Award winning design for David Mikhail Architects

We were recently sent a vimeo link by one of our clients, David Mikhail Architects, that showcased one of the winning schemes of the Housing Design Awards 2013, a development in the London borough of Hackney; Church Walk, Stoke Newington.  Working in a design agency we are keen on visually attractive projects that include an element of creativity to reach the end result, and we were all in agreement that the Mayors Housing Design Award for Church Walk was well deserved.

Personally, I am very pro the sustainable use of brownfield sites for development, and was intrigued by this project.  David Mikhail and Annalie Riches worked as architects and developers having bought the site at auction. Working with Eurobuild as their contractors, they turned a site full of burned out cars, old sofas and hypodermic needles into a well-designed building that considered all of the constraints of the site whilst giving thought to the requirements of the future residents and how they would use the space in their homes. David and Annalie considered the impact that their development would have on neighbouring properties and maximised the use of the small site through the skilful design of the building.  The result is three houses and one apartment – all stunning to look at and very comfortable to live in according to feedback from the residents. All of the houses have some form of outside space in the way of gardens and/or balconies, so outside space is not restricted, something impossible in many London developments.  Being built in the manner that they have been, residents feel a part of the community whilst retaining privacy, giving a sheltered and secure feel.

The exterior of the development was very important to David and Annalie, they used a mixture high quality modern materials such as light brick, anodised bronze and white oiled siberian larch cladding, whilst including contrasting themes often seen in Victorian and 18th Century architecture, an example of this can be seen in the brickwork with flush brick and white lime mortar.

From a neighbour’s perspective, the development has been stepped, with the use of wild flowers on much of the roof space, to soften the visual impact of the building.  The development was also designed so that no windows would overlook any of the existing buildings, whilst making the use of as much natural light as possible.  According to one resident, they never feel overlooked themselves and even on a grey day, the houses feel bright and airy.  To maximise the space used, the developers used low ceiling heights in rooms where you may be seated or inactive, and increased the height of the ceilings in rooms where you move about more, for example, the kitchen – also giving a spacious feel.

As more and more housing is required in London, developers can learn a lot of lessons from this development, and can take inspiration that in even the smaller sites something very beautiful and functional for the residents, can be constructed with clear thought into the design.

If you’re interested in seeing the video yourself, you can watch the video by clicking here.  To visit the David Mikhail Architects website, and to see more of their award winning design please click here.