Sands End Arts & Community Centre Fulham, Southwest London Building Development, Architecture Images
Sands End Arts & Community Centre in Fulham
21 July 20222
Sands End Arts & Community Centre Stirling Prize Shortlisted
The UK’s most prestigious architecture award is given to the architect of the building thought to be the most significant of the year for the evolution of architecture and the built environment.
The six buildings contending for the coveted 2022 RIBA Stirling Prize have now been revealed, including Sands End Arts & Community Centre in Fulham:
24 May 2022
Sands End Arts & Community Centre is 2022 RIBA London Building of the Year
photo © Rory Gardiner
Sands End Arts & Community Centre – 2022 RIBA London Awards Winner
Sands End Arts and Community Centre by Mæ Architects has been announced as the 2022 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) London Building of the Year.
Located on the northwest corner of Fulham’s South Park, the new Sands End Arts and Community Centre is a collaborative development comprising several new pavilions built with a sustainably sourced CLT frame. As part of the same project Clancarty Lodge, a popular landmark, was refurbished as an exhibition space.
28 Feb 2022
Sands End Arts & Community Centre on 2022 RIBA London architecture awards shortlist
Sands End Arts & Community Centre is one of 68 projects shortlisted for the 2022 RIBA London architecture awards:
2022 RIBA London Awards shortlist
25 Feb 2021
Sands End Arts & Community Centre
Architect: Mae
Location: Fulham, London, England, UK
Enhancing the social and leisure offer in the local area, Mæ’s completion of the Sands End Arts & Community Centre in Fulham will be a welcome addition for the local community. Sited beside the Clancarty Lodge in the north western corner of South Park, the centre caters to a wide range of users; providing a café alongside spaces for social and educational functions, clubs and events. With a view to ensuring long-term viability, dedicated nursery facilities have also been included in the scheme.
Hammersmith and Fulham’s ambitious brief sought to deliver community facilities that promoted social integration within the community. Mæ have delivered on the council’s aspirations, with a building that blends together several programmatic elements within a highly sustainable shell. Over 35% of the building material is composed of recycled materials, with a responsibly sourced CLT timber structure which has inherently low embodied energy values. Recyclable construction materials have also been considered by Mæ: for instance the use of bolts over glue as a structural fixing to allow for ease of disassembly.
The building’s brick skin has been supplied by specialist supplier ‘StoneCycling’, which has allowed Mæ’s design to effectively upcycle over 28 tonnes of potential construction landfill material. The bespoke ‘Nougat’ WasteBasedBricks® have been created specifically for Sands End, to suit the context and its characteristics.
Located on the edge of the park, the new centre sits adjacent to the 1903 Lodge which is a key marker signalling arrival into the park. The exterior timber faïence detailing and the roof are distinctive of London park buildings from this date. Mæ have retained the lodge building, repurposing it as an arts space, around which the new additions have been slotted, forming a series of new internal and external experiences.
The additions are designed to be secondary to the lodge, with a scale and massing which creates an ensemble of forms that frame the view of the existing lodge from both the street and within the park. The triangular roof forms reference glasshouse structures – formerly sited in South Park and at Fulham Palace – that Mæ unearthed from the archives. Clerestory glazing also adds to this effect drawing light in from above the existing Victorian perimeter wall without detracting from it.
Extract axonometric drawing of the Royal Exotic Nurseries at Chelsea, from Hortus Veitchii. 1906. James Veitch
A series of new public spaces are laid out in sequence from the street to park, closely connected with the new facility. Each space will have its own distinct and intimate character. The landscaping design took inspiration from exotic nurseries and the former horticultural use of the site, where structure and landscape were closely intertwined.
At first users arrive into the entrance yard: this is a moment of orientation defining the transition from street into the centre’s landscaped fringes and the park setting – brick pavers and ground surfaces establish a pedestrian link between the new site and the park. Progressing to the lobby at the heart of the centre is a base from which users can continue their explorations; to the cafe, common room, hall and other facilities. The Lodge courtyard and terracing is the third part of the journey, providing outdoor seating and a vantage point to take in all the social activity. New planting, trees, hedges, green walls and wildlife habitats, create a shaded retreat from the street while enhancing the local biodiversity.
The interior materiality is driven by the image of the kinds of lightweight structures which enclose glasshouses, reinforcing the idea that the additions are designed to be secondary to the lodge. The use of an expressed timber roof construction gives a natural lightness to the space. These interior spaces are lit by large north facing clerestory glazing to give a consistent light environment for internal activities. Internally, the use of timber exposed timber structure and envelope reinforces the sustainable agenda behind the project while giving a highly tactile quality to the space.
Alex Ely, Director of Mæ said,
“It’s been a pleasure working with the team at Hammersmith and Fulham and the local community to realise a building that, whilst modest in scale, offers a nonetheless significant piece of civic and social infrastructure to South Park“
Cllr Andrew Jones, Hammersmith and Fulham Cabinet Member for the Economy and the Arts said,
“This beautiful new centre will enhance people’s wellbeing across Sands End and south Fulham, it has been set up to ensure that it is truly for people of all backgrounds, and that residents are in the driving seat for this new community space in Hammersmith and Fulham.”
Sands End Arts & Community Centre in Fulham, London – Building Information
Architect: Mæ
Client: LB Hammersmith & Fulham Council
Project Address: South Park, Peterborough Road, Fulham, London, SW6 3EB
Structural/ Civil Engineer: Elliot Wood
QS: Bailie Knowles
Landscape Architect: J & L Gibbons
M&E: Max Fordham
CDM: PFB Ltd.,
Acoustics Consultant: Mach Acoustics
Planning Consultants: CMA Planning Consultants
images © Rory Gardiner
Sands End Arts & Community Centre, Fulham images / information received 250221
Location: Fulham, London, England, United Kingdom
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