Stroud Green Housing Center / Owain Williams Architects

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Nestled in line with the boundary wallsof its neighboring Finsbury Park properties, thetimber façade of a new housing association officemeets the quiet street it now calls home. Embodying the question of how small something monumental can be, Owain Williams Architects has transformed a disused concrete garage into asingle-story freestanding office buildingthat faithfully serves as the headquarters of the Stroud Green Housing Co-operative. Responding thoughtfully to its context and community, the building almost takes on an earnestness in the way it carries itself, projecting a quiet self-consciousness in its role of public service. Despite its compact footprint of just 38 square meters, the building gives the impression of being much larger than it is, demanding exaggerated ritualistic gestures that deepen its identity as a civic place. Through clever use of volume and form, the modest center sits with assured confidence in its place – a public building, but in miniature.