SILK PARK

A new green urban quarter

Silk Park is a major landmark project for St.George and Sainsbury’s, designed in collaboration with Hutchinson & Partners. This placemaking-led scheme is rooted both in the history of the site and its natural setting. It transforms a site that currently contains a standard big-box supermarket store surrounded by tarmac into a new 2-acre neighbourhood park open to the Silk Stream, and a newly activated street frontage, with a state-of-the-art Sainsbury’s and residential haven gardens above.

The wider masterplan showing the geometry of the site.
Makower Architects buildings highlighted.

Located at the confluence of the Silk Stream and Edgware Road (the A5), and a short walk from Hendon Station, on the site of the famous Duple factory, the layout is a dynamic combination of formal and informal geometries, following both the straight line of the Roman road and the soft curve of the stream.

The proposal redefines the edge along Edgware Road. Previously dominated by traffic, servicing and inactive frontages, it is transformed into a planted urban boulevard with widened pavements, active uses and a strong street presence. A series of squares and gateway moments punctuate this edge, marking entrances into the development and drawing people into the park beyond.

Masterplan ground floor plan

The masterplan design includes 12 diverse buildings that range from four to twenty-eight stories and are harmonised through a common architectural language. Makower Architects designed the three garden buildings (B9,10 &11) whose site placement, alongside one edge of the Sainsbury’s store, creates a central park for the development. The three garden buildings follow the geometry of the stream and are positioned to maximise the connection between the Silk Stream and Silk Garden. Of these, the tallest is a local landmark; set back from the street, greeting those arriving in the park, and enriching the skyline as seen from both directions.

The use of scale, subtle variation in materiality, texture, colour and detailing ensures that the buildings each have a unique language that responds to their specific location within the site.

We have also been redesigning Blocks B10 and B11 to optimise the scheme and respond to updated regulations requiring two staircases. As part of this process, additional height has been introduced alongside a redesigned façade strategy incorporating precast concrete unitised panels to improve construction efficiency and speed.

Sketch of the boxy but beautiful facades

The buildings share the same ordering arrangement of base, middle and top. The proportion and scale of the three elements ranges from linear and horizontal to vertical. The contrast between horizontal and vertical elements is further played up by the façade treatment. In fact the facade concept has been to have a deep brick elevations with horizontal elements marking the floor level and projecting balconies emphasizing the verticality of the elevations. Within this system the application of the different materials, details and brick colours are accentuated to give each building a distinct identity.