Repairing the industrial and retail sector with the community

Bridging the industrial and retail areas of Coventry’s city centre and constructed in 1962, the existing building is composed of four retail and hospitality units.

Originating in Germany, the idea of Kufa inspired the intervention of creating a community hub with a strong focus on ensuring food security. Despite this being the main aim, its role as a central hub justifies the supplementary facilities of counselling and administrative accommodations, and a green sanctuary within the wider urban context.

The intervention had two main focuses: the creation of an inner courtyard and a vertical extension. Initially inspired as a solution to overcome the very deep plan, the courtyard offers an opportunity to grow produce to supplement the community shop, café and teaching kitchen whilst promoting involvement from the wider public. The existing steel structure remains exposed over the courtyard as a reference to its previous form and offers the opportunity for plants to grow organically to create a rich space enclosed by greenery. With this working in combination with the focus on natural materialist present throughout the scheme, it is intended to feel like an escape from the city. The second major intervention extends vertically above the existing scheme to create a second floor which is fundamentally more private that the rest of the scheme. Here are the facilities are enabling access to wider services including counselling rooms, a quiet garden and computer access. Its form feels more appropriate when considering the scale of the rest of the street and prevents it from being so overlooked.

Inspiration for the facades draw from the former Royal Opera House which stood on the site until 1961, the rhythm established through panelling on the existing scheme and the tonal work established through basic materiality of the neighbouring Grammar School. The more formal Hales Street façade is unified to the rear Silver Street façade through the addition of a green ‘roof’ to the existing overhang. The rear façade makes reference to the informal feel of the existing form, but is more architecturally successful through terraces anchored around the greenery.