Young and lonely poor Britons, including those without a fixed abode, have the opportunity to acquire separate apartments. The YMCA charity program in Mitchham, southwest Greater London, has erected the Y: Cube residential complex of 36 prefabricated units, each of which can be rented for 65% of market rent. These savings are made possible by an easy-to-build residential unit designed by architects Rogers Stirk Harbor + Partners: one unit is factory assembled in a week and takes the same amount of time to transport and install; the construction of the entire complex was completed in five months.
The wooden frame structure of the module, sheathed with metal panels, is delivered to the construction site ready for living: with finishing, built-in furniture and mounted equipment, which is immediately connected to city networks. The dimensions of the cell are determined by the maximum capacity of the truck bringing it from the factory to the construction site, so the inner space (26 m2) is designed for only one person and consists of a walk-through living room with a tiny kitchenette, a bedroom and a combined bathroom.
Identical modules, differing only in a mirrored layout and the presence or absence of a gable roof, are blocked both in line and vertically, forming floors. This variability of blocking allows you to adapt the structure to a site of any configuration and complexity, as well as to diversify the appearance of the building. The residential complex in Mitchum consists of three "buildings", united by wooden galleries with a metal staircase leading to it. The cells on the first level have an entrance from the ground and a front garden, which creates the illusion of their own home for their inhabitants, while residents of the upper floors have the opportunity to set up their gardens and vegetable gardens in the territory of a common courtyard.
Apartment rentals are limited to 5 years: Y: Cube's idea is to create a “launch pad” for a young person, through a low rental rate, giving him the opportunity to save up for next-level housing and a “new” life. Looking from Russia at its current exchange rate, it is difficult to call the £ 135-150 weekly fee "affordable", but this figure is, indeed, significantly lower than the rest of the offers for individual housing in London.
The construction of each cell costs £ 30,000 - £ 35,000: according to the calculations of the authors of the program, the payback period for such a Y-complex will be 10-15 years. The construction at Mitchum was funded by private charities (YMCA, Trust for London, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Tudor Trust) for about two-thirds, and the remaining share (£ 337,000) was covered by a grant from the Mayor of London under the Building the Pipeline program.
Y: scheme is the result of the development of a residential module developed by RSH + P last year: then the experiment was recognized as successful and the construction of residential complexes was planned. However, over the year, the project has undergone changes, laconic visualizations and elegant author's sketches of apartment buildings have been implemented in a somewhat rougher form: powerful zigzag cornice panels and wide gray pilasters appeared on the facades, hiding the joints between the modules and the drain and ventilation pipes. The fragmentation of the elements and the interpretation of the blocks, combined with the bright colors of the cladding and the lurid metal staircase, knock down the scale, giving the building the appearance of a children's designer, which reasonably confuses many critics.
But the Y-complex should not disguise itself as a solid solid building, after all, its task is to create comfortable, but Spartan conditions that enable the inhabitants to live and work, but do not cause addiction to themselves. After all, in 10 years something else will be at this place, the apartments will be assembled in a new configuration on a different site or simply sold modularly, and the residents will move to higher class apartments. Such a controversial decision of the facade is voiced by the main refrain of the project: "Wait, I'm not here forever."
