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a new community centre and mixed-use building
The Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre is the latest development to be completed for Coin Street Community Builders, complementing our earlier Iroko co-operative housing project next door. A key aim of the project was to explore an ambient urban building, capable of accommodating any number of different uses both now and in the future.
The Neighbourhood Centre is currently a mixed-use building incorporating a number of interlinking components: a 64 place nursery with large external playground; a crèche and baby unit; a dedicated space for out of school activities and family support workshops; two floors dedicated to learning and enterprise including meeting rooms and conference spaces for community use and commercial let; a community cafe and function space; a commercial restaurant on the main south street frontage; a landscaped roof terrace and permanent offices for the client.
A grand staircase of pale, cast concrete is shared by all uses within the building, acting as an informal meeting and gathering space. It is designed eventually to serve a second phase of equal size. The building is naturally ventilated via a brightly coloured façade of solar chimneys, the result of a collaboration with artist Antoni Malinowski. Cool, fresh air is drawn from the garden façade and extracted from each floor by natural convection via roof vents from the hotter, noisier street façade, resulting in exceptionally good internal conditions.
Once the last phase of work is complete, the Neighbourhood Centre and Iroko housing will fully enclose a residents’ garden and children’s playground.
“The design team have done us proud and set a standard to which other community projects can now aspire.” Iain Tuckett, Director, Coin Street Community Builders
