London | Barking | Muf Architecture

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31 August 2007


The first phase of AHMM’s designs to transform Barking town centre is set to be completed on time, despite a change of developer last year.

The £30 million east London scheme, clad in aluminium and boasting distinctive glass mosaic balconies, has transformed the public library into a Lifelong Learning Centre and created 246 residential units in two blocks with shared roof gardens.
Yellow was chosen as a motif for the scheme in reference to the site’s former occupant, a White’s lemonade factory.
Barking & Dagenham Borough Council’s head of spatial regeneration, Jeremy Grint, said the council’s decision to grant planning for a bold, contemporary development had paid off.
“It’s a great building,” he said. “Something could have happened that was much more subtle, but I don’t know if we’d have got the recognition. It has helped put the borough on the map.”

The scheme, originally by developer Urban Catalyst and now for Redrow Regeneration, also includes a new public square, designed by Muf Architecture.
The square features a 7m-high folly made from reclaimed bricks and salvaged architectural fragments that is arrived at via an 80m-long arcade lit by 13 oversized diamond chandeliers.
Grint added: “The outcome is better than what was planned. It’s not just the building, it’s the public realm around the building.”
The second phase of the scheme, which includes an 18-storey tower, will create a further 272 homes, 2,000sq m of commercial space and 1,700sq m of retail space.
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Fonte: bdonline