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DIGBY WORKS RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT

Digby Works is a former cardboard box factory in Homerton, Hackney, opened during the 1920s, converted into flats in the 1960s, and since then incrementally extended. Our seemingly straightforward brief to add eight further residential units, however, is as much about restoring the building’s visual confidence as it is to do with the creation of new space.

The strong rhythm of the heavy masonry façade has been awkwardly disturbed by the later additions, and we have tried to reinstate this with the setting-out of our intervention at third and fourth floor levels. Although it will be lighter in character to the rest of the building, the new addition will feel honest and familiar. We have chosen materials with purpose, making robust connections between old and new, and cutting out any superfluous detailing. Time has also been an important consideration, our hope being that the building will weather its next century better than its first.