Overlooking Clissold Park near affluent Stoke Newington, Kings Crescent housing estate had become a focus for crime involving gangs, drugs and prostitution. A worsening situation was exacerbated by the condition of the early 1970s buildings and their poor quality public realm.

 

Aspiring to improve resident safety and wellbeing, the London Borough of Hackney held a developer led competition to regenerate the estate. The winners were the visionary Peabody Trust, established by philanthropic American banker George Peabody in 1862, in partnership with Unitary and Ujima Housing Association.

 

Peabody and their partners engaged respected Dutch masterplanners West 8 to prepare a phased plan for 900 mixed tenure homes. Their ambitious scheme reinstated historic streets and defined serpentine terraces snaking around a central landscaped square. Existing peripheral housing blocks were to be renovated and a ‘family’ of three towers created to increase density, exploit parkland views and establish an identity on the skyline. The trio were designed by three different architects through collaborative workshops involving key stakeholders and an evolving large-scale model.

 

Key to the masterplan was the plot at the apex of the crescent facing a diagonal axis across the parkland. Here, a 20 storey tower allows the terrace at its base to project through towards the public gardens, creating a brickwork podium and a grand corner entrance. The form above is split into two volumes: one in pre-patinated copper and the other in glazed curtain walling with varying translucencies. Addressing the vista from the park are a series of passively heated winter gardens in crystalline angular glass.