Ash Sakula Architects

Making density feel generous. In our efforts to rethink how we grow our towns and cities, our ‘Twins’ typology offers a way to double density while keeping the best bits of a house: - a front door to the street, - ⁠a private green space, and - ⁠a home that feels like a home. Stacked and toggled, ‘Twins’ provide an alternative to sprawling cul-de-sacs, making better use of land without sacrificing liveability. #profitableneighbourhoods #twinstypology #HousingCrisis #GentleDensity #UrbanDesign #SustainableLiving https://lnkd.in/eZupmgHc

Tonight, needing a bit of optimism we found ourselves at The Century Club, to listen to Caroline Lucas talk about #AnotherEngland https://lnkd.in/drxt9B9m... A joy to listen to her think out loud about where we can go from here; reclaiming patriotism (she likes Billy Bragg's definition 'giving a shit about your country); filling the silences and voids in our politics; giving us an amazing reading list, excavating multiplicity and hope through the history and literature of England. Thanks to the The Trouble Club for bringing us all together. Her final words went to Rebecca Solnit: "Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists. Optimists think it will all be fine without our involvement; pessimists adopt the opposite position; both excuse themselves from acting."

Interested in how density can shape future neighbourhoods? Join us on March 17th at our studio to try out our Profitable Neighbourhoods tool and explore new ways of designing better places to live.

Who's volunteering to live in a New Town? Interesting to hear... Steve Sinclair Huw Anwyl Williams Robert Fiehn Kathryn Firth Tom Mitchell Jessica Arczynski John Nordon Biljana Savic Jeremy Walker Jonathan Smales Fred Manson Daniel Rea Mellis Haward Fourthspace Ltd

Everyone is questioning the government's new homes numbers, so tomorrow is a great forum for finding our collective feet on the ground. What can be achieved in North Tyneside and how are future residents to be involved in making those places great? Cany will be joined by a planner on the rock face Aidan, and an academic and planning activist Abby who has just written a book opening the door to planning processes. Livestream link available tomorrow.

2025 and time to get involved? Got a site bursting with potential? Not sure where to begin? Let us help you turn it into a neighbourhood. We specialise in baking value into every inch, transforming corners with micro-commerce, creating compact car-lite streets, playful landscapes, and doubling both the density and social fabric. If you’ve got a site you’re curious about, send it to: iwantaneighbourhood@ashsak.com We’ll sketch you a plan, to show what it could become. It’s quick, simple, and on us. Who knows? It might just spark something brilliant. We'd love to hear your thoughts, feel free to share with your network.

🌿 Check out our entry for Don't Move, Improve 2025! https://lnkd.in/eGJf9Pzc #DontMoveImprove NLA At Old Rotherhithe, Ash Sakula reimagine and extend a typical London terraced house. A nature-filled rain- and light-well channels fresh air and light into the heart of the plan, wrapped around by a sociable kitchen dining living room. Converting a former bedroom into a bright, spacious family bathroom is a surprising move, but one that frees up space in the rest of the plan, while providing fresh air and heat management in this well-insulated home. This fast-paced project reimagines the potential of a small, awkwardly positioned terraced house as a prototype for retrofitting London’s terraces into sustainable, sociable, adaptable homes.

Last night, we had the pleasure of attending SAVE Britain's Heritage’s drinks reception at the iconic Space House London, hosted by Tyler Goodwin of Seaforth Richard Seifert’s 1960s Brutalist Grade II listed building has been transformed setting a new benchmark for sustainable retrofit projects in London. Space House stands as a testament to the potential of adapting our architectural heritage for future living, with a hidden ground source heat pump, all while preserving its striking Y-shaped capstone concrete columns and cruciform façade, we think it's beautiful! It was wonderful to connect with SAVE, a group we’ve proudly collaborated with, and to see how such thoughtful design breathes new life into one of London’s architectural gems! Thank you to Tyler Goodwin and the team for hosting such a fantastic event, proof of how retrofitting heritage buildings can create sustainable spaces where history and innovation coexist! #Architecture #Heritage #Retrofit #Sustainability

Join us at Temple Bar, for a talk by Cany Ash! Event: Profitable Neighbourhoods: From Isolated Estates to Sustainable Communities When: Mon, 3 Feb 2025 18:25 Where: Temple Bar, EC4 7DX Time's up on ‘product’— we need proper neighbourhoods! https://lnkd.in/eGpu2yfh The UK is embarking on a big investment programme, housing once built is not to be shifted so we are not talking products we are talking systems. An upward spiral of wealth is within reach, but a poverty inducing system of isolated or semi isolated estates is currently the only game in town. What are we doing? Hear how we might: - embrace our intricate heritage, building high density townscapes - rediscover and fund our SME talent, the can-do culture we are ignoring - place the detail of daily life for the next 100 years at the top of our the ladder of concern Are Profitable Neighbourhoods so described pie in the sky? No they are common sense. Housebuilding in large chunks is not as profitable as assumed; at the start of 2025 the largest housebuilders announce weekly alerts blaming planning systems, slow supply chains and even their internal organisation. Smaller sites often get delivered in two to three years, and could become the norm. We just need more parallel working, and a level playing field for smaller investors on public land and easy to apply for grants for communities. If you’re in housing, planning, policy, urban design, or construction, come and join the conversation about creating homes that connect, inspire, and thrive. #ProfitableNeighbourhoods #SusainableCommunities #UrbanDesign #HousingCrisis #FutureCities Lucy Bullivant PhD Hon FRIBA Amy Burbidge Henrietta Billings Jonathan Ashcroft Paul Belfield Theodore Michell Anna Rose Jonathan Smales Xavier Smales Joanna Yarrow Jan Kattein Jeremy Walker Mike Derbyshire Simon Ricketts Martyn Evans Hon FRIBA Jackie Sadek John Long Zafar Bhunnoo Rachel Fisher Sara Davies MBE Leo Hammond Mary Duggan Anna Liu ARB RIBA FRSA Nick Cuff Indy Johar Daniel Lovatt Emily Harris, FCA Joanne Preston Tina John Richard Meier Yolande Barnes Gary Higson Euan Mills Rob Cowan Brendan Geraghty Tyler Goodwin Liane Hartley FRSA David Roberts Richard B. Keir Regan-Alexander

So happy that Norwich will be 'backstitched' with help from Homes England and lots of hard work from Norwich City Council. Rethink triggered by Historic England and Save employing Ash Sakula Architects to create a vision rejecting a further stiffening of the car-dominated ringroad landscape, and instead extending the walking city... As Pauline Schaffer says "Anglia Square is an example of Norwich City Council’s ambition to revitalise the city centre and repurpose brownfield land into new homes for the local community... it has the potential to have a huge transformational impact on the city....this shows how investment from Homes England is helping to unlock new homes and thriving places people can be proud of." https://lnkd.in/ehMM-YYf