Design Brief

Newham itself is notorious for its scarily high levels of crime, ranking in the top 10 most dangerous boroughs of London, and the 27th most dangerous city in all of Great Britain as of 2022.

In sight of this, I have chosen to renovate and transform an abandoned pub in Newham, The Angel, into a safe library for students in the area. Shut down in 2003, and later brought back in 2010 but shut down once again due to the license being revoked. In 2014, an application was sent through to transform it into a Church, but it was withdrawn in 2015. There are not a large amount of libraries, as most are a far distance from the site.

I’ve decided on creating a library for people in that area to support students who could be influenced by the large crime rates in the area. Many students with potential fall into the trap of crime, and I believe this is because there aren’t any safe spaces for people, and their home might not provide them with enough support/comfort for them to stay away from crime. This library will prioritise students, with the site being able to hold study events, meetings, and tutoring.

Although it is a small site, I plan on utilizing the entire site to create a library with a café within. To combat the small site, I plan on continuing with the theme of Simple or Complex, and developing the site vertically to create more space.

Specifications

The Library must include:

• Toilets for Males, Females, and People with Disabilities.

• Café selling food and drinks.

• Multi-storey library to utilise the lack of space.

• Seating.

• Computer rooms.

• Conference rooms.