City Island, Leamouth

The core internal spaces offer contrasting characters, being more leafy/quiet to the south and hard/vibrant to the north. The latter focuses on a public square fronting the new home of English National Ballet, embedding a major cultural project into the heart of the development. The new space is truly multifunctional to accommodate a wide range of performance and other activities. The fabric of the space is characterised at different scales by the ‘Faraday Cage’ motif, with reference to Michael Faraday’s historical work on this site, rendering the space finely crafted, so ‘great when empty’. The outward facing riverside spaces are predominantly green with viewing platforms. The visually robust brickwork buildings around the outside contract with the more delicate glazed building in middle, referencing historical glass making here. The public realm was completed in 2018 with the English National Ballet moving into their new home in early 2019.

Client

Ballymore Group

Date

2014 - 2018

Team

Howells Architects