Gainsborough Studios

Character

The scheme has a powerful identity and is dramatically scaled, with a unique image drawing attention to the site’s significant cultural history. Three dense blocks with a sharp and up-to-the-minute appearance are prominent in an area of lower housing. Timber facing on cantilevered balconies and walls is a recurrent element throughout the design and is accompanied by carefully designed steel details. The heavily modelled north elevation to the canal makes use of an angle, repeated elsewhere in the plan and possibly derived from the alignment between road and canal. The distinctive 'fins' and glazed southern façade of the West Studio have 1930s references and signal the main entrance, the controlled entry point for all apartments which is framed by bold, steel ‘V’ columns. The adjacent South Studio, the original five storey brick film studio, has been confidently recomposed and visually linked to two new storeys above and a seven storey extension to the west. Topped with large 'Gainsborough' letters which unite the whole and continue the 1930s reference, this is clearly a new address.

Roads, parking and pedestrianisation

The development fills the plot on three frontages with the canal on the fourth. Street enclosure is maintained in the converted part of the development to the south and east. The West Studio frontage, with a new restaurant and grocery shop facing the busy New North Road is separated from the public realm by an elevated walkway on the sloping site, potentially reducing vitality. Frontages on Poole Street and Imber Street are inactive at ground-level, the active façades being raised on a plinth over the underground car-park. Doorways retained from the former building are bricked-in or for fire exit only. 

The interior courtyard, open to the public and providing access to apartments and offices, has a re-circulating water feature running its length and terminating at each end in a waterfall. In the centre, elevated over a small business, the enigmatic Cor-Ten sculpture and its birch trees animate the courtyard but generally the space feels secluded and private, designed less for children's play than for organised events. The major art work, while visible from the street, is not positioned to attract viewers - no seats are provided and it seems more a place for crossing through rather than lingering. CCTV cameras are used in a number of courtyard locations and elsewhere. The potential to link into the street network is most clearly displayed next to the canal where a temporary gate currently locks off the new scheme’s waterside from Wiltshire Row.

Design and construction

The design is specific to the scheme, and built in reinforced concrete cast in-situ. High quality low maintenance timber is used in public spaces, balconies and some facades and the sculpture is designed to last. Individually designed metal letters and cantilevered glass parapets to the four footbridges are skilfully crafted. The scheme was designed to exceed Building Regulations in operation at the time of construction, and the quality of the internal finish is high throughout, with hardwood flooring, quality kitchen furniture and stone tiling in bathrooms. Metalwork throughout the scheme is brushed stainless steel and doors and windows feel solid and rewarding to touch. The use of concrete floors and columns, with no concrete walls, allows complete remodelling. Live/work can simply revert to wholly residential if needed. The fitting of electric radiators was an economy but assists the ease of changing the wall arrangements, and the scheme is highly insulated. Affordable units differ from speculative ones in terms of details and finishes such as light fittings and tiling.

Environment and community

Accommodation offered for sale is mainly one bed (30) or two bed (180) units, plus three penthouses (three bed). Of these, 80 are live/work units. Southern Housing Group offers another 40 affordable units comprising 32 shared ownership and eight rented flats. A two storey 283sq.m penthouse with spectacular views to the city and the Regents Canal tops off the West Studio. The central courtyard space is the main uniting place for the resident community. Dominated by the Hitchcock sculpture and silver birch planting, it also leads to newly opened up public space along the rehabilitated canal frontage which features decking, trees and sophisticated lighting design. The local community will benefit from retail and leisure facilities to be provided, which include a general store and café / restaurant soon to be opened, and a gym in the basement facing the canal. These, along with 2,790 sq.m of office space, also offer potential employment opportunities locally. Transport links are excellent, with local bus stops about 100 metres south of the site and others, including a night service, within a few minutes walk. Rail and underground links are within 10 minutes walk, and there is a prospect of a new tube link to Chelsea.