Project Description
Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, founding partners of Grafton Architects, are the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates and the winners of the 2020 RIBA Gold Medal.
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
Piece of Urban Landscape:
The form in plan sidesteps mature trees, recedes to form permeable edges, shade from sun and rain, to form permeable thresholds setting the stage for public life.
The open undercroft colonnade at ground floor level invites public use and activity. The three cascading terraces, which form part of the facade, form hanging gardens giving a sense of the landscape connecting from ground level to the top of the building.
Three Dimensional Organisation
The organisation makes a three-dimensional matrix, one singular complex space, which links the various elements of the brief to one another, while at the same time giving each its own identity and privacy. Spaces and uses interlock, overlap, connect physically or visually. This environment encourages collaboration and exchange.
Social interaction and circulation spaces
A grand open stair weaves its way up through the building forming a connection between the interwoven volumes and uses. Perimeter circulation, sometimes semi-external, is combined with internal circulation in order to liberate the organisation and give a sense of openness and choice of movement through the building.
Project Credits:
Project: Town House, Kingston University London
Architects: Grafton Architects
Project Managers: Turner & Townsend
Structure and Civils: AKT II
Landscape: Dermot Foley
Mechanical and Electrical: Chapman BDSP
Quantity Surveyors: Turner & Townsend
Health & Safety: Turner & Townsend
Fire Safety: Chapman BDSP
Access: Michael Slattery & Associates
Acoustic: Applied Acoustic Design
Transport, Signage and Wayfinding: Steer Davies Gleave
Planning Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners