an aj special
Peckham Charrette
An AJ charrette for Peckham in association with Philips and the borough of Southwark THE ARCHITECTS’ JOURNAL THEAJ.CO.UK
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Location: London, UK Project credits: British Airways London Eye, Architainment Lighting ltd, Lighting Technology Projects Photography: ©David Morrell, courtesy Lighting Technology Projects
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16/03/2012 12:22
Better experiences, better life Andy Gowen introduces the Philips Liveable Cities programme, the inspiration behind the Peckham Charrette
The Philips Liveable Cities scheme addresses towns and cities’ continued growth, as increasing numbers of people recognise them as stimulating and rewarding environments in which to live. However, creating these environments is often the challenge faced by many design and urban specialists on a daily basis. Designing beautiful and secure places with their own identity is now an added ingredient to the complex indoor and outdoor habitats that people frequent in everyday life. Surprisingly, all this can be easily achieved through the use of highquality light – an anomaly that can sometimes be taken for granted, but when implemented in the right way, can truly perform miracles. Light can transform the night scene, enhancing urban architecture and creating an ambience that encourages people to spend time in a space that may once have been unattractive, unsafe or uninviting. Sustainability and respect for the environment are also core values in which lighting can play a critical role. In the use of innovative low-energy solutions such as LED, lighting also supports sustainable design. These types of technologies need replacing less frequently, thereby reducing waste: peckham charrette
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a green alternative that’s good for the city, town and planet. The only limit left is your imagination. It’s easy to see how an innovative and dynamic lighting system contributes to sustainability and to the safety and feeling of security of our roads and streets. But it can also have an impact on less tangible aspects of urban life, such as social cohesion, pride and a sense of place. With Philips Lighting controls, lighting operators can actively dim or brighten specific streets or neighbourhoods, transforming their mood and atmosphere in an instant. They can bring people together in pedestrian areas for late-night festivals or sporting events, or dim the lights to preserve the night-time quiet of residential streets. In short, they can ensure that light supports the full range of activities that contribute to contemporary city life. Philips is pleased to have made possible the exploration of the architects and lighting designers in the following pages, and looks forward to seeing their creations help make Peckham, and beyond, a more rewarding and stimulating place in which to live, work and play. n Andy Gowen is director, outdoor lighting solutions, UK & Ireland for Philips Lighting 03
Peckham Charrette Introduction
Contents
05 Introduction, by Rory Olcayto 06 Charrette team visit to Philips HQ 08 Regeneration in Southwark, by councillor Fiona Colley 10 Map of the sites and the brief 12 Charrette: as it happened 16 BDP and Arup Lighting 20 Duggan Morris and Paul Nulty Lighting Design 24 Konishi Gaffney and Hoare Lea Lighting 28 Lighting masterplan 30 Lee Marsden with Ben Adams Architects and Light Bureau 34 Pie and Light Bureau 38 Robin Lee Architecture and Sutton Vane Associates 42 The crit with Michael Tsoukaris, design and conservation manager, Southwark Council Editor Senior editor Art editor Designer Production editor Sub-editor Business development manager Event coordinator Photographer 04
Rory Olcayto James Pallister Brad Yendle Sosuke Sugiura Mary Douglas Alan Gordon Nick Roberts Stephanie Geisler Ben Blossom peckham charrette
Peckham in essence Sound, focused urban design in our charrette brought hidden treasures in the townscape of Peckham to light, writes Rory Olcayto
When Philips Lighting asked the AJ to develop an urban design project with them and help find a London borough to partner with, three words kept cropping up: Southwark. Peckham. Charrette. We knew that Southwark Council’s action plan for Peckham had many exciting development sites ranged along Rye Lane, the neighbourhood high street. And we knew the charrette format was great at focusing the talents of a diverse group of designers. And we knew that Philips Lighting’s Liveable Cities Programme, based on good urban design and lighting, matched Southwark’s aspirations to make the undervalued neighbourhood a better place in which to live. Peckham’s fascinating townscape is characterised by extreme jump cuts in scale, form and colour. That’s the essence of the place – it’s Peckhamness. You might stumble through a fire exit door at the back of a scrappy shopping mall and find yourself in a retrofitted warehouse gallery. You might find New Yorkish factory buildings that play host to nightclubs, bars or evangelical churches. You’ll see expanses of parkland that look like open fields of countryside just yards from Rye Lane, one of the busiest streets in the city: ‘Two kilometres-worth of shops peckham charrette
