There's a Wocket in my Pocket

Guests at the Pocket event at the Swiss Church in Covent Garden

Innovative residential developer Pocket has something new up its sleeve that was revealed at an event last Thursday in London. The Swiss Church in London's Covent Garden was a great choice of venue, being just around the corner from Pocket's offices in Floral Street, and having a barrel vault that design director Russ likened to the Pocket philosophy in its efficient and attractive design.

Pocket's one-bedroom compact flats have proved hugely popular with their owners who might otherwise be priced out of owning their own home in London. The company is building on this success with the two bedroom, two person concept and this event presented the ideas of nineteen architectural practices about how this could be done.

The London Housing SPG of November 2012 sets out the minimum required space for dwellings of different sizes in London, but standard 4.11 does not mention two bedroom, two person units. Pocket has established that that there is a market for this type of unit that includes joint buyers who are not a couple and single parents.

Thank you, Pocket, for an interesting and very social event. There were no wockets in attendance that I noticed. Perhaps they were hiding with the wosset in the closet of one of the apartment models?

Russ Edwards of Pocket and Peter Murray prepare to present architects with commendation awards.

Crypt without walls

The Crypt has not been seen without internal partitions since the 1700s.

Christ Church, Spitalfields, was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and completed in 1729. The Church itself was extensively refurbished a decade ago and now it's the turn of the Crypt beneath.

The soil breaking ceremony on October 7th was a chance to see the space without internal divisions that divided it for centuries, but more exciting is the anticipation of the completed works, scheduled for spring 2015.

Dow Jones Architects won the commission back in 2008 with a proposal that will provide a fully inclusive, not just accessible, entrance into new multi-use spaces divided with oak walls and doors. The design allows daylight into spaces that can be acoustically and spatially combined or separated to support an even more varied range of uses than prior to the commencement of works.

Rev. Andy Rider and a church warden wield a drill at the soil breaking ceremony.