The Potential of Materials by Bell Phillips

The Potential of Materials

Contents About us...

Uplifting 6 Progressive 8 Respectful 10 Giving new life to a Victorian icon

A progressive school building with a nod to the past

A minimalist stair in a converted Victorian schoolhouse 36 Intervening in a historic post-industrial setting

Contemporary homes in the Lisson Grove Conservation Area

New homes on a celebrated modernist housing estate

Celebrating arboricultural legacy in South London

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.

Giving new life to a Victorian icon 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.

Giving new life to a Victorian icon

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 progressive school building with a nod to the past The Mitchell Building The Skinners’ School is a highly respected grammar school in Royal Tunbridge Wells which is expanding to accommodate a growing number of pupils. We were appointed to design a new 3-storey building in a key location on the public frontage, between two of the original Victorian buildings on the site. The new building contains a sixth-form centre, English department and library. The design was developed from a careful analysis of the Gothic revival style of the original school buildings and comprises a design which uses a matching brick with a strong emphasis on verticality and repetition, in a similar manner to the existing buttressed hall. The result is an architecture which is both highly contemporary and respectful of its historic context. Like its Victorian neighbours, the building is designed to last 100 years. The quality and detail of the brickwork ensure it sits perfectly in its context, as a symbol of 21st century education in a historic setting that will continue to provide great spaces for learning for generations to come.

Project

The Mitchel Building

Location

Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent

Client

The Skinners’ School

A progressive school building with a nod to the past The Mitchell Building The building centred on creating uplifting, stimulating spaces to learn, grow and promote wellbeing in harmony with the surroundings. Sustainability permeated every step of the design process. Natural, biophilic materials are used throughout with marmoleum flooring, timber cladding, wood-wool acoustic panels and carpets made from recycled fishing nets. Not only does this provide a beautiful aesthetic but studies also show that the use of natural materials can improve performance, improve mood and lower blood pressure essential for learning environments. Passive daylighting and natural ventilation was prioritised with all classrooms being double or triple aspect, hugely reducing reliance on artificial lighting and air conditioning, whilst exposed concrete soffits regulate the internal temperature and give generous floor to ceiling heights.

Thrutone fibre cement slate roof tiles

Red brick with colour matched mortar, Brookmill Blend by Traditional Brick & Stone

Hand laid bricks at 45 degrees

Bespoke double masonry support angles by IG Lintels

Timber aluminium composite window system, Velfac 200 Energy

Brick piers hand laid at 45 degrees

Brick special sill with hydrophobic masonry coating Brick slip soldier course as part of IG Lintel masonry support system

“... the architectural design of a wonderful building that is imaginative, practical, in sympathy with surrounding buildings but also striking in its C21st contrast and pleasingly sustainable.” Edward Wesson, Headmaster & Paul Johnston, Bursar

A minimalist stair in a converted Victorian schoolhouse Lansdowne Drive This slimline folded staircase was designed for a private client in Hackney. It connects the ground and mezzanine floors of a studio flat within a historic Victorian schoolhouse, with its minimal design increasing the sense of space and adding a sculpted, elegant form that forms a focal point for the space. Alternative material coatings were exhaustively researched to identify a finish that had the depth, texture, richness of colour and tone to complement the existing building. A 6mm steel sheet was folded and welded before being finished using the innovative process of spraying atomised brass directly on to the steel. The brass finish compliments with the rough existing brickwork to create a dynamic meeting of old and new.