squeezed into 780 metres’, as Kieran Gaffney, one of the charrette participants, observed. You’ll find that greasy spoons, bicycle shops and bookshops give way to village-like lanes with hedges and benches and public lawns. And there’s a Stirling Prize-winning building, Will Alsop’s library, copper-clad and very green, just like Peckham Rye. But there are big gaps, too, just waiting to be filled with good urban design and solid, here-to-stay architecture. So we paired six architecture firms with lighting designers and asked them to work up ideas for six sites identified in the council action plan as ripe for development, and linked them with a lighting plan for Rye Lane. All in one day. We used Alsop’s library as the venue, borrowing a second floor room with views across Rye Lane and London’s magnificent skyline, an elevation stretching from Battersea Power Station to the O2 arena, with the Shard at centre stage. None of us – at the AJ, Southwark Council or Philips Lighting – could have hoped for a more impressive response from our design teams. Peckhamness at its best. n View a video of the charrette at TheAJ.co.uk/Peckham 05
Peckham Charrette Visit to Philips Lighting, Eindhoven
Switched on to the future of lighting
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A fortnight ahead of the Peckham charrette, our design teams visit Eindhoven in The Netherlands for a tour of Philips HQ
9.30pm Monday 6 February, ART Hotel Eindhoven We arrive at Eindhoven airport, mercifully in one piece, after a hair-raising take-off in thick fog at London City Airport – just within the legal visibility limit to fly, according to the pilot. Creative channel manager at Philips Lighting, Teresa Vallis, bundles us onto a tour bus and we set off for our hotel in the city’s refurbished 1920s White Lady building – a former Philips factory. 10.00am Tuesday 7 February, Experience Labs, High Tech Campus, Eindhoven The next morning we are greeted at Philips’ Experience Labs at the 100ha High Tech Campus by lighting application team senior manager Matthew Cobham. ‘We’ve made quite some changes to improve the approach we make with consultants,’ he says. We are then shown a full-size testing establishment, where new products and ideas are researched. It includes a living room, kitchen and even a high street with shops. See something you like in the window? A digital projection tells you what colours are in stock. Want more info? Just touch the glass. Next stop, a presentation on large luminous surfaces. These combine colour LEDs and acoustic panels to create interesting effects, including moving images. 4.00pm Tuesday 7 February, Lumiblade Creative Lab, Aachen, Germany A further 100-or-so-mile trip takes us to Philips’ OLED nerve centre just outside Aachen in Germany. An OLED is in effect a giant pixel – or single diffuse light source. OLEDs are extremely thin and could, in future, be printed onto a range of surfaces, including paper and fabric. Five or ten years from now, they might be used as light sources integrated into ceiling panels and glazing. Currently OLEDs are commercially available in limited sizes but larger products are being developed. Donning anti-static boots, gowns and hairnets, the team visits the production line where OLEDs are manufactured. 9.00am Wednesday 8 February, Lighting Application Centre, Eindhoven On the next morning at Philips’ Lighting Application Centre the big talking point is LEDs and their potential in new build and retrofit applications. The technology offers 80 per cent energy savings compared with traditional luminaires and has thrown up a wealth of creative applications, too. Philips’ dimmable 12W Master LED bulb, which has the equivalent output to a 60W traditional incandescent lamp, catches the attention of the group, impressed by its 25-year lifespan. Philips then showcases the Harrah’s Atlantic City Resort and Casino in New Jersey. Featuring 4,100 linear feet of its iColor Fresco LED tubing, the installation’s lighting effects include dramatic colour wipes and large moving images, all consuming a maximum of 10W per foot. After lunch at the Philips football stadium, home of PSV Eindhoven, our design teams travel north to catch the return flight to London, enlightened and illuminated. n peckham charrette
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Peckham Charrette Southwark Council
Regenerating Peckham Councillor Fiona Colley outlines Southwark Council’s plan of action for Peckham town centre
