Another Barber design — a precursor of success with the larger schemes shown overleaf (designed with marion Lewis). The architect tells us that: “Doris’ Place is an ultra-dense mixed use urban regeneration project on a 4.5m wide slot site in Hackney. The project wraps a retail unit, two maisonettes and a live/work unit around a central courtyard which is located at first floor levels. […] The roof section of the scheme is topped by a dramatic tilted parabolic vaulted roof which has become a popular local landmark."
With a more ecologically committed stance than most housing schemes, Bill Dunster demonstrates an apparent monopoly on ecological residential design (see Bedzed). Familiar features (apart from a daft name) are displayed e. g. solar panels and a wind cowl as at Bedzed, as well as ample balconies. Four apartments are fed by a single 15kW wood stove and solar panels and the planning is arranged around a central core that feeds up to the familiar wind cowl. It all fits in rather well to the Victorian terraces, but is it dreary to long for such an agenda to be handled by architects as equally enthused by living now as much as saving the planet’s future?