New Development Stroud Green Road

Arkady

Thanks AV.

sg_mike

If the artics / fixed length trucks are stopping on the northbound side of the road, then they'd either have to come from Morris Place via Clifton Road or under the bridges. I don't think either is impossible, but could seriously bugger up the traffic while they try and squeeze past various parked cars and other buses on the way (can you imagine an artic and bus trying to get past each other on Morris Place?).

Pretty sure that the current Tescos and Sainsburys delivery vehicles come along TP/UTP to get to their stores.

Arkady

So the wraps are off. What do we think? I'm pleasantly surprised by the colour scheme. It's bold building, but I think it works.

barnesbq

peach is not a colour I would choose for the exterior of my home. I think it looks like a 1990's hospital and is FAR too close to the road (it is practically IN the fucking road) for a structure of its size.The flats are selling here although there are no floor plans. http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&pid=8506321

Not impressed. In three years it'll be an eyesore.

Ed B

Is that render finished? It looks like it's been there for ten years already - shoddy and grubby.

I quite like the roof though.

Bridget

I walked past it and was horrified by it and how they could have got away with it. it is far to far out into the pavement and feels really oppressive. It is so ugly and prefab and cheap looking with dirty pastel looking shades.

It looks old and filthy already and yes something from the Seventies - something you would find on the outskirts of Birmingham covered in grafitti.

I dont think I could have come up with an uglier more depressing building if I had tired. The architects should be made to live there and Islington council should be ashamed.

It made my heart sink, there is no joy or love in that building or thought for the area. It is a huge engulfing eye sore and is suffocates you as it is right in your face with no space from the pavement.

It is one of the most vile buildings I have seen in a long time.

I was also quite taken aback how the new flats Fonthill Mews or something on the road are actually right on the pavement eating into it and cannot for the life of me believe that this allowed.

Can we get a petition to get his ugly heap of crap taken down?

Bridget

barnesbq

wasn't it a scaled down version of a HUGE development that would have seen john jones demolished, but was rejected? I saw plans somewhere on this very website and it was also a much taller structure in a quadrangle shape...?
It really is bloody AWFUL to look at. How are people living there going to park? Hmm. I'd like to see just how 'luxury' the flats are, as mentioned on the link I posted above. Particularly the studio flats! LUXURY ELECTRIC SHOWER! LUXURY GAS HOB!
Those below 4th floor will have top-deck double decker bus action in their living rooms 20 hours a day! Great!

graeme

Maybe Islington thought that no one in Islington would have to look at it, so thought 'fuck it - ram it up, think of the council tax receipts!!'.

Arkady

Woah – some strong feelings. I don’t think passengers on double-deckers will be able to see in to even the first residential floor. Most buildings on that side of SGR are built right up to the pavement line. Perhaps when the hoardings are withdrawn you will feel better abut the pavement space. It’s not as wide here as on some parts of SGR, but it’s still sizeable. And the building will have an open glass frontage. I’d happily live there. Great views over the railway to the park, with mature trees right outside the window. As for cars – is there not an expectation that all new developments in London should be all but car-free? It’s not exactly a poorly connected location when it comes to public transport. It’s not a grim concrete block or a piece of anti-aesthetic functionalism either. Whether you like the design is a question of taste, but it’s definitely not boring or unimaginative. I like the way the yellow render references the local London stock bricks too. @barnesbq – no, this is a separate development to the John Jones plan, which completes the other three sides of the block. That development also has planning permission, though currently delayed by a judicial review. Anyway, always nice to see people getting worked up about architecture. Arky

Emma

It's supremely ugly, but most new blocks of that kind are, so that's not really a surprise.

It's lovely to have the scaffolding off the pavement finally though!