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What image springs to mind when you think about Peckham? Del Boy Trotter? Sixties tower blocks and dangerous streets? If your only view comes from the national media, you could be excused for thinking that Peckham might as well be bulldozed and started again from scratch. The reality is very different. From its early beginnings as a small village, Peckham became a popular out-oftown residential area in the 16th century, and boomed in the 1860s when the arrival of the railway made it a popular commuting town for the middle classes. In its heyday the town centre was one of London’s premier shopping streets and it still retains many fine Georgian, Victorian and Art Deco buildings, complemented by modern additions, such as Will Alsop’s Stirling Prize-winning Peckham Library. Peckham is a lively and diverse residential area and that cultural peckham charrette
diversity creates a real buzz in the town centre. It is also home to a thriving arts scene – lying between Goldsmiths College, Camberwell College of Arts and the South London Gallery, it attracts both young and more established artists. But of course Peckham is far from perfect. Many of its historic buildings and some public realm areas are rundown. The department stores and many of the big brand names have moved out, making it hard for the local shops to compete with neighbouring town centres. Fortunately, Peckham has all the ingredients needed to kick-start regeneration. Situated in London public transport zone 2, it already benefits from excellent rail links – between 10 and 20 minutes to London Bridge, Victoria, Blackfriars and King’s Cross stations – and from December it will be on the Tube network, when the next phase of the East London Line extension is completed.
Southwark Council has secured more than £10 million of funding for a new town square in front of the Grade-II listed station and, through our Peckham and Nunhead Area Action Plan, we have identified development sites across the town centre that have the potential to provide 1,500 new homes and highquality commercial and leisure space. Ensuring that these new developments are of the best possible design is crucial. Last year the council declared two new conservation areas in the town centre – not to prevent development, but to encourage the restoration of the best historic buildings and requiring new architecture of the highest standards. I’m delighted that the AJ and Philips chose Peckham for their design charrette. The teams worked on real development opportunity sites and I hope that their work will inspire innovation, investment and further improvements in Peckham. n 09
Peckham Charrette Map of the sites and the brief
Site plan and brief The six development sites, what the design teams needed to address and the final masterplan There are two elements to the design exercise: site plans and a masterplan. Site plans ■ Create
proposals for the six Peckham and Nunhead Area Action Plan (PNAAP) sites which lie adjacent to Rye Lane ■ Each team must work on a different site ■ Convey your designs with threedimensional drawings, as well as plan and section drawings. Maquettes can also be used to convey design ideas ■ Local residents should be able to tell from your drawings what kind of buildings you are proposing, in terms of form, scale, materiality and how they relate to the existing townscape ■ The drawings should give a sense of how your design improves the site – what would it feel like to be there? There should be a sense of how your design works in daylight and during hours of darkness or restricted light.
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With the broad objectives of the Peckham and Nunhead Area Action Plan in mind, and with due consideration of the Philips Liveable Cities initiative, and collectively as one design team: ■ Prepare a masterplan for the Peckham core action area centred on Rye Lane, agreeing land use massing, scale, connectivity, permeability and lighting for the six development sites on or adjacent to the street ■ This should be presented as a large plan drawing ■ Local residents should be able to understand the basic changes planned for their area from this drawing.
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Copeland Road Industrial Park PNAAP 4
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Eagle Wharf PNAAP 10
Aylesham Centre PNAAP 1
Peckham Rye Station PNAAP 6
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Peckham Charrette The day as it happened
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Peckham Charrette BDP/Arup Lighting
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Participants Mehron Kirk and Bel Rivera of BDP with Dan Lister of Arup Lighting
Eagle Wharf PNAAP 10
Eagle Wharf (site 10 in the Peckham and Nunhead Area Action Plan) Eagle Wharf adjoins Peckham Square and the library and runs alongside Surrey Canal Walk, a key green, motor-free link to Burgess Park. There is great potential to incorporate this site into Peckham Square, increasing its focus as a cultural centre. Potential uses include leisure, community, residential, business and retail activities. ■ There is an indicative residential capacity (Class C3) of 50 units and possibly a new cinema. Permeable design will allow movement from Peckham Hill Street. ■ Building heights should not exceed four storeys. Views from the library to the north should be considered. ■ There should be active frontages along Surrey Canal Walk and Peckham Hill Street.
