Special feature
hat comes to mind when you think architect-led, multidisciplinary teams to put of Mayfair? The fine suits of Savile forward speculative ideas for reimagining the REIMAGINING W Row, the galleries of Cork Street, area bounded by Old Bond Street to the west, the luxury shopping of Bond Street, hedge Clifford Street to the north, Savile Row to the funds or, perhaps, the most expensive houses east and Burlington Gardens to the south. MAYFAIR on the Monopoly board? Mayfair is all of We asked the teams to think about physical those things, but much else besides. interventions to the public realm – such as Largely built up in the 18th century, Mayfair managing pedestrian and traffic flow, or public is currently in the middle of some of the biggest art commissions – but also more ephemeral A ROYAL ACADEMY transformations in its history. The American activities like festivals or markets that enhance the embassy is soon to depart Grosvenor Square character of the area without necessarily altering for Battersea, while Crossrail will shortly arrive it physically. We were particularly interested in OPEN COMPETITION at Bond Street/Hanover Square. the cross-pollination between the area’s At the same time, escalating cultural and commercial sides, rents and redevelopment a characteristic which has IN PARTNERSHIP are threatening many of shaped its rich history and is the area’s long-resident also the key to its future. tailors and art dealers. Following an open call for WITH THE AJ Meanwhile, beginning entries, we selected four on site next year, the teams to work up their Royal Academy of Arts ideas in early July. As (RA) is undertaking well as architects, the TIMELINE TEAM 1 — DK-CM and PABLO BRONSTEIN with support from PROJECT CENTRE an ambitious teams included artists, April Call for entries Founded in 2012 by David Knight and Cristina Monteiro, DK-CM is an architecture and research studio July Shortlisting session based in East London. The practice’s work extends from bespoke furniture design to masterplanning, redevelopment to urbanists and landscape August ‘Mid-term’ crit urbanism and policy. Argentina-born, London-based artist Pablo Bronstein combines interests in art and transform its Burlington designers and this led September Public presentation architecture with performance, installation and sculpture through a wide range of media. Gardens building. With to each of the proposals SHORTLISTING TEAM support from the Heritage considering the brief in a • Simon Beames TEAM 2 — ANDREW PHILLIPS with VOGT and HENRY COLEMAN partner, youmeheshe Following 15 years working with David Chipperfield, Andrew Phillips established his own London-based Lottery Fund, the David different way than if working • Cynthia Grant director, practice in 2013. The practice is currently working on projects in London, Luxembourg, New York and the Chipperfield Architects- independently. True to the Limehouse Transport Design Gulf states. Vogt Landscape Architects was founded in Zurich in October 2000. Today the company has three • Kate Goodwin Drue Heinz offices across Europe, employing landscape architects, architects, product designers and horticultural experts. designed project will see new intention of the project being a curator of architecture, Royal Academy postgraduate Henry Coleman’s practice centres on an interest in the decorative impulse and in galleries, a dedicated learning platform for new and speculative Royal Academy of Arts the qualitative change of an object or space. • Jeremy Melvin curator, studio and the reinstatement of a thinking, the ideas the teams put World Architecture Festival double-height lecture theatre. A ‘link’ bridge forward were bold and imaginative, but also • Rory Olcayto acting editor, TEAM 3 — EPR ARCHITECTS with RICK WHEAL, KATE MALONE and JAMES ULPH The Architects’ Journal Founded by Cecil Elsom in 1947, EPR Architects works across architecture, master planning and interior will unite Burlington Gardens and Burlington grounded in a thoughtful consideration of the design. With a team of more than 120, EPR’s portfolio includes residential, workplace, hotels and public House, creating an arts campus of just over historical context, commercial pressures and the EXPERT PANEL building projects. Rick Wheal is a consultant to