Following the award of the RIBA Gold Medal to Níall McLaughlin, I thought I would have a look at the housing scheme he did for the Peabody Trust, a relatively early work, commissioned in 2001 following a competition restricted to young architects.
It’s in Silvertown which feels a long way away, just south of Royal Victoria Dock, next to the vast and still undeveloped Millennium Mills and surrounded by housing from the 1980s. It was done in collaboration with an artist, Martin Richman, who suggested the dichroic film panels. It’s a little bit surreal – a piece of experimental modern architecture in an area of urban wasteland:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
It’s so good to see these still looking so smart. As my late mum lived in Beckton we used to spend quite a lot of time around this area – especially the wonderful Barrier Park just across the North Woolwich Road where my children learned to ride bikes. There was another well thought out Peabody development on the corner across the road from this one by the architects Ash Sakula. Last time we were there it didn’t seem like the cladding was holding up too well on those, but I remember the internal design – with a very big hallway – was really inventive and good at recognising the mess of family life.
Yes, I missed the ones opposite – stupidly – because it was drizzling and I didn’t realise there was another one, so wasn’t looking out for it. Charles