Wellington Street, SE18 Woolwich, London, UK

Positioned strategically on a one-hectare site in Woolwich are five new brick buildings that knit together the urban block and help define project’s new public space. The lower-rise buildings follow the perimeter of the site and are formed of red brick; the scale and materiality of these are consistent with the adjacent high streets. Further rooting the parameter of the Wellington Street elevation within its high-street context, the rooflines of the design are animated by a series of metal, geometrically-faceted dormers that relate to the varying and more decorative rooflines found on the street.

Responding to the differing architectural characters found around the perimeter of the site, the elevation on Thomas Street has a roofline made up of simpler forms, reflecting the more regular architectural styles of the street. The facades are defined by a repetitive rhythm to the windows, which are either flush or recessed, depending on the orientation and the solar shading required.

This public landscape space will provide access to a new arts cinema, relocated dance school as well as café, restaurant and retail facilities that animate the ground floor of the central space.