Casadanza: 145A Manwood Road, SE4 1SA

Casadanza is a residential complex in Lewisham.

The name refers to the nearby Rivoli Ballroom – the wonderfully preserved 1950s ballroom which is a still-thriving local institution.

The project radically alters a derelict former school keeper’s house into three flats and a small house. This is arranged as two figures part conjoined, part separated, each with its different ‘hat’, like partners in a tango.

Tango is most popular, outside of Argentina, in Finland and while the complex relates to its Crofton Park neighbours in white-painted brick and (rakishly) pitched roof (of blue-grey zinc) there is also a nod to Finland’s famous son, and his houses in Helsinki and Noormarkku.

back