A House for Artists

Barking, London, UK

This ground-breaking scheme for the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham saw the construction of a new apartment block to provide 12 homes available to artists for social rent. The architect’s vision was to create shared outdoor spaces and external access that would encourage interaction between residents, with exhibition, workshops and community space at street level.

Service

Structural Engineering

Location

Barking, London, UK

Client

BeFirst LB Barking & Dagenham and Create London

Architect

Apparata

Contractor

J Murphy & Sons

M&E Consultant

Max Fordham

Status

Completed

Expedition supported Apparata to develop this commission from arts charity Create London for this ‘shining example’ residential development which was designed and built for artists.

We provided Structural and Civil Engineering design services from the competition phase to RIBA Stage 4, enabling the architects to realise the pure architectural intent that they had committed to.

One of the key outcomes the practice was striving to achieve was the desire for an absolute minimum of finishes both internally and externally. This demanded a certain level of structural gymnastics to ensure that the concrete’s visual appearance was appropriate for exposure, with cracking controlled as far as possible, and in the placement and treatment of thermal breaks.

Supporting such a strong vision placed tight constraints on how we were able to approach the engineering challenges and create a minimalist aesthetic that has been well-received by the architectural world.