Visage and Swiss Cottage Cultural Centre
Design process
In 1998 Camden Council decided to redevelop Sir Basil Spence's 1960s library and leisure centre to provide new community facilities including a new theatre and upgraded swimming pool. The Grade II listed library was refurbished in 2003, but repairing the leisure centre was not viable and it was demolished.
In 1999 Camden invited tenders for the leisure centre and housing which included 25% affordable, and also staged a competition for the public park and leisure centre site.
After public exhibition of four schemes shortlisted for each project, Terry Farrell & Partners emerged as favourites for the leisure centre. The final team consisted of developers Dawnay Day with Barratts, Farrells as lead architect and masterplanners, Gustafson Porter for the open space and S&P Architects for the leisure centre interiors. S&P were also brought in to optimise the layout and mix of the Visage building's apartments, although its shape was largely kept as conceived by Farrells.
High residential land values in this desirable part of north west London have enabled the Council to cover the cost of library refurbishment and build the new leisure centre, community centre, doctors' surgery, and 42 affordable housing units from the value generated by the privately sold Visage apartments.
Planning permission was granted in 2000, work started on site in 2001, and the scheme was completed in 2007.
Related case studies
A brownfield site with a mix of accommodation types and densities that was redeveloped as a result of an excellent consultation and plenty of community participation.
The Sulzer Redevelopment in the Swiss city of Winterthur is located on a large site where the Sulzer company’s heavy industrial production had been sited. It comprises 25 hectares of centrally located land, which is almost exactly the size of the historic city centre.
