Description

Peter Barber Architects have built an entire block of multi-storey terraced houses in East London that offer a reworking of the back-to-back typology. In contrast to the usual form of terraced housing sandwiched between firewalls on either side, back-to-back house types have a firewall that runs longitudinally through the entire block so that each unit is enclosed on three sides, limiting the opportunities for natural illumination and ventilation.

The infamous back-to-back housing of the past has only one frontage for air and light, and with the continuing rise in rents in many large cities, such minimalist variants risk becoming reality once more. The affordable housing being built at present (or in the near future) are for many already beyond reach with base rents in excess of 8 €/m². But if the revival of such minimalist housing variants is anything like those on McGrath Road in the east end of the East London borough of Newham, then other badly maligned typologies may perhaps find a new lease of life.

The single-aspect orientation of the shallow-depth houses that Peter Barber has designed for his urban client is not immediately apparent at first glance. What first catches one’s eye are other aspects of the design: the steep, and thus space-saving staircase that rises through three floors, or the living rooms, which by German standards seem very small but in England are common, or the naturally-illuminated bathrooms, which by German standards are large, or the entrance situation in which one steps directly from the street or courtyard into the kitchen-living room. This is sometimes a product of the custom floor plan types at the block corners or above the passageways, which are subject to particular constraints.

A trick that softens the experience of living back to back with one’s neighbours is the roof terrace, which turns the arrangement by ninety degrees allowing light to enter from the side. The floor beneath also benefits from this light in the region of the stairwell. The houses facing the road open directly onto the streetspace via the large glazed arches. The long courtyard in the middle of the block is clearly visible through the large archway in the narrow end of the urban block. This outdoor space is undoubtedly the strong point of the project: neither backyard, nor garden, it is an urban room, brick-paved and open, lined with a twin row of trees.

Originally published in Bauwelt 14.2019, pp. 40-43, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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