Felixstowe Road
Client: London Community Land Trust (LCLT)
- Location: Abbeywood, London
- Architect: Archio
- Landscape Architect: LT Studio
- Status: Planning
LT Studio are working with The London Community Land Trust (LCLT) on two very exciting and ambitious projects. The landscape design proposals for Felixstowe Road have been community-led with a focus on creating thoughtful external spaces to encourage interaction between neighbours through areas where residents can gather together.
The landscape design proposals for Felixstowe Road have been community-led, with the aim to create well used external spaces that encourage interaction between neighbours. The external spaces surrounding the buildings shall be treated as public, communal spaces for all and in particular the residents to use. People passing through the development by foot should be actively encouraged to walk through the street as a place to explore. The landscape shall provide places to sit, play and gather. Spaces for local residents to meet and to talk together.
The Felixstowe Road site offers the opportunity to open-up a new thriving community in a space that has been neglected and dis-used for a number of years. The new south facing street and garden spaces between buildings will create an oasis of places to play, relax and engage with neighbours all within a car free environment. This will be a special place.
Private and public spaces combine to provide future residents with a hierarchy of places to spend their time. The rear ‘Yards’ provide space for privacy while the front external spaces will feel like an extension of the street. Each property will have a bench at the front door covered by a canopy suspended from the building to mark this as the entrance and to provide a feeling of arriving home.
The landscape shall feel open for people who don’t live in this place to feel welcome and to walk through to connect the wider neighbourhood and community. The landscape areas shall feel generous and carefully proportioned against building height to ensure the relative scale feels comfortable.
Each property shall include external hardstanding areas to the front and rear. The front spaces shall be semi-enclosed from the main street by low level native species hedges, there is space behind for a table for residents to sit. The rear spaces or ‘Yards’ are more private. Enclosed by adjacent properties and infill boundary walls between, the yards will include a lockable access gate onto the street.
The site currently comprises of existing garages which have not been in use for some time and the garages are in a poor state. Surrounding the site in each general direction is a mixture of residential uses including two storey terraced housing to the western boundary and a five (5) storey residential flat building to the eastern boundary.
The street shall allow for informal play space and for children to ride their bikes safely. We propose to re-use the existing concrete slab surface finish that makes up the construction of the existing garage site. This material has a strong colour and texture distinctive to this place, it will maintain the unique character of this site. Active re-use of this material will reduce overall carbon.
Private and public spaces combine to provide future residents with a hierarchy of places to spend their time. The rear ‘Yards’ provide space for privacy while the front external spaces will feel like an extension of the street. Each property will have a bench at the front door covered by a canopy suspended from the building to mark this as the entrance and to provide a feeling of arriving home.
The landscape shall feel open for people who don’t live in this place to feel welcome and to walk through to connect the wider neighbourhood and community. The landscape areas shall feel generous and carefully proportioned against building height to ensure the relative scale feels comfortable.