Background
Affordable and sustainable homes supporting local talent
The award winning, A House for Artists, located in Barking Town Centre is a new public community arts space.
The building provides twelve new homes in the town, each created to support home-grown talent and to encourage artists within the area. The project marks a key element in the Barking Enterprise Zone, and is London’s first long-term affordable housing for artists.
The building features a fairfaced concrete frame and façade, with an outdoor staircase and broad tiled decks. Each flat has large openable windows, with an open plan living and kitchen space.
The unique development also comprises ground floor studio space for artists to work alongside the local community, flexible co-housing apartments, and an artist workshop for residents, with a neighbouring courtyard shared with the Barking Enterprise Centre.
Social and environmental sustainability are significant aspects of the affordable housing project, visible in the passive measures, embodied carbon, long term adaptability and energy generation of the building.
Since completion, A House of Artists has received national recognition after being an award winner on the Housing Design Awards 2023 schemes, as well as being presented with the East London Regional Award for its design. The project was shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize 2023 and also won the Neave Brown Award for Housing 2023.
