Playful but fastidiously detailed landmarking signage
East Midlands RIBA Regional Award 2019
Tonkin Liu for Beam
Contract value: £65,000
Internal area: 250m²
Cost per m²: £260
Doe Lea – a proud former mining community – was struggling to evolve from its historic mining heritage. The village felt it needed to come together to find common ground and a new purpose. BEAM, a Yorkshire based public arts charity, ran an architectural competition for a permanent landmark on a traffic island that would mark the entrance to the village. Tonkin Liu’s design is a careful interpretation of the curved scars of the industrial landscape and how its curves could be seen as a ‘line going for a walk’. The result is an anamorphic red line spelling out, when all aligned on your approach by vehicle, the village name.
Regional Small Project of the Year