Building study Edgley Design Godson Street

Transcription

1 Building study Edgley Design Godson Street

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3 Godson Street is a community joint venture project in Angel, Islington. The three partner groups, led by Jake Edgley (director of Edgley Design), Chris Joannou (CKS Partnership) and James Engel (director of Spaced Out Architecture Studio), were neighbours of the vacant site and formed a joint venture partnership to buy and develop the scheme. The brief was to create a mixed-use building that would meet the partners varying needs, expressing the individuality of stakeholders while bringing this difference together in a harmonious overall scheme. Five mixed-use units are created, with commercial space to ground and basement, residential apartments above, and a townhouse to the north. Appraisal Laura Mark Photography Jack Hobhouse Godson Street is a quiet pedestrianised road in Angel, and despite being in Islington s prime residential area, the plot previously a storage yard for nearby Chapel Market had lain unused and derelict for years. But Edgley Design founder Jake Edgley knew the site well, having built a house for himself on an adjoining plot a few years before. He teamed up with two of his neighbours to create three companies that would form a community joint venture to develop the backlands site. Edgley now owns units 1-3, director of Spaced Out Architecture Studio James Engel owns the fourth unit, and a partnership between two brothers, Chris and Steve Joannou, has units five and six. It s a growing model a progression of the architect as developer and one we can expect to see more of. But it s risky. It relies on teamwork and tight budget management, especially when in this case there are three clients who are also the designers and project managers as well as future tenants and landlords. Fortunately, the project is a showcase of teamwork. The collaborative approach was transferred through from the initial client to the construction. The Joannou brothers even carried out all the groundworks, excavating and underpinning the whole site, while the main contractors took on many of the elements of the build in order to de-risk and negate the need for expensive subcontractors. This could have in fact had the opposite effect and added risk, since the contractor, Cape Construction, had very little experience of in-situ cast concrete. But they were willing to learn, and the architects worked with them, adopting an agreement not to condemn works that were not perfect but to use them as a learning project. This took patience but it has paid off. They have learned new skills, and the finishes of the walls and polished concrete floors aren t bad, either. It is the largest development Edgley has built as architect-developer, featuring a single house alongside five mixed-use plots, which follow the common typology of commercial unit below and apartment above. It would have been six similar units but windows on the neighbouring property meant the height of the building had to be dropped in the end, and since there was not enough height for an office and a flat, planners agreed to a three-storey townhouse. The design is effectively a modern reworking of a Georgian terrace. At the front a retaining wall was kept and new dividing walls added to act as buttresses and form courtyards and lightwells providing light into the lower commercial levels. Above, the living spaces are articulated within the zincclad sculptural form that folds out from the concrete below. The commercial units are pared back with raw finishes on show, while in the residential apartments bespoke detailing and timber joinery features create crafted spaces. The architect s hand has touched everything from the raw steel staircase in the house to the birch plywood and Valchromat cabinets in the apartment s kitchen and living rooms. All the living spaces, including the house, feature an upside-down arrangement, with bedrooms on the lower floors and living spaces above. On such a tight site, overlooking was a key factor. Windows have been angled to look down the street rather than directly across into offices, apartments and surrounding homes. It was effectively the rights of light lines that created the angled facades of the upper storeys. Light has also been cleverly used within, and a unique upside-down use of solar mesh within the glazing to the rear elevation has meant privacy can be maintained without the loss of views. The project has transformed not just the site but also the forgotten back street it inhabits. Across the narrow pedestrianised lane is a faceless office building which gives little back to the neighbourhood. This is what we wanted to avoid, says Edgley. They have managed to do so the small scale of the mews-like development makes it personable, while the glazed fronts of the commercial units at the ground and basement levels provide some animation. What was once a space that encouraged antisocial behaviour with little passive surveillance from its residents is now an open and friendly street, full of community interaction. Client s view My family has lived and worked in the area of Penton Street/Chapel Market, Islington, since 1961 when my father ran a grocery shop, above which we lived. In the 60s and 70s I remember the area was made up of small sweatshops servicing the rag trade and light industrial units producing low-cost products such as furniture, records, paints and shoes. Most of the employees lived locally; in fact most properties were live-in and workplaces, with very high-density occupancy. We have always worked with the local community to improve and regenerate the area, developing 42, 44, and most of the shop fronts on Penton Street, while keeping the social dynamics of the area a mix of residential/commercial workspaces. Then the opportunity came for a community-led development on Godson Street, directly behind Penton Street, with Jake Edgley, James Engel and artist Andie Scott. The site was unused and derelict, with the pedestrianised street itself a magnet for antisocial behaviour. As local residents and developers, we saw the opportunity to personally regenerate the site for the collective good of the community, with a mixed-use development inherent to the area. The six buildings we have made have a fantastic, dynamic architectural look, whose scale and quality complement and enhance the local area. Chris Joannou, JJCS Project data Start on site July 2014 Completion February 2016 Form of contract JCT Intermediate Contract with Contractors Design 2011 (ICD 2011) Gross internal floor area 850m 2 Construction cost 1,865,000 Construction cost per m 2 2,194/m 2 Architect Edgley Design Concept design architects Edgley Design and Spaced Out Architecture Studio Client JJCS JV, led by Jake Edgley, Chris Joannou and James Engel Structural engineer Hardman Structural Engineers Main contractor Cape Construction CAD software used Auto CAD, Revit, SketchUp

