Responding to the design challenge of how to upcycle a redundant out-of-town office building, Templar House reinvents an anonymous 1970’s office block as characterful mixed-tenure housing. The existing building is entirely gutted while its single-storey mansard is extended vertically to become two-storey. The building is then re-skinned to give it a positive new identity within the collage of the neighbourhood. Using a system developed with artist Charlotte Ingle, the colours within the façade are based on abstractions from a photographic analysis of the immediate surroundings. Generously-sized balconies projecting beyond the line of the original building increase habitable area and animate the elevations with depth and shadow. Balcony positions stagger horizontally, a rhythm which is reinforced by the alternating colour pattern of balcony doors. Bathrooms for each of the 85 studio flats are factory-moulded GRP pods plugged-in during construction.

2005
Location
Harrow, London
Cost
£8 million
Client
Stadium Housing Association