The Hackney Wick and Fish Island neighbourhoods adjoin the Olympic complex to the east. muf conducted painstaking research, highlighted qualities and received the contract to signpost the paths to the Olympic Park. But instead of putting up advertising posters they hired a gardener for the schoolyard schoolyard and made new permanent built projects which appeared as if benches had been placed in the street.. A walk with Liza Fior.
What kind of an area is Hackney Wick? It’s a mixed-use zone with industry, housing and a few social facilities. But it is ironic that here, at the gates of the Olympic Park, we have so little parkland, yet behind the fence there is open space in abundance. This was the premise of the new public realm we created.
You analysed every building in Hackney Wick and Fish Island and plotted the uses. Why? After the fence was erected around the Olympic Park in 2008 those responsible from the ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority) worked on development master-plans for the adjoining areas. A new neighbourhood was proposed for Hackney Wick with triangular squares and a plaza. Columbia Road in Hackney, a street with boutiques was carried out as an example. Strangely, nobody had taken the trouble to find out what Hackney Wick really is and its assets.
What approach did you take for your research?We simply talked to the residents and business people, as we had done in Dalston, another district in East London, in 2008. After the first conversations, the proposals emerged. For example, in Dalston we laid out on a drawing, the potential partners around a derelict site, this became the “Curved Garden”. The information in the drawing formed the basis for discussions with the authorities and other protagonists in Dalston. We discussed the enormous wealth (not material) of a community and the reasons why people move to neighbourhoods like this. We made it clear to the developers that small scale improvements play a major role.
Some people claim that Hackney Wick has Europe’s highest concentration of artists. Is that right?We counted about 700 studios. Our survey confirmed that rents are increasing and many are moving away for this reason. And it has become clear that the invention of a new neighbourhood organised around a new formally derived geometry is not what is needed rather ingenuity in the interpretation of planning law and the interpretation of what mixed use might mean is necessary if the existing prized “ecology and identity” is to be retained.
How has your research changed the plans for the neighbourhood?Our research was the basis of our tender for the contract to establish enhanced routes to the Olympic Park. There were perhaps assumption that this would be a built language of wayfinding markers and logos, banners and bollards. We proposed a series of small pauses, investment into the existing to create a series of places to experience the pleasures of the existing “en route”.
Our strategy can be compared to that of Hansel and Gretel, who marked their path with breadcrumbs. This resulted in a number of small projects which are now almost all completed. Their primary objective is to stimulate discussion. Discussions are our contribution to the legacy, to what comes after the Olympics.
You speak of crop rotation. What do you mean by that?We don’t want any pop-up stories here, no “festival architecture”. We are talking about models in which the current, sometimes temporary uses anticipate the later ones. As in agriculture. A field is left fallow or something else is planted to prepare the soil for the coming year. We say it’s good to allow time for development. And we suggest doing something on the neighbouring plot to inform the potential for a site.
1 | Hackney Wick Sign | The sign on the building was the first project. This was originally made by the artist Laura Lee and made in plasterboard. We remade an exact replica in powder coated sheet steel. After all, orientation works in both directions. What’s important is not for just to find the Olympic Park, but for park visitors to see something of Hackney Wick.
2 | Street interrupted | We planted a large, mature tree on the street and widened and ramped the terrace in front of the café and existing shop units. On the opposite side one can now sit on a small wall. The terrazzo comes from a Hackney Wick aggregate yard. One table belongs to the public realm. The street furniture keeps traffic away a contrived informality. Recently I met an artist who used to come here every day in his car in the hope of driving through. He thought the café had set out the benches every morning. He hadn’t realised that they were bolted down in the asphalt.
3 | Gainsborough School |We wanted to use part of the project funds for the school yard. We argued that the CNN reporter sitting in the media centre opposite with his camera pointing in the other direction would see the neglected school playing area. We had fantastic discussions with our clients whether a school yard occupied by children eight hours a day could be defined as public realm. Given children are people. We were supported in hiring a gardener, and now we have a school garden. It looks altogether rather modest, because not much money was available, but the garden now sets a precedent that funds for the public realm can be invested in a school yard. I am very glad. Eleanor Fawcett of Design for London, with whom we had worked together in Dalston, gave us amazing support in her new function at the LLDC (London Legacy Development Corporation). Soon there will be a bridge from the school yard over the canal to the Olympic Park. The dimensions of the bridge mean it can also be used as an open-air classroom. The school is working together with the Allies & Morrison office on the bridge design.
4 | White Building | The building next to the bridge is a good example of crop rotation. It was formerly a print works and then it became vacant. We suggested that the then LDA buy it, but unfortunately that was not legally feasible. It was refurbished and renamed the White Building and run for 10 years by Space Studios. On the ground floor there is a café and a micro-brewery. The first floor offers a spectacular view of the Olympic Park. David Kohn Architects were responsible for the interior design and we designed the exterior.
5 | Brinkwath Way | This is a well used school route for many children, it is now planted with espaliered fruit trees and leads to the new Wick Green park.
6 | A12 Undercrofts | Another example of crop rotation. The A12 urban motorway crosses the canal here. Last summer the Assemble group organised the summer cinema “Folly for a flyover” beneath the east and westbound traffic flyovers (
Bauwelt 34.2011). At that time the money only sufficed for this short term event. But it was a huge success and the location is now well-known. This year a further small amount of money became available. We used it to install water and electricity, and a stage made from terrazzo framed with hardwood. This is basic infrastructure for the future.
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