Public realm design and design coordination
Client LB Tower Hamlets, Design for London, English Heritage, TfL
Budget £3.2m
2010
The design team of JMP Consultants, muf architecture/art, J&L Gibbons and AppleyardsDWB are appointed by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to establish schemes for the High Street 2012 area study sites of Aldgate, Mile End Wastes and Mile End Intersection from Stage C to L.
The overarching vision for the High Street 2012 project is to transform the currently uninspiring and heavily trafficked environment into a high street that supports both everyday activity and special events for local businesses, residents and visitors.
The principles that runs through all three sites are:
To support the use of the street as an inclusive social space for all the different constituents;
To ensure the street is a destination and an effective route to the pleasures of the surrounding hinterland;
To tread lightly on history, both conceptually and in practice to avoid damaging the fragile archeological remains above and below ground and the vulnerable roots of the mature trees that contribute so much to the street;
To counter anti-social behaviour through the design and other strategic moves;
To ensure all materials are robust and low maintenance;
To ensure design aspirations are matched by mechanisms for management and stewardship of each site.
Each scheme is established through a two-way consultation process. In one direction, the process is the invitation for interested parties to share their knowledge and expertise to ensure the brief development and design resolution has accuracy and is sustainable. In the other direction it is a process to ensure the stakeholders remain fully informed, not only of the emerging design but are also able to use this process to talk with one another and access other related initiatives and activities connected to HS2012.
As part of this process muf have devised and are delivering a series of participative action research events with identified individuals and groups, these include a partnership with Museum of London and Whitechapel Gallery to deliver a community archaeological dig and transform Altab Ali Park into an open air museum and a partnership with the Museum of Childhood to create temporary on street play structures to investigate the place of play and the child in the city.