Kate Jones

We're waiting with baited breath to see what the back of the building looks like... at the moment it looks like it will be cheap red brick... but hopefully they'll have decent quality windows and balconies (ones that don't show all the bikes/ washing/ toys being stored!). We're not massive fans of the design (we did raise this when the plans were initially submitted to Islington - to no avail) but it could be a lot worse I guess... hopefully its just that its very new and once the entire building has been unveiled it will look better!? Anyway, we've updated our website with plans for the JJ development - currently on hold but hopefully due to start again soon! <http://www.johnjones.co.uk/art-projects/arts-building/>;

barnesbq

I am astounded that anybody could think there is even an ounce of creativity or imagination involved in the design of this building! I often wonder if architects think about the long term when designing these buildings. THAT STRUCTURE IS GOING TO BE THERE FOREVER. And it is absolutely hideous in it's vulgarity and drabness.

And Arkady - you can't build 40 flats and say 'Oh, it's close to the tube so we won't allow for anyone to have a car if they want one, cos they can use public transport' - it's absurd. They must SURELY have space for private parking for residents somewhere out back!!? That little junction is going to become a nightmare in the mornings for buses turning in from SGR.....

And I bet the shops end up being a fucking pound shop, an offy and a what-the-hell-is-this-anyway cheap coffee and spicy Indian snacks shop. Or a Tesco.

There is no hope for humanity.

I will give it a year before it becomes the most burgled building in North London - (quick getaway via bust, tube, or overground!)

graeme

<blockquote>
I will give it a year before it becomes the most burgled building in North London - (quick getaway via bust, tube, or overground!)
</blockquote>

You mean in something like this?
<img src="http://www.designgonewild.com/img/content2008/hot-car-boobs.jpg"></img>

Arkady

“Quick getaway via bust’. I like that. The back of the site is owned by John Jones, who have their own plans. Underground parking is not possible there because of the tube I think, and it would be prohibitively expensive anyway. Just look at the plans. There simply isn’t space for everyone to have a car in London, nor should more be encouraged. The London Plan discourages new parking spaces in new housing developments, and it is right to do so. There is only so much road. Given the considerable housing shortage you simply cannot deny developers the opportunity to build new houses on the basis of lack of car-space. Look at the new towers they are building on top of the station – there are hardly any car-park spaces, and I think they are all car-sharing or disabled spaces. I don’t understand why you think it’s going to affect the buses on that junction. I would like to see pedestrian lights there though. The design is very unusual. Just look at the roll-top roof. You might not like it – that’s your call – but you cannot claim it’s unimaginative unless you can point to other similar buildings. If you can do that I’d like to know where they are - I’d be genuinely interested.

barnesbq

LOL!!!! Freudian slip.
Other new developments that are more imaginative are the flats at the bottom of green lanes near Newington green (with a Tesco beneath them) that are covered in wood panelling. Unfortunately this has weathered very badly in the last three years but they at least look contemporary.
Even the big blocks that have sprung up on Kingsland Road have some modernity to them in the materials that makes them vaguely unoffensive on the eye.
This one near us is just a mixture of bog standard housebricks straight from Brookside Close with flatbpack 'render' stuck on it in take-it-as-you-find-it colours (TERRACOTTA!!!!) and then some kind of 'oooooooo MODERN!" roof design that resembles a disused glass bottomed boat from the Thames stuck on as an afterthought. It's not a matter of opinion at all - it is absolutely a fact that it is a fucking abysmal piece of architecture.

IT LOOKS LIKE A HOSPITAL!

They'll have no trouble selling any of the flats of course.
I wouldn't live that close to the station if they paid me to move in, personally. Is it REALLY the best idea someone had for a building? You could have made it better simply by some inspired brickwork to mimick the Victorian buildings around it. A modern take on the traditional. This building is just from a stock library that could have sprung up anywhere in the country and gone unnoticed. Sadly, I WILL have to notice it, as I trip over it on the way to the station every morning.