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Left Section and plan exploring ‘activating’ potential of Eagle Wharf and Peckham Square
Our approach The key idea was to develop and strengthen connections within the wider context of Peckham and enhance the experience of using the space. We proposed options including a purely residential scheme and a scheme that incorporated a cinema and residences (a suggestion in the area plan) with the potential to strengthen the development of a cultural quarter. We analysed the site and surroundings through a series of diagrams, then worked up the building responses from this. We wanted to make the Surrey Canal Walk and the route to Peckham Hill Street more attractive and more desirable to use. Part of that vision is to have a building from which people can look out onto the open spaces, which helps make them feel safer, and to ensure the building and landscape are of a high quality and aesthetically pleasing. There should also be clear connections, particularly from Peckham Square, to let people know of the attractive canal walk beyond and the route through to Surrey Canal. We felt that the square peckham charrette
needed to be used more as a vibrant public space, working in conjunction with the Eagle Wharf site. Lighting The site faces onto the canal walk and is surrounded by residential areas, so lighting should be low-key and sensitive to neighbours, limited to creating safe routes, highlighting planting and landscape elements. The success of a development at Eagle Wharf hinges on the use of Peckham Square after dark. It is predominantly used as a thoroughfare, linking Surrey Canal Walk with Rye Lane, reinforced by the current homogenous distribution of functional light over the area, providing little reward to commuters passing through. Our lighting concept looked to improve the viability and desirability of the Eagle Wharf site through the re-lighting of Peckham Square. The concept is to reduce lighting provision at the centre of the square, contrasting with an enhanced perimeter route, encouraging commuters to divert from the direct path, slow down and dwell. 17
Peckham Charrette BDP/Arup Lighting
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The Peckham and Nunhead Area Action Plan has well-reasoned design principles for the development of the individual proposal sites. However, it could focus more on describing what really makes Peckham unique in terms of character, and on providing an overall vision for how new development can contribute and enhance Peckham’s distinctiveness and the sense of place that already exist. For those not familiar with it, Peckham is difficult to work out, with the bustle and speed of Rye Lane, the big estates, that striking library and the square. It is hard-edged and can seem daunting but, at the same time, it is easy to see that Peckham is unique, diverse and vibrant, which are all very valuable qualities. The charrette offered a fast-paced and organised context for generating collaborative ideas. The intense design programme mixed overall strategic masterplanning in a larger group with more focused, site-specific group discussion and offered the opportunity to present and receive feedback. Possibly more focus on the overall connection with the masterplan and vision of Peckham might have been useful. The mid-workshop feedback session really helped individual groups to reassess or re-enforce ideas that were being generated. Overall, it was an immensely productive and stimulating day that worked in helping the spontaneous nature of the design process. The interdisciplinary teamwork and speed of the programme necessitated quick analysis and problem solving which allowed a more uninhibited and spontaneous design process, with fresh ideas emerging. Also, it was unusual for us to involve a lighting designer at such an early stage. The experience and insight of the lighting designer gave our initial thoughts another dimension and did affect design and planning as we considered another view of the space. ‘Peckhamness’, Peckham’s real distinctiveness, comes about through a particular combination of diverse and ever-changing parts. Architectural heritage is part of that – from the elegant Victorian through the worst 20th century concrete and on into regeneration concepts. Peckham has all of that and benefits from the combination. The huge diversity of those who live, work, shop and travel there also obviously plays a big part and its energy and openness ensure it remains distinctive, but at the same time unprepossessing and unselfconscious. ■
Left Various proposals exploring Eagle Wharf’s potential as a ‘cultural quarter’. The biggest image shows a new cinema to the rear of Alsop’s library
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Peckham Charrette Duggan Morris/Paul Nulty Lighting Design
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The Aylesham Centre (site 1 in the Peckham and Nunhead Area Action Plan) Redevelopment of the site should maximise opportunities to rebuild the entire shopping centre, with consideration given to conserving and enhancing the adjacent Rye Lane Peckham conservation area. Maximising the public realm, increasing permeability and building up to a height of 10 storeys could help unlock the site’s potential. n Uses are leisure/community, retail, residential (730 units suggested) and public realm. n Opportunities to improve the pedestrian access to the bus station and Queens Road should be maximised. n There is potential for a taller building of between six and 10 storeys.
