Abstract

Slick or Hairy? : Sarah Wigglesworth
The article describes an interesting and unconventional house/office designed by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects. "Based on an L-shaped plan, the building accommodates an office in its longer 'arm' along the railway tracks while the rest of it is residential. What rivets the attention is the five-storey tower protruding above the neighbouring buildings: a new accent. The windows of its uppermost room, visible from the nearby underground station, make you think of a lighthouse showing people their way home on wet London nights. There is, however, something that has made this building particularly important, not only for Islington and not only for London. The design of the building at Stock Orchard Street is a delicious manu of various low-tech techniques which have been juxtaposed in an unusual and pioneering way with the usual techniques. This juxtaposition has created an effect that the designers call 'the slick and the hairy',