Arkady

OK. I think we have different ideas as to what constitutes a fact vs. an opinion. It is probably worth noting that the ‘bog standard housebrick’ element is not intended to be permanently on show. From the start this project will have been designed with the understand that the north and south elevations will be obscured by surrounding new development, as it will be by John Jones’ plan. Have a quick look here for useful pictures: <http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1356711>; It’s the first piece of a larger puzzle. I have a suspicion that you’re going to hate the whole puzzle.

barnesbq

au contraire, the more those warehouse style buildings by John Jones hide this one, the better, as far as I'm concerned. The main reason I'm so offended by it is that its monolthic appearance is not softened by its immediate surroundings. It looks like a steaming dog turd on a freshly mown lawn at the moment.

Now where is my giant pooper scouper?

Ali

I think it needs to be the Apprentice Boardroom for the developers it is that bad !

Arkady

@Barnesbq: if your main reason for not liking it is that the wider bloc is not yet developed then it was doomed from the start! But at least we agree on something.

sincers

I think the hoardings make it look like it is encroaching onto the pavement too much, but it won't be so bad when they're removed. I also think it looks worse than it is because it isn't nearly finished yet. Its bound to look rather better when all the architectural detailing and windows are complete as well as the landscaping. But I also agree that the coloured rendering is pretty poor and there are some better contemporary envelopes using cedar cladding on mixed use developments around Islington. But you're right @banesbq, it doesn't matter how it will look if the retail tenants have the same approach to aesthetics as the Lidls of this world. Frankly i just want it finished so I can look into the apartments from the top deck of W3.

Emma

Who cares about looking into the windows when you could be driving one of those super sexy boob cars!

Thomas

I think its really ugly front on. The paint makes the building look pretty run down already. Will look awful in a few years. I actually quite like the building from the sides though - why cant people just build a simple brick building nowadays?? Better than what was there before though I guesss... @ Bridget - Ive actually decided I really like the new flats on Fonthill Road. Yes they are set far too near the pavemnet, but love the yeloow brick - the building really fits in despite being quite modern.

hellojo

There is no excuse for poor design - and that two coloured render is absolutely abysmal. Were the planning drawings in black and white?

Arkady

Yes they were.

sincers

The renders on skyscrapercity.com also don't show the rather awful colours, but in more flattering shades.

rainbow_carnage

Good lord, what an ugly building. I'm not that bothered by the roof, but the colours are hideous. I try to avert my eyes as I walk down the street, but it's just too big to miss.

ADGS

Barnes - "THAT STRUCTURE IS GOING TO BE THERE FOREVER." It's not, though, is it? A few decades, maybe a century or two if it's very lucky - the blink of an eye for London, much less for eternity.

Ed B

Thirty years max, I reckon. It'll look very run down in ten.

Still, at least it's not a wig shop, yet.

JT

It's not amazing or anything, but I like the roof, and the colours of the render is nice, imo. Obviously (and it IS so obvious), it's not finished! So all the complaints about it looking dirty already etc. are a bit premature.

Generally, I think it improves that end of Stroud Green road. Look forward to it being finished and scaffolding coming down plus whatever landscaping sincers was talking about.

I do worry about how things age, though, as even excellent buildings can look awful fairly quickly.

ps Wtf is it about wig shops that annoys people on here? You live in THE centre for the afro-caribbean cosmetics trade. It's part of what makes the area what it is. What is the problem?

rainbow_carnage

Pastel colours work in Mediterranean countries where it's usually sunny and hardly ever rains. They do not work against the background of a constant grey sky. Terracotta does not look good wet. I don't even know what to think about the pus-yellow colour. It doesn't look good in any light.

I don't have a huge problem with the wig shops. They're better than fried chicken shops. But I'd prefer to have fewer of them and more shops that the locals would use on a regular basis. We've lived here for almost 9 years. I've bought a total of one wig for a friend's theatre production. Most people who shop there do no live here. They come, buy a wig and go home. That doesn't really benefit the area.