This significant site near Cambridge Station, bounded by large industrial or commercial use buildings to the north/east and housing to the west, has been identified for housing in Cambridge City Council’s Station Road Action Plan.
The public realm has been designed to merge harmoniously with the proposed masterplan for the wider area. A large grassed quadrangle facing the station will ultimately allow cyclists and pedestrians to access the station directly across the site. Tree lined streets and sensitively planted parking mews provide safe walkable streets that are well overlooked by adjoining residences.
The generous amenity of large balcony space designed into every flat is further complimented by a formal communal garden at the centre of the scheme. A striking colonnade of geldistsia trees south of the main building elevation provide light summer shading (thus reducing solar gain) to the flats whist allowing views out into the garden.
An elegant formal lawn to the centre of the garden nods to the Cambridge tradition of courtyard quadrangles and a row of pleached limes trees forming an aerial hedge to the southern edge of the space creates a green screen to the adjacent buildings.
The central communal garden is flanked on two sides by a dramatic terrace of steps providing subtle separation from the ground floor units and the garden. The steps have been designed to screen from sight and allow natural ventilation to the undercroft parking beneath the buildings.
Native and flowering climbing plants have been used throughout the design to encourage an ‘ecologically active façade’ to the buildings and boundaries.
Location:
Cambridge
Client:
Taylor Wimpey (formally Laing Homes North)
Accommodation:
183 new homes
Tenure:
183 flat units comprising of mix tenure
of which 43 are affordable
Completion Date:
2008
