Somerville House

Richmond, London

Sector: Residential / Independent Living

Client: RHP

Status: Completed

Budget: Confidential

Team: Chris Worsfold, Phil Hurrell, Leo Pelleriti, Sam Clarke, Sirwan Sorani, Uli Kraeling, Will Wimshurst

This project stemmed from a competition run by RHP to identify a new concept for older peoples’ housing needs. RHP have developed their own Living Standard and we used this as well as the competition brief to design a scheme that moved away from the typical response to elderly living and the stigma attached to this sector. Instead we began the design process by identifying what the user actually wants and needs. Community integration and individual ownership were key driving points to our design, as well as a desire to create something both simple but aspirational. Our starting point from then was simply arranging the living units around a traditional ‘street’ within an adaptable grid.