affordable, sustainable and creative, formula. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects
17/12/2021.
[LON] UK
metalocus, CARLOS GONZÁLEZ
metalocus, CARLOS GONZÁLEZ
It is not usual for ingenuity to prevail in a social housing project and that regulations are scrupulously adhered to in a poor London suburb. This is the case of this block of rental flats for cash-strapped creatives in Barking east London, designed by APPARATA, with the ambition to revolutionise social housing in the city.
The so-called House for Artists is a built home for 12 accommodation giving up the shortest way to squeeze the most, the possible space, with some interesting ideas: a creative rent framework that should enrich the community for a near future. The tenants pay two-thirds of the rent from their pockets. The remaining third they pay in community service: lessons, workshops, performances.
An ambitious model replicable for affordable, sustainable housing tied to long-term civic engagement.
The so-called House for Artists is a built home for 12 accommodation giving up the shortest way to squeeze the most, the possible space, with some interesting ideas: a creative rent framework that should enrich the community for a near future. The tenants pay two-thirds of the rent from their pockets. The remaining third they pay in community service: lessons, workshops, performances.
An ambitious model replicable for affordable, sustainable housing tied to long-term civic engagement.
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Ståle Eriksen
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Johan Dehlin
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Johan Dehlin
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by David Grandorge
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Johan Dehlin
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Ståle Eriksen
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Rory Allen
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by David Grandorge
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by David Grandorge
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Johan Dehlin
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by David Grandorge
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Johan Dehlin
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Ståle Eriksen
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Ståle Eriksen
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Johan Dehlin
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Johan Dehlin
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Ståle Eriksen
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Ståle Eriksen
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by David Grandorge
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Ståle Eriksen
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Rory Allen
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Johan Dehlin
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Johan Dehlin
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Johan Dehlin
House For Artists by APPARATA Architects. Photograph by Ståle Eriksen
Site plan. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
Ground floor plan. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
First floor plan. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
Second floor plan. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
Fourth floor plan. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
Section. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
Section. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
North elevation. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
West elevation. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
South elevation. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
Axonometry. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
Adaptability diagrams. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
Cohousing diagrams. House For Artists by APPARATA Architects.
The formula, for affordable housing, sustainable architecture and artistic creativity comes from the APPARATA Architects, -led by Nicholas Lobo Brennan, Astrid Smitham and Theo Thysiades-, winners of a competition winners and after commissioned by the arts outreach organization Create London and London Borough of Barking & Dagenham.
"Apparata’s starkly legible and playful design is civic to the core. Combining public-facing spaces and artist studios with an innovative housing model, its deliberate transparency invites the public in, while the spatial arrangement of the flats give residents the option of shared spaces and collective arrangements without compromising their privacy."
Diana Ibáñez López, Senior Curator at Create.
Project description by APPARATA Architects
Playful design. A House for Artists has a dual role as both a public and domestic building, made up from a playful tectonic of stacked shapes with clear structural legibility. A two-storey triangular form allows for variation from the standard apartment type, and better connects to the surrounding terraced housing and blocks. The upper floors provide twelve apartments, while the ground floor, set out at a larger rhythm, accommodates an ongoing public art programme.
Community. The design aims to support the forming of communities both inside the building and within the local area, through shared entrance patios and courtyard, and a street-facing public space. Resident artists can use the ground floor as work studios for their own practices as well as for the public programme, while the apartments offer co-housing possibilities. Each set of three apartments shares a communal outdoor space scaled for eating and working together, as well as access. One floor of apartments has double doors in the party walls, creating optional and flexible shared living possibilities, such as parties, childcare, or co-working.
