Galleria, Peckham, London
Artists’ studios and housing have been combined for the first time in this landmark building at the edge of Burgess Park. Built on the site of an obsolete print works, it rises 10-storeys at one end and incorporates an innovative mix of apartments for sale, shared ownership apartments and artists’ studios, in three connected blocks.
Each of these three uses an appropriate elevational treatment: The sale apartments are clad I striped brickwork and have generous windows and balconies. The artists’ studios have rendered walls in a gridded pattern, windows configured to leave large uninterrupted wall spaces and taller floor to ceiling heights. The shared ownership apartments in the central block have distinctive canted front walls and triangular balconies. The sale apartments occupy the tallest part of the building and have a giant timber balcony structure overlooking the park, so the planting on the balconies helps to integrate the building with the adjoining green spaces.
The galleria won an award in the Best Development category of What House? Awards 2006 and was highly commended in the Innovation of the Year category for the 2006 Regeneration Awards.