East End
London
London, UK
Location: London, UK
Year: 2003-2008
Site: 0.2 ha
Program: Housing, Commercial
Client: Toynbee Housing Association &
Galliford Try Partnerships
Building Costs: €10.350.000
Photography: Jan Bitter
In 2000, an open competition was launched to transform a post-war housing estate in East London—within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets—known for poorly defined public spaces and weak urban structure. The wider regeneration combined 211 homes of mixed tenure with new social infrastructure to intensify the area and support long-term community life. A framework of three mixed-use buildings was developed to repair the urban fabric and introduce active ground-floor uses. Retail units and a community centre were positioned along a key pedestrian route to the DLR station, turning a formerly residual corridor into a legible and lively piece of city. Within this context, the central challenge was not only to add housing, but to create a safe, everyday urban environment where public life and domestic privacy could coexist.
Our proposal for Block 3 reinterprets the terrace house as a flexible urban dwelling capable of supporting large families while remaining adaptable over time. The design draws traditional amenities public interface, car parking, private gardens and secure domestic space into one continuous building envelope that spans the site boundaries. By strategically locating “fixed” elements such as the car, stairs, bathrooms and service zones, the homes can be reorganised as needs change. Multiple types of outdoor space support different living patterns and create the potential to subdivide the house into apartments or separate the ground floor from the upper levels. On the upper floors, strips of accommodation at the front and back can shift between living rooms, workspaces and bedrooms, allowing households to grow, shrink or combine functions. The result is a robust, adaptable housing model that supports urban renewal by accommodating change, street life and strengthening the definition of public space.
