Cedar Mews | Groves Natcheva Architects

This new development in Geoffrey Road is a commission from Bernard Construction, a local developer, for a regeneration project in Lewisham, South London. Comprising of 9 units arranged as three distinctive architectural elements, the scheme sets out to reaffirm the existing Victorian-era streetscape as well as creating a new pedestrian realm; a modern mews with a strong feeling of community and enclosure.

From the street, the new development is marked by twin four-storey timber framed apartment buildings, each containing two maisonettes. The elegant facades are tailored from precision-cut cedar wood, creating a warm and natural aesthetic that reasserts the scale and detail of the adjoining houses.

At the rear, five units are formed from a series of single-storey pavilions arranged in a mews configuration, set below the levels of the adjoining private gardens. The mews includes a central access courtyard and green sedum roofs, preserving views across the site and from the maisonettes at the front.

The twin four-storey apartment blocks relate in scale and massing to their Victorian neighbours, effectively continuing the line of the existing streetscape to reassert the scale of Geoffrey Road. The blocks are slightly stepped back from each other to follow the street line, setting up an intricate and intimate relationship between each identical structure

Detailing is of critical importance. The careful craftsmanship and high tolerances in the timber façade construction have allowed the simple cladding detail, with its carefully resolved proportions, to shine through. The architects worked closely on site with the carpenters; the high quality finishes were achieved by two men working throughout a winter construction period. The rigour of the design and execution sets up a refined relationship between tower and mews, with the emphasis on human scale and interaction.