A school and a residential tower redefine a block in London

The functional, typological and formal mix of buildings designed by Henley Halebrown on Hackney's Kingsland Road promote social interaction and the construction of a new neighbourhood identity.

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Photo NIck Kane

Model

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Axonometry

Henley Halebrown, the London-based architecture firm already appointed to design Hackney New School in 2013, is called upon to redefine a new block in the same neighbourhood. The architects propose a two-storey courtyard building to house a primary school with 350 students and an eleven-storey tower building with retail on the ground floor to accommodate 68 affordable housing. The project is the result of the synergic and virtuous work that has involved both designers and clients in the common interest of creating a community and building "urbanity" in the neighbourhood. “This project is inherently urban as it brings different, unrelated uses together to make a new part of the city. By introducing two familiar building forms - the courtyard and the tower - the hybrid project is readily legible. The residential point block with its arcade at street level has a landmark quality that lends a civic presence to both the School and the new homes.” Says Simon Henley, founding partner of Henley Halebrown.

Henley Halebrown, Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, Londra, 2020

The use of massive, compact forms defined by the use of red brick and prefabricated concrete structural elements - pillars, beams, kerbs and parapets - combined with porches, loggias, openings and seatings along the wall of the school, create a complex, vibrant project made up of a shared, communal space and thresholds between the interior and the outside.

Henley Halebrown, Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, Londra, 2020

Inside the school all classrooms overlook the courtyard through cold balconies that define its circulation. This design choice promotes outdoor teaching, exchange and play, converting each school space into a potential corner for learning. Noel Cash, Project Architect and associate director at Henley Halebrown, describes the school in this way. “The inner courtyard defines a safe, enclosed world for smaller people, a reduced scale within the city, a place to learn and wonder. The variety of spaces, inside and out, respond to the age and size of the children, creating loosely defined domains for different types of play and outdoor activity.”

Henley Halebrown, Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, Londra, 2020
  • Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road
  • 333 Kingsland Road, London E8 4DR
  • Henley Halebrown
  • Downham Road Ltd (JV), Education Funding and Skills Agency (EFSA), The Benyon Estate, Thornsett, Hackney New School Academy Trust
  • QS RLB
  • Elementa
  • Tyler Grange
  • Techniker
  • Paul Morrison
  • Pace Consult
  • Jennifer Benyon Design
  • Thornsett Structures
Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020 Model

Photo NIck Kane

Hackney New Primary School / 333 Kingsland Road, London, 2020

Axonometry