Graphite Square London

Graphite Square is a new mixed use residential and office scheme designed to regenerate and create public value on a derelict site not currently meeting its full potential.

The proposal will deliver approximately 20,000 sq m of brand new floor space including 5,000 sq m of office space over three floors, flexible ground and basement workspace units designed for local industry, a Methodist church, 160 new residential units and two public spaces that link currently disconnected local streets.

The approach has been to maximise the potential for public space across the site and connect the currently disjointed urban streetscape. Working with Lambeth’s local plan, they have designed two landscaped pocket parks to the rear of development which connect to the borough’s ‘green spine’ linking all the local outdoor spaces.

Flats have been designed to achieve exceptional quality for a mid market budget, and to be attainable for Londoners. All residential units have a recessed winter garden with views across the neighborhood. A second ‘ground level’ on top of the four storey office building gives residents access to fully landscaped private gardens direct from their living space. All residential blocks have green roofs with bat boxes, water management and varied outdoor spaces to provide ecological niches and enhance biodiversity.

The history of Lambeth is one of factories and warehouses giving way to terraced houses and pleasure gardens, before its 21st century reinvention as the greenest borough in central London.

The proposed new public realm will link Vauxhall Walk with Graphite Square, and extend to Worgan Street. It will feature two public courtyards which will be open for everyone to enjoy. We plan to include small café areas for people to enjoy a coffee or a bite, whilst overlooking these green spaces. Soft and hard landscaping is proposed throughout the site, creating different types of spaces of varying uses including areas for local children to play and explore. New footpaths, running from north to south and east to west, and open spaces are proposed to help unlock the site, increase pedestrian permeability and create a vibrant new public realm. The footprint of the building has been set back from the boundary to allow for wider pedestrian pavements on Worgan Street and Jonathan Street.

This is a private development that makes many and varied improvements to the public realm through new pocket parks, public routes to connect disjointed local streets and layers of privacy for office workers and homeowners. It replaces a local eyesore whose dilapidation has dismayed its neighbors for decades with a compelling collection of new buildings that look to the future with a respectful nod to the local past.

Source: kapstudios.com