Analysis of Urban Form - Finsbury Park, Islington

THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING

BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY

CONTENTS ○ INTRODUCTION - Locality & The Built Environment ○ OVERVIEW

- Building Typologies ○ BUILDING A

- Pavilion Type [Clifton Court] ○ BUILDING B

- U Court Type [Beaux Arts Building] ○ SPATIAL ANALYSIS - Form & Function of Blocks ○ QUALITY OF PUBLIC REALM + SENSE OF PLACE ○ REFLECTIONS

- Merits and Challenges ○ REFERENCES

TASK 1

ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM Greater London

Borough of Islington

Finsbury Park Ward

A

B

FINSBURY PARK ISLINGTON

ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]

THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING

TASK 1

BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY

Locality: Finsbury Park Ward, Islington

ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM

Introduction

Finsbury Park is a Ward in the London borough of Islington, and is famed as a busy multi-cultural neighbourhood, just south of its namesake park.

Building Use KEY Residential Commercial Mixed-Use

De-constructing the urban tissue within this ward, shows it is typical in the nature of its development: (i) The ward is a predominant housing neighbourhood, with a variety of development typologies. (ii) Commercial zones developed close to the high roads. (iii) Administrative block are located central to the ward. (iv) Public/Institutional buildings like schools, medical facilities are central to residential zones.

Institutional Administrative

The Built Environment

Map 02: Figure Ground - (in focus) Finsbury Park

The figure-ground shows a dominance in minute urban grain, than the large urban “boxes”, yet with fewer divisons in-between blocks.

Layers of the Urban Tissue Designated Green Spaces

Map 01: Building use - Finsbury Park War, Islington

Private, Semi Private Open Spaces Roads Railway lines Buildings

Though not seen on maps, a large portion of the green cover in this ward, is from tree canopies present along most pavements in this ward.

Images: (Self clicked) Streets of Finsbury Park, Islington

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Road Hierarchy Primary Roads (High Street) Secondary Roads Tertiary Roads Local Roads Private Roads

Map 03: Division of Open space

ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]

THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING

TASK 1

BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY

ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM

Building Typologies in Finsbury Park

Overview

● The Urban Form in Finsbury Park has been classified into 4 broad categories 1. Housing Typologies - Detached, Semi detached, Slab, Ribbon, Terraced 2. Large Urban Blocks - Linear blocks, Closed box Blocks 3. Pavilion Type development - Free tower, Tower with plinth 4. Courtyard Type developments - U- Courts, Closed Courts, Detached Courts Building A - Clifton Court High Rise Tower (Pavilion) Detached blocks

Building B - Beaux Arts Building

Semi- Detached blocks

Terraced blocks

Slab development

Ribbon blocks

Linear block

Closed Box Block

Tower block

Tower + Plinth

Mid Rise Courtyard

a

Map 04: Distribution of building typologies in Finsbury Park

● In reference to Map 04, the Housing Development Trends near any given zone, tend to replicate themselves as per the surroundings. Eg. Courtyards, Terraces and Slabs, though developed separately, are clustered close to other developments of the same typology.

b

● Developments along the High street tend to take up new forms as low rise “box- like” developments or “Plinths” with towers over them. ● Detached Courtyard developments, essentially consist of slabs or terraced blocks, and can therefore be a categorised as an “Urban Block” rather than a building typology.

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U- Courtyard Development

Closed Courtyard Development

Detached Courts/ Perimeter blocks

ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]

THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING

TASK 1

BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY

Building A - CLIFTON COURT - Pavilion

ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM

A - Pavilion Type

Clifton Court is a Fully Residential, High-rise Tower in Finsbury, and is part of the council housing development adjacent to it.

Sitting on 11% of the Plot, this development has designated recreational space, and a formal landscaped cover.

● Wrought Iron fences all along open spaces - allowing visual continuity alone. ● Spatial restrictions for all

Among 19 storeys only the top 17 are for housing (4 units on each floor) - G+1 floor used for storage/admin purposes.

Comparable height to surrounding buildings Neighbouring low rise developments allow privacy on higher levels

● Main Entrance: - Street Interface with little to no interaction/ activity.

- Facade consists of gates and inaccessible doors - impossible to enter unless with a resident.

● Secondary access point from opposite side. ● Outdoor spaces are fenced, though left for free movement.

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● Large Paved Walk way - also acts as access to other housing units - space for interaction. ● Parking spots on public road.

Plot Size (sqm)

Plot Cover (sqm)

Ground Cover (%)

No. of Storeys

No. Of Units

F.A.R.

Density (units/ha)

3230.7

345.7

11%

19

68

2.03

210

ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]

THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING

TASK 1

BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY

ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM

Building B - THE BEAUX ARTS BUILDING

B - Court Type

The Beaux Arts Building is a mixed use Residential and Community Building. It is under a long term leashold, and is among prime property in the region.

