Competition to masterplan a major redevelopment in Elephant and Castle for public use a mixture of residential and leisure uses.
Client
Lend Lease
Location
London
Collaboration
with Bowles and Wyer
Date
Public Realm Tender 2011 – runner up
The tender creates a new public realm around the proposed leisure centre and residential development. Linking into an existing park, the public realm rebuilds the fabric of the Elephant and Castle frontage providing the park with a sense of containment.
A dialogue is set up of a boundary, broken with entrances and backed with planting that would be used around the Elephant and Castle, as developments are bought forward. This repair breaks with the past to reverse the exposed and undefined public realm that currently exists.
Moving from the place of the transport intersection, the garden spaces slow you down as you approach the leisure centre, which now connects into the main park. This entrance square uses references from the existing park to bind the two together with natural forms and planting that attracts birds, bees and butterflies.
More intimate areas are created for entrances to the residential accommodation and retail frontage, which tie in with the three roof gardens.
Jeremy Rye 