Centaur Street Housing

dRMM, London, 2002

 

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The communal stair cantilevering out toward the railway arches 

Michael Mack and Alex de Rijke     Download Original

  • The communal stair cantilevering out toward the railway arches    
  • In the upper units the difference in level across a unit has become about half a floor. At the upper level, some of the perspex balustrading acts as shelf units    
  • An upper unit seen from its double-height zone. The kitchen unit top slides left to reveal the sink and hob    
  • From the double-height zone looking through to a winter garden at the front of the building    
  • Inside a winter garden looking along the front of the building toward the railway viaduct    
  • At the rear, private outdoor space is a balcony, rather than a winter garden    
  • Garden at the rear, with an unusually fine finish to the concrete    
  • Close-up of the fibre-cement cladding.     
  • Concrete detail    
  • Ground floor plan    
  • Ground floor gallery plan    
  • Second floor plan    
  • Second floor gallery plan    
  • Roof floor plan    
  • Rooftop plan    
  • Sections    
  • Elevation    
  • A Roger Zogolovitch sketch plan of stretching the existing design of two units per floor into longer terraces    
  • Cladding detail    
  • Window detail    

Inner-city residential apartment building built alongside London's Waterloo Station

A residential apartment block based on an idea for a new housing typology for brownfield sites, a hybrid of the European horizontal apartment and the English vertical terrace house. The development transformed a derelict site to homes in an inner city environment.

Each apartment is organised as a large, open double-height living space, with adjacent bedrooms and stairs forming a buffer to the railway. The transformation of the traditional apartment plan responds to changing living and working patterns of contemporary urban households.

The generous size of the units, materials and spaces created, allow the regeneration concept, of sustainable and flexible fit, to be realised.

The building appears to be a wooden coat over a concrete frame. Closer inspection reveals all to be concrete. Internally, walls are textured concrete. Externally, they are clad with fibrous cement, mock-timber rain screen of augmenting proportions. Other than in situ concrete, all components are prefabricated.

Data

  • Begun: Sep 2001
  • Completed: 2002
  • Floor area: 618m2
  • Sector: Residential
  • Total cost: £862,227
  • Tender date: Jun 2001
  • Procurement: JCT Intermediate
  • Address: One Centaur Street, Lambeth, London, SE1 7EG, United Kingdom

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