Views

• Matthew Morgan is a consultant for Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and has been crafting stories in magazine journalism, book publishing, branding and communications for over 20 years, primarily for architects and designers. Matthew attended the Thames Connection debate hosted by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands at Body & Soul in Clerkenwell on 19 June, and in this piece he explores the boundaries of the Thames River explored during this debate.

Nothing unites and divides London like the Thames and, with London’s population ever-growing, there is a clear need for further connections with the river as well as crossings over it. In our second annual London Festival of Architecture debate, we celebrated, investigated and analysed our connections to the Thames and its crossings – past, present and future, unlocking London’s potential and celebrating the river. The discussion brought together experts and enthusiasts from the worlds of local government and public art, transport planning and marine engineering, all of whom we have collaborated with on projects as diverse as the residential-led Barking Riverside masterplan and the huge public art project, Illuminated River.

A new/old centre of London?

Councillor Darren Rodwell, Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, is a passionate community champion whose message was clear: “Barking and Dagenham is the centre of London – you just don’t know it yet.”

Darren has a vision to create a “Barcelona on the Thames” at Barking Riverside, a huge regeneration project on London’s largest brownfield site for which we are masterplanners. But while his priorities are local (“it’s the local people who make the place”) his ambitions are global. “Let’s make sure the East of London is well-connected, because if not, we’re losing our connection with the rest of the world.”

The need to increase connections within and beyond the borough was developed by Chris Naylor, Barking and Dagenham’s Chief Executive, who offered further insight into the inequalities that have arisen from longstanding failures in both housing provision and transport infrastructure. He explored the benefits of burying the A13 to create better connections, reduce pollution and unlock land for redevelopment, and of encouraging growth through the Council’s ‘Be First’ social enterprise, which is bringing together planning and developing expertise for Barking Riverside.

However, both Darren and Chris were clear that Barking and Dagenham’s original expansion in the 1920s depended on infrastructure investment by the UK government, which Ford motor cars consolidated and built upon. What is missing now is any long-term thinking or financial support from the UK national government, which has led to a burgeoning relationship with representatives of China’s belt and road initiative, who see Barking and Dagenham as a key gateway to London.

Lighting up the city at night

Sarah Gaventa, Director of the Illuminated River Foundation, gave a very different perspective on the potential the Thames has for London’s pre-eminence as a world city.

While acknowledging the need for more connections for the East End, her focus is on an ambitious scheme to light 15 central London bridges at night, brought together by our studio in collaboration with the artist Leo Villareal. But Sarah demonstrated how Illuminated River is much more than simply a huge public art project.

It is estimated the project will be seen by over 200,000 people per year, with the potential to increase wellbeing in the capital as they delight in Villareal’s beautiful artwork. One in ten London children has never seen the river Thames, and she sees the project as an opportunity to reconnect communities who live near the Thames but don’t have access to it. The project is also an opportunity to reduce light pollution for the wildlife that lives in and around the river. “There are 135 species of fish in the Thames, none of whom like to have sex with the lights on.”

Sarah talked of the challenges of creating such a project, which has involved 30 planning applications and 18 listed buildings in separate conversations with numerous, disconnected London boroughs. But she was also persuasive about the economic benefits to the capital, offering London an opportunity to gain pre-eminence over other major cities such as Paris, and the simple joy and calm to be had at an otherwise troubled time. “What else are we going to have to celebrate for the next few months?”

Macro and micro ideas for better transport

Three speakers then gave an insight into transport planning at both a macro and micro level.

Julie Bowerman, a Director at Steer, has experience in transport planning in the private and public sector, and has led numerous projects across London. But what started for her as a review of the impact of CAVs in how they may help us better connect our city and encourage pedestrians and cyclists expanded into a broader look at how transport priorities in the capital are changing. Population growth, lack of housing provision and a transport system under strain increase the need and demand for initiatives such as shared transport and increased cycle routes.

