NEUBAU –an emerging architectural practice and think tank – has received planning permission for a major project in London, a ‘pixelated’ residential building which negotiates a heavily trafficked corner on Fincheley Road and Hendon way. Commissioned by County Tower Properties, the Tower Station will replace a derelict petrol station and a historic clock tower. The building will become a new local landmark with a large mechanical clock installed at its zenith, echoing the site’s history and remaining visually dynamic.
The Tower Station will contain 28 apartments arranged in cubic volumes, which help to break down the overall mass of the building into smaller residential units, each six metres wide. These stacked blocks make it easy to read the building from the outside and offer the opportunity to setback the upper levels to further reduce the overall impact. With fully glazed exterior facades, the residents will have views out to the surrounding area and flats will fill with light inside.
Acting as an acoustic shield, the building creates a pocket garden at the rear, with a shared open space that incorporates a large amount of planting, including a vertical garden climbing up the side of the inner walls. Flats benefit from winter gardens, which act as a cross between conservatory and balcony, allowing for private open space alongside the communal garden at ground level, creating the feeling of a private oasis for residents.
Brigitta Lenz, co-director of NEUBAU, said: ‘this project is the result of an intense collaboration with a highly-motivated team and a visionary client, whose dedication to a design-focused approach made possible much that this industry usually sacrifices in the name of profit – it presents an exciting opportunity for a landmark site to be developed to its full potential, and we are keen to take things forward.”
Alexander Giarlis, co-director, adds:“the design of this project was a journey across many boundaries and in search for a language that could overcome the neighborhood’s historically pastiche architecture on a landmark designated site – to add a clock atop a residential building was integral to the scheme, and aims to preserve a significant local memory of the service station’s old clock tower.”
Tower County Properties states:“this particular site and project has been subject to a long and delicate planning process, and we are very pleased to have been granted planning - we have a fantastic team and are looking forward to the next phase.”
The clock tower of the former Esso service station was undeniably a distinctive feature and marker of the area. This was not so much owing to a particularly elegant design but rather the civic function a large clock tower within the public realm. The proposal brings back the clock, increasing its visibility in the area by way of height and size, while preserving the intriguing combination of the public and private element.
The project is planned for completion in 2019.