Project

Lansdowne Drive

Location

London Fields, Hackney

Client

Private

Project Cost Undisclosed Status Completed 2016

Intervening in a historic postindustrial setting Granary Square Pavilion Granary Square Pavilion incorporates a retail unit, public WCs and public access lift connecting Granary Square to Lower Stable Street on a prominent site opposite the Granary Building and Thomas Heatherwick’s new retail complex at Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross. The roof of the pavilion extends the public space of Granary Square completing the western corner of the space. The pavilion completes Granary Square, extending the public realm across its roof, whilst presenting an active frontage to the adjacent Goods Yard Ramp and Lower Stable Street. The pavilion seeks to be an understated, contemporary, yet high quality, addition to King’s Cross that engages with, but doesn’t compete with, its surrounding context. The pavilion has a decorative cast iron façade that extends up to the form a balustrade to Granary Square. The pattern of the cast iron is inspired by the molecular structure of coal referencing the site’s industrial heritage. The pavilion is one of three public realm interventions we have added at King’s Cross together with Gasholder Park and Jellicoe Gardens.

Project

Granary Square Pavilion

Location

Plaistow, Newham

Client

King’s Cross Central Ltd Partners / Argent

Project Cost Undisclosed Status Completed 2019 Awards Civic Trust Award 2021 | Winner New London Award 2020 | Winner

Contemporary homes in the Lisson Grove Conservation Area Cosway Street Located in the Lisson Grove conservation area adjacent to the Grade 2* listed Christ Church, this residential scheme proposes 51 new apartments and penthouses arranged around a landscaped communal garden, alongside two family terraced houses on Ashmill Street. Taking inspiration from the surrounding late Victorian and Georgian terraces and Christ Church, the design reinstates the historic street frontage thereby reinforcing the character of the conservation area. Facades of fluted brick facades that subtly vary in dimension and tone of brick reflect the rhythms and proportions of the surrounding streets in a design that is contemporary yet rooted in its context. The dwellings are designed to be open plan to maximise daylight to all spaces with high ceilings and generous living space throughout. The project, for Westminster City Council, is part of the Church Street Masterplan.

Contemporary homes in the Lisson Grove Conservation Area The fluted brick facades are designed to be contemporary response to the rhythms, proportions, tones and colours of the surrounding Victorian and Georgian buildings. The fluted motif is inspired by the fluted columns of the adjacent Grade II* Listed Christ Church. The studies below demonstrate how the brick flutes vary on the different elevations in response to the adjacent buildings giving the proposed building both consistency and sensitivity.

Cosway Street

Shroton Street

Bell Street

Project

Cosway Street

Location

Marylebone, London

Client

Westminster City Council

Project Cost Undisclosed Status Under construction Awards Housing Design Awards 2019 | Winner

New homes on a celebrated modernist housing estate Orwell House This is one of five projects undertaken for Tower Hamlets to provide new housing on sites across the borough, comprising 135 affordable homes on infill sites within existing estates. Three of these developments are now completed, with a fourth currently under construction. Orwell House, located on Lubetkin’s Dorset Estate in Hoxton, incorporates 20 new council homes for social rent. The wedge-shaped building overlooks the adjacent Ravenscroft Park with a rooftop terrace offering communal amenity space with panoramic views. The wedge-shaped building has GRC panels that echo the tone and chequerboard pattern of the existing estate.

Project

Orwell House

Location

Bethnal Green, London

Client

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Project Cost Undisclosed Status Completed 2020 Awards

ew London Award 2021 | Shortlisted N AJ Award 2021 | Shortlisted Housing Design Award 2021 | Shortlisted

The pink glass-reinforced concrete (GRC) balcony screens of the new building take inspiration from Lubetkin’s experiments in employing weaving patterns to soften the impact of large facades that are utilised on the adjacent buildings. The tone of the GRC relates to the colours of the surrounding estate whilst complementing the trees and planting of the adjoining Ravenscroft Park.

The facetted chequerboard design of the screen adds depth, light and shade, giving life to the elevation as the light changes throughout the day. The facetted screen embeds the new building in the context of the surrounding estate whilst allowing the new building to be a striking contemporary addition.

Clay facing brick, Vandersanden Antro

Steel support frame

Red-pigmented, glass reinforced concrete panel

Concrete paving slabs

Timber aluminium composite window system, Rationel auraPlus

Galvanised steel, zigzag format balustrade

Exposed concrete soffit, with Keim mineral paint finish

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

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