Nightingale Place.

Located on the southern edge of Clapham Common within a local conservation area, the design by Quad Architects offers a sensitive and high-quality response. The development comprises care homes, care units and day care services with the aim of creating a community for later living and, in particular, people with dementia.

Location

London, UK

Client

Audley Care Homes

Architect

Hopkins Architects, Quad Architects

Project Value

£48 million

Floor Area

13,975 m²

Status

completed 2020

Expertise

Infrastructure Structures

These facilities are housed in a seven-storey building with one basement level which will include all necessary amenities such as a spa, cinema and excellent landscaped spaces. The building blends with the neighbouring developments, its footprint steps back from the site boundary and the façade line is curved along Nightingale Lane.

Clapham South underground station is located approximately 20 m to the east of the site. Due to this close proximity, it was necessary to engage an acoustics specialist to make an assessment on whether vibrations associated with this infrastructure should be considered as part of the design of the development. There is also a deep-level air raid shelter in the area, constructed in the 1940s as two tunnels running parallel to the Northern line tunnels.

In developing a structural response to this project there were a number of key considerations which drove the selected approach. These drivers included maximising internal space through setting column locations and orientation based on partition, party wall and corridor lines and working towards a column-free flat layout.

Wherever possible, we aimed to align the residential grids at higher levels to avoid transfers between floors of the same use, thus maintaining the same grid throughout all residential levels. Planning requirements and architectural intent encouraged working towards cascading the cladding line at higher levels in order to reduce the mass of the building and achieve a smooth viewing transition amongst the neighbouring buildings while also provide large terraces.

At basement level, the car park and swimming pool requirements are in conflict with the residential grid, so transfer beams are required. The extent of transfer beams has been reduced to the absolute minimum through adjusting the position of the car park and swimming pool in relation to the residential grid above.