A dozen interesting Kings Cross buildings are opening their doors as part of the London Open House weekend which takes place on the weekend of September 18 and 19. Full details of Open House events, some of which require booking, can be found at http://www.londonopenhouse.org/index.html .
On the Camden side of Kings Cross there are architect-led tours of two recently refurbished community centres. On show will be the conical ‘sacred space’ of the Lumen United Reform Church and Community Centre and the copper-roofed barn of the New Horizon Youth Centre in Somerstown. The two colleges involved include the neo-Georgian Oxbridge-like cloisters of Goodenough College – a world away from the photovoltaic panels and sedum roof of the new building used to house the Kings Cross Construction Skills Centre on York Way. On Sunday there are also architect-led tours of a brewery reputed to be a former home of actress and mistress of Charles II Nell Gwynne in Phoenix Yard off the Kings Cross Road and a converted printer’s workshop Mews in Doughty Street..
In Islington there are tours of award-winning indoor street-like atrium of the Kings Place galleries and concert halls as well as the former ice warehouse used to house the London Canal Museum on New Wharf Road. The Vittoria Primary School Community Building on Half Moon Crescent incorporates timber, zinc and a glazed cantilever roof and sustainable design including rainwater harvesting and heating recovery units. Conisbee on Offord Street is a mixed use redevelopment built around a courtyard ‘oasis’ with water, towering ferns, outdoor terraces, living ‘rubble’ roof and natural ventilation/light shafts.
