Jan Kattein Architects

Ebury Edge Community Center

Ebury Edge Community Center
Courtesy of Jan Kattein Architects

EBURY EDGE COMMUNITY CENTER

Jan Kattein Architects

CLIENT
Westminster City Council

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Arup

MANUFACTURERS
Rationel, Dulux Azkonobel Trade, Fermacell, Flight Timber, Forbo, Layher, Resincoat

QUANTITY SURVEYOR
Gardiner + Theobald

CONTRACTOR
H. A. Marks

PROJECT ARCHITECT
Gabriel Warshafsky

PROJECT ASSISTANT
Rose Shaw

WORKSPACE OPERATOR
Meanwhile Space

ME ENGINEER
Arup

PRINCIPAL USE
Temporary Work, Retail And Community Space

FIRE ENGINEER
Arup

AREA
600 m²

YEAR
2020

LOCATION
City Of Westminster, United Kingdom

CATAGORY
Coffee Shop, Community Center, Offices

Text description provided by the architects.

Ebury Edge comprises temporary affordable workspaces, a café, and a community center to provide a continuous place for residents old and new to meet as the Ebury Bridge Estate is re-developed phase by phase.

Ebury Edge Community Center
© Diane Auckland - Fotohaus
Ebury Edge Community Center
© Diane Auckland - Fotohaus

The Ebury Bridge Estate had been identified by Westminster City Council as urgently requiring improvement to homes and the external environment. Working closely with a representative steering group, the City Council first established a right of return for all residents before developing proposals for the redevelopment of the estate.

Unusually, Westminster is committed to the delivery of new community facilities in advance of the principal scheme. JKA were commissioned to work closely with residents to establish the brief.

Ebury Edge Community Center
© Diane Auckland - Fotohaus
Ebury Edge Community Center
© Diane Auckland - Fotohaus

Interviews with key stakeholders, including a local homeless charity and community garden, informed the design of an elevated planting deck and scaffold ‘trellis’ which place gardening at the heart of the scheme.

The steering group’s brief for an ‘invitation’ into the estate guided the design of an illuminated tower at the site’s leading corner, a celebration of the scheme’s civic intent.

Along the street front, two stories of workspace units arranged in a colorful timber-clad terrace activate the edge of the Estate in transition.

The café and community center are housed in a distinct single-story volume receding into the depth of the site.

Ebury Edge Community Center
© Diane Auckland - Fotohaus
Ebury Edge Community Center
© Diane Auckland - Fotohaus

Together, the assemblage shelters a courtyard to the rear, which connects to the existing green play space to provide a much-needed social space for the estate and external seating for the café.

Workspaces are sized to provide an affordable foothold for small local businesses, with a variety of micro-shop fronts along the street and larger offices upstairs. The community hall shares a core with the café to allow events and functions to flow between spaces and out into the rear courtyard.

Ebury Edge Community Center
Courtesy of Jan Kattein Architects
Ebury Edge Community Center
© Diane Auckland - Fotohaus

We made use of accessible and widely available timber framing techniques in construction, creatively assembled to allow the structures to be demounted and re-assembled elsewhere once the site comes forward for development in five years’ time.

The lightweight structure, including a suspended timber ground floor, requires minimal foundations, reducing the embodied energy of the scheme.

Ebury Edge Community Center
© Diane Auckland - Fotohaus
Ebury Edge Community Center
© Diane Auckland - Fotohaus

Ebury Edge exemplifies a new approach that embraces the creative potential of the regeneration process itself for positive change.

By creating community amenities in advance of long-term redevelopment, the scheme is creating continuity for residents, enabling local businesses, and will help to ensure that the long-term redevelopment is well-rooted in its context.

Ebury Edge Community Center
© Diane Auckland - Fotohaus
Ebury Edge Community Center
Courtesy of Jan Kattein Architects

The design and consultation approach has resulted in a scheme with a striking visual character that is unique to Ebury, and reflects residents’ wishes to invite communities old and new to take their place on the renewed estate.

Ebury Edge Community Center
© Diane Auckland - Fotohaus


Ebury Edge Community Center
East & west elevations
Ebury Edge Community Center
Ground floor


Ebury Edge Community Center
Courtesy of Jan Kattein Architects
Ebury Edge Community Center
Courtesy of Jan Kattein Architects
Ebury Edge Community Center
Street perspective

Jan Kattein Architects
T +44 20 77040604
Jan Kattein Architects
277 New N Rd, London N1 7AA, United Kingdom