Visage and Swiss Cottage Cultural Centre

Character

The new buildings' height was determined by the requirement not to exceed the roof line of the listed library on the site's southwest corner and the roof line of the four storey brick terraces on Winchester Road, another contextual clue being the concrete tower block across Winchester Road. Thus the leisure centre with its roof dwellings observes the library's roof level, and the northern end of the Visage building starts with five storeys and steps up to 13 storeys in the 5-storey tower set back from the Adelaide Road prow.

Although ungainly when seen from some angles, this forms a notable landmark from the west side of Finchley Road and from the east along the Adelaide Road approach.

The Winchester Road elevation articulated with columns, balconies and set backs, gives the street a vertical rhythm reminiscent of existing terraces.

The major landscaped open space and water feature in the site's interior tie together the different uses, building heights and architectural styles surrounding them, but opening up the block has revealed the backs of the Winchester Road terraces which are not yet obscured by planted screening.

Providing active frontages to two new pedestrian routes from Adelaide Road has proved difficult and although angled windows to the surgery and the duplexes on the leisure centre elevation give limited overlooking of Winchester Mews, these are generally unsurveilled.

Roads parking and pedestrianisation

The development has been realised without additional surface vehicle routes, all movement being kept to existing streets. A service road gives essential access via an opening on the the Visage block's Winchester Road elevation, also allowing cars to reach the extensive basement parking area which runs the width of the new buildings.

A relatively high level of parking is provided considering the proximity of public transport, and this is divided into separate caged spaces for various operational and residential users who enter through remotely operated gates. To reduce the height of the basement and therefore keep the whole building within the limits of the adjacent library roof, an impulse fan system has been installed which continuously ventilates the space but can also evacuate smoke very quickly in an emergency.

Design and construction

Despite sharing a common basement the two blocks have completely different structural systems. The Visage block is constructed from in-situ reinforced concrete shear walls and floors. Externally its ground and first floor reinforced concrete structure and block in-fill panels are colour rendered; above this, aluminium cladding panels with a textured finish match the colour of lower levels.

A clip-on scaffold-less curtain walling system has been used on the building's higher part, and blue tinted low solar radiation glass on both private and affordable units reduces the need for cooling without external sun shades.

Visage apartments are arranged around lift and stair cores with entrances on Winchester Road, resulting in small day-lit landings serving three or four apartments. Private apartments have balconies with views north to Hampstead and south east to Primrose Hill and Central London, while each core has a larger communal roof terrace.

An attempt to provide privacy for ground floor residents on the Winchester Road elevation through using deep columns to cut off diagonal views into apartments is not altogether successful. Deep steel trusses supported on concrete columns span the large spaces of the leisure centre, and these form party walls between pairs of single story courtyard units on the roof which is covered with standing seam naturally-finished aluminium.

Adequate acoustic insulation from the leisure centre's noisy activities has been ensured for these flats through special finishes and the dwellings' floating floor. The leisure centre's unglazed walls are finished with a self-coloured render.

Affordable units above the leisure centre have a lift and stair core accessed from a single door off Winchester Mews. A second door in this elevation (which also features 'swift bricks' to encourage nesting swifts) leads to the doctors' surgery and more might have been made of these entrances in an otherwise sparsely articulated façade.

External space in the 'street in the sky' is very generous, each dwelling being provided with a seat and some planting, but the opportunity might have been taken to provide some space for personalising the interface between public and private realm with small gardens to store items such as bicycles which have to be kept inside apartments.

The 16 flats are long and narrow with a kitchen overlooking the street and a small internal courtyard lighting the living room and one bedroom; the second bedroom is lit by a clerestory while the third bedroom has a balcony overlooking the open space or Adelaide Road. A generous space linking living and sleeping rooms usefully allows other activities, and providing windows here obviates any feeling of a corridor.

Both buildings meet 2001 insulation standards, Visage flats being heated by electric panel radiators and leisure centre units provided with separate low pressure gas fired hot water systems.

With as yet no provision for recycling, Visage residents have separate refuse compartments, emptied every day, while leisure centre tenants use a ground level hatch on the Winchester Mews side of the Visage building.

Environment and community

Located adjacent to Swiss Cottage Underground station and several bus routes the scheme has excellent public transport services.

A wide range of shopping, education and entertainment facilities is located within five minutes' walk, making it highly desirable for all age groups. The central open space has clear pedestrian entrances from surrounding streets and is intensively used.

On its north edge is a café in the adjacent theatre and on the south edge is spectator seating for the football pitch, along with cafes in the leisure and community centres which are popular and easily available to residents.

There is a good range of unit sizes in both private and affordable housing. The latter is managed by two RSLs although the landlord Camden Borough Council nominates tenants.