We’re excited to share that Islington Council has just announced Levitt Bernstein’s ‘Homesown’ scheme as the winning proposal for the Islington Housing Design Competition. Competing against 59 other firms, Levitt Bernstein’s design attracted the jurors with its ‘grow your own food’ ethos in central London. The affordable housing scheme includes family residences that emphasizes sustainability and create spacious living conditions. The competition presented difficult obstacles to the architects as the proposal needed to fit into the area’s context of Georgian town houses, while still being affordable, accesible for impaired people, as well as provide a welcoming and adaptable living space for local families.
More about the winning housing proposal after the break.
For their design, Levitt Bernstein (along with consultants Aecom and Arcadis) allows the residents to enjoy both private and communal outdoor space. These outdoor areas include herbs, various gardens, and fruit trees for the residents to cultivate.
A strong emphasis was placed on sustainability and the homes include features such as green roofs, photo-voltaic panels and rainwater harvesting. The first site to be developed will be a small ‘infill plot’ of land in a built up part of Finsbury Park, which is typical of other potential sites in inner London. It is hoped that once the Vaudeville Court scheme is built, the new architectural style could be replicated in other parts of the borough and elsewhere in London.
Eamon McGoldrick, Chief Executive of Homes for Islington said, “We’re looking forward to building this scheme as it will enable us to demonstrate a new, innovative approach to family housing. Anti-social behaviour is currently a problem around the Vaudeville Court site and Levitt Bernstein has cleverly designed a new housing scheme that will help discourage the problem.”
Levitt Bernstein has now been appointed to work with Homes for Islington to develop the scheme from concept design to planning application. It is hoped that the planning application will be submitted by the end of the year.