7 storey residential apartment building for Dacorum Borough Council — Rock Townsend
A multi-family residential facade precedent featuring a central full-height glazed circulation spine flanked by textured masonry wings and projecting balconies.
- What we like about this project
- The central full-height glass stair tower sharply cleaves the pale masonry mass into distinct wings.
Materials
- brick
- glass
- metal
- concrete
Visual identifiers
- central-glazed-core
- stacked-balconies
- pale-brick-facade
- seven-storey-massing
Style tags
- contemporary
- municipal
- rationalist
Visual tags
- residential
- apartment-building
- facade-composition
- brickwork
- balconies
- construction-phase
- Geometry
- A stepped seven-storey orthogonal massing with a central vertical glazed circulation core dividing pale brick wings, accented by stacked dark metal balconies.
- Facade system
- Combination of punched brick masonry, central curtain-wall stair glazing, and applied cantilevered metal balconies.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete frame with masonry infill and steel balcony structures.
- Spatial scale
- Multi-family residential scale, approximately seven stories tall, dwarfing construction equipment and temporary fencing in the foreground.
- Lighting
- Twilight or late afternoon directional light from behind clouds, casting soft warm glows across the sky and cool shadows on the unfinished construction foreground.
- Atmosphere
- Pragmatic and industrious urban atmosphere softened by a dramatic sunset sky over an active construction zone.
- Environmental context
- Suburban or outer-urban infill site featuring active construction staging equipment, stacked materials, and bare deciduous trees.
- Spatial experience
- The building creates a strong vertical anchor against the low surrounding landscape, with the glazed stair tower providing visual transparency at the center of the solid brick facade.
- Composition rhythm
- Symmetrical composition centered around a vertical glass strip, flanked by repeated horizontal slab lines and window punched bays.
- Style reading
- Contemporary municipal residential architecture
- Program
- Multi-family residential apartments
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- brick, glass, metal, concrete
- Visual identifiers
- central-glazed-core, stacked-balconies, pale-brick-facade, seven-storey-massing
- Style tags
- contemporary, municipal, rationalist
- Visual tags
- residential, apartment-building, facade-composition, brickwork, balconies, construction-phase
- Geometry
- A stepped seven-storey orthogonal massing with a central vertical glazed circulation core dividing pale brick wings, accented by stacked dark metal balconies.
- Facade system
- Combination of punched brick masonry, central curtain-wall stair glazing, and applied cantilevered metal balconies.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete frame with masonry infill and steel balcony structures.
- Spatial scale
- Multi-family residential scale, approximately seven stories tall, dwarfing construction equipment and temporary fencing in the foreground.
- Lighting
- Twilight or late afternoon directional light from behind clouds, casting soft warm glows across the sky and cool shadows on the unfinished construction foreground.
- Atmosphere
- Pragmatic and industrious urban atmosphere softened by a dramatic sunset sky over an active construction zone.
- Environmental context
- Suburban or outer-urban infill site featuring active construction staging equipment, stacked materials, and bare deciduous trees.
- Spatial experience
- The building creates a strong vertical anchor against the low surrounding landscape, with the glazed stair tower providing visual transparency at the center of the solid brick facade.
- Composition rhythm
- Symmetrical composition centered around a vertical glass strip, flanked by repeated horizontal slab lines and window punched bays.
- Style reading
- Contemporary municipal residential architecture
- Program
- Multi-family residential apartments
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture