Inner Ring Two from Barber

Peter Barber’s work has begun to make an impact, particularly in these prize-winning designs for East End areas where everyone is seeking to concentrate housing activity, Contexturalism — certainly in formal terms — is given two fingers and a breath of Mediterranean bloom (prompted, in part, by the UK’s current building Regulations) has been dropped into the midst of areas that, historically, are better known for distress and that peculiar London quality of semi-suburban meanness. But to address these schemes only in terms of their novel aesthetic would be unfair: these are well considered design schemes striving to cope with issues of urbanity, density and cost. A language of perimeter geometries, terraces and courts are mixed with features such as oriel windows, Romeo & Juliet balconies and the like.

Tanner Street

Architects text: “Tanner Street Gateway is a dense street based urban quarter in the Thames Gateway laid out as a network of intimately scaled streets defined by a hard edge of buildings. At the heart of the scheme is a delightful, new tree lined public square, where a spectacular, 10 storey landmark building marks the junction of a number of important public routes. The new neighbourhood has around 200 dwellings in a mixture of town houses and unusual double stack apartments. Every unit has its own front door and its own good sized outside space."

A ten-storey block of 40 apartments adjacent to the Barber scheme(bottom left) is by Jestico & Whiles.

The intention is that this acts as a landmark building on an approach from the town centre.

Architects text: “The project is conceived as a celebration of the public social life of the street. Every aspect of the design is configured to promote buzzing, thriving public space made with a hard edge of buildings. Streets overlooked by balconies, bay windows and roof terraces. Streets where people might enjoy to sit out, kids to play, people going to and from their homes or just passing through. Dwellings are laid out as a unique double stack hybrid, terrace/courtyard typology. Every unit having its own front door on the street and its own good sized outside space."

93 Donnybrook Quarter

Images (top to bottom): Donnybrook; axo of Donnybrook scheme and two images of Tanner Street nearing completion. Note the inter-war mock ‘tudorbethan’ housing on the left.