Studio 08

Studio brief

good growth

This year Studio 08 will be responding to the Mayor of Londons’ call to create a ‘City for All Londoners’ based on the principles of ‘good growth’ – ‘development that is socially, environmentally and economically inclusive.’

Focusing on the Old Kent Road ‘opportunity area’ where 20,000 new homes are planned, the unit will explore the infrastructure needed to support communities. The Old Kent Road is one of London’s oldest roads and for well over a century it has been the centre for an area alive with industry making and supplying the things and the services London needs. To experience the exciting mix of industries vital to the local economy and to the wider city we will look behind usually closed doors. By talking to local organisations and through mapping overlaid uses we will identify potential for shared spaces and explore programs that bring together and support the culturally diverse communities.

Following the field work and the unit trip to Berlin we will explore how our findings can make their way into site-specific and certain project proposals. Studio 08 will develop exciting new models for social infrastructure interwoven within the existing fabric of neighbourhoods, streets, estates and communities. You will explore ways in which places of work, communal and accessible public space can be integrated within the context of new and existing housing developments.

Through an exhibition at the Livesey Exchange the unit’s findings will be shared with the Old Kent Road communities as a contribution to the current debate about ‘social regeneration’ and the future of this part of the city. Our understanding of architecture as a critical spatial practice and the work we do at what if: projects will form a point of departure for a discussion about your role as future architects.