Promoting Active Living by Bell Phillips

Promoting Active Living

Contents About us...

Uplifting 6 Progressive 8 Respectful 10 Celebrating arboricultural legacy in South London

A new destination in King’s Cross

A sensitive addition to a historic South London park

A new centre for sports facilities in South London

A striking new golf clubhouse

Enhancing sports facilities in a multi-purpose school building

A shop window for the local community

Fusing eastern and western influences in King’s Cross

About us... Founded

2004

Located

Wapping, London

Team

35 strong

Awards Architect of the Year | Winner 2023 Architecture Today | Winner 2023 Civic Trust | Winner 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 RIBA National | Winner 2016, 2022 Housing Design | Winner 2014, 2015, 2018, 2022 New London | Winner 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021 Clients Argent, Lendlease, Peabody, 17 London Boroughs including Southwark, Westminster and Tower Hamlets, Get Living, Igloo, Backhouse, Be First, Pegasus Life, Pocket Living, British Land, The Skinners’ School, Kent College Canterbury, Dartford Grammar, Empiric Student Housing Frameworks Notting Hill Genesis, Southwark, Bloom, Clarion, Catalyst Peabody, Perfect Circle, L&Q, GLA A+U Panel

Uplifting We create places people love We believe in the power of architecture to provide sustainable and inspiring places that everyone should thrive and benefit from. Our strong social and moral purpose drives us to use our expertise as architects to make a tangible impact on people’s quality of life.

Progressive We build for a positive future Our design approach is progressive, responsive to the changing world, continuously evolving but always underpinned by our commitment to create a better life for everyone in society. We create beautifully crafted architecture that responds positively to its surroundings, that challenges convention and creates future legacy.

Respectful Community, collaborators and the planet We pride ourselves on our proactive and enthusiastic approach to build constructive relationships with everyone we have the pleasure to meet. We strive to make the process enjoyable and lead each project with a sensitive ear and collaborative mindset because we believe people make places.

Celebrating arboricultural legacy in South London The Tree House Elephant Park is at the heart of a £2.3 billion regeneration led by Lendlease, which will create 3000 new homes and establish one of London’s best new open spaces. This new pavilion for Lendlease is the centrepiece of the new park, accommodating WCs, food and beverage kiosks, a new community space and a viewing terrace. The triangular pavilion is formed by three volumes bound together by an oversailing roof terrace centred on an existing mature London plane tree afforded the benefits of shade, elevated views across the park, and the opportunity to circulate beneath the tree’s canopy. The pavilion is designed to create a seamless flow between park and pavilion, blurring boundaries between inside and outside, enclosure and exposure. Sustainability and consideration of embodied energy has been a key consideration of the design. The structure has been designed in crosslaminated timber (CLT) with sustainablysourced timber cladding and bamboo decking resulting in a building with exceptionally low embodied energy.

Project

The Tree House

Location

Elephant Park, Elephant & Castle, Southwark

Client

Lendlease

Project Cost

Undisclosed

Status Completed 2022 Awards

Civic Trust Awards 2024 | Regional Finalist Dezeen Awards 2023 | Shortlisted AJ Awards 2023 | Shortlisted New London Award 2021 | Shortlisted

A new destination in King’s Cross Gasholder Park Gasholder No.8 is a Victorian gasholder, constructed during the 1950s from cast and wrought iron, that was once one of 23 gasometers that dominated the King’s Cross skyline as part of the Pancras Gasworks. The gasholder was decommissioned in 2000 and subsequently listed. As part of the King’s Cross Central Masterplan, Gasholder No.8 was dismantled, refurbished, relocated and remodelled as a new pocket park on a new site adjacent to the Regent’s Canal alongside the Gasholder Triplets which have been remodelled as apartments. In 2008 we won a design competition to remodel the Grade II listed Gasholder No. 8 as a new public space in the heart of King’s Cross. The proposal frames a central garden with a stunning mirror-polished stainless steel colonnade within the Victorian gasholder guideframe. The new structure provides a more intimate and contemporary counterpoint to the vast historic structure. This fragile industrial icon was dismantled and removed from its site in King’s Cross and transported to Yorkshire where it underwent repairs, refurbishment and repainting. On completion it was carefully re-erected in a more prominent position adjacent to the Regent’s Canal. In conjunction with Argent, Arup, Shepley and BAM Nuttall, we developed a detailed methodology for the dismantling, repair and re-erection of this incredible structure.

A new destination in King’s Cross

Gasholder Park Within this imposing guideframe now sits the mirror-finished canopy which like a kaleidoscope, dramatically reflects the colours of adjacent planting, buildings, people and activity. The delicate canopy is barely visible from a distance, allowing the guideframe to dominate, but from close-up takes on a kaleidoscopic quality, dramatically animated by the reflected colours, textures and activity of adjacent planting, buildings, trains and people. The new structure, encircled with planting by Dan Pearson, offers an intimate, calm and secluded space to escape the busy life of the city. By night, the colonnade is dramatically illuminated, with vertical blades of cool white light extending up the edges of the columns. On the hour an eclipse passes from east to west across the light installation, briefly dimming the lights to total darkness before returning to full brightness. These two structures now coexist, with the old reclaiming its place on the north London skyline while the new provides a peaceful, intimate public park within the everchanging urban context of King’s Cross.

