SUCCESSFUL DIALOGUE BETWEEN BUILDINGS AND PROPERTY DEVELOPERS, ARCHITECTS AND NEIGHBOURS 

Experienced architects and building contractors are required in order to successfully carry out large, sensitive projects, as these involve more than just adhering to building laws and achieving a cost effective design. Such projects also involve human and architectural interaction. But in this case peace and harmony, at least in terms of external appearance, was achieved between old and new neighbours through the use of pitched roofs and brick facades.

When different levels of society collide, pitched roofs and brick facades can at least provide visual tranquillity.

The Mall, Kingsbury, consists of three streets of buildings. They form a large triangle and the new buildings filled with owner-occupied flats, shops and “special housing” seem very densely packed in view of the surroundings. But what was already visually a thorn in the side of some of the residents here, who had been living their idea of idyllic family life for decades in their introspective semi detached houses with brick facades and pitched roofs, was not improved by the fact that a building complex allocated for social housing was to be constructed on the street, in order to offer homeless people and large immigrant families a place to live. Easily achieving approval for this large project was indeed a challenge, as even the promise of large new green areas and play areas struggled to appease the locals.

But the London-based Shepheard Epstein Hunter architectural agency, which had already received a number of prizes for its work with public buildings, was sufficiently down-to-earth or had the right experience to successfully merge the old and new worlds, at least in architectural terms. So a dialogue was established between the architects and the building’s neighbours, leading to a relaxation of the façade design, at least on one of the three sides.