Octavia Hill

Our challenge was to create a building that houses as many as 124 quality social housing units in a complex volume, while activating the three urban axes around. Octavia Hill is the answer to this ambition.

We turned both the urban planning and the unique shape and scale of our site from two preconditions into the opportunity to create Octavia Hill as a new volume, that is at once abstract and distinctive. Seen from different angles, the building presents a shifting identity — from a pure, orthogonal block to a sculpted form that stirs your curiosity.

On the one hand, the master plan prescribed ‘cuts’ — bevels that allow daylight into the streets and views from the homes — at the top of the volumes. We converted this factor into an added quality: a cascading terrace structure on the upper floors, accessible to all residents and creating shared outdoor spaces that encourage interaction across every level.

In addition, each building in Hyde Park features so-called ‘bites’: cutaways that add depth to the facades and strengthen cohesion between all buildings. While in the other buildings these bites are positioned higher up in the facade, for Octavia Hill we convinced the project partners to place them at ground level, to not only give the two entrances to the public base more prominence, yet to leave more public space around the building.

Within this defined envelope, we created high-quality and varied social housing, and brought it together with a community café and workspaces that will open for residents and the neighbourhood. In the five-metre-high plinth, deeper recesses with seating create places to relax, helping to further activate the surrounding streets.

We chose one single blue-green, engobed brick, which gives Octavia Hill a softened, silk-like reflection. Applying the bricks in a stack bond and equally spreading windows and piers along the facades render Octavia Hill an abstract object.

The same brick has been glazed in the bites, where it catches the light and highlights the entrances. Contrasting balustrades allow all windows to be fully opened while lending the building a warmer, more residential character.

By bringing together inventive massing, engaging communal spaces and a refined brick expression, Octavia Hill demonstrates how a complex site can give rise to a building full of unexpected qualities. More than providing high-quality homes, it enhances Hyde Park’s sense of place, supporting its transformation into a vibrant and connected urban neighbourhood.