Details
Brick Manufacturer: Ibstock Brick Limited
Architect: Dallas-Pierce-Quintero
Brickwork Contractor: Global Brickwork Ltd
About the project
Located along Newham’s Wanstead Flats, Forest Houses sees the transformation of a former builder’s yard into three new-build homes - including one 3-bedroom family house and two 2-bedroom houses.
The site is bounded by terrace houses to the front and the parkland of the Flats to the rear. The client’s brief sought to maximise an under-used and constrained brownfield plot, and deliver a solution that can respond to and respect neighbouring properties.
Tucking into the furthermost corner of the site, D-P-Q’s innovative design for the new-build homes is based on ‘upside-down’ living - moving bedrooms to the ground floor and positioning the kitchen and living spaces on the projecting first floor.
Celebrating simplicity in materials and innovation in construction, this low-tech yet super-insulated project fuses traditional and modern methods of construction to create a truly sustainable and efficient-to-run home. Brick and metal feature as the primary elements of a robust, long-lasting and easy to maintain material palette - a nod to the site’s industrial history which also helps to break down the building mass to a human scale. Building on the potential of a simple palette, D-P-Q’s approach sought to use these materials in unexpected ways, drawing on their practical and aesthetic qualities to create a unique, user-led, and site-specific development.
At ground floor level, the use of traditional masonry construction lends itself to the plot’s irregular shape, and allows for a carefully-considered jigsaw arrangement, where the three units efficiently interlock layouts around a series of lightwells and courtyards. This layout optimises the number of homes on the site while introducing a strong relationship between inside and out. The light-coloured brickwork, with recessed mortar joints, wraps around the rooms and courtyards to create a
‘plinth’-like appearance, while seamlessly forming into the site’s boundary walls.
Sponsored by Grayson Building Products
With large stocks from reputable manufacturers, Grayson can deliver an extensive range of goods across the UK & Ireland. Grayson work in partnership with the leading manufacturers to provide expert advice to our clients. Grayson get the right products, to the right place at the right time – key for any major project to keep running on schedule.
