Brewery Square

Brewery Square was one of the first and most successful Urban Villages in the UK. The 2 acre site was a former brewery on the approach to the historic Smithfield Market. Brewery Square is part of a larger mixed use masterplan by GML Architects, amended by architects Erik van Egaraat to the express requirements of the local planning authority.

Hamiltons was then commissioned to design the larger part of the site, for residential use and the public realm in collaboration with Eachus Huckson and van Egaraat.

Both massing and movement were handled carefully ensuring that permeability was active, safe and connected with the tight urban grain of the historic industrial area. High density has been exaggerated by large glazed areas for activity and supervision contrasted against a robust and simple architecture enclosing the mix of static and dynamic spaces.

The ground floor of glass and brick are both retail and workplace, above which there is a modular cladding system of copper or zinc, or glass. The projecting boxes facilitate larger apartments at all floors while adding to the visibility of occupants, and is the backbone of what has become a very sociable development.