UK studio Panter Hudspith Architects has created a city block of housing in London's Elephant and Castle, which is shortlisted for this year's RIBA Stirling Prize.
Built on Walworth Road as part of the redevelopment of the Heygate Estate in the Elephant and Castle area in south London, Orchard Gardens was designed to be a new urban block combining housing and shops.
Orchard Gardens contains four connected blocks
"The project was conceived as a group of buildings that could continue the building types of the Walworth Road ? retail or public use on the ground floor with residential above," explained Panter Hudspith Architects co-founder Simon Hudspith.
"We developed a contemporary vernacular that could then be used to articulate each block, creating individual characters within this family of buildings," he told Dezeen. The blocks surround a central courtyard
The Orchard Gardens project is one of six vying to win this year's RIBA Stirling Prize. It consists of four blocks of varying heights, which contain 228 homes, surrounding a central raised courtyard.
Connecting the four blocks on the ground floor level, and extending under the central courtyard, are 1,850 square metres of shops.
The tallest high-rise is located next to the main road
"Orchard Gardens fronts onto the new Walworth square and has a direct relationship with both the old Town hall and the Walworth Road," said Hudspith.
"We felt it was important that this group of building...