Peabody is seeking to procure a panel of architectural practices to design housing schemes of 20 homes or fewer on small sites which may be on its existing estates or new sites.

Peabody chose three different sites for the subject of this competition. We chose a site between Tufnell Park and Archway, behind the St John’s Tavern to produce a sketch scheme based on a specific design brief.

By creating two apartment blocks north and south, with a massing that steps between the pub and the apartments, three gardens are created which set the building back from the street, offering private garden spaces for the tenants.

Each apartment is laid out to meet LHDG minimum sizes; the bedrooms receive morning sun on the east and the living rooms receive evening sun on the west. The long facades allow for permeability while the east and west facades are largely solid to prevent noise pollution and overlooking.

The apartments are designed to be wheelchair adaptable – level access is achieved into the apartment blocks, lifts are provided to reach each floor and wide corridors have been designed into the apartment layouts. Architecturally the apartment blocks read at multiple levels – the shape of the buildings; the expression of the floors; the expression of the bays behind the horizontally expressed and variably spaced louvres that provide shade, layering, privacy and security.

The ground floor is arranged as a street between the two entrances converging on a central shared lobby (for post boxes etc.) Plant, bins stores and bicycle spaces can be designed into the ground floor, and possibly additional tenant storage. A first floor garden offers children somewhere safe to play, and adults somewhere to relax.