After dropping off Maria’s sister and husband at the airport I had the opportunity to day to revisit one of my most enjoyable projects, Sugar House Lane in Stratford. Designed whilst at ARC-ML between 2010 and 2012 this was a hunger project where we were tasked to redevelop a 10.5 hectare site that encompassed a complete Conservation Area just south of the Olympic Park. Working closely with Newham Council, the GLA and the LTGDC we successfully achieved outline planning permission for a mixed-use masterplan that provided 1200 units, 50,000sq.m. of commercial space and a 350 room hotel in a low to medium rise scheme. The scheme is now being built out by our client Vastint.
Of particular interest to me was how our block structure was being built out. The basis of the masterplan was the traditional block structure with mixed use urban blocks directly addressing streets that acted as public open space. The one drawback with this structure was that the blocks often created relatively inefficient large open spaces within, often developed as impersonal spaces rather than ones that feel occupied, used and safe. Moreover these big courts didn’t really feel like ‘London’ or anything much to do with the comfortable and intimate feel of the historical spaces which had been taken as one of the main principles of the masterplan. Attention turned to the residential mews as an arrangement which could be developed to inhabit these spaces – the mews is a proven model, familiarity, the right scale, semi-private rather than exclusive and a contributor to a secure and intimate feel. The perimeter block then, with its modest four storey scale becomes an urban front defining the masterplan in its public areas whilst the interiors to this take a more domestic and intimate scale and a related movement system. The arrangement of these blocks offers shared courtyards for the residents of the perimeter and mews courts within.
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| Plan of the first completed block - Botanical Mews |
So far two blocks have just been completed and accessible to the public, I enjoyed walking round these today. They will need time to bed in and become inhabited but the basic principles are there and the block structure is clear and there are some enjoyable vista that connect to the wider context.
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View along Botanical Mews towards the school to the north|
| Plan of the first completed block - Botanical Mews |
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| One of the mews houses with glimpses through to the semi private courtyard behind |
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View south towards the second mews - Soapmaker Mews
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