An ordinary block of family rented dwellings in London’s deprived East End has won national acclaim for its traditional-style architecture.
Whitechapel’s Darbishire Place is one of seven architectural projects across east London singled out for merit at last night’s Royal Institute of British Architecture awards.
The Peabody Trust building in John Fisher Street, off Cable Street, cerated by architects Niall McLaughlin, is described as a “reinterpretation of the traditional five-storey mansion block for the oldest social housing providers in London”.
Also on the list of seven east London schemes—out of just 38 winning projects across the whole of London including Foyle’s in top spot—are two within walking distance of Darbishire Place.
These are the university campus for Whitechapel’s Hult International Business School in Commercial Road, by architect Sergison Bates, and ‘House In Wapping’ created by Chris Dyson architects.
Other projects in east London listed in this year’s awards are Mint Street in Bethnal Green by Pitman Tozer, Tabernacle Street in Shoreditch by Piercy & Company, St Mary of Eton Church apartments and community rooms in Homerton by Matthew Lloyd and Courtyard House in Forest Gate by Dallas Pierce Quintero.
The East End’s winning projects ranked among London’s most outstanding schemes such as the revamped Foyle’s in Charing Cross Road which won Architect of the Year award after judges described it as “a triumphant resurrection of a stuffy and declining bookstore” into a dynamic literary emporium.
The 38 accolades at the 2015 RIBA awards at the National Theatre were the biggest annual celebration of good building design in the architecture world.
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