Arup, with specialisms in renewable energy, passive design • Charles Saumarez Smith and sustainable development. Ceramicist Kate Malone graduated from The Royal College of Art in the late two acres in the heart of central London, ready possibilities of culture to invigorate and inspire. (chairman) secretary and chief 1980s. Her work uses bright, vibrant colours, often with crystalline surfaces. James Ulph is director at Flowers for the RA’s 250th anniversary in 2018. At the public presentation on 19 September executive, Royal Academy of Arts Gallery on Cork Street in Mayfair. The gallery opened in 2000 and has sister galleries in London’s East End, • Matthew Carmona Los Angeles and New York. As these plans have developed, the RA has and over the following weekend when the projects professor of planning and become increasingly interested in the area of were on display at the RA, we saw an important urban design, The Bartlett • Craig McWilliam TEAM 4 — WESTON WILLIAMSON + PARTNERS with YINKA SHONIBARE and UNCOMMON Mayfair to its immediate north – how to foster discussion about the future of Mayfair begin to take executive director, London estate, Founded in 1985, Weston Williamson + Partners is a multidisciplinary architectural and urban design new ideas for its future and at the same time shape. We are very excited to see what emerges Grosvenor Britain & Ireland practice. Projects include the Jubilee Line Station at London Bridge, Paddington Crossrail Station and • Jeremy Melvin curator, the New England Biolabs headquarters in Boston. Working in painting, sculpture, photography, film forge new connections in the local community. from it over the next few years. World Architecture Festival and performance, Yinka Shonibare’s work examines race, class and the construction of cultural identity. This provided the spur for an open call, organised Owen Hopkins, architecture programme • Rory Olcayto acting editor, Uncommon is a landscape consultancy run by Deborah Nagan and a small team in London’s Waterloo.
The Architects’ Journal It undertakes commissions in London, the UK and abroad. in partnership with The Architects’ Journal, for & ARCHIVES COLLECTIONS DRAWINGS RIBA LIBRARY manager at the Royal Academy of Arts
30 theaj.co.uk 14.11.14 14.11.14 31 Special feature
hat comes to mind when you think architect-led, multidisciplinary teams to put of Mayfair? The fine suits of Savile forward speculative ideas for reimagining the REIMAGINING W Row, the galleries of Cork Street, area bounded by Old Bond Street to the west, the luxury shopping of Bond Street, hedge Clifford Street to the north, Savile Row to the funds or, perhaps, the most expensive houses east and Burlington Gardens to the south. MAYFAIR on the Monopoly board? Mayfair is all of We asked the teams to think about physical those things, but much else besides. interventions to the public realm – such as Largely built up in the 18th century, Mayfair managing pedestrian and traffic flow, or public is currently in the middle of some of the biggest art commissions – but also more ephemeral A ROYAL ACADEMY transformations in its history. The American activities like festivals or markets that enhance the embassy is soon to depart Grosvenor Square character of the area without necessarily altering for Battersea, while Crossrail will shortly arrive it physically. We were particularly interested in OPEN COMPETITION at Bond Street/Hanover Square. the cross-pollination between the area’s At the same time, escalating cultural and commercial sides, rents and redevelopment a characteristic which has IN PARTNERSHIP are threatening many of shaped its rich history and is the area’s long-resident also the key to its future. tailors and art dealers. Following an open call for WITH THE AJ Meanwhile, beginning entries, we selected four on site next year, the teams to work up their Royal Academy of Arts ideas in early July. As (RA) is undertaking well as architects, the TIMELINE TEAM 1 — DK-CM and PABLO BRONSTEIN with support from PROJECT CENTRE an ambitious teams included artists, April Call for entries Founded in 2012 by David Knight and Cristina Monteiro, DK-CM is an architecture and research studio July Shortlisting session based in East London. The practice’s work extends from bespoke furniture design to