DK-Architects has completed a high-quality housing development in Crosby

Buildings.

Photos
Daniel Hopkinson

Designed by DK-Architects, The Gables is a development of 30 new-build houses located on a redundant former factory site in Crosby, Liverpool. Commissioned by Musker Developments, the scheme combines affordable and open market homes in a combination of two, three and four- bedroom units – all in excess of Nationally Described Space Standards.

Buildings.

The project is designed to contribute to the development of a wider sustainable neighbourhood in Crosby, delivering higher densities and varied accommodation types that cater for differing living circumstances, writes DK-Architects. The overall size and proportions of the site could have resulted in a low-density development had the design followed a typical residential site approach. However, thankfully, our client shared our ambition to create something more special. The overarching aim of the project was to develop a more creative and characterful development with a strong architectural identity whilst ensuring commercial sustainability.

Site plan; ground-floor plan; house type two plans, house type three plans; sectional perspective

Varied house typologies are curated across the site, with an outer perimeter of detached and semi-detached homes arranged around a high-quality shared-surface, and a central terraced block of back-to-back courtyard houses. The shared-surface is intended to reduce the physical and psychological barriers to pedestrian movement, whilst also creating an environment that is safe and comfortable for residents to move-through and occupy.

The house types are visually linked using repeating details and a consistently proportioned gable frontage. Deep reveals, chamfered brick window heads and cranked eaves roof windows create a recognisable aesthetic and identity for the scheme.

Alongside loft spaces, the uplift in density across the site is generated through the use of a reimagined back-to-back house typology where an L-shaped forms that focuses living spaces around a generous set of outdoor spaces. The latter include a courtyard garden on the ground floor and a large first-floor roof terrace.

Buildings.

Critically, the scheme strikes a careful balance between achieving high-density and giving a sense of openness to the public realm. Massing is carefully controlled across the site with a staggered repetition of 2.5 and single-storey elements providing visual interest and ensuring continuous frontage and containment.

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