312 Hackney Road: how World War II bomb damage became an opportunity for potential improvements in layout, design, material choice and alterations to the fabric

Dark honey-like colour Nature7 Brick B ensures perfect integration with the neighbouring buildings

The former building at 312 Hackney Road was a war-damaged end of terrace, externally braced and internally propped. It stood like this for years to prevent collapse following World War II bomb damage. The bombing saw the complete destruction of a terrace of houses to the south which has now become Ion Square Gardens, a public park. The same bomb damaged the buildings adjacent to 312 beyond repair. Their absence now forms the main entrance to the park.

Although never designed as such, the building at 312 now found itself as an end of terrace with its stark, rendered gable wall left exposed to the street. The bombing of World War II radically changed the building’s context and its deteriorating structural condition provided an opportunity for urban renewal and replacement with a building more fitting its modern context.

The building is located in a Conservation Area, so it was crucial that the building sat comfortably with the neighbouring buildings and the conservation area more generally, but without being a pastiche reinterpretation of an older Victorian of Georgian townhouse. Cuozzo Fleming were commissioned Post-Planning for the delivery of a replacement building on the site. Whilst developing the detailed design they took the opportunity to reappraise the project by reviewing potential improvements in layout, design, material choice and alterations to the fabric in order to ameliorate the appearance of the building and better integrate 312HR within its context.

The intent for 312HR was for it to possess a sharp, contemporary form with a humble dignity that wasn’t at odds with its older neighbours. The careful material selection and subtle detailing give the building a discrete style that will endure without falling foul of short term fashion. The facing bricks played a key role in how this intention would be achieved. The Hand-Made Nature7 Brick B manufacturing imparts imperfections both in its size and appearance. The combination of handmade ‘wabi sabi’ imperfection and colour imbue the building with a depth of character and an apparent age that belies its youth, making the brick perfect for the contemporary building within this sensitive setting.

The brick is also crucial to this project, given its long end of terrace gable located at a confluence of roads, pavements and cycle paths. The gable is experienced from three main approaches: from Ion Square Gardens (the public park) where the building is slowly revealed from behind the local tree canopies, from Hackney Road almost perpendicular to the facade and from the pedestrian and cycle crossing over Hackney Road, where one approaches alongside. It is a very busy junction on a prominent corner and so it was crucial that the choice and the detailing of the brick was right.

The deep window reveals with brick-faced soffits give the impression of a thick monolithic slab with deep cuts to form large-format window openings. This depth can be appreciated from all three approaches, but in particular from the cycle lane and pedestrian approach. The deep reveals cast shadows and give the facade a rich depth, creating a sense of weight, solidity and significance.

“We spent a long time reviewing brick textures and colours before settling on Brick B. Its dark honey-like colour gives the impression of an aged yellow London-stock brick, prevalent in the Conservation area and indeed across London. We felt that Brick B blended with the weathered yellow stocks of the surrounding buildings. It doesn’t stand out or look brand new in its context, which we felt was important for a building on such a prominent corner”, says Jenny Fleming (architect).

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