Duggan Morris Participants Mary Duggan, Joe Morris with Paul Nulty of Paul Nulty Lighting Design
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Above Foodhall concept – an external market on the shopping centre’s car park
Our approach This portion of Peckham High Street is one of the few sections that post-date the 1900s. The Aylesham Centre is a shopping mall with a covered arcade running perpendicular to Rye Lane, leading to a supermarket which is surrounded by a massive car park. The car park is bounded by housing developments, so the opportunity here is obvious. In spite of the fact that the arcade is connected to the buzzing street, it really doesn’t work. The arcade is numb – totally opposite to the high street. We wanted to take on a project that would need a visionary idea to unlock this area.
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Our scheme creates a new external market and food hall, a place to harness all of the food related activities – markets, fast food, external cooking etc. It will have a natural programme of weekly food markets, festivals, dining and casual activity. It is not quite a landmark, but rather an area that weaves between new and old, and provides the necessary spill-out space to facilitate the already established, but densely packed, multicultural activities. Lighting The intention of the lighting design was to retain a sense of character within the spaces, illuminating areas
across the site differently. The clock tower provides the focal point, illuminated in such a way to create a ‘beacon’. From the clock tower, the intensity of light ripples outwards, providing a hierarchy of illumination and a means of orientation. Moving into the alleyways and lanes, the lighting plays an important part in drawing the eye through. At the end of each vista is an illuminated surface, perhaps of colour. This also acts as a feature and a means of orientation. The food quarter is intended to be a working space and the lighting reflects the utilitarian feel with homogenous lighting to contrast against the dramatically lit residential courtyards. 21
Peckham Charrette Duggan Morris/Paul Nulty Lighting Design
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We live in Peckham, so we are very familiar with the cultural variety it offers. Peckham is like a treasure trove; you never know what you will discover next – gallery, pop-up bar, nail salon, food or local industry. It has a greater feeling of permanence and community than most of London, especially north London (got to get the dig in!) One of the jury members referenced Enric Miralles’ market hall in Barcelona, which is a very overstated version of our vision, but very close in terms of the use aspiration. We recalled a visit a to Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val in France containing a ‘halle’ in the centre of the village, which on market day became inhabited and hugged by a variety of activities. On non-market days it had a very different personality. We talked about the Lanes in Brighton while discussing the character of the new developments. We were interested in the proportions of the public realm. We wanted to create spaces that naturally facilitated walking, pausing and activity. We made fast decisions and did not worry about the presentation. We thought hard about what was needed to communicate the idea. We were less troubled by the need to communicate the architectural detail as we realised we would not have time to do this. We liked Konishi Gaffney’s project. It responded well to a complex site which was dominated by a fascinating historic building – the Bussey Building – but also identified a prime development opportunity. They observed the intricacies, designing interventions that would make a massive impact without carving great big holes in the street fabric. Robin Lee designed a building in a day, which has to be applauded. But everyone was united on the tone of the interventions – that it should be one of preservation and enhancement. n
Left Diagramatic plans for the Aylesham Centre and Rye Lane, exploring the neighbourhood’s idiosyncracies
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Peckham Charrette Konishi Gaffney/Hoare Lea Lighting
Konishi Gaffney Participants Kieran Gaffney, Marianne Jorgensen with Jonathan Rush of Hoare Lea Lighting
Copeland Road Industrial Park PNAAP 4
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Copeland Road Industrial Park (site 4 in the Peckham and Nunhead Area Action Plan) Mixed-use development should be centred around retention of the Bussey Building and include new public realm opportunities and improvements. Creative industries have appeared on the site, bringing opportunity to build on this and create a new cultural and creative quarter for Peckham. The site’s central location also provides an opportunity for a taller landmark building. n Opportunities to improve and extend links west to Rye Lane and north-south through the railway arches should be maximised. n Potential for a six to 10-storey building. n The site would be suitable for a cinema.
