Publications
Basics Architecture 01: Representational Techniques, CHROMA: Design, Architecture and Art in Color, HoCo: Density Housing Construction & Costs,
Housing and the City, London’s Contemporary Architecture, Total Housing, Building, The Guardian, a+a, Detail, A+D
Full publication list
Details
Southern Housing Group took this opportunity to deliver a demonstration project based on dRMM’s competition-winning design.
A gap site between different typologies, the scheme reinterprets the terrace with 21st century requirements for density, planning flexibility, sustainability, ownership and security. The response continues the split-level arrangement of the adjacent terraces, with steps and ramps going down to garden level approximately one metre below the street. The development is divided into fourth entrance to lift core. These entrances also lead to a communal south-facing garden, towards which the living rooms open out.
The coloured facade creates cohesion between the four blocks and the individual flats, while connecting existing terraces with the neighbouring town hall in terms of scale and proportion. The genuinely ‘pepper-potted’ mix of accommodation is an integration of 61% social housing and 39% private sale, made possible by shared stairwells and interlinking units. This is the (invisible) social achievement of the design.
Wansey Street Housing is the £ 4.2M pilot project for the Elephant and Castle Regeneration masterplan. Southern Housing Group took this opportunity to deliver a demonstration project based on dRMM’s competition-winning design.
“dRMM has introduced a courageous new approach to public housing and by naming the practice Public Housing Architect of the Year, the judges hope to send a clear message to many firms in this sector on how they should be moving forward.” Building Design, 2006.
Photography © 
