Hylda Court
 

Hylda Court is a five-storey white rendered 1930’s residential block, next to Parliament Hill.  Comprised of 30 balcony access flats, it is entered via a columned portico, and arranged around an oval shaped internal courtyard.  A row of garages to the rear of the site were underutilised, and provided an opportunity to provide new housing.

 

IBLA designed a ‘penthouse’ roof extension to the main block, and a row of three new 2-bed mews houses to replace the garages. The roof extension is set back, creating generous balconies, and reflects the Art Deco motifs of the existing building. 

 

The houses are simple and rectilinear in form, and deployed around a private courtyard garden which forms the heart of each new dwelling. Living rooms and kitchens are at ground level, and bedrooms above, enabling the accommodation to look laterally into the courtyard without needing windows facing the block, grounds or school playing fields to the rear of the site.  Privacy to the communal garden is thus maintained, and the outlook of the adjacent flats protected.  Rooms have full-height glazing, with a pair of bay windows at ground level arranged symmetrically around an entrance porch. A rendered upper floor sites atop a pale brick base punctuated with painted timber screens and bay windows, and picks up on the materiality of the existing context.  

 

New sedum roofs and permeable surfaces reduce surface water run-off, and improve the setting of the existing block.  The landscaping draws inspiration from other 1930’s residential gardens such as Lubetkin’s Highpoint and includes outdoor seating areas and soft landscaping.