Altab Ali Park

Altab Ali Park by muf architecture/art

all images Š muf architecture/art llp 2011

street by reinforcing the distinctive character of the places along the route, by creating places for people to slow down, stop and socialise as well as pass through and by balancing the needs of road users and pedestrians.

in the capital and is dominated by heavy traffic, it also passes through some of the most culturally diverse and historically rich areas of London, with a wonderful range of existing buildings, streets, markets, waterways and many parks and green routes.

1) Altab Ali Park _ High Street 2012

We want to build on the strengths of this street, transform perceptions of the area, encourage positive change and stimulate investment.

CENTRAL LONDON

2_To create a connected street by enhancing natural flows along and across the street,

OLYMPICS

historic buildings and spaces, and supporting active social projects and events to bring the street to life before, during and after the Olympic and Paralympics games.

These objectives will be realised through a combination of overall street actions that can apply to the whole street and eight area based initiatives.

ROMFORD

CITY ALDGATE

STRATFORD

OXFORD STREET

High Street 2012 is part of a continuous spine running through London from Oxford Street to Romford. It passes through two of London’s Opportunity Areas. These have been recognised as places where deprivation can be tackled and sustainable development achieved. Between them, they should accommodate up to 130,000 jobs and to at least 35,000 new homes.

Altab Ali Park, part of High Street 2012.

Altab Ali Park is one of three schemes undertaken by muf as part of the High Street 2012 programme, an ambitious series of projects to enhance and celebrate the ribbon of London life that connects the City at Aldgate to the Olympic Park at Stratford.

The refurbishment of the Park is the transformation of a valued but dilapidated green space in an area heavily with road traffic and which lacks open space.

The park can be understood as a microcosm of the wider neighbourhood, where historically many different cultural, religious and political influences have shaped the fabric and the people who live here.

The design is conceived as means to acknowledge that matrix of local religious and secular differences to create a shared space, rich in local identity, a place of respite from the noisy High Street and place able to host the play and socialising of adults and children alike. all images Š muf architecture/art llp 2011

2) Before and After

all images Š muf architecture/art llp 2011

3) Overview Key: a) Artefact display The story of the site is told through the artefacts from the archeological dig inlaid in polished terrazzo slabs with conventional sign boards displayed on a lectern

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b+c) Raised terrazzo walkway The walkway delineates the footprint of the 18th century church and creates a new east west route through the park that makes south facing social spaces

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c h Street

apel Hig

Whitech

d) Portland stone plinths Carved white stones mark the site of the earlier churches, including the medieval white chapel and make informal play opportunities for children and adults.

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e) Madock tomb setting The C18th tomb from the former graveyard is framed by a mat of reclaimed York stone on which sits a double length bench and one shrunk to the scale of a child. f) Stratta walls Where the York stone mat cut into the grass bank the retaining wall is designed to give the appearance of the historic stratas laid down over the years.

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g) Playtree An opportunity for play is provided by three ‘relic’ plane trees which continue the theme of ecclesiastical furniture with scarlet ropes and ‘velvety’ cor ten cushions.

Altab Ali Park

h) Playplatform A set of steps gives an elevated vantage. i) Shaheed Minar The monument to the Language Martyrs is re clad, set within the landscape and framed as a long view from the new east entrance

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4.1) Collective Experience Temporary transformations to bring together the divergent constituents in a collective and positive experience of shared and separate histories.

The park is a host space to a culturally rich, historically layered and disadvantaged neighbourhood. A complex network of social conventions underlie how the park was used and by whom. The many ebullient young male Bengali students from the local colleges had established the park as a ‘home from home’ and however benign their socializing, their presence dissuaded other users, notably young mothers with children.

The program of temporary transformations was used as an opportunity to not only reveal the hidden histories and cultures of the area but also to bring together and make visible the park as a shared space between different generations and genders.

Archeological Dig to find the Whitechapel The dig was a collaboration with the Museum of London and was organised to enable over 500 school children and adult volunteers to participate in the process of unearthing the remains of two of the churches that previously stood on the site.

The dig brought together local school children and female students, scholars, and historians, the habitual park users and the curious passer-by.

The dig transformed the park into an open air museum where the existing fabric and the archeological finds were displayed to the users of the park. In turn, both the casual

passer-by and the habitual users were invited to contribute to the artefact finds by donating everyday objects.

The collection of the historic finds and of the everyday objects demonstrates how our knowledge of the past is pieced together from the ordinary as well as the extraordinary and how in turn we all become part of shaping the story of our neighbourhood.

The process of the dig directly informed the material resolution of the scheme and the historic artefacts themselves where included in the finished design embedded in terrazzo slabs designed as grave markers. all images Š muf architecture/art llp 2010

4.2) Collective Experience The three days of on-site painting drew wonder from passers by and many commented on their delight at seeing their traditional craft being practiced and stopped to join in.

Both the process and the paintings made visible a hidden cultural tradition and engendered a shared ‘home grown’ pleasure.

Alpana for Language Day The Shaheed Minar Monument in Altab Ali Park is replica of the one in Dhaka and commemorates the language martyrs who gave their lives in the fight to establish Bangladesh as an independent country. Every year the martyrs are remembered in the Language Day celebrations and in Dhaka traditional Alpana painting adorns the route to the monument.

In the month before the park was transformed muf commissioned a number of Bangladesh artists, some established in the UK and some recently arrived, to design and implement traditional Alpana in the park.

all images Š muf architecture/art llp 2011

5.1) Finding the Whitechapel The new east west path creates a route through the park that follows the desire line of the High Street and allows people walking along the road to detour only slightly and to walk instead in the park.

From the elevated walkway the view of the street has something of the drama and grandeur of theatre, which transforms this everyday, often noisy and dirty street into somewhere that appears extraordinary and beguiling.

The walkway traces the footprint of the last church to stand on the site and creates a long seating area and a series of social spaces. These are intersected by carved Portland stones which mark the fragmented footprint of previous churches, including the white chapel that gave its name to the area.

These pieces are designed to enable play for children and adults alike, one is designed as a carum board and another as a “marble run�.

The social spaces created by the walkway are south facing, give a view back across the park to the Shaheed Minar Monument and distance social activity away from the residential blocks on the other side of the park.

6.1) An Attachment to Place, the Setting for the Shaheed Minar Monument

The Shaheed Minar Monument commemorates the Language Martyrs who gave their lives in the fight for independence for Bangladesh. This monument is an exact replica of one that stands in Dakha. The monument is also a symbol of identity through an association to place and as such a particular landscape setting is made in the tradition of english landscaping, framing a view through the contoured landscape and delineating the foreground with boulders. An elevated platform make a place of contemplation from which to survey the park or a place of play.

all images Š muf architecture/art llp 2011

6.2) A Landscape of Play Leading from the Monument is a playable route using relic trees that mirror those on the other side of the park. The trees have an ambiguous form with the addition of church furniture turns them into hybrid cultural objects.

all images Š muf architecture/art llp 2011

7) Aerial View

all images Š muf architecture/art llp 2010