generous public realm. A few elements of sociable nature and collective scale reinforce a sense of communality: the bay windows high on the terrace; the continuous balcony which links the mansion blocks; the south facing cafe-launderette in the park, built out from the retaining wall, like an orangery; the passage to the high street, its flank walls faced in glazed brick, speckled with colour.