THE CANOPY

LONDON, TOWER HAMLETS

The Area With London's population continuously growing and the housing market in crisis, it is crucial that a new approach is taken to deliver the number of new homes that are needed. Despite appearances, London has a relatively low density, therefore in order to utilise space in the urban city, building upon existing buildings provides an achievable solution. An area of London with huge potential for this is Tower Hamlets. Despite being in a prime inner-city location and surrounded by some of the most crowded boroughs, Tower hamlets has not become as overpopulated. Therefore, the living density can be increased by building upon the existing buildings, whilst retaining the few valuable open spaces,. As demonstrated by the London Riots in 2011, the city is at crisis point with discontent poor communities being isolated in compact areas. To prevent the continual fragmentation of society, this project looks at combining high and low cost apartments in one harmonious space and restoring a sense of community through the use of the building. The Existing Building The Dorset Estate was designed by Skinner, Bailey & Lubetkin in 1957 and is currently a mix of council and private apartments. The concrete building consists of two, ten storey Y-shaped buildings and was chosen not only for its interesting shape and iconic design, but also because it represents an extensive family of similar buildings constructed across London. It is intended that the development of the Dorset Estate can be used as a standard for the other similar building across the city.

THE CANOPY THE PLAN

The New Building An additional two floors have been designed above the existing ten storey building, with the construction material being predominantly Kerto LVL timber. This new space provides an additional 30 two or three bedroom flats per building. The focus of the new space is an extensive roof garden, with an innovative timber bridge connecting the two buildings to bring together the two buildings and extend the communal areas. The roof garden consists of large areas of planting and seating, two play areas for children, an outdoor gym and health area and an area for community games such as bowls. The communal outdoor areas feature a leafy green trellis roof which enhances the natural feel of the space. The new two storeys are clad in vertical timber. The colours have been carefully selected to reflect the surrounding neighbourhood, with the honey coloured timber chosen to mirror the historic yellow brick and stone buildings in the area. This new timber cladding has been extended to cover the rectangular concrete panels on the existing building below which allows the new building to blend into the old. Uniting nature with the new building was an important ambition of the project, and full height slender timber columns have been included around the building which, with the green canopy of the trellis, mimic the trees in the surrounding area and have a dual purpose of giving additional support for the canopy greenery. Cycling is becoming the favoured mode of transport for inner-city residents, and to sustain the concept of densification, residents should be encouraged to use bicycles to get about the city. Therefore, it was deemed essential to provide adequate storage space in each apartment.

The colour pallet was taken from the surrounding area. The golden brick of surrounding area and the tree foliage were used to compliment the red brick elements of the existing building.

The view from the buildings look onto the iconic London skyline.

The new floors have been designed to compliment the surrounding neighbourhood.

The communal space on the roof garden is central to enhancing the sense of community within the buildings. The space has been designed with the idea of triangulation, where the people and the space are brought together by introducing a third aspect such as an outdoor gym, games/bowls area, children's play area and communal seating areas. These elements aim to encourage residents to spend leisure time as a community. Physical and mental health is an important factor in the building’s design. The outdoor gym sits next to an open area which can be used for exercises such as group yoga. Play areas are crucial for the development of children, therefore two areas have been dedicated to the use as playgrounds. To create the feeling of being surrounded by nature, ivy creepers will cover the garden trellis roof, and the floor is designed to give areas of green planting. The idea of nature and greenery was motivated by the Columbia Road Flower Market which sits behind the property. The inspiration for the creepers was taken from buildings in the neighbourhood which have facades covered with ivy. The planted foliage and creepers also add benefits to birds and bees. The New York Highline, which has become a space widely loved and used by New Yorkers, has provided the basis of the long bridged garden areas.. This space allows residents to relax individually or in groups, and move about a spacious landscaped area that feels removed from the urban neighbourhood.

RESTORING COMMUNITY

THE CANOPY

COMMUNAL GAMES AREA eg.

BOWLS

OUTDOOR GYM AND EXERCISE

SPACE

SEATING AND TABLES CONNECTED BY BRIDGE

CHILDREN'S PLAY AREA (4-8yrs old)

CHILDREN'S PLAY AREA (8-14yrs old)

ROOFTOP COMMUNAL SPACE AND CIRCULATION

Columbia Road Flower market is an important community event, the neighbourhoods strong history of plants being traded here motivated the incorporation of plants and nature within the project.

The Highline in New York was used as inspiration pro providing an elevated urban oasis.

To limit the loading, cost and maintenance the planting will be ‘extensive’ with meadow grasses and herbs which are chosen for their appeal to local ecology.

The structure is predominantly composed of Kerto LVL elements. The roof garden is the dominant load in the building, therefore the structure is designed to support it. The major load bearing walls are located on outside of the building, allowing floor plan adaptability and open living spaces. These walls are composed of two Kerto-Q panels with an insulation layer between, with Kerto-Q posts framing the windows. The benefit of using Kerto-Q panels is the structure is sufficiently braced, which is important due to the height of the structure and the restriction on transferring moment to the structure below. The panel widths are as wide as possible to reduce the number of nails necessary. Kerto-Ripa floor elements have been designed to limit deflection, and transfer the loading from the new walls to the existing walls below where the layout does not match up. The only adjustment required elsewhere on the structure is 2x2m concrete foundation pads beneath the external full height timber posts which support the trellis. These are fixed at regular points to the existing building to reduce the buckling length. The connecting bridge uses five 63mmx830mm Kerto-QP stiff and tall beams across the 16m span.

The existing floor plan consisted of a corridor running along one side of the building, with apartments on the other side. This layout, however, means that large windows can only be used on one side of the building. Also, the placing of the window does not allow residents to benefit from the views of the city skyline. The new floorplan places the corridor along the centre of the building, allowing windows to be places on both sides and maximizing the view of the skyline. Bicycle storage has been installed close to the front door of each apartment. These contain wall ‘bike hangers’ so bikes can be stacked at double height.

THE CANOPY THE STRUCTURE

New structure layout 2 FLOORS 12 X 2 BED APARTMENTS EACH FLOOR 3 X 3 BED APARTMENTS EACH FLOOR

The layout of the apartment pods in the new and existing building. The new structure has more windows allows views to of the London skyline.

2x33mm Kerto-Q panels outer walls

2x21mm Kerto-Q panels inner walls

Kerto-Ripa floor elements

Five 63x830mm Kerto-QP beams with Kerto-Q panels at top and bottom