12 Rural Homes,
Crofts Road, Lauder
Introduction:
Eildon Housing Association commissioned Atelier16 Ltd. to design 12 homes for affordable rent on the site of the former Lauder Primary School. The school had lain derelict after a new school was built in 2009 and was beginning to create an eyesore in what is a very picturesque and
well-preserved ancient Scottish Royal Burgh town.
Context:
The site sits to the south of Crofts Road opposite the Parish Church graveyard. From the Lauder Conservation statement it is clear that Crofts Road constitutes an important boundary to the old town, forming the ‘backyards’ lane of the houses on the High Street, the context of which includes a series of distinctive gable elevations generated by narrow burgage plot widths on the High Street. This is a landlocked site with Crofts Rd to the north and bound to the east and south by an existing stone boundary wall and to the west there is an existing sheltered housing scheme.
Design: The importance of successfully inserting a new social housing scheme into the fabric of Lauder was clear from the beginning. Taking cognisance of the site’s visibility across the graveyard from the town centre, the form and materials were carefully developed to create a distinctive character whilst striving to produce a design which complimented the architectural quality of this Border town.
The houses on Crofts Road form a true boundary to the street and include gable features to create a strong profile, both of which respect and relate to the existing vernacular along this street. Small windows are orientated to Crofts Road to maintain privacy whilst the main living spaces overlook the internal court and parking to maintain passive surveillance. A key strategy for visually integrating the new housing into the local area was the re-use of the whinstone from the demolition of the school building which is included at prominent points along the street elevation. The datestone from the rear of the school building has also been saved and integrated into the central court landscaping as a reminder of what stood on the site previously. Vertical pre-painted Accoya timber cladding also features as a contemporary material to link both the houses on Crofts Road and the others in the scheme together. A sage colour was proposed which compliments the natural colours of the whinstone and is common paint colour throughout Lauder and other Border towns. Eternit Garsdale slates are used which feature a textured surface and crisp square edge and slim verge details have also been included.
2014 HOMES FOR SCOTLAND AWARDS Commendation
Source Accessed 22/02/16:
http://www.assistarchitects.co.uk/projects/project_sections/project_detail.aspx?pjsid=86&catID=1
North West Cambridge,
Cambridge University
“The architectural proposals in the local centre are a critical ingredient to creating the urban grain for this new district in Cambridge.”
The North West Cambridge development is a major urban extension to the city and the most significant capital project that the University of Cambridge has undertaken in its 800-year history. The development will deliver affordable housing for University staff and postgraduate students, as well as research buildings, community facilities and market housing.
Atelier16’s designs for 264 key worker homes, together with shops and social spaces will form the heart of the new community, fronting onto the principal public squares and streets within the new local centre.
A focus has been placed first on the design of spaces, followed by buildings, creating a network of public spaces that encourage interaction and support communal life.
These varied spaces create a social landscape, recalling the differentiated spaces of the traditional city and the historic collegiate spaces of central Cambridge.
A series of interconnected courts and squares differ in scale and function, moving from the large, urban and public Market Square, through to the landscaped and semi-public Landscape Court. Further courts and passages mediate between the two, providing a more intimate scale, communal facilities and semi-public functions. Single storey cycle pavilions break down the scale and massing of the buildings themselves, celebrating arrival by bicycle and the opportunity this presents for social interaction. Pedestrian routes are characterised by informal interconnections and permeability between public and semi-public spaces, helping to create a strong sense of community.
The palette of materials, predominantly brickwork, reflects the traditional materiality found in the domestic architecture of Cambridge. At ground level this expresses itself as a brick plinth connected visually with the materials and activities within the landscape. Above this level the building forms are strongly articulated through use of recessed brick piers and horizontal precast concrete cills, with the level of detail on different buildings varied to respond to the character of specific spaces.
Sustainable living is fundamental to the ambition of the North West Cambridge development. The masterplan provides for limited car use, site wide CHP and full rainwater recycling. Apartments have been designed to meet the Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5, while retail units and non-residential spaces will be built to BREEAM Excellent.
Within Stanton Williams’ proposals the landscape, designed in collaboration with J+L Gibbons, visibly expresses the SUDs strategy through a network of surface water rills and reed bed attenuation pools.
Source Accessed 22/02/16:
http://www.stantonwilliams.com/projects/north-west-cambridge/
Hackney Marshes Centre,
Hackney, London
"This building not only serves the local community by providing a much- needed facility for the country’s largest population of amateur footballers, but with its unique community facilities, it is a national asset. The overall design and attention to detailing using standard components with the high quality of construction workmanship is admirable."
