Equilibrium
On Carradale House

// London (UK) - December 2013

The brief required to use the roof surface of the buidling to provide with new dwellings for an additional 120 residents .

This proposal offers a vibrant addition to the secluded housing area of the Browfield Estate in East London, implementing a School of Aerial Arts
and new appartments on top of Carradale House - one of Ernö Goldfinger listed building from the sixties - aiming to give a breath of fresh air to the far-too-long-neglected area.

Equilibrium Project opens its doors to three new publics:
- New residents
- Students of The School of Aerial Arts
- General Public

The addition to the Carradale House has been designed to re-dynamise the bloc of buildings in the neighbourhood. With its interactive programme, merging architecture and landscape design together, it offers a public space that invites non-residents to join the elevated community space.

The high rise will house a school of arial arts with facilities for the students that will also be open to the public. This includes a café / restaurant, a sport medicine centre, as well as a gym.

Above the public area, can be found the habitation module space. Divided in two distinguish areas, the school housing quarters et the general housing area meet on the upper level, lead by two ramps. The upper floor being a landscaped promenade overlooking London.

Whole building

The new addition includes a public square with a restaurant, coffeshop and a gym open to all.
A suspended landscaped garden is accessible for residents only, offering a place to meet and unite old and new tenants.

The School of Aerial Arts becomes a landmark for the area and promotes a new identity for the neighbourhood.

School of Aerial Arts

Located on the East aisle, feeling of lightness, the performance space for the School of Aerial Arts programs shows and events years-round generating a new dynamic within Carradale House and the local area.

To translate the magical atmosphere of a show into the physicality of this building extension, the design integrates visual elements from the theatre vocabulary. Tightropes visually simplified as lines, represent the different storeys. Aerial structures merge into load-bearing columns and the succession of buildings appears like proscenium openings. The three-dimensional layers give a spatial rhythm to the whole new urbanised space. The entire building acts as a frame for an aerial show, where the residents are the first spectators. The two parts co-exist in a silent dialogue.

Public Space

Café-bar / Cultural venue space :
A space for the general public, residents and students to co-exist.

Sport medical centre : healthcare for students and other athletes in the building and neighbourhood.

Gym-fitness : A space dedicated to the three parts (public, residential, academic)

Flats

- Family Maisonettes
- Duplex
- Student Flats

The rhythm of the identical looking habitation units answer to the rows of adjoining houses found in the neighbourhood.

In order to preserve privacy, flats facing the next door Balfron Tower are orientated away from it. Their balconies still allow a view on the Balfron Tower so residents can relate to their neighbours.

Access

Access to the building is designed for occupants of the new extension to use the same entrance as the former residents.
The public area is accessible from the north entrance that also house an information centre about the gym, programmed shows and restaurant.

Equilibrium from Solène Thierry on Vimeo.