Morris+Company – formerly known as Duggan Morris Architects – won a competition run by New Horizon Youth Centre and the London mayor's office with its proposal to reimagine the disused York Road tube station as housing for the city's homeless.
The winning design by Morris+Company includes the homeless hostel, alongside a co-live space for 25-35 year olds, plus co-working space and charity shop – which could offer training and jobs – with the aim of creating a mixed audience, allowing the homeless tenants to feel part of a community. It supports homeless young residents temporarily whilst also catering for a transient community of young professionals finding their bearings in London
As the name of the project suggest, ‘Stepping Stones’ is an approach, not just a building. Each resident is treated with equal dignity, and all living spaces have been designed to follow the same ‘ingredients for living’. The publicly accessible co-working spaces and charity shop empower residents, as their shared home acts as a key destination for the local community with visitors coming and going in a safe and managed environment.
The competition sought conceptual proposals to transform the surface buildings at the disused York Road underground station into a 560m² accommodation block for up to 28 young people who do not have a safe or stable place to live.