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Our approach We felt the Copeland Industrial Park was interesting and challenging. It is the largest site and the most mixed in terms of functions. It suffers by being blocked from the street by tall, deep buildings that were to be retained. At the start of the day Peckham was introduced as a place full of surprises and hidden spaces – almost a Narnian ‘through the wardrobe’ experience. Our site embodies that sense in functional and spatial terms. A series of arts spaces (two galleries, cafes and studios), at least nine evangelical places of worship and a mix of light industrial, selfstorage space and council offices all contribute to a lively and unexpected series of surprises. Architecturally, there are several interesting industrial buildings that have character and, peckham charrette
Above Lighting design and development sketch for Copeland Road Industrial Park
more importantly, form a spatial pattern of streets and public spaces that is beautiful and distinctive. Our proposal was to build on this archaeology of the site. We tweaked the built pattern, weeding out the weakest buildings and inserting new ones to strengthen edges. We then proposed forming a denser site by building upwards on top of the existing buildings by two to four storeys, on average. Lighting Having visited the site we were struck by the excitement and creativity that the space radiated. The eclectic typology and arbitrary distribution of buildings gave the area a buzz and dynamism that would have to be reflected in the lighting design. The lighting proposal was to
take a holistic view of the site, creating a dynamic, energyefficient and safe place for people to explore, create, live and enjoy. The existing narrow views into the site would be utilised, creating hidden portals with illumination to internal features, drawing people in from surrounding streets and making the site a ‘secret’ to be discovered. Once inside, lighting is used to enhance the energy and creativity of public squares, which would not only serve as gathering places but also impromptu art spaces and exhibitions. At the heart of the proposal is the creation of an illuminated glass box at the top of the Bussey building, maintaining the heritage facade and adding a new, modern dimension. In lighting terms, this serves as a beacon for illumination and a visual clue to the creative hub inside. 25
Peckham Charrette Konishi Gaff ney/Hoare Lea Lighting
What a difference the sun makes in Peckham. We arrived the evening before the charrette and walked the sites in the gloom and light rain. It would be interesting to map all the unsupervised, poorly lit, badly designed public realm and empty car parks. Next day we walked the site on an unseasonably warm February day and experienced the same spaces in a new light. We walked the site with the lighting designer in the morning. The idea of building on what was already there seemed obvious and made perfect sense to us. We then went back to draw and model this idea as best we could. The action plan is generally good: improve and densify is the message. But some of the assumptions and precedents are quite generic. I’d be concerned that in gentrifying Rye Lane it loses some of the Peckhamness. I would recommend that the specialist nature of the shops be supported. On our site the plan suggests the demolition of all but the Bussey Building and goes on to support tall edges and a fairly open public interior. We think this is too easy a solution and a missed opportunity to support an existing and unusual place. A scrap metal storage shed with a brick base and an upper floor in corrugated metal was an influence (in hindsight). We also discussed The Paintworks in Bristol, a conversion of an industrial area turned into artist spaces, and the Danish school of Architecture in Copenhagen, a former military base. The collaborative approach meant there was less competition and pressure. We really enjoyed the whole event. We weren’t sure initially how we would work with the lighting designer but the result and our idea would have been different without Jonathan, which shows it was a real collaboration. Time was the biggest challenge. Six hours doesn’t give much opportunity for a nuanced approach. Initially I thought it was a bit romantic for the brief to insist on no computers. However, I enjoyed the challenge of drawing and communicating with hand drawings and the immediacy of modelling and drawing by hand suits such a brief event. ■
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Left Sketch proposals exploring extra storey potential of existing buildings Below Cross-section through the huge industrial park site Right Perspective study of extended Bussey Building
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Peckham Charrette Rye Lane lighting masterplan
Rye Lane lighting masterplan
