North London Hospice, London – Projects

Careful structural detailing was critical to the architectural success of this specialist palliative day-care facility for patients with a life-limiting illness.

The three-storey building comprises two brick-clad blocks, each with a pitched roof, joined by a narrow infill section housing a lift. At the heart of the 600m² building are daycare and dining spaces which lead onto a south facing courtyard.

Internally, the architecture is based on a simple palette of bricks and timber to form light and welcoming spaces. To maintain the purity of the architect’s vision, the building’s steel structure is contained within the 180mm cavity of the brick walls. The steel-framed solution minimises the number of internal columns, creating a highly flexibility interior layout.

Glazed gables feature in the second floor rooms, located within the pitch of the roof. To eliminate cross bracing and ties, the planes of the roof were each designed as a flat truss structure. The truss is hidden within the roof construction so that the roof’s 16m clear spans appear to be formed from two identical rectangular roof panels simply propped against each other.

This project also features glazed corner windows, with the brickwork walls supported on a carefully detailed cantilevered steel structure, hidden from view to achieve the appearance of a cantilevered brick corner.