Studio Weave were commissioned to develop proposals for an urban landscape and pavilion for the Greenwich Peninsula; celebrating the evolution of the area as a creative community providing new homes, jobs and neighbourhoods near the river Thames. In anticipation of the new creative workforce who will build lives around the Design District, the installation invites consideration of the changing character of London – and notions of ‘home’ within it. The installation mimics the structure of the ‘typical terrace’ which proliferates across London, and suggests continuity with the history of past communities on whose foundations the contemporary city is built.
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The three-storey folly echoes the proportions of a historical terrace dwelling: mimicking window, door and chimney elements in exaggeratedly intricate patterned stud-work – bringing the craft of traditional construction to the fore. Using Douglas fir – the most widespread British construction timber for over a century – and jointed with timber pegs, the pavilion has been almost entirely sustainably sourced from the same forests that the homes of many Londoners past and present originate.
A bright yellow steel staircase and railing wraps through the structure, inviting people to climb to the upper levels and view the surrounding area. And a graphic scheme of throughout was coordinated by Hato and illustrated by Jay Cover to inhabit the structure with symbols of the everyday delights and habits of Londoners past, present and future.
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