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Stock Woolstencroft’s student apartments take inspiration from surrounding Victorian and modernist housing
This scheme for the UNITE Group provides 87 student apartments and is situated in Islington, London. The scheme is set on a 0.15hectare site which mediates between radically different sections of urban structure and has historically provided housing for the changing generations of inhabitants in the area, first populated by a Victorian mansion block, later by a hostel, and most recently used as student accommodation. The bold design addresses the local townscape and landscape contexts through the contemporary interpretation of the neighbouring Victorian mansion blocks and the modernist housing of the nearby Quadrant Estate.
The scheme comprises two buildings hinged around a vertical circulation core; a ‘heavy’ finely detailed brick structure was developed as an interpretation of a Victorian villa. This structure is punctuated with vertically proportioned openings and slim reveals to allow glimpses of the rooms beyond and is made up of studio rooms at all levels. A ‘light’ second form, enveloped in a woven steel mesh, responds to the weave of the surrounding treescape and floats over a series of entrance and communal spaces at ground level providing a heart for the complex.
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