Civic Trust Award
Hackney Marshes is best known as the London home of amateur Sunday League football. Atelier16 was commissioned in 2021 to provide a new ‘Community Hub’ at the South Marsh, comprising new changing rooms, a café, and an education facility. They are housed in a welcoming, inclusive structure that recognises the special qualities of this place and connects with its wider setting, including the adjacent Olympic Park.
The Centre is embedded within the landscape, avoiding the ‘tabula rasa’ approach of many sports venues. Plugging a gap in the trees that surround the pitches, its massing minimises its impact on the site. The overall impression is one of horizontality, with changing rooms arranged in linear fashion at ground level.
The café and education spaces are placed above at one end, merging into the taller trees of the adjacent coppice. The layout fuses practicality and flexibility with the desire to celebrate the ritual aspects of football: not least the way that the act of changing fuses individuals into teams.
Materials have been chosen for robustness and for their ability to blend into the structure’s surroundings. Gabion walls provide a vandal-resistant envelope and function as a framework for climbing plants, creating a ‘green wall’. Weathered steel is used for cladding, shutters and louvres, offering a rich texture. Changing in colour over time, it emphasises the combination of nature and artifice that permeates the scheme.
Awards
2023 AIA UK Excellence in Design Award
2023 RIBA Award
2023 Civic Trust Award
2023 New London Award, Sport and Play category
2023 Highly Commended, Community Benefit Category, RICS Awards London
2023 Certificate of Excellence, Concrete Society Awards
2023 Winner, Hackney Design Awards
Source Accessed 27/02/16:
http://www.stantonwilliams.com/projects/hackney-marshes-centre/
Field Study Centre,
Kew Gardens
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew asked us to create a field study centre for up to 36 students and teachers. The site is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a site of Special Scientific Interest, and is one of the most important gardens in the UK. To meet sustainability goals, we were asked to use a donation from HM Customs of an illegal shipment of endangered South American timber of varying lengths, size and quality to construct the building.
We minimised the impact on the landscape with the design of a simple, cost-effective shelter – a place where children and adults can connect with nature, blurring the boundaries between inside and out. The structure was positioned on grassland, tucked in among conifer trees and avoiding disturbance to a nearby badger sett.
The consignment of timber was analysed to determine sizes suitable for the building’s structure and cladding, with each length painstakingly accommodated into the design detail. A large opening for sliding glass doors draws the outside in, and forms a light-filled, inspiring space for study. The practical and flexible space was designed for young children, older pupils or adult education students, and includes storage and toilet facilities.
With over 400,000 visitors a year, the 200 hectare Wakehurst Place now has a sustainable, natural and inspiring space for study, helping to meet the Royal Botanic Gardens’ aims to increase knowledge and understanding of the value and vital importance of plants.
Source Accessed 27/02/16:
Harvester's Way Masterplan, Westerhails, Edinburgh
We began looking at this site for Prospect CH in 2022 and developed an initial masterplan for a mixed use development on this 3 Acre site south of the Westerhailes town centre. The site had lain undeveloped for about 15 years after several failed attempts to develop sporting facilities and hotel proposals.
Fundamental to the successful reworking of the site, our strategy looked at the problems of accessibility, connectivity to the local town centre and transport infrastructure and community safety with a radical proposal to re-align Harvester’s Way, removing a second underpass adjacent to the train station and exposing the historic railway bridge behind with a new pedestrian link up into the town centre car park.
We developed a working relationship with CEC and Prospect and in 2021 negotiated the relocation of a newly proposed Healthy Living Centre for NHS Lothian onto the western edge of the site. This was located adjacent to the railway bridge and through Place-Making workshops with Gehl Architects was designed to form part of a new public realm. The realm was designed to provide several small shop units such as a coffee shop, florist, newsagent on the ground floor overlooked by 2 Person shared equity flats above. The realm also featured a new community café, meeting rooms and sheltered accommodation, all within a short distance of the town centre and train station. In conjunction with this, ASSIST proposed to provide a transport hub at the edge of the realm and re-introduce a bus service through the site.
We then developed several options for housing on the remainder of the site, ranging in density and scale in reaction to housing need and local community consultation. Cycle and pedestrian routes through the site were integrated with a linear park along the site’s southern edge making use of existing semi-mature planting already in place. Houses were designed in solar terraces, orientated to make use of passive solar gain and flats, designed up to 4 storeys, had integrated sunspaces. Heating was designed on a communal basis to maximise efficiencies with microrenewables proposed only as required. A mixed tenure approach was also included with social rent, shared equity and outright sale proposed for the site.
Source Accessed 27/02/16:
http://www.assistarchitects.co.uk/projects/project_sections/project_detail.aspx?pjsid=81&catID=4
