Slideshow: London studio Peter Barber Architects has completed a centre for drug and alcohol rehabilitation in Ilford, northeast London.
The four-storey Redbridge Welcome Centre takes the form of several irregularly stacked volumes, with an uppermost level that cantilevers out towards the road.
As well as providing drop-in facilities on its lower levels, the building contains temporary accommodation for homeless people upstairs.
Each of the ten en suite rooms faces a private garden that the building wraps around at the back.
The architects designed a similar centre in south London a few years ago - take a look here.
Photography is by Morley von Sternberg.
Here's a few more details from Peter Barber Architects:
Redbridge Welcome Centre is a new community and homeless project housed in a spectacular state of the art building on a prominent site in Ilford.
The Welcome Centre houses drug and alcohol units, training rooms and drop-in facilities in dramatic double height spaces at ground and 1st floor level.
Light and airy residential accommodation is provided in 10 en-suite rooms at 2nd and 3rd floor.
Spaces are flooded with light from fully glazed facades and all rooms have uninterrupted views into a secluded garden at the rear.
The building is composed of a series of folded planes forming a continuous ribbon of structure from pavement entrance ramp to roof.
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The drawings look much nicer than the result.
I'd say that simply omitting the circular windows would have improved the overall aesthetic. I can't think of a single building that manages to pull of round windows.
Fab! It's a great site on the street corner and great thing that the centre can have such a bold, extroverted neighbourhood presence. I might be wrong in saying this but I imagine at least historically a tendency to hide away these kinds of programmes and underplay their architecture. This is the scenario where good design really matters and no doubt it will make a huge difference to the residents using it. More more!