Design Brief Proposed housing development, White Horse Lane, Trowse FOR Norfolk Homes JOB NO: 10.2812.030 DATE: September 2010 1
Site The Village of Trowse is situated approximate 2 kilometers South East of the City of Norwich and comprises a conservation area covering most of the historical settlement. Its transport links to Norwich City Centre are very strong with the Southern end of the Village containing the A146/A47 road junction and by-pass. The site in question lies to the South West of the centre of Trowse along White Horse Lane, bordered to the North by allotment gardens and to the South West by the by-pass. White Horse Lane contains possibly the most characteristic architectural buildings within the Village of Trowse in the form of the houses in Russell Terrace which comprise of four identical short blocks, each of eight houses, positioned to front the Open Common echoing that of the Crescents or Parades of Bath or Brighton. These houses are split from our site by three properties. However, the continuity of this Terrace is a key influence within the philosophy of our design approach. To the North West of the site are some converted barns which, due to the topography of our site and their low eaves, has been another design generator ensuring that properties forming this street frontage are carefully considered so that the scale is in proportion. Design Philosophy Due to the topography of the site, with levels increasing approximately 12 metres from front to back, consideration has been given to contour lines for the positioning of dwellings so as not to create heavily stepped terraces. Also, when considering the denseness of the centre of the Village housing bands have been designated to radiate from the centre as higher density filtering through to the lower densities upon the site fringe running south to west, which will primarily consist of detached houses. With this in mind the access to the site has played a major roll in defining the densities therefore a double access has been chosen in which to loosely follow these radiating density contours from the centre of the Village onwards. Attention has also been paid to the Greenspace requirements of the site which have been used to create both a focal point to the design and also to provide a buffer from the floods zone which clips the Northern most corner of the site. By carefully selecting the densities of the site, attractive views have been maintained from the South East boundary, providing both roof scape silhouettes against the backdrop of County Hall and Norwich Cathedral. In order to pay respect to Russell Terrace which is, as stated earlier, the strongest feature by far when looking along White Horse Lane, a terracing effect has been formed within our design which filters out to the edge of the site so as not to create a pastiche.
The existing dwelling Half-acre which borders this site has been used as a means to create a break from the terracing. A strong individual house type has been used to identify the main entrance to the site with a recessed semi-detached forming an attractive open space. Across the road the terracing then is developed from a five terrace with a link garage block to two semi-detached dwellings. This then is diluted further across the next access road by three detached dwellings forming the density filtration from the Village out to the periphery. Terracing along this elevation has been set back creating a soft landscaped path safely away from White Horse Lane which retains the hedgerow. Also the existing flint faced wall has been incorporated into the design with a new radius being formed adjacent to the existing entrance into the TAS Lodge to create an inviting entrance to the site nearest the centre of the Village. The presence of car parking has been kept to a minimum where possible to create an uncluttered development with hidden parking areas used where possible and porte-cochere to the larger terrace units and garage blocks to the larger detached dwellings. The central site green comprises a curved terrace block either side of an open green public space to give reference back to the Russell Terrace style parade. This central green also divides the site through the centre focusing towards the centre of the Village. Due to the close proximity of the by-pass, and the results acquired from the acoustic testing, the Southern corner has been highlighted as an area which experiences above average road noise therefore in lieu of designing out this area of land the fabric of these buildings has been increased enabling total site flexibility without comprising the living environments. Materials and Unique Features Throughout Trowse there is a common red brick with terracotta pantile with variations in roofs ranging from slate to pin tile, which has been reflected in the more recent development of Highland Crescent. Emphasis is given to the ornate Victorian chimney stacks as well as such features as ornate door surrounds, brick dentils and boundary enclosures. Features such as these will be reflected in the house types, especially along the White Horse Lane boundary so as to be in keeping with the characteristics of the historic part of the Village with features being less emphasized deeper into our site, so as to create a development with its own personality as well as one steered by the existing. External wall and materials will mainly comprise of traditional Norfolk red bricks with timber boarding to break up the appearance. However, the option of rendered dwellings deeper within the site will be retained and developed should it be felt fitting. The features to those dwellings contained within the conservation area, which laps the front part of the site, will be designed more uniquely than those deeper within the site with surrounds, chimney stacks and external boundary treatments being influenced from the existing.
EXISTING MEDIUM DENSITY HOUSING EXISTING MEDIUM DENSITY HOUSING PH 01 A Panoramic Views across Norwich from high ground (see PH 03) A Existing tree planted belt to land behind Job Title Client T h e T o w n H a l l, 4 3 C h u r c h S t r e e t, S h e r i n g h a m, N o r f o l k, N R 2 6 8 Q S. T e l : ( 0 1 2 6 3 ) 8 2 4 4 2 2 F a x : ( 0 1 2 6 3 ) 8 2 0 8 1 0 E m a i l : i n f o @ s t e a d m u t t o n. c o. u k Drawn Job No. Drwg. No Rev. SD SECTION A-A SCALE (1:1250) Date 29/04/10 10.2812.030 01 Slip road to A47 A47 Earth bunded perimeter Noise Considerations Dual carriageway (A 146) Noise Considerations Earth bunded perimeter Embankment - planting WHITE HORSE LANE High dense natural boundary EXISTING LOW DENSITY HOUSING PH 02 Dual site access Flood zone No Distinguishable features being retained to central hedge Trowse Newton EXISTING LOW DENSITY HOUSING PH 03 Gas pipe Conservation Area Dual site access Privacy Considerations EXISTING HIGH DENSITY HOUSING ALLOTMENT GARDENS Conservation Area Noise Considerations SITE PLAN (1:2000) DEVELOPMENT OF LAND OFF WHITE HORSE LANE, TROWSE, NORFOLK. NORFOLK HOMES LTD PH 01 - S/W view along White Horse Lane PH 02 - N/W view along White Horse Lane PH 03 - North view across site from Southern corner Drwg. Title SITE CONSTRAINTS SCALE 1/2000, 1/1250 Pedestrian link through feature space Privacy Considerations Privacy Considerations Pedestrian link through WHITE HO