Community Centres

Afro-Caribbean Community Centre
Waltham Forest
Ive Farm
Leyton

Client: London borough of Waltham Forest

We have provided a new ACCWF to an existing 1930’s sport pavilion. The brief was to house the ACCWF centre without affecting the existing sports function.

We have provided a new extension for entrance and reception; roofed over the existing courtyard with glass to reclaim the space for a new bar and café. The sports hall was overhauled to provide a function hall.

Two artists were commissioned on this project to work with Mode 1.

Anthony Radcliff, sculptor, to provide two 2.5m high wood sculptures to capture the spirit of the centre.

Kate Baden Fuller, glass artist, to provide a backdrop glass coloured screen to the reception with images of abstract water that reflect Mode 1's travel themed design for the centre.

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Oxford African Caribbean Centre
Crawley
Oxford

Client: Oxford City Council

For many years Oxford's African Caribbean Community have been searching for a suitable site for a Community Centre. In 1997 the site at Cowley Marsh Playing Fields was allocated and in 1999 Mode 1 Architects was appointed to design a scheme for the site. The key issues in the process of creating a successful building which satisfies the brief, were reflecting the African Caribbean Culture, and potentially generating revenue.

Women & Children Centre
Tottenham
N17

Client: Women & Children Centre

The existing WCC belongs to the local authority and is run and managed by the local community.

It is located in the middle of a deprived inner city estate and their aims were to provide local community services to elderly, parent, and youth groups.

The WCC identified the shortcomings of their facilities. Their lack of security, poor landscape, inadequate office space, little privacy to central hall, and no dedicated space for an after school club.
we were initially comissioned by WCC to carry out a feasibility study, which then followed by our assistance to WCC to submit the Charity lottery application to obtain £200K funding for the works.

For the above funding, mode 1 provided an external play area with safety surface laid over existing tarmac, roller shutters to all openings, remodelled office space to allow for direct visual surveillance to entrance lobby, new crèche, new corridor to separate the existing hall and a new hall extension with “Reglit glazed” screen roof and toilet facilities for the after school club.

Finsbury Park Hub Centre
North London
Competition Runner Up

We were short-listed as one of four architects for a competition to design a community centre in Finsbury Park.

The design brief was to incorporate a multi-purpose hall, art and craft hall, café, crèche facilities and meeting rooms within a restricted section of the park.

Our design concept exploited the rhythm of the tree avenue by using columns, representing tree trunks, to suspend the floor and roof structure. Coloured glass, representing the four seasons, formed the cladding for the building, filling the spaces between the columns.

The key feature of the design is the unobtrusive building method and sustainability. The building is suspended from the ground by a series of reclaimed telegraph posts and could be demolished without affecting the original site. We estimate the construction period to be in the region of 14 - 16 weeks.

The building's transparency and fusion with the site suggest a calm and harmonious context, creating a stimulating environment for the local community.

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Baitul Aman Mosque
Bethnal Green
London

Updated information to follow very shortly.