Winner Villa Trio: A Semi-Detached House for Chingford

摘要

Tom Atkinson introduces his winning entry by pointing out that suburbia is changing. As such, his winning design, Villa Trio, is designed to be adaptable enough to keep pace with a changing suburbia. The design is in fact a pair of semidetached homes intended for a narrow plot in 'bucolic' Chingford. Structurally and conceptually, Villa Trio rests on the prominent use of arched lintels: the home's defining feature is a repeatable arched base which accommodates mixed uses at street level. Garage, garden-centred living area or annexe flat - the design foresees changing needs with time. The uniquely envisaged ground floor, with customisations made feasible through the use of standardised lintel additions, is inspired by densely populated rural French towns, where courses of arches surrounding medieval town squares enable a range of commercial, public and private uses and offer protection from the weather. The arches create both distance and coherence between the living areas and street, levitating the building yet mooring it down. 'It's putting the lintels where people can interact with them, anchoring the building to the ground,' said Youkhana. McFarland agreed: 'Atkinson's found the product that works, and he's made it repeatable.'