|
mæ architects have designed and delivered this affordable housing project in New Islington, one of the seven Millennium Community projects in the UK, following their appointment by clients Great Places Housing Group in 2009. Our scheme - christened 'The Guts' by residents owing to the site's central position in the 'belly' of the New Islington masterplan - was completed in April 2012. It provides houses for residents of the former Cardroom Estate who are set to return to the area, consisting of 18 units in total over a 0.45 hectare site.
It is the eighth scheme to have been developed at New Islington, including Great Places’ post-modernist Islington Square, completed in 2006 and its green-roofed sister development, Guest Street, in 2007. Urban Splash developed the iconic Chips apartment block in 2009. Design and Appearance The Guts has been designed as a culturally legible set of individual homes, which together form a strong unified whole. The archetype of a ”home”, with its association with the form of a pitched-roofed house, was key to the design development of the project. The Guts comprises both terraced and semi-detached houses, unified with one consistent colour of brick at ground floor level and individual colours for each home on top. This element allows for recognition and family association, while maintaining a sense of the communal. Roofs are slate with inset gutters. Windows are designed as painted timber.
We believe that the appearance of the dwellings proposed is a joyous and constructive response to the requirements of the area.
Project facts Related Publicity
The Guts, New Islington, Manchester How social housing in Manchester has reinvented the back-to-back Mae Architects: The Guts, New Islington, Manchester The Guts, New Islington housing by Mae Gut feeling: Mae in Manchester Mae architects rethinks the semi for Urban Splash's New Islington |
|
|
