London Festival of Architecture City Parklets – Latest
The London Festival of Architecture 2019 is in full swing throughout June, with a diverse and engaging series of over 400 events across London. From street dance to debates challenging architecture’s hidden boundaries of gender and privilege, the programme is one of the richest ever!
Following last year’s City Benches collaboration, the festival organisers partnered again with the City of London Corporation to hold a design competition for three ‘parklets’ – miniature landscaped spaces to bring additional life and greenery to the City’s streets and public spaces, even if only for the month of June. Almost 100 architects, designers and artists submitted a proposal for a design piece to transform a kerbside area into a place to rest and admire the City, an area home to 8,000 residents, a working population of 513,000 people, as well as 10 million tourists per year.
Tamsie Thomson, director of the London Festival of Architecture, said:
“Harnessing London’s amazing design talent to enliven London’s public realm is fundamental to our mission at the London Festival of Architecture. Once again we’re delighted to be working in partnership with the City of London Corporation as our exciting and fruitful competitions activities continue to develop. As the LFA explores the theme of ‘boundaries’ in 2019, the City Parklets project promises not only to bring joy and colour to the City, but also to provoke thinking about how architects can bridge the gap between disused space and productive use.”
In the spirit of breaking boundaries and fostering collaboration , we were invited to advise on the beautiful designs’ structures, checking if they are realistic and if they will stand in all conditions in all locations across the City of London. We took part in the interviews alongside the expert panel comprising: Simon Glynn (City Public Realm – City of London Corporation), Patrick Hegarty (Open Spaces – City of London Corporation), Tamsie Thomson (Director – London Festival of Architecture), Giles Radford (Highways – City of London Corporation) and Jennifer Dixon (EMEA Architecture Leader – AECOM). Following the competition, Suzie Cooper, engineer, said:
“I found advising during the LFA Parklets competition as an engineer really interesting! In my work, I’ve found that the best results come from collaborating closely with all key partners, from architects, to designers, city planners and the community itself. It was refreshing to cross the imagined boundary between structural engineering and art & sculpture and be part of a process whose results will bring some colour and joy to the City of London.”
Congratulations to the three winners! There’s still more than a week left of the world’s largest annual architecture festival, discover the full program of events here: https://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/
