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Architects: Studio Woodroffe Papa
- Area: 10678 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Tim Crocker
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Manufacturers: Arcelor Mittal, Russell Timber, Vibro Menard, van de Moortel
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Lead Architects: Studio Woodroffe Papa with Poggi Architecture
Text description provided by the architects. Anglo-Dutch architecture practice, Studio Woodroffe Papa, and Bordeaux-based Poggi Architecture have completed a mixed-use scheme on Dockley Road in the London Borough of Southwark for developer Matching Green. With a distinct visual presence, the 111-unit residential scheme provides a European take on housing design for the capital and the rest of the UK.
Occupying a former industrial site, surrounded by housing estates and a railway viaduct, the scheme incorporates private, shared ownership and social housing tenures. A mixture of shops, restaurants, and cafes, along with artisan food producers and wholesalers are located at ground level and in the adjacent railway arch, which makes up part of the wider regeneration of the railway arches along Southwark’s ‘Low Line’.
In contrast to the boxy tower blocks typically found in mid-rise, high-density UK housing developments, Dockley Apartments has a strong visual presence that combines undulating geometries of balconies with a stepped building form. The development ranges from four to nine stories, with varying heights responding to the site’s surrounding context. Dark brick at ground level is combined with a steel rain-screen façade at the upper levels and gives a nod to the area’s industrial heritage.
Comprised of a combination of 1, 2, and 3-bed units, all residents benefit from large, shaded balconies and naturally ventilated dual-aspect apartments. Drawing on European collective housing where significant design attention is given to communal space, the new development provides generous outdoor amenity space that delivers social impact and a sense of well-being for its residents. The residential units are arranged around a shared courtyard that includes dedicated children’s play spaces. Residents access their homes from wide galleries that circulate and overlook the communal courtyard and extend onto roof terraces on the first, fourth, and fifth levels which have planting and benches.
With a national conversation on delivering high-quality housing becoming increasingly necessary, Dockley Apartments offers a timely intervention for the capital, acting as an exemplar for how to achieve collective living in urban housing schemes that emphasize community-building, well-being, and social value.
