Making a real connected place out of urban chaos
Erect Architecture for Vauxhall One BID
Vauxhall, London
This competition-winning phased project has started to tackle a seemingly intractable site. It rethinks the public realm for pedestrians, cyclists, residents and visitors in an area of London dominated by roads and cars, cut off from the River Thames and dissected by a spine of railway arches. The main objective was to create a public realm framework to set standards, aspirations and a delivery strategy for a more sustainable, greener and delightful public realm, biased towards more sustainable modes of transport.
The framework is presented as a catalogue of projects and an associated kit of parts for creating a distinctive, multi-faceted and multi-functional urban environment, creating green links and strong urban connections. The proposals promote more sustainable forms of transport, sustainable urban drainage and greening in an area with limited access to nature.
The completed first phase includes prototype rain gardens, living wall installations, and an urban square and event space with tea house – providing exemplars for further development ideas identified in the framework such as a local tree nursery. These first-phase projects have acted as test sites and opportunities to engage stakeholder support for longer-term and more ambitious future interventions.