Location

Woburn House is located at 155-157 Falcon Lane, Clapham Junction on a west-facing peninsular site of 507 sqm. It is bounded on three sides by the roads Falcon Lane, Falcon Road and Mossbury Road, and backs on to the flank of a terrace of houses on Mossbury Road. It is centrally positioned within 30m of Clapham Junction train and bus station.

The site consists of a 6-storey office block filling the front portion of the site, and small car park to the rear. The site has been subject to two previous successful planning applications, however the client now wants to maximise the use of the space to increase profitability and a new Planning Application has recently been submitted to the Local Authority, Wandsworth Borough Council.

The project proposes the extension and refurbishment of the existing building to create a new eight storey hotel containing 70 bedrooms and independent ground floor commercial unit.

Future use of the site as a hotel meets a range of regional Wandsworth Borough objectives and policies. In particular the project offers the Borough contribution to the once in a lifetime opportunity of providing hotel accommodation for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

The external appearance of the proposed building takes its references from the language of adjacent architectural history. To minimise its impact on the street scene and to assist in blending the building into its environment the facades have been broken into vertical and horizontal panels forming different planes to break the surface and provide interest. A muted palate of alternating coloured cladding and glazed panels provides interest and texture in a semi regular pattern.

The treatment of the external appearance of the building has been dictated by the relationship to its location and neighbouring properties. The architects have carefully considered the pattern of the cladding panels and windows to establish a tectonic character.

Whilst the new building is clearly contemporary in form, the architects have attempted to echo the proportions of the local traditional, largely Victorian architecture without denying modernity or creating a pastiche.

I have included a few maps that show the sites location. The way the building looks and the role it will carry out is purely inspired by the surrounding area as well as the need for more apartments to cope with the influx of people coming to see the olympic games in 2012.

The buildings location is vastly beneficial as it is situated right next to both the Clapham Junction train and bus station. 

I managed to visit the site and took the time to document the surrounding area as well as the building that exists on the site at the moment to get a feel for the surroundings and scale of the proposed building. Here are a few images I took that show the different elevations of the existing building and the surrounding area.