Kensington & Chelsea Social Housing

If there’s one thing we’ve learned makes better buildings, it’s empathy. Architecture never happens in isolation—and simply by being interested and engaged, we’ve found it’s possible to open up the conversations that connect a scheme to its clients and community.

We believe that the more constraints there are, the better the architecture. If there aren’t any constraints, we create them. Challenging sites, existing buildings and complex briefs almost always present incredible opportunities for great design.

To limit our environmental impact, we start with what is already there. By manipulating the form and fabric of a building—whether new or existing—we can work with the existing conditions of topography, light and orientation, and harness the natural energy sources offered by air, ground and water.

If a site’s constraints guide the bigger design decisions, then it’s empathy that informs the smaller, social details. These details frame the human narratives that aren’t included in the brief, anticipating specific moments in the users’ lives.

Good architecture is as much about what happens on the building site as it is about what’s on the drawing board. By working alongside contractors as well as clients we can ring-fence the ideas and details that matter, championing quality and sustainability throughout construction.

Kensington & Chelsea Social Housing

Work Studio Activity News Contact

Work

Social Housing
Kensington and Chelsea, London

Client

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Download

> Housing brochure

A masterplan and an urban regeneration strategy for a borough wide programme. The existing urban context has built up over time and presents a variety of building types, architectural characteristics, materials, textures and colours. A careful analysis of the existing
buildings influenced regeneration proposals that are sympathetically integrated within the existing neighbourhoods to create a more legible urban grain and provide public and private space with well planned new accommodation.