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A lighting strategy certainly cannot exist outside of an overall masterplan, so it was good news for the lighting designers when all the architects came together to discuss their preliminary thoughts and a collective approach. In a night-time environment, lighting becomes the key component in focusing the user’s attention on the buildings and amenities; by selectively emphasising the key among these, legibility and image can be improved significantly. As a group, the lighting designers first assessed what currently exists. The primary lighting element is the scale and style of street lighting on Rye Lane, which we agreed was cluttered and too dominant, actually drawing attention away from the shops and buildings along the lane. We discussed ways of decluttering the road and improving views above store fronts, including the possibility of a catenary system. Picking up on what the architects peckham charrette
were proposing, we concentrated on the landmarks and gateways. The library at the junction of Peckham High Street and Rye Lane, and the railway station, which is actually an imposing and arguably handsome Victorian structure through which some two million people travel and commute per year, and which would be visible again when the extensions are removed. The Bussey Building and car park standing opposite each other near the station are substantial landmarks, and the architects proposed that Rye Lane be a link between the green spaces of Burgess Park to the north and Peckham Rye to the south, with landscaped pockets along the route. By the end of the day, we all agreed that we had the makings of a real strategy. The nature of the charrette – the immediate feedback of the collaborative environment – means that these forums can be extremely productive and rewarding. ■ Paul Traynor, principal, Light Bureau 29
Peckham Charrette Lee Marsden with Ben Adams Architects/Light Bureau
Cinema / Multistorey Car Park PNAAP 2
Cinema/Multistorey Car Park (site 2 in the Peckham and Nunhead Area Action Plan) While interim uses have sprung up in recent years in the car park, there is huge potential for fully using the site. It could be developed for mixed use, which would help to stimulate development along Rye Lane as well as provide opportunities to diversify the retail offer. A taller building could be appropriate to help mark Peckham Rye Station and the centre of Peckham. n The cinema should be retained unless appropriate facilities can be provided elsewhere in the PNAAP area. n Opportunities for increasing north and south, and east and west links should be maximised. n There is the potential for a tall building of between six and 10 storeys.
Lee Marsden with Ben Adams Architects Participants Lee Marsden and Ben Adams with Paul Traynor of Light Bureau
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peckham charrette
Our approach The big idea is to create a hotel that brings new visitors to Peckham – one that reflects and reinforces local character and becomes a quiet landmark to orientate by. Much of the discussion about Peckham (and any urban action plan) is focused on improvement through addition: more shops, more public space, more squares, more landmarks, more centres and more connectivity. We decided to explore and work with what was already there. Peckham has an interesting counterpoint to the main high street in a network of smaller spaces off and behind Rye Lane. The routes and activities which link these spaces are as important as the main high streets – and are critical for maintaining Peckham’s diversity and identity. We propose a dense zone of activities housed within the car park structure, including: a hotel, cinema, art space, a health centre and spa, new homes, roof terraces for the hotel and new ‘arcade’ connections to link the backland sites of Rye Lane together. Lighting
Above View towards reconfigured cinema block from Rye Lane Right Proposed ground floor plan
peckham charrette
The car park is a strategically important site in all respects, including lighting. It becomes much more visible with the proposal to clear the station site, and sitting as it does opposite the Bussey Building, the structure encloses the view in the eastern direction at the confluence of the railway lines. Lighting the elevation on to the railway is, therefore, a strong concept. From Rye Lane, the entrance to the site is via an enclosed passage; the walls either side, visible from the station approach, would benefit from lighting to attract and orientate at night. The hotel lobby, enclosed by glass, would create a lantern effect so that at night it throws light on to the public realm. It is permeable, allowing views to the viaduct beyond, which in turn would look stunning if lit. 31
Peckham Charrette Lee Marsden with Ben Adams Architects/Light Bureau
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Left Plans, sections and axonometric views of the reconfigured cinema and car park now with hotel and spa
The cinema site is intriguing because it is off Rye Lane and approached via a small square. The existing building houses a cinema and redundant car park that has been better used as an art venue than for cars, and has strength and character of its own. In our proposal, the building is retained and reused as it has a logical frame to work with, is massive in scale and yet almost invisible from the street. The opportunity for a rich variety of uses is enormous. The hotel creates a new public datum level at the sixth floor and allows elevated connections with other raised public spaces in Peckham and beyond. The hotel rooms look out in four directions with unique views that combine local buildings and the wider city. The action plan’s aims are laudable and should be supported. A criticism might be that