Cranbrook Road
Location | Ilford Year | 2021 Client | Private Client Designer | Bourne Architects Status | Design - Completed
It is the architecture that is transformative over time, over the place, over function, or over people. It is the architecture that holds power to transform. It embodies different meanings with different users, or it changes in form with adapting functions.
The design challenge of the residential building at Heron Mews, Ilford, is how to transform a narrow street with existing unsecured flats to have a transformative effect on the street to build a secured, habitable future for the residents.
The building fits harmoniously into the neighbouring, Heron Mews, where it carefully attaches to the locally listed building on Cranbrook Road and acts as an enabling building to allow the conservation of the historical heritage.
The form of the building is derived from the angled orientation to the south façade with the carefully designed distances to the existing buildings. On the south side of the property, the principal facades of the units are positioned at a 35-degree angle to block the indirect view to the adjacent properties to improve privacy and enhance the amount of daylight whereas the opposite façade is kept simple where the main circulation of the building is located.
The scale of the building is carefully adjusted for 9 new residential units while the edge of it is lower in height than the existing host building. The third floor is backed away from the outmost boundaries of the property and is diversified in terms of the external material. Therefore, the scale of the property is reduced from the public viewpoints on Heron Mews.
The terraced communal gardens create joy for the residents, meanwhile, it enables a sympathetic linkage with the locally listed host building. The main pedestrian access to the units is located on the principal façade that is clearly readable with the angled voiding, creating a welcoming and secure entrance for the residents.
The design shows contemporary architecture while it is modest in scale and it is to be proportionate addition. It sympathetically contributes to the urban pattern at the Heron Mews by catching the harmony in the street scene and it represents a high-quality built form. The character of the development will show resemblance to the prevailing context along the road whilst it seeks to enhance the visual amenity, habitability and security of the street using the transformative power of the architecture.
