Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
£80m City North scheme to tower over Finsbury Park
This from bdonline:
Benson & Forsyth has revealed its £80 million City North project in London's Finsbury Park, a mixed-use development of apartments, retail and leisure facilities.
The practice was selected for the 46,000sq m scheme in an RIBA competition ahead of John McAslan & Partners, Panter Hudspith, Flaq and Studio Egret West.
The project aims to provide a coherent framework for regeneration in the area, including 480 apartments alongside cafés and restaurants, retail units and a leisure facility still to be decided on.
Practice principal Gordon Benson said the design would be integrated contextually locally and at the citywide level.
"The chaotic geometry of the nearby railway line has effectively distorted the orthogonal nature of the city grid," Benson said.
"Our scheme will reinstate an orthogonal geometry at local level, with bold vertical elements to establish its presence in north London and the wider city context."
The project's "assembly of volumes" is characterised by a podium over two floors, a raised garden overlooking Finsbury Park at second floor level, and above that an assembly of two towers, one cylindrical, one rectilinear.
"The tall buildings will simultaneously address both the park to the east and the City to the south, and will be an instantly recognisable signature," said Benson.
The podium "repairs and extends" the existing urban pattern at ground level, and will integrate a proposed new concourse to Finsbury Park Station
Benson & Forsyth has revealed its £80 million City North project in London's Finsbury Park, a mixed-use development of apartments, retail and leisure facilities.
The practice was selected for the 46,000sq m scheme in an RIBA competition ahead of John McAslan & Partners, Panter Hudspith, Flaq and Studio Egret West.
The project aims to provide a coherent framework for regeneration in the area, including 480 apartments alongside cafés and restaurants, retail units and a leisure facility still to be decided on.
Practice principal Gordon Benson said the design would be integrated contextually locally and at the citywide level.
"The chaotic geometry of the nearby railway line has effectively distorted the orthogonal nature of the city grid," Benson said.
"Our scheme will reinstate an orthogonal geometry at local level, with bold vertical elements to establish its presence in north London and the wider city context."
The project's "assembly of volumes" is characterised by a podium over two floors, a raised garden overlooking Finsbury Park at second floor level, and above that an assembly of two towers, one cylindrical, one rectilinear.
"The tall buildings will simultaneously address both the park to the east and the City to the south, and will be an instantly recognisable signature," said Benson.
The podium "repairs and extends" the existing urban pattern at ground level, and will integrate a proposed new concourse to Finsbury Park Station
Tags for Forum Posts: City north, finsbury park town
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Architects, they are a race apart which is a shame since they are the ones designing the way we live. Geometry may fascinate them but what about more practical concerns? Who are these appartments aimed at? At a time when family homes are in short supply and there is a glut of flats as well as the lowest number of mortgages being agreed for years, these are hardly going to attract the key worker hoping to get a bit of space to start a family. Shops and cafes? There's a credit crunch, shops are shutting and bars struggling, who will be using these? What about some cultural space that doesn't cost you money to sit in?
And will anyone have the guts to say that if you live here you may not own a car (being right on top of a major transport hub)? Or will 400 more vehicles start the Saturday run to Sainsbury's?
We need housing, that's for sure, good quality family housing in the city so that people will start families and stay in London. We could start by preserving what we have and safeguarding the homes of Harringay from being turned into bedsits.
Architects should be made to live or work in any building they design for a year after its built. Unfortunately most prefer loft conversions in Clerkenwell or rambling family homes in Hampstead.Wonder why?
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Railway lines eh, so inconveniently chaotic...
More importantly, does anyone know exactly where this development will be? I can't work it out from the plan - what will it involve building over? I know there is a development around the John Jones site, and one on Woodstock Rd but clearly they are small fry compared with this. The position of the railway makes me think it will affect Fonthill Road - is that right?
Like Liz, huge concerns about the traffic implications and whether what they are building is actually what people here need.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Yes, it looks like it's on that corner between Fonthill Road & Wells Terrace
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Does "chaotic geometry" mean oblique and "effectively [distorting] the orthogonal nature of the city grid" mean, at a diagonal? Does reinstating "orthogonal geometry at the local level", mean, parallel with the streets? Is "signature" really profile or silhouette? Does "architect" always mean, precious? Prefer Plain English please!
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