79 Fitzjohn’s Avenue

Product used: Bricks

Brick type: Olde English Grey 

Architect: Sergison Bates Architects 

Brick Award winner: 2022 Specialist Brickwork Contractor 

The development consists of 33 apartments over 6 storeys specifically designed to accommodate older residents who wish to live independently but as part of a community and share services and facilities. 

Brick is the vernacular material of the Hampstead context and is therefore integral to the success of design. However, it is the manner in which brick is used in the nearby buildings, both mansion blocks and houses, that lifts the material from mere ‘wallpaper’ to something more substantial and gives it a sense of purposeful quality. Deep reveals and layered façades imbue the surrounding buildings with a feeling of permanence whilst stucco, stone and terracotta are introduced to provide visual definition and elaboration. 

The elegant façade and use of only two brick types belie the complexity of the build for the brick layer. Curves, bays, piers, recesses, full brick reveals and other architectural articulation required repetitive setting out of the highest quality. High quality handset brickwork with a large number of brick specials are complimented by modern methods of construction in the form of off-site produced oversize ‘porch’ arches as well as brick clad lintels.