Westminster_Lambeth Palace Road VIllage Hall
Awarded Best 2nd Year Portfolio at University of Nottingham - June 2008
The project began with an investigation of the SOCPA border and an interest in the idea of a borrowed physicality from the existing urban fabric. This approach evoked and highlighted an interest in the few places where the border could be crossed and intrigue about how several alcoves and crevices in the street edge allowed one to step out of the SOCPA boundary briefly.
The study and observation of these spaces became concentrated on the eastern most stretch of the border, Lambeth Palace Road, which has a feeling of melancholy and the forgotten about it with a sense of separation from Westminster and Lambeth. These investigations developed into a study of ‘unnoticed spaces’, spaces that are not considered and have a low perception of the possibility of occupation. The relationship of these spaces to light, occupation, activity and perception are what forms the basis of this project.
The exclusivity, increasing familiarity and comparative small scale of the discovered unnoticed spaces lead to the idea of a village hall for the residents of Stangate and Canterbury Houses, the only residential buildings on the road.
The project is a dispersed set of meeting spaces embedded in and dependent on the existing fabric of Lambeth Palace Road. The interventions borrow elements from the existing buildings as well as offering additional elements which echo the architectural language and materiality of the immediate surroundings. The spaces are not strictly programmed but are open to spontaneity and can be used and adapted in many ways.
Lighting is an important part of the project, developing from the initial observations of the site, where spaces are revealed and concealed at the edge of the street depending on the lighting condition. The lighting condition of each space is reflective if the level of occupation and the activity and in turn effects the perception of the space and the extent to which it is projected onto the street. Most of the spaces are in deep shadow during the day so light has massive potential to transform.
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