4 Above and below right Interior views of the residential apartments and house Below left Edgley Design has relocated its office within the scheme

5 A Terrace Lightwell WC Kitchen/ dining room WC Access to flat above office Ground floor plan Commercial units A House Lightwell Ensuite Utility room Commercial units House Basement floor plan 0 2m

6 Living room Kitchen Terrace Duplex apartments House Second floor plan Plant room Living room Duplex apartments House First floor plan Kitchen/ living space Terrace Terrace Section A-A

7 Standing seam zinc cladding and roofing on 18mm plywood Hidden gutter Cementitious rainscreen cladding Internal wall lining Timber-framed structure with full fill insulation Standing seam zinc cladding on 18mm plywood Cementitious rainscreen cladding Frosted bathroom window Aluminium window and door reveals In-situ cast concrete Iroko cladding Aluminium window and door reveals Commercial unit door Private residential door Brass front doorplates In-situ cast concrete Elevation and section through street-facing facade 0 200m

8 Detail Solutions to the differing use requirements and site constraints are expressed in the construction and architectural concept of the building. The lower commercial levels are conceived as raw, rectilinear, rusticated forms rising from the basement to the underside of the first floor. Constructed in visual concrete and exposed blockwork with large glass infills, they resist the forces of the site as buttresses, present a robust front to the street, while visually acting as pedestals to the residential forms above. The upper residential levels are conceived as dynamic, angular forms, which address surrounding neighbour and occupier issues: privacy, overlooking, daylight and rights to light. The zinc skin is split and punctured, creating views out and exposing the core of the volume, articulated in a cementitious material. The volumes are constructed from a highly insulated, airtight, lightweight timber and glulam frame. Timber frame was chosen due to its adjustability in forming the complex geometry of the upper levels and its ability to cantilever without thermal bridging. Working closely with the contractor under a traditional contract arrangement, we were able to control the quality and in particular the detailing of the development to a high standard. Cost control during the contract was also tight, with a 2 per cent rise in cost, with both us and the contractor working together to find zero-cost solutions to any issues that arose. In general the project team s open, positive attitude fostered a strong collaborative approach to create a successful development, which we now part-occupy. Ben Kirk, associate, Edgley Design

9 Specification Sliding doors to ground and basement Velfac, V237i Front doors Pendle Doors, Lancaster PAS24 Hidden opening vent panels Gowercroft Joinery, bespoke timber Fascias, copings, cladding of speaker windows and flashings Bailey, powder-coated aluminium Heating Nu-Heat Oak flooring in residential units Peak Oak, 20mm solid and 20mm engineered oak flooring Carpet in residential units Belvedere Carpets, Madison Cloud Zinc cladding and roofing to residential units VM Zinc, Pigmento range in standing seam format Cementitious cladding to residential units Marley Eternit, Tectiva range Cavity membrane Newton cavity membrane Liquid waterproofing membrane to basement, roofs, terraces and gutters Kemper 2K PUR liquid waterproofing membrane Wooden panelling to internal speaker linings, bathroom pod outer lining, kitchenette sliding doors Valchromat, in yellow and green