masterplanning, redevelopment to urbanists and landscape August ‘Mid-term’ crit urbanism and policy. Argentina-born, London-based artist Pablo Bronstein combines interests in art and transform its Burlington designers and this led September Public presentation architecture with performance, installation and sculpture through a wide range of media. Gardens building. With to each of the proposals SHORTLISTING TEAM support from the Heritage considering the brief in a • Simon Beames TEAM 2 — ANDREW PHILLIPS with VOGT and HENRY COLEMAN partner, youmeheshe Following 15 years working with David Chipperfield, Andrew Phillips established his own London-based Lottery Fund, the David different way than if working • Cynthia Grant director, practice in 2013. The practice is currently working on projects in London, Luxembourg, New York and the Chipperfield Architects- independently. True to the Limehouse Transport Design Gulf states. Vogt Landscape Architects was founded in Zurich in October 2000. Today the company has three • Kate Goodwin Drue Heinz offices across Europe, employing landscape architects, architects, product designers and horticultural experts. designed project will see new intention of the project being a curator of architecture, Royal Academy postgraduate Henry Coleman’s practice centres on an interest in the decorative impulse and in galleries, a dedicated learning platform for new and speculative Royal Academy of Arts the qualitative change of an object or space. • Jeremy Melvin curator, studio and the reinstatement of a thinking, the ideas the teams put World Architecture Festival double-height lecture theatre. A ‘link’ bridge forward were bold and imaginative, but also • Rory Olcayto acting editor, TEAM 3 — EPR ARCHITECTS with RICK WHEAL, KATE MALONE and JAMES ULPH The Architects’ Journal Founded by Cecil Elsom in 1947, EPR Architects works across architecture, master planning and interior will unite Burlington Gardens and Burlington grounded in a thoughtful consideration of the design. With a team of more than 120, EPR’s portfolio includes residential, workplace, hotels and public House, creating an arts campus of just over historical context, commercial pressures and the EXPERT PANEL building projects. Rick Wheal is a consultant to Arup, with specialisms in renewable energy, passive design • Charles Saumarez Smith and sustainable development. Ceramicist Kate Malone graduated from The Royal College of Art in the late two acres in the heart of central London, ready possibilities of culture to invigorate and inspire. (chairman) secretary and chief 1980s. Her work uses bright, vibrant colours, often with crystalline surfaces. James Ulph is director at Flowers for the RA’s 250th anniversary in 2018. At the public presentation on 19 September executive, Royal Academy of Arts Gallery on Cork Street in Mayfair. The gallery opened in 2000 and has sister galleries in London’s East End, • Matthew Carmona Los Angeles and New York. As these plans have developed, the RA has and over the following weekend when the projects professor of planning and become increasingly interested in the area of were on display at the RA, we saw an important urban design, The Bartlett • Craig McWilliam TEAM 4 — WESTON WILLIAMSON + PARTNERS with YINKA SHONIBARE and UNCOMMON Mayfair to its immediate north – how to foster discussion about the future of Mayfair begin to take executive director, London estate, Founded in 1985, Weston Williamson + Partners is a multidisciplinary architectural and urban design new ideas for its future and at the same time shape. We are very excited to see what emerges Grosvenor Britain & Ireland practice. Projects include the Jubilee Line Station at London Bridge, Paddington Crossrail Station and • Jeremy Melvin curator, the New England Biolabs headquarters in Boston. Working in painting, sculpture, photography, film forge new connections in the local community. from it over the next few years. World Architecture Festival and performance, Yinka Shonibare’s work examines race, class and the construction of cultural identity. This provided the spur for an open call, organised Owen Hopkins, architecture programme • Rory Olcayto acting editor, Uncommon is a landscape consultancy run by Deborah Nagan and a small team in London’s Waterloo.