But while crossing the river is part of the journey, it cannot be divorced from the routes that lie either side. “Technology won’t change the way we use bridges, but they will change the way we think about the journeys we need to take.”

Crossing the river was of specific interest to Tim Beckett, Founding Director of Marine Consultancy Beckett Rankine, who has been responsible for the design of more than 200 projects on the tidal Thames.

His innovative scheme for state-of-the-art electric ferries – already a reality in Sweden and Finland – could revolutionise our approach to the water. The creation of new ferry crossings offer a nimble, relatively low-cost solution to increase connections at key locations in the east of London such as Canary Wharf, where there is neither the money nor the vision for the creation of a bridge. Perhaps where public funding is not forthcoming, private sector investment could plug some of the gaps as we move deeper into the coming century.

Alex Lifschutz, Founding Director of Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, rounded up the discussion with a description of the Thames Barrier Bridge, an idea for a new, low-level pedestrian and cycle bridge to connect the Royal Borough of Greenwich with the Royal Docks. The 530-metre long bridge is a multi-span bascule bridge that would be situated immediately upstream of the Thames Barrier, so impact on the flow of the river would be lessened. Most boats would be able to pass underneath, but when larger boats do wish to pass through, the multiple piers, each with their own bascules, create a series of small, moveable bridges with their own opening spans. This provides certainty that at least one section of the bridge will open when it is needed.

It’s an idea that is so simple, one wonders why it hasn’t happened already, but it does come with a caveat: “we have approached TfL but the door is closed because they don’t have a penny to spend,” Alex explained.

Towards a conclusion

Apart from the enthusiasm from each speaker for the new and exciting projects that could shape life along the Thames in the years ahead, the other major theme was the scarcity of funds for these new projects to become a reality. “So what,” Alex asked, “is the mechanism for celebrating and rewarding all these varied ideas?”

Everyone was united in agreement that London needs more bridges, tunnels and ferries, but how do we ensure the city’s continued success by getting such projects built?

The danger of failing to provide sufficient connections is stark. “Lack of infrastructure is the prime cause of social inequality in the East End,” said Chris Naylor. But there was consensus that the political vision and leadership required to deliver such connections through infrastructure is just not there at present.

Sarah Gaventa was positive about the potential for philanthropy to contribute to more projects (Illuminated River is being funded by the Arcadia Fund and the Rothschild Foundation), but the kind of funding necessary for a venture such as burying the A13 (approximately £9billion) is only going to come from central government – if not ours then someone else’s.

• In an exciting collaboration with the Design Museum, ‘Manifestos: Architecture for a New Generation’  highlights the work by 10 emerging voices in architecture, who have each been nominated by  established names in the profession, for their impact on shaping a new future for London. Responding to the defining challenges facing young people in London today, this new generation of architecture voices pushing the boundaries of what architecture can be, who London is for and what its future holds.
• In a series of visionary manifestos, the chosen 10 share alternative visions for the capital’s urban landscape, prioritising collaboration, dialogue, learning and action in response to the real material and social conditions of a city in flux. Check back every Wednesday and Saturday for more.

Part W (nominated by Peter Barber)

The Part W collective is impatient for equality. We call out gender discrimination in an industry that routinely excludes and are driven by a desire to see places designed and delivered in a manner that is open, tolerant and beneficial to all. We want to see change happening now – so that current and future generations benefit from intersectional thinking in architecture, engineering, policy, planning and education. Our manifesto calls for change in the conversation around what leadership and notions of success look like. We want to lay a pathway that enables future generations to benefit from built projects being instigated, planned and delivered by both women and men equally and fairly. Our current campaigns have been established by a London-based group, but we share aspirations with UK and European sister groups. Outwards looking and collaborative, we are working together to achieve a gender-equal future.

For our Views Section, LFA Patron Ft’work presents a series of three, hard-hitting short films, produced in collaboration with Sarah Wigglesworth Architects and community-based organisations. These videos each explore this year’s LFA theme of boundaries.  Each film explores boundaries from the point of view of a particular social group, whose experience reveals where social and physical boundaries collide.

