They took inspiration from the city’s Golden Triangle, a desirable neighbourhood of Victorian terraced houses. This provided a useful lesson on density: planning rules would usually require at least 21 metres between facing homes, to prevent overlooking, but these popular historic terraces were just 14 metres apart. The architects used the precedent to argue that this new neighbourhood could be just as humanely scaled, while fitting in more homes.
The result, one critic said, is "dense without being oppressive."
The residents like the solid houses and low utility bills. The place was built with families and children in mind; cars are excluded from the inner streets and, the architects say, "Every home has car-free access to play."The RIBA notes that there has been a lot of attention to detail:Tireless work by the architects has kept the standard of workmanship up to a very high level. Social tenants get impressively high specification interiors – in both the end-of-terrace flats and the central terrace houses. Passivhaus detailing has nicely accommodated the mechanical ventilation Heat Recovery (MVHR) units in the interiors, and the services intakes have been intelligently controlled. Each dwelling has a range of providers’ services pre-wired, so that they can be connected on demand, without the need for a service providers’ to come in later and drill through vital vapour barrier lines.Of course this isn't gorgeous or anything like that, but it sure beats concrete apartment blocks, and the overall density works out about the same. We really can do better by our fellow humans if we put our minds to it.
1 comment:
Of course this isn't gorgeous or anything like that, but it sure beats concrete apartment blocks
I feel like you could do a heck of a lot with just a decent selection of paint colors. It's those big stretches of blank gray outer wall surface that make it far less appealing than it could be. They're just screaming for some murals, or at the very least, different shades of solid color on different buildings / units.
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