Every year the Hammersmith Society hands out awards for good architecture in our neighbourhood - and wooden spoons for bad projects which make our urban environment worse.
So, who were the winners (and losers) this year?
The Winners
The Main Award:
King’s House, 174 Hammersmith Road, W6
This was originally the site of the King’s Theatre demolished in 1963. This new building is an unusually fine and distinguished office building, modest in height, beautifully detailed and in keeping with its location within the Brook Green Conservation Area.
Developer: Kier Property
Architect: TP Bennett
Nancye Goulden Awards. Two were given out this year.
20 St James Street, W6
This is a rather quirky but original conversion and extension of the former St Mark’s C of E church into offices. These currently house the headquarters of the Maggie’s Centres and a sales office for the nearby Riverside Studios development. The observatory, with its automated telescope and which was part of the original design, was made in Jackson Mississippi and shipped from New Orleans.
Developer and Architects: Michael Dunning and Elizabeth Swainston
Queen Caroline Estate, W6, climate proofing project
This is a wide ranging project in its ambitions and is one of three involving west London housing estates aimed to demonstrate the important role they can play in increasing our cities resilience to climate change.
Developer: London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Architect: Groundwork London
Conservation Award
 |
| Bush Theatre wins Conservation Award |
Bush Theatre, Uxbridge Road, W12
Although the work done recently on the Bush Theatre involved more than just conservation, the Committee felt that the whole of the Bush Theatre project deserves an award.
The modernisation and conversion, including a wheelchair entrance and garden terrace on the west side, has ensured that the building is now fully functional and more flexible while retaining its informality and the eccentricities of the original building.
Developer: Bush Theatre
Architect: Haworth Tomkins
Wooden Spoons
BT telephone kiosks with advertisement that have recently appeared on the borough’s street are notable for their ugliness and, in the era of mobile phones, lack of purpose except as an undisguised method of achieving revenue from advertising.
The flats above Apple Estate Agents, King’s Parade, Askew Road, W12, are crudely designed without any reference to the refined detailing of King’s Parade to which they are adjoined.
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Congratulations to the winners! I am glad Bush Theatre is one of them, it is such a gem.
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