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City/Garden : Garden/City
Whitechapel in London's East End
London is extraordinary for the many and large tracts of open land which are unused in the centre of the city. Many of these are derelict - repositories for industrial artifacts and structures and general metropolitan detritus. Some have become toxic through years of neglect and improper ecological practices.
Our site in Whitechapel is partly comprised of such an area. A relatively compact and comprehensible site, it offers a counterpoint of both an intense urban setting on Whitechapel Road, with the huge 18th century London Hospital, commercial and institutional buildings, tube station and vibrant street market, and then to the north, a raw and partially neglected terrain damaged by war and now marked by rail lines and viaducts, an old walled cemetery, a few remaining warehouses, and various housing enclaves. As part of the East End, the area has long been destination and home for new immigrants with successive waves of Huguenots, Irish, Jews, and now Bangladeshis forming the nuclei of the population and labour for crafts and industry.
The studio has explored the culture and ecology of the post industrial city with particular emphasis upon the garden - from urban wilderness to green haven - in the city. Our first project examined the possibilities of ordering the derelict part of the site as part of the surrounding urban fabric, whilst at the same time respecting its status, and potential advantages, as a ‘void’ within the city. The main project of the year was located at the edge of the built area of Whitechapel Road and the unbuilt terrain beyond. The (dis)continuity of city and garden as explored in the first project helped to inform our treatment of this liminal site in order to develop a coherent urban strategy which focused on the design of an East End Printing Centre, including local newspaper offices and printing presses, with possibilities for printers’ studios and gallery, a training centre for computer and analogue printing techniques, and other relevant urban functions.
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Students
Nick Bethune, Simon Bradbury, Lorrin Braddick, Dave Bulmer
Annette Chu, Emma David, Matt Dearlove, Eleanor Fawcett
Ed Garrod, Richard Henson, Shahid Hussain, Jonathan Mann
Lucy Muggeridge, Nancy Peskett, Rufus Willis
Staff
Wendy Pullan, Simon Tucker
Thanks to
David Bass, Kasia Boguslawska, Cambridge Evening News
Peter Carl,
Peter Carolin, Phil Cooper, Julian Hakes, Tom Holbrook
Robert Holden, Mari Hvattum, Jian Kang, Kim Loddo, Phil Meadowcroft
Peter Minoletti and Tower Hamlets Planning and Environment Department
Patrick Monaghan, Taina Rikala, John Sergeant, Shimon Shapiro
Mary Ann Steane, Carolyn Steel, Koen Steemers, Renata Tyszczuk
Dalibor Vesely, Tim Upson and Cambridge University Botanical Garden
Jill Walsh and the Community Organisation Forum, West Ferry Printers
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