The Vancouver based firm who won the contract called it Figure Ground, Kelly Pedro calls it a living room, I call it a step in the right direction for downtown London. The City of London has announced the winning submission for the desing competition of Market Lane. Hapa Collaborative, out of Vancouver, proposed a design that would allow the space to be used in all four seasons, in the day and the night and for cultural as well as utlitarian purposes. Key design features are the starry sky overhead lighting, illuminated orb seats and a bench inspired by the meander of the thames river.
I like the renderings, which can be seen in high resoultion, along with the four other designs on the city website - www.london.ca.
I'm curious to see how we're going to maintain this type of high quality public space, I dare say there should be a line in this year's budget specifically for maintaince and programming. What if there was plan for the programing and maintaince of the space all year round? How much would that cost? How much would that add to the experiene of downtown London?
As a former one-day resident of Market Lane (I even got pizza delivered) I know that changing the design is an important step but it's not the last one. I swept, tidied up, invited friends for lunch and baddminton, which played an important role in making the space feel right. A plan around maintaince and programming (movies, performers, ect) is necessary and should involve all the neighbours and stakeholders: Covent Gardne Market, Downtown London, City of London, Fanshawe College, and Market Tower. Could we find a space in this year's budget for the next step and keep this momentum going?
Comments
Not sure about the lights- pretty at night but they might look kind of grungy during the day. I think the thing I like about the renderings is the presence of PEOPLE in that space. And is that the Cafe de Flore on the corner? Hah. Why not, London. It's good to have big dreams...
Great post. The programming and maintenance of public space is often overlooked but, like you said, will be key to the success of this project.
Overall, I was disappointed by the proposals considering the talented firms that submitted.
They didn't consider just leaving your living room set up?
I really like the starry sky lights!