Intitially a government building ( Royal Mail - Money Order), it was later modified to a residential building (1900s) with 180 units, a reception and several other recreational facilities. ● Manor House Community building accessed from main entrance only.

The units at the front facade go up to 7 storeys high, whereas the units on the court side are double storeyed and go up to 3 storeys.

Double ht. apartments Courtyard

● Single access point into the building (restricted to residents) ● Other doors on the facade used as fire exits (accessed from inside)

● Access to building restricted only to residents/staff. ● Access to private road and parking - gated.

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● Double lane road to the front facade (single access) ● Parking spots available inside the plot - on road.

Plot Size (sqm)

Plot Cover (sqm)

Ground Cover (%)

No. of Storeys

No. Of Units

F.A.R.

Density (units/ha)

7798

3203.6

41%

7

180

2.9

230

ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]

THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING

TASK 1

BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY

A - CLIFTON COURT - Pavilion Type

Density No. Of Units

Density (units/ha)

68

210

● Though the tower development has a significantly greater open space, and lesser unit, the density between both typologies is comparable.

ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM

Spatial Analysis - form & function Accessibility

Open Space

● Visual Access on all 3 sides of the road facing plot. ● Spatial access restricted through fences

Entrance to Building Private Route Fire Exit

● No private open spaces. ● Designated play area and landscape open to public access.

Accessible frontages

B - BEAUX ARTS BUILDING - Court Type No. Of Units

Density (units/ha)

180

230

● This court development is significantly denser, but the density of housing is comparable since a large portion of its floor space is allocated to other activities.

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● Courtyard formally maintained as a space for recreation and gathering. ● Views from double height residences directly into the courtyards. ●No shared open spaces

● Visual Access on road facing side only ( Including Fire Exits) ● Access restricted to entry of the building.

ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]

THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING

BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY

A - CLIFTON COURT - Pavillion Type

TASK 1

ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM

Quality of Public Realm + Sense of Place ● Inactive Street Interface, possibly due to lack of human centric spaces on the ground floor. ● Activity restricted to designated open spaces (park), and not allowed to flow. ● Poorly maintained - Short time spent outside the building, hence low priority on maintenance. ● Large open spaces - dominated by parked cars - lack of comfort and safety. ● No additional Security outside

B - BEAUX ARTS BUILDING - Court Type ● Plain Wall Blocking View on a narrow sidewalk. ● Low sense of neighbourhood safety (Lack of eyes on the street) ● Road well maintained, not too wide, and with sufficient cross over points. ● High fences made of wrought iron - caged feeling when walking on other side. ● No additional Security outside.

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● Open Space in front of building used only as buffer space.

No potential zone for interaction outside

ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]

THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING

TASK 1

BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY

MERITS ● Both the Pavillion type and the Court type offer high dwelling densities, and are an ideal solution to the density difficulties with other units. ● This study overlooks both high rise, high density buildings to create a comparable understanding of the different typologies of built form. Since one is council housing and the other privately owned, they offer a stark contrast in the influence of social status and quality of the built environment. ● Building high renders a low ground cover, allowing the possibilty of developing the open space to cater to the neighbourhood through the day. ● Court style developments allow the community to engage in interactions other than social - including safety of neighbourhood, comfort of space, etc.

Pavilion Type

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Court Type

ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM

Reflections

CHALLENGES ● Density alone is not a criteria for the construction of a specific typology of housing units - often times the high density cannot be adjust to. ● Recent news from the Beaux Arts Community has stated a new proposal to increase in the housing units in the building by converting the lobby, and moving it to the basement instead - this proposal has faced a lot of backlash from the Manor House Community since they already lack interactive spaces within the building. ● Council Housing is often neglected, and is treated differently in terms of designing for safety, interaction and gathering.

This study alone cannot be seen as a suitable enough case for the quality of public realm of the space. ● Similarly, since the Court type development was repurposed into a residential apartment (and not initially designed as one) there exist certain gaps in explaining the lack of development in the public realm of such a dense residential development. ● The lack of ground level interaction can lead to the public realm being neglected which can cause a great sense of discomfort with passing time. ● Designated open spaces, can be more restrictive than encouraging. Designating space isn’t enough, it needs to hold significant function, over dictation of use.

ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]

THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING

BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY

TASK 1

ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM

References

Maps: islington.gov.uk/map digimap.edina.ac.uk google.co.uk/maps Bibliography: Burklin, T. and Peterek, M. 2008. Urban Building Blocks. Basel: Birkenhauser.

Carmona, C. 2010. Contemporary Public Space: Critique and Classifcation, Part One: Critique. Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 15 Carmona, C., Tiesdell, S., Heath, T. and Oc, T. 2010.

Public Places - Urban Spaces. Oxford: Architectural Press. Second Edition.

Dovey, K. (2016). Urban Design Thiking: A conceptual toolkit. Bloomsbury Publishing: London.

Images: (All images are my own) Aerial views via Google Earth pro

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ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]