Dwelling: Accordia

Dwelling describes the design and architecture of this new residential quarter in Cambridge, a multi-award winning green project. In 2008 Accordia won the prestigious Stirling Prize, the highest accolade awarded to architecture in the UK. Previously, no Stirling Prize had been awarded for housing developments. This new residential quarter in Cambridge provides a new model for communal living. With 22 different house and apartment types on a tight semi-urban site, Accordia is a high-density scheme which replaces the standard pocket garden approach with a series of exhilarating public greens, communal gardens and intimate outside/inside spaces created by rooftop terraces and internal courtyards. The project is the result of a collaboration between three of the UK's highly regarded architecture firms; Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Maccreanor Lavington and Alison Brooks Architects. Widely regarded as setting a new benchmark for housing, this multi-award winning project is the first housing scheme ever to win the RIBA Stirling Prize, one of the world's most prestigious architectural accolades. REVIEW "Seeing Accordia gives one hope that we can develop a relevant contemporary language for housing, which today is totally missing in Britain. The buildings are beautifully proportioned, have a wonderful rhythm and scale and successfully link the past with the present yet are modern." Lord Richard Rogers AUTHOR Paul Drew runs an urban design consultancy providing a range of services including master-planning, residential and mixed-used design. SELLING POINTS In 2008 Accordia won the prestigious Stirling Prize, the highest accolade awarded to architecture in the UK. Previously, no Stirling Prize had been awarded for housing developments. The Accordia project was designed jointly by Fielden Clegg Bradley Studios, Maccreanor Lavington and Alison Brooks Architects, which is both unusual for this type of scheme and praise for it being a truly collaborative project. The book is written by Paul Drew, an architect and resident of the scheme and Ivor Richards, an architect and architectural historian - both of whom provide a unique insight into what it is like to live in Accordia, as well as placing it in the context of contemporary UK, European and North American house design. ILLUSTRATIONS 136 colour & b/w illustrations