Windmill Hill is a mixed use development of flexible apartments and work spaces, on a compact urban plot. To maximise the use of space, all loadbearing walls are designed to define the boundaries and qualities of each room, which eliminates the need for secondary walls. The apartments are carefully designed for different living situations, where both the front and rear rooms can be used as a bedroom or study, or part of the living space. The design greatly improves the possibility for a compact and affordable home to host a rich social life and working from home, for one or more people…
Windmill Hill is a mixed use development of flexible apartments and work spaces, on a compact urban plot. To maximise the use of space, all loadbearing walls are designed to define the boundaries and qualities of each room, which eliminates the need for secondary walls. The apartments are carefully designed for different living situations, where both the front and rear rooms can be used as a bedroom or study, or part of the living space. The design greatly improves the possibility for a compact and affordable home to host a rich social life and working from home, for one or more people.
The site of the development is in the middle of an urban block in West London, with strict requirements for overlooking, daylight and access. The ground and first floor are designed as a wide base in steel and glass with temple like proportions, containing a high end motorcycle showroom and workshop. On top of the showroom there are three storeys of apartments, stacked in a thin tower surrounded by a communal garden and crowned with a roof terrace.
The building is made out of a number of simple construction elements assembled into a uniquely urban form, which creates rooms that can be used in many different ways, with minimal resources. The space-making structural elements are clearly visible from the outside, with the two multi storey side walls, one clad in black metal sheets, the other in cedar wood. On the interior, the apartments are arranged around a central structural core containing the kitchen and bathroom. This layout means that there are no corridors and every square metre becomes usable living space, flooded with natural light from two sides.
The apartments are designed around an urban, environmentally conscious and contemporary lifestyle. They are compact and affordable, yet bright and flexible. Volume and a sense of space is prioritised, with interiors that have a beautiful and durable material combination of exposed concrete, stainless steel and wood panelling. Thanks to the plan layout with a central core, the apartments can be used as a two bedroom, one bedroom or studio apartment. The two rooms that can be used as bedrooms have very large windows, one facing to the front, and the other to the rear. These rooms can be divided from the central dining area and kitchen with floor to ceiling sliding screen walls made of cedar wood, aluminium and glass. This makes it possible to get privacy for working or sleeping in either end of the apartment, without compromising the social spaces. The result of the plan layout, efficient construction, and compact format is a significant improvement to the way we are able to live and work in affordable and sustainable homes.