In this second film, the single, unedited ’take’ follows a postcode boundary that runs past the Rockingham Estate to Elephant and Castle. Innocuous to you and me, it represents a constant threat to many local young people. In an emotive and sometimes chilling conversation, three 15 yr-old boys with personal experience of gang violence and the ongoing Street War between Kennington and Peckham discuss: its causes and effects, the fear it instils, the impact on their mental health, the restriction it has on their personal freedom, their relationship with the police

This film was produced in collaboration with Oasis Waterloo.

• In an exciting collaboration with the Design Museum, ‘Manifestos: Architecture for a New Generation’  highlights the work by 10 emerging voices in architecture, who have each been nominated by  established names in the profession, for their impact on shaping a new future for London. Responding to the defining challenges facing young people in London today, this new generation of architecture voices pushing the boundaries of what architecture can be, who London is for and what its future holds.
• In a series of visionary manifestos, the chosen 10 share alternative visions for the capital’s urban landscape, prioritising collaboration, dialogue, learning and action in response to the real material and social conditions of a city in flux. Check back every Wednesday and Saturday for more.

Patricia de Souza Leao Muller of Holy Fool Studio (nominated by Manijeh Verghese)

As the architectural profession in London becomes a mere tool for developers, it underestimates the profound wisdom of the foolish play. Like the idiot at the feast, if architecture would be used to not find solutions to problems, we could tear open the gaps within dominant structures with play and humour. Responding to conversations about queer spaces, I investigate ways to catalyse long-term change through foolishness and irreverence, disrupting norms and complacency through collective making.

Success is measured by how much a profession by experts, for experts, is made accessible through designs that are cheap, non-standard, participatory, expressive, handmade, and with easy instructions. Through collective engagements, institutional diplomacy, and scripted spectacles, big questions about the inclusion of vulnerable identities, and bottom up self-expression, can be answered with the architecture of what simply exists: loos, flowers and joy.

• In an exciting collaboration with the Design Museum, ‘Manifestos: Architecture for a New Generation’  highlights the work by 10 emerging voices in architecture, who have each been nominated by  established names in the profession, for their impact on shaping a new future for London. Responding to the defining challenges facing young people in London today, this new generation of architecture voices pushing the boundaries of what architecture can be, who London is for and what its future holds.
• In a series of visionary manifestos, the chosen 10 share alternative visions for the capital’s urban landscape, prioritising collaboration, dialogue, learning and action in response to the real material and social conditions of a city in flux. Check back every Wednesday and Saturday for more.

RESOLVE Collective (nominated by David Ogunmuyiwa)

Architecture’s capacity to change London’s extreme inequity is often articulated in the same language as its complicity; where productivity, labour, and disciplinary vogue existing synonymously with creativity, passion, and thoughtful design. Our manifesto builds on a re-thinking of architecture as an unbridled means to produce novelty in our city and looks instead toward a practice that reveals, questions, and deconstructs existing forms, spaces, and ideas. To build by deconstructionnecessitates an interdisciplinary approach that investigates common spatial motifs at a human scale, such as shelter, movement, division, in order to equip us with the appropriate tools to address citywide and global demands for alternative value systems, degrowth and decolonialisation. It asks: what if walls did not separate us, but instead brought us together? How distinct are our built environments – houses, neighbourhoods, and cities –  from our emotional ones? Can we use design not to change spaces, but systems, perspectives, and narratives?

• In an exciting collaboration with the Design Museum, ‘Manifestos: Architecture for a New Generation’  highlights the work by 10 emerging voices in architecture, who have each been nominated by established names in the profession, for their impact on shaping a new future for London. Responding to the defining challenges facing young people in London today, this new generation of architecture voices pushing the boundaries of what architecture can be, who London is for and what its future holds.
• In a series of visionary manifestos, the chosen 10 share alternative visions for the capital’s urban landscape, prioritising collaboration, dialogue, learning and action in response to the real material and social conditions of a city in flux. Check back every Wednesday and Saturday for more.

Pricegore (nominated by Tamsie Thomson)

Facades are the making of the city. They are the threshold between interior and exterior and often between public and private. They are fundamental to the identity of the institution, the business, the family, and the city itself. But in current times facades are neglected -constrained by simplistic planning policy, diminished by design & build, overlooked by critics, and subsequently illegible and irrelevant to the public.We propose a rejuvenation of the facade. We make no claim for any historic style, or any particular material -we appreciate the richness and variety that London has developed over the centuries, but want facades that are relevant for today. We believe better facades do not need more money -they just need more purposeful and skilful intent. We would like to see contemporary facades that communicate, and enhance the city for all. We propose that facades can be radical, not in terms of technology, but in terms of redefining civic beauty and meaning.

• In an exciting collaboration with the Design Museum, ‘Manifestos: Architecture for a New Generation’  highlights the work by 10 emerging voices in architecture, who have each been nominated by  established names in the profession, for their impact on shaping a new future for London. Responding to the defining challenges facing young people in London today, this new generation of architecture voices pushing the boundaries of what architecture can be, who London is for and what its future holds.
• In a series of visionary manifestos, the chosen 10 share alternative visions for the capital’s urban landscape, prioritising collaboration, dialogue, learning and action in response to the real material and social conditions of a city in flux. Check back every Wednesday and Saturday for more.

Space Popular (nominated by Eva Franch i Gilabert)

Recent developments in virtual technologies increasingly point to the possibility of a three-dimensional future for the Internet, persistently mapped over the entire planet. The inhabitable internet might eventually become a collective place for all humans to live, work, and play. Based on this assumption, what will the spatial internet look and feel like? How should we value it? How do we make it fair, safe, and equal for all? Who—if anyone—will own and govern it?

In the context of the immersive, inhabitable Internet, the role of the architect is ambiguous and their responsibilities remain unclear. One does not need an architect to construct physical spaces, nor to construct the two-dimensional graphic worlds we now inhabit. Will we need architects to conceptualise and construct three-dimensional virtual spaces? In short, should the essential role of the architect evolve faster, and sooner, than it has ever been required to before?

We see an urgency to formulate possibilities and principles for how our future digital lives—blending our intellects, emotions, and bodies— communities, and values, will be shaped.

• In an exciting collaboration with the Design Museum, ‘Manifestos: Architecture for a New Generation’  highlights the work by 10 emerging voices in architecture, who have each been nominated by  established names in the profession, for their impact on shaping a new future for London. Responding to the defining challenges facing young people in London today, this new generation of architecture voices pushing the boundaries of what architecture can be, who London is for and what its future holds.
• In a series of visionary manifestos, the chosen 10 share alternative visions for the capital’s urban landscape, prioritising collaboration, dialogue, learning and action in response to the real material and social conditions of a city in flux. Check back every Wednesday and Saturday for more.

Chris Hildrey (nominated by Justin McGuirk)

In the creative industries, architecture stands alone for the degree to which it’s imposed upon those who use it. We get to decide the products we buy and the clothes we wear but the experience of those places we live, work, wander, and dwell is typically determined by an accrued legacy of prior decisions.

This gives rise to an implicit duty on those who shape the built environment: that they do so in a way that protects the interests of those who live in it and prevents the marginalisation of those who face its effects most acutely. But there is also opportunity: addressing this concern requires non-traditional models of practice. By looking beyond buildings and unbinding its interventions from the medium of their result, the profession has the potential to create a more appropriate and impactful city for those due to live with them.

• The Passage is a charity based in Westminster that supports people who are street homeless or living in insecure accommodation. In this piece they explore how they help homeless people transform their lives and overcome the boundaries of homelessness.

The mission of Passage is to provide resources to encourage, inspire and challenge homeless people to transform their lives. We provide a lifeline to those that have fallen on hard times, offering health, emotional support, employment and accommodation solutions which enable clients to end their homelessness for good.

