Commendation for Best Apartment Building
TUTTI FRUTTI
Fulham Island, Vanston Place, off Fulham Broadway, London SW6
There are many ways of achieving the "wow" factor in architecture, the most common of which is by the use of space, such as double-height ceilings or oversized rooms, but it is also possible to astound a viewer by modelling the external envelope of the building or - as here - by introducing features that are unusual and therefore memorable. Once seen, the speckled-yellow apartment building facing St John's parish church at Fulham Island is not easily forgotten. Designed by Piers Gough of CZWG, it has been dubbed the "Tutti Frutti Building".
This block of 22 new apartments in Farm Lane, with its serpentine façade of buff-coloured bricks liberally sprinkled with multi-coloured glazed bricks, is a modern twist on the Victorian tradition of patterned brickwork, but it is only one of the many unexpected delights of this development. There is also a pastel-blue office building with oval windows on the corner of Jerdan Place and Vanston Place, and more flats above the shops in two blocks of restored buildings in Jerdan Place and Vanston Place that reflect the original character of this part of Fulham.
Equally surprising, in a world that is increasingly dominated by a desire to rid the world of private cars, is that this new development has an underground garage, but the most remarkable and unexpected feature of this development is the part that is enjoyed by the residents and tenants but completely out of sight of passers-by. It is the landscaped garden at first-floor level behind the apartments, offices and shops.
Designed by landscape architect Jennifer Coe, it is described as a Californian garden, but it could just as easily be called a Floridian garden with its profusion of palm trees in seven large oval planters set around the paved courtyard. This secret garden on the roof of the underground garage also has steel sculptures, fountains, a pedestrian bridge and special lighting effects.
The interiors of the 20 apartments and two penthouses in the Tutti Frutti Building have floor-to-ceiling windows that allow the maximum amount of daylight in. The penthouses (illustrated here by photographs and a floorplan) have spacious open-plan living rooms with solid ash wood flooring, and their designer kitchens and bathrooms have limestone floors. Prices ranged from £370,000 for the smallest of the 20 one- and two-bedroom apartments, up to £1.3 for the three-bedroom penthouse with the best views. All the apartments have balconies, either overlooking the secret garden or the church, but the penthouses have large roof terraces with views in both directions.
Homebuilder: A joint venture between:
MANHATTAN LOFT CORPORATION LIMITED
12 Queen Anne Street, London W1G 9AU
Tel 020 7631 1888
Fax 020 7631 0933
Website: www.manhattanloft.co.uk
Contact: Geoff Flower, Project Director.
Email: geoff@manhattanloft.co.uk
THE TREVOR OSBORNE PROPERTY GROUP LIMITED
70 Conduit Street, Mayfair, London W1S 2GF
Tel 020 7851 2500
Fax 020 7851 2501
Contact: Trevor Osborne, Managing Director
Architects: CZWG ARCHITECTS
17 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R 0QB
Tel 020 7253 2523
Fax 020 7250 0594
Website: under construction
Contact: Piers Gough, Project Director.
Email: mail@czwgarchitects.co.uk
Landscape Architect: JENNIFER COE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Beach Studio, The Cottage, Helen Lane, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8AX
Tel 01305 770666
Fax 01305 820634
Website: www.jennifercoe.com (under construction)
Contact: Jennie Coe, Director.
Email: design@jennifercoe.com