these aims are geographically specific but homogenising in their outlook. The action plan fails to question the very need for a high street or what the high street may become. One outcome might be a gentrified Rye Lane with a predictable mix of ‘national’ stores, and yet the opportunity to celebrate local identity would have been lost, and probably for a generation. Peckham is strange and exciting; enticing. Many visitors don’t explore far beyond the library spaces; if they did they would see it unfold in an unexpected way with hidden surprises and a unique riot of uses in the low-rent retail spaces of Rye Lane. The backland buildings behind Rye Lane demand to be linked up – but not in a Roman grid. The souk seems a better model for making simple alleyway connections between larger, focused spaces where all sorts of things might happen. The charrette format makes for a great day and is a really good way to focus the attention of a group of architects on a particular place for a short, intense period of time. The teams all worked well together without ego. Having one eye on a masterplan without demanding a fixed conclusion kept the process relaxed and open-ended, leaving ideas free to develop in what we hope will be an ongoing debate. ‘Peckhamness’? It’s raw, confident and strange. The ordinary and the extraordinary knock about along Rye Lane without pretension and define ‘local’ without doctrine. As one moves away from Rye Lane the combination of accidental supermarkets, art, tyres, money-lending and economy is unmistakably Peckham. ■ peckham charrette
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Peckham Charrette Pie/Light Bureau
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Peckham Rye Station (site 6 in the Peckham and Nunhead Area Action Plan) An estimated two and a half million people use the station each year, a number likely to increase with the arrival of the London Overground network this year. It will be developed as a Peckham Rye gateway by creating a public square in front of the listed station building, demolishing the arcade and encouraging people to use the space. n Uses are business, retail, public realm and community/cultural. n The design should include the creation of a public square in the forecourt of Peckham Rye Station. n Should conserve or enhance the historic character of of listed station building and the surrounding conservation areas.
Pie
Participants Fran Balaam and Michael Corr of Pie with Paul Traynor of Light Bureau
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peckham charrette
Left and right Pie’s vision for Peckham Rye station begins to emerge in model form
Our approach We walked into an optician’s on Rye Lane and the owner of the shop showed us his old photographs of Peckham Station. The photographs inspired us and, as we were aware that the station is due to be transformed to accommodate Crossrail and, potentially, an extension of the Bakerloo line, we saw this as an opportunity to suggest new ways of thinking about the future of the station and of Peckham itself. Rather than coming up with a new ‘big idea’, our proposal enhances the particular qualities we found and experienced at the site. The first floor level datum seemed important, as there were a number of places along Rye Lane, on the station platform and within the station itself where you have access to, and a special view from, the first floor level. We liked the arcades that characterise the area and wanted to keep the feeling of an arcade in the station forecourt, while at the same time opening this out to become an extension of the high street and reveal the station building. peckham charrette
The pattern and grain of the pavement along Rye Lane has a unique quality and we have used ground surfaces to set out a strategy that accommodates new and existing uses. Lighting The station is a unique site, representing a landmark and also a gateway to Peckham. The action of removing the structures attached to the viaducts creates an improved vista on to Rye Lane and importantly, the heritage station structure is visible again, giving an opportunity to light the facade. This vista is improved by inclusion of the colonnades, which provide semi-enclosed spaces and presents a possibility of enhancing the sense of depth and interest by use of lighting to the viaduct elevations. We were intrigued by images of historic gas lanterns they identified nearby. We liked the way that they were fixed to buildings and not on posts within the public realm, the atmosphere that this type of light might create and how this could be created in a modern way. 35
Peckham Charrette Pie/Light Bureau
We tested our personal observations against material such as the Area Action Plan and Philips’ guide for its Liveable Cities Award. We worked primarily with models, building the station and its surrounds, and made chalk drawings and sketches to develop and show the atmosphere of certain key moments. We like Peckham. In the introduction to the charrette we were encouraged not to think of Peckham as ‘broken’. We don’t. We are interested in the rich array of different urban conditions it presents. While dense in places, it never feels oppressively so and large pockets of open space or low building make you aware of the sky and open up views into surrounding areas and the city. Local details informