Peabody, Burridge Gardens, St John's Hill

2018 Residential Architect Design Awards / Affordable Housing / Award

“It has to do with the quality—I can imagine someone feeling like they could make a wonderful home there.” —Dirk Denison

Peabody, Burridge Gardens comprises the first phase in the reinvention of the 1930s Peabody St. John’s Hill housing estate, in the Battersea area of southwest London. Designed by the Los Angeles– and London-based firm Hawkins\Brown, the initial three structures provide 154 mixed-income units, and the master plan will eventually see 599 units, plus retail and commercial space.

In the past, the development was defined by identical utilitarian apartment blocks enclosed by a surrounding wall. Hawkins\Brown dispenses with the wall and sheathes each new building in its own distinctive architectural identity, with brick of varying hues and textures. Two attached linear structures—of six and seven stories, respectively—abut adjacent rail lines. A pedestrian avenue that will extend through subsequent phases separates them from a six-story structure with a central courtyard.

The architects referenced Edwardian neighbors with similar shades of brick and contrasting window surrounds. Three-story maisonettes at the base of the courtyard block, which face the historic structures, receive a more finely grained, rusticated articulation that implies a shared design vocabulary. Ground-level units have front and rear gardens as well, tying them to the typology of the older townhouses. The architectural language is starker and more modern along the new pedestrian avenue and in the interior courtyards. Communal entrances are easily identifiable via brightly glazed bricks.

The designers collaborated with a sculptor to create distinctive masonry reliefs on the façades that recall the site’s history. Fences, railings, and gratings provide a level of ornament not generally associated with social housing. Peabody, Burridge Gardens will continue to grow and evolve as the rest of the master plan gets built out, but its early design success provides a compelling template for a rejuvenated community.

See the full list of winners of the 2018 Residential Architect Design Awards.

Project Credits
Project: Peabody, Burridge Gardens, St John's Hill, London
Client: Peabody
Architect: Hawkins\Brown, Los Angeles and London . Russell Brown (founding partner); Iain Cochran (partner); Kenneth Gow (associate); Petr Kalab (associate director); Katie Tonkinson, Phil Catcheside (partners); Michelle Tomlinson, Richard Coskie (architects)
Interior Designer: Hawkins\Brown
M/E/P Engineer/Lighting Designer: Max Fordham
Structural/Civil Engineer: Ellis + Moore Consulting Engineering
Construction Manager: Gleeds
General Contractor: Sisk Group
Landscape Architect: Farrer Huxley Associates
Cost Consultant: Gleeds
Fire Engineering: Lawrence Webster Forrest
Size: 185,947 square feet
Cost: $156.4 million