Project

Gasholder Park

Location

King’s Cross, London

Client

King’s Cross Central Ltd Partners / Argent

“It’s simplicity at its best. The location and the serenity of this new small park adds an invaluable asset to the growing community” RIBA Awards judging citation

A sensitive addition to a historic South London park Southwark Park Pavilion As part of a larger masterplan this new building sees existing park facilities; café, offices and WC’s, consolidated into a single pavilion in a prominent central location overlooking the boating lake. The original brief set by Southwark Council envisaged an extension to the existing CGP Art Gallery, however we challenged this assumption and instead proposed a standalone building that would result in a distinctive building on a more advantageous site overlooking the lake. The design draws on the history of the park and refers to the notable listed former church building at Dilston Grove which was the first in situ concrete building in the UK. The plan has been generated through consideration of the three key views towards the lake, the ‘Oval’ green space and the playground. This results in a tripartite plan which has been stretched and articulated to follow the curves of the existing paths, lake edge and trees. The building is clad in white bricks, with generous openings to allow expansive views in all three directions.

Project

Southwark Park Pavilion

Location

Bermondsey, London

Client

Southwark Council

Project Cost Undisclosed Status Completed 2019 Awards New London Award 2021 | Winner AJ Award 2021 | Shortlisted Dezeen Award 2021 | Longlisted

“It’s the mark of a good piece of architecture when the building in question, despite being new, feels like it’s always been there.” Jason Sayer, Wallpaper, 2020

A new centre for sports facilities in South London Burgess Park Pavilion Located in Burgess Park, Southwark, this pavilion is part of a larger masterplan by LDA Design to improve the park’s existing sports and recreation facilities. The new building will accommodate a reception area, changing rooms, a café and storage facilities that connect with adjacent sports pitches. The pavilion gently tapers in plan and elevation leading visitors towards the entrance. Perforated, folded copper cladding above a fairface concrete plinth will bed the pavilion into the surrounding park while the concrete plinth will extend on the pitch side to create an informal seating area.

Project

Burgess Park Pavilion

Location

Burgess Park, London

Client

Southwark Council

Project Cost Undisclosed Status Under construction

A striking new golf clubhouse

Radlett Park Golf Club This new clubhouse significantly upgrades the existing facilities with a stunning restaurant space with panoramic views across the golf course. This space has been designed to be a multi-functional space that can be rented out, supplementing the golf club’s revenue streams. The clubhouse has been designed to take advantage of the natural topography of the site, nestling into the slope to reduce the visual impact on the surrounding landscape. The main entrance on the upper level gives on to a generous and flexible hospitality area that includes a spike bar, lounge bar and restaurant. From here a full width glazed façade with large sliding doors and adjoining terrace provide panoramic views across the course. Changing facilities, pro-shop and management suite have been planned on the lower level to correspond with the level of the adjacent golf course. In addition to the clubhouse a new driving range and landscaping works were undertaken to significantly improve the quality of the course.

Project

Radlett Park Golf Club

Location

Radlett Park Golf Club, Elstree, Hertfordshire

Client

Southwark Council

Project Cost Undisclosed Status Completed 2011

Enhancing sports facilities in a multipurpose school building The Judd School The Judd School is a well-known boys’ grammar school in Kent. New facilities are required to cater for a larger number of pupils. The existing school buildings have been altered incrementally over several decades and by providing new facilities it will be possible to rationalise the older buildings and make better use of them. This project comprises a new 3-storey building containing changing rooms, biology department, and dining hall. The dining hall is located on the top floor, and together with a roof terrace, doubles as a perfect vantage point for watching cricket, rugby and athletics on the adjacent sports pitches. The building is conceived as a low horizontal form, ensuring that it does not compete visually with the existing Victorian red brick buildings. The lower storeys are robust masonry with perforated aluminium vertical shading, while the dining hall is a lightweight glazed box allowing views in all directions.

Project

The Judd School

Location

Tonbridge, Kent

Client

The Judd School

Project Cost Undisclosed Status Feasibility study

A shop window for the local community

The Community House This community centre is part of a larger development comprising 53 homes for affordable rent on a brownfield postwar garage site in Tilbury, Essex. The previous community centre known as ‘The Community House’ was established by the local community to provide activities for local school children and undertaking important local initiatives such as addressing knife crime. However, The Community House operated from a series of Portakabins that were inadequate for their use. The development of the garage site for housing presented the opportunity to provide new facilities. The new community centre is located between the estate and the town. This allows The Community House to engage with the town centre and for the activities of the centre to be projected to a wider audience via a generous ‘shop window’. The Community House incorporates two separate activity spaces, together with offices and a kitchen that provide local residents with a great deal of flexibility and the potential to expand their programmes.

Project Data Location Tilbury, Essex Client Thurrock Council Project Cost Undisclosed Status Completed 2016

Fusing eastern and western influences in King’s Cross Jellicoe Gardens Pavilion This pavilion provides a focus for a tranquil landscaped garden at King’s Cross. The new garden, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith, is loosely based on the design of Bagh-e Fin in Iran, dating from the 16th century and perhaps the most celebrated and iconic of all surviving Persian gardens. In response, the pavilion is inspired by that at Chetel Sotun in Iran – literally translated “forty columns”. Situated within the highest point of the garden, this structure defines the centre of the space, which is arranged as a fourfold garden or chahar bagh. It acts as a central ordering device to accentuate the focus of the garden, helping to define a hierarchy and sequence of experiences. The transparent nature of the pavilion creates focus without dominating its surroundings. It sits upon a central route within the garden, which is reinforced by a channel of water welling up adjacent to the pavilion which then runs along the north-south axis of the garden in the form of a rill, taking advantage of the level changes across the site. The roof of the pavilion is decorated with a Penrose pattern, a non-repeating pattern developed by mathematician and physicist, Sir Roger Penrose. The pattern produces a delicate dappled light and like the garden fuses Persian and Western influences.

Project

Jellicoe Gardens Pavilion

Location

Kings Cross, Camden

Client

Argent LLP

Project Cost Undisclosed Status Completed 2022

Bell Phillips Architects Ltd Unit 305 Metropolitan Wharf 70 Wapping Wall London E1W 3SS 020 7234 9330 www.bellphillips.com