Adaptability and flexibility. APPARATA’s housing model provides adaptability, robustness, and generous floor-to-ceiling heights in the tradition of open industrial units rather than the corridor-based flat. While flats in the UK are typically restricted in their layout due to one-way escape routes via corridors that cannot be altered, A House For Artists provides a robust two-sided open-air escape strategy, eliminating the need for corridors and freeing up floor plans for modification. Residents are invited to add to and adapt their apartments during their tenancy, removing or adding walls to meet their needs. Raw material finishes provide structural clarity and mean residents can easily read what can be built where.
Sustainability. The building is constructed using a single skin of 50% GGBS concrete, whereby half the cement is substituted with a by-product of the steel industry, and other material build-ups are lean. The formwork was made using standard reusable parts and left unlined, reducing waste on site. Exposed ceilings provide thermal mass to reduce overheating, while covered walkways reduce the solar gain at the hottest time of day. Dual aspect openings allow natural cross-ventilation, and hot water is provided through a communal Air Source Heat Pump. The building has over 20% less embodied carbon than the RIBA 2030 climate challenge target and GLA aspirational target.
More information
Architects
APPARATA Architects. Lead architects.- Nicholas Lobo Brennan, Astrid Smitham and Theo Thysiades.
Collaborators
Quantity Surveyor.- Artelia.
M&E Consultant.- Max Fordham.
Approved Building Inspector.- MLM.
Cdm Co Ordinator.- Goddard Consulting.
Engineering Services.- Expedition Engineering.
Fire Consultant.- Menzies Consultants.
Client
London Borough of Barking & Dagenham; co-commissioned by Create London and delivered by Be First.
Contractor
General Contractor.- J. Murphy & Sons.
Area
1,553 m².
Dates
2021.
Location
36 – 40 Linton Road, Barking, east London, England, UK.
Photography
Johan Dehlin, Ståle Eriksen, Ellie Stathaki, David Grandorge, Rory Allen.
Nicholas Lobo Brennan, Astrid Smitham, Theo Thysiades. APPARATA
APPARATA is a studio for architecture, design and research, led by Nicholas Lobo Brennan, Astrid Smitham and Theo Thysiades, founded in 2015. They design and construct buildings, furniture and books: tools for everyday life that open up unknown possibilities. They work with how things are put together: materials, structures, identities, communities, landscapes.
They have just completed the design and construction of the reuse of Old Manor Park Library, London, as a new form of public building for the local neighbourhood, and the exhibition design for Seth Siegelaub's diversiform collections and activities for Seth Siegelaub: Beyond Conceptual Art at the Stedelijk, Amsterdam; House for Artists, a new form of low rent co-housing combined with community arts centre, Barking, London.
They have lectured at TU München, ETH Zürich, EPF Lausanne, Berlage TU Delft; taught at ETH, CASS LondonMet, HEAD Geneva, Sandberg Institute, Royal College of Art, Kingston School of Art (associate professorship). Prizes and exhibitions include the Swiss Art Award 2012, Venice Architecture Biennale 2018, Making It Happen RIBA 2019, and Is this Tomorrow? Whitechapel Gallery, 2019. In 2020, Astrid Smitham was named as one of the Architects’ Journal’s 40 under 40.
They have just completed the design and construction of the reuse of Old Manor Park Library, London, as a new form of public building for the local neighbourhood, and the exhibition design for Seth Siegelaub's diversiform collections and activities for Seth Siegelaub: Beyond Conceptual Art at the Stedelijk, Amsterdam; House for Artists, a new form of low rent co-housing combined with community arts centre, Barking, London.
They have lectured at TU München, ETH Zürich, EPF Lausanne, Berlage TU Delft; taught at ETH, CASS LondonMet, HEAD Geneva, Sandberg Institute, Royal College of Art, Kingston School of Art (associate professorship). Prizes and exhibitions include the Swiss Art Award 2012, Venice Architecture Biennale 2018, Making It Happen RIBA 2019, and Is this Tomorrow? Whitechapel Gallery, 2019. In 2020, Astrid Smitham was named as one of the Architects’ Journal’s 40 under 40.
Categories
Our selection