The sad reality today is that the UK is in in the midst of a housing crisis and The Passage’s services are in higher demand than ever before. The lack of access to affordable housing, ongoing cuts to social care budgets and welfare reform have severely hit the most vulnerable in our society. The most visible sign of this is the alarmingly high number of people who are street homeless. For those of us that live or work in London, or have been visiting the city’s incredible architectural sites as part of London’s Festival of Architecture, can’t have failed to notice the lamentable number of people sleeping rough on our streets.

Homelessness can happen to any one of us; redundancy, home repossession, a broken relationship, mental illness, violence or abuse can all result in someone losing the roof over their head. Not having a home makes it that much harder to find a job, stay healthy and maintain relationships.

Boundaries don’t have to be physical, they can be emotional or psychological; they can be caused by language differences, fear, ignorance, or connected to a person’s mental health. Being separated from familiar communities or people can often feel as though a boundary has been crossed, leading to feelings of loneliness and isolation. For more vulnerable people, forging new connections, building new relationships and settling into new environments is an intimidating process and can be too daunting to face alone, particularly so for people who have experienced homelessness. Many former rough sleepers find that returning to their life on the streets is a less frightening idea than continuing to live somewhere that feels lonely and unfamiliar.

Home for Good is a London-wide resettlement support scheme. The only project of its kind in London, we recruit and train amazing volunteers who help clients settle into new homes that are often situated in unfamiliar areas. It recognises that homelessness is a trauma, and empowers people to move on by providing help and companionship. The project uses structured befriending and community support to reduce social isolation, build resilience and thereby prevent a return to the streets. Home for Good pairs a client with a volunteer, who will meet for an hour or so each week to chat and get to know the area together. Exploring local activities with friends can be a healing and empowering process, and can make it much easier to meet new people and build a sustainable life away from the streets.

Home for Good helps to break down the mental boundaries that can prevent smooth passage into a new community, and in many cases, the experience is as life-enhancing for volunteers as those they are partnered with. Partnerships come together from an organised ‘matching evening’, and are entirely based on chemistry and human connectedness, often creating friendships from two very different backgrounds.

There are many inaccurate perceptions relating to those we help in the street community. Home for Good is not just a precious chance to share experiences and deepen relationships with someone new; it’s also an opportunity to dismantle the barriers of ignorance or misunderstanding around this issue, and to spread this learning throughout a society in real need of it. Beneficiaries often have life experiences not far removed from those of their befrienders, be it gaining a qualification or establishing a career, relationship struggles, mental health issues or addictions.

‘I really valued the opportunity to befriend somebody that I might not usually have the chance to get to know, to become part of their life and learn some of their wisdom while enjoying each other’s company.’

‘[I enjoyed] being at the coalface and meeting the actual people, understanding their experiences/struggles. The satisfaction I got from that was wonderful, very positive and has been good for my mental health (and has improved my health and wellbeing).’

‘You get to meet people you wouldn’t meet in your own circles. I learn a lot from [my client]; his worldview. We talk about politics, food and recipes a lot.’

‘I would say that this experience has exceeded my expectations and it has been wonderful. [My client] is a positive role model and she helps me just as much as I help her.’

Quotes provided by Home for Good volunteers

Our work is based on the values and ethos of St Vincent de Paul who believed that vulnerable people needed to be helped by actions, not words. These values are core to all that we do: we strive to be inclusive, and we seek to be a place of hope, aspiration, change and innovation.

The Passage believes that in 21^stcentury Britain, no-one should have to spend a night sleeping on the streets. Street homelessness should not be inevitable; it is preventable and can be ended. Before Home for Good, only 40% of clients maintained their tenancies; since establishing the programme in 2014, that figure has climbed to 98%. Help us maintain our extraordinary and urgent work.

If you want to learn more about The Passage, the Home for Good programme or how you can get involved go to: www.passage.org.uk