Copper Clad Extension, Bethnal Green Building Development, London Architecture Photos
Copper Clad Extension in Bethnal Green, London
28 July 2020
Copper Clad Extension
Design: Rees Architects
Location: Bethnal Green, East London, England, UK

A house constructed of hexagonal units; not something you see often, but the signature of architect Noel Moffett (1912-1994). In fact, Ashington House was meant to be constructed entirely of stacked hexagonal units, but the Greater London Council rejected the original plans.

Unperturbed, Moffett simply produced an asymmetrical design that combined more conventional quadrangles at varying floor levels with a flourish of concrete flying buttresses and staggered covered staircases. He managed to include two single-storey detached houses in the plan.
Inspired by The Giant?s Causeway, German expressionism, and Neuman, Hecker and Sharon?s Dubiner Apartment House (which is based on 100 square-foot hexagons), these houses are considered part of one of London?s forgotten Brutalist masterpieces.

Rees was responsible for creating the Copper Clad Extension on the ground floor and to add a third hexagon to the second storey. The site is quite exposed, yet, a cluster of ash trees provide screening from the main building and the courtyard feels surprisingly secluded with strategically planted small trees and bamboo. The challenge was to maintain this privacy and tranquility but also to create something modern and architecturally eye-catching, a p...