The largest student village in London
The Student Village comprises seven buildings which make up 1,200 student bed spaces in flats and maisonettes and a range of ancillary facilities including a launderette, canal side café, shop and common room, as well as student union offices and a restaurant.
The development provided two new public frontages for the University: one onto the Grand Union/Regent’s Canal alongside Mile End Park, the other against the railway track into Liverpool Street Station.
The scheme has had a dynamic impact on this area of east London, both visually, with its striking facades of warm brick, copper and stainless steel reflecting the sun, and also through its presence as a new, fully formed community alongside Mile End Park.
The spaces between
The design creates a series of spaces with distinct characters and levels of privacy for its residents. The long eight storey building next to the railway protects the site from noise and aligns with a new college lawn opening onto the canal at its east end. The lower building with a café and bar at its base sits between the new pedestrian street and the canal, and is perforated to create views across to the park.
The final building, Richard Feilden House fronts a new public square that establishes the connection between the student village and the university campus.
The design excels in synthesising budgetary restrictions, a tight brownfield site and other constraints... even with the budgetary constraints of higher education, architecture of a high quality is possible for student dwellings
Copper in Architecture Awards 2005
A break from the norm
To minimise any sense of institution, the design of the buildings sought to offer variety of materials, layouts (19 different ones in total) and floor plans with, for example, groups of rooms jutting out from the facade like flippers.