The Architects’ Journal It undertakes commissions in London, the UK and abroad. in partnership with The Architects’ Journal, for & ARCHIVES COLLECTIONS DRAWINGS RIBA LIBRARY manager at the Royal Academy of Arts
30 theaj.co.uk 14.11.14 14.11.14 31 0theaj.co.uk 40 EDR EPR Architects with Rick Wheal, Kate Malone and James Ulph James and Malone Kate Wheal, Rick with Architects EPR Mayfair Reimagining AND JAMES ULPH EPR ARCHITECTS QUARTER CULTURAL UNIQUE A WITH RICK WHEAL, KATE MALONE RICK WHEAL, WITH than vehicles by people,rather environment touse to returntheurban The proposalseeks
14.11.14 14.11.14 Piazza Navona, where public buildings Piazza Navona,wherepublicbuildings a square,reinterpretationofRome’s over time.ItisEPR’sintentiontocreate character ofthespacehasbeeneroded clearly definededges.However,the garden spaceintoanurbanwith practical andthepoetic. Our plansconsiderboththefeasibly integrating art,craftandcommerce. Gardens intoauniqueculturalquarter, the areatonorthofBurlington EPR Architects’ proposalistotransform Burlington Gardens evolved from a Burlington Gardensevolvedfroma 41 41 0theaj.co.uk 40 EDR EPR Architects with Rick Wheal, Kate Malone and James Ulph James and Malone Kate Wheal, Rick with Architects EPR Mayfair Reimagining AND JAMES ULPH EPR ARCHITECTS QUARTER CULTURAL UNIQUE A WITH RICK WHEAL, KATE MALONE RICK WHEAL, WITH than vehicles by people,rather environment touse to returntheurban The proposalseeks
14.11.14 14.11.14 Piazza Navona, where public buildings Piazza Navona,wherepublicbuildings a square,reinterpretationofRome’s over time.ItisEPR’sintentiontocreate character ofthespacehasbeeneroded clearly definededges.However,the garden spaceintoanurbanwith practical andthepoetic. Our plansconsiderboththefeasibly integrating art,craftandcommerce. Gardens intoauniqueculturalquarter, the areatonorthofBurlington EPR Architects’ proposalistotransform Burlington Gardens evolved from a Burlington Gardensevolvedfroma 41 41 Reimagining Mayfair EPR Architects with Rick Wheal, Kate Malone and James Ulph
and public spaces merge in continuous – interlinked sky gardens and Lunardi- public realm, where the art and craft are inspired balloons give the visitor a new integral and part of a processional route perspective of London and define this of London squares. area of reimagined Mayfair. Team member Rick Wheal finds that The artist Kate Malone sees urban ‘one of the major criticisms of the urban space through the eyes of a visitor. environment is that the streetscape is ‘A visitor to a place or area consciously designed for vehicles, not people. Our or unconsciously might have a list of aspiration is to reverse this imbalance needs: to enjoy or take pleasure, to through visually engaging people with use, to learn, to give, to take, to share, roads and pavements, and only allowing to better oneself, to add to a place, cars and vans to pass through at to form a habit or routine, to make a specific times.’ difference, to leave a mark,’ she says. The underused fifth elevation has Go to www.reimaginingmayfair.org been reimagined as Burlington Gardens for more information, videos and to create a new level of public realm sketches of the proposal. ■
Right The project investigated the processional routes of London squares Opposite The architects look to occupy Burlington Gardens’ ‘fifth facade’ with a series of sky gardens
42 theaj.co.uk Reimagining Mayfair EPR Architects with Rick Wheal, Kate Malone and James Ulph
and public spaces merge in continuous – interlinked sky gardens and Lunardi- public realm, where the art and craft are inspired balloons give the visitor a new integral and part of a processional route perspective of London and define this of London squares. area of reimagined Mayfair. Team member Rick Wheal finds that The artist Kate Malone sees urban ‘one of the major criticisms of the urban space through the eyes of a visitor. environment is that the streetscape is ‘A visitor to a place or area consciously designed for vehicles, not people. Our or unconsciously might have a list of aspiration is to reverse this imbalance needs: to enjoy or take pleasure, to through visually engaging people with use, to learn, to give, to take, to share, roads and pavements, and only allowing to better oneself, to add to a place, cars and vans to pass through at to form a habit or routine, to make a specific times.’ difference, to leave a mark,’ she says. The underused fifth elevation has Go to www.reimaginingmayfair.org been reimagined as Burlington Gardens for more information, videos and to create a new level of public realm sketches of the proposal. ■
Right The project investigated the processional routes of London squares Opposite The architects look to occupy Burlington Gardens’ ‘fifth facade’ with a series of sky gardens
42 theaj.co.uk