lamorna
The site is located in the Dartmouth Park Conservation Area. The proposal replaces the existing development, which has little relation to its surrounding buildings, with a design that makes reference to the neighbouring Victorian properties through materiality, detailing and scale.
The design principles evolved out of the desire to highlight the notion of vertical stacks of stucco window bays typical of the area. The stacks are elegantly arched and angled in plan to form triangular bays, thus referencing both the strong prevalence of the Palladian Arch window and the Victorian era bay windows of the surrounding buildings. The ground floor porch geometry shifts from the above grid of stacked windows, further referencing and mirroring the adjacent building’s façade grid.
The scheme proposes the use of highly sustainable materials, whilst maintaining a visual reference to the neighbouring buildings. Natural limestone bricks with similar colour and textural properties to the London stock brick will be used instead of clay bricks. The manufacturing process behind natural stone bricks is inherently more sustainable than that of energy-intensive clay fired bricks; stone bricks are cut to size from stone quarry offcuts without the need for a firing or finishing process.
The use of stone offcuts for the white stucco-like features is being investigated along with the use of lightweight CLT for the building’s internal structural elements, eliminating the dependence on traditional concrete systems.
The scheme will implement the Mayor’s Energy Hierarchy by using passive design and energy efficient features such as high insulation levels, low air-permeability and high-performance glazing. The building’s design has been carefully considered to reduce solar gain, whilst natural daylight is brought into the living spaces through the use of full height glazing, minimising energy consumption and delivering healthy and comfortable living spaces.
The use of recessed windows to create balconies results in each flat’s outdoor amenity provision either meeting or exceeding the London Plan standards. The generous and considerately placed outdoor spaces allow residents to take ownership of and apply their own personal touch on the building’s vegetation, thus introducing an exemplary instance of urban greening into the area.
Images: Andrew Chard Visualisation