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7N Architects detail Portobello affordable homes

September 22 2015

7N Architects detail Portobello affordable homes
7N Architects have submitted plans to build 52 homes on brownfield land at Fishwives Causeway, Portobello, on behalf of Cruden – fulfilling the affordable housing requirement of a wider site master plan.

Designed to create a strong create frontage and enhanced public realm around a ‘village green’ the scheme forms part of a mixed use development comprising residential, retirement housing and a food store.

In their design statement 7N observed: “The massing of the block and its roof treatment speak to the contours of Arthur’s Seat in the west and the ripples of the water of the Firth of Forth to the east, fostering a sense of continuity with the surrounding landscape and softening the mass of the four storey block.”

A palette of brick has been specified to impart a ‘calm and robust’ aesthetic inspired by the Portobello brick kilns with windows and doors differentiated from the main façade by use of glass reinforced concrete surrounds.

In addition a planted buffer will skirt the building perimeter with ‘pop-outs’ into the carriageway on Baileyfield Road to break up on-street parking.
Communal areas to the rear are enclosed by planting
Communal areas to the rear are enclosed by planting
facades will be articulated by protruding window and door accents
facades will be articulated by protruding window and door accents

7 Comments

anon
#1 Posted by anon on 22 Sep 2015 at 14:06 PM
This seems very very very similar to an Anderson bell Christie scheme for a few years ago?
http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/4083/Govan_rejuvenation_continues_apace_with_Dunsmuir_Street_completion.html
Auntie Nairn
#2 Posted by Auntie Nairn on 22 Sep 2015 at 14:46 PM
I'm pretty sure the changes in height do absolutely nothing to soften the mass of the four storey block - it's still a four storey block, just with a variable roof height!
I am all for Architects getting a bit florid and prosaic in their design statements, but blatant fibbing is another matter.
james
#3 Posted by james on 23 Sep 2015 at 08:04 AM
very very very similar
Stevie Steve
#4 Posted by Stevie Steve on 23 Sep 2015 at 13:15 PM
That fist image of Arthur seat in the background looks wrong? No way is it that pronounced?? A surrealist vision perhaps...
lm
#5 Posted by lm on 23 Sep 2015 at 15:20 PM
I generally like 7N work but this is a true copy from a project by H&B
http://www.hawkinsbrown.com/projects/radcliffe-house
james
#6 Posted by james on 24 Sep 2015 at 09:26 AM
#5 interesting general point. When does design become plagiarism? Impossible to say. One for the lawyers - and architects don't have that kind of money. It brings to mind a 'Mock the Week' challenge - 'What you won't read on an architects mission statement':
'Our designs are heavily influenced by and based on the universal principles of plagiarism when the fees will not allow us sufficient time to design as part of the creative process, but we still have to save face and keep up the appearance that we are at the forefront of design, whether it is ours or not, as the case may be .'
Catchy, eh?
Cadmonkey
#7 Posted by Cadmonkey on 26 Sep 2015 at 21:56 PM
This is not a copy.
I do not see a copyright infringement.
However it is clearly influenced.
But as all architects know there are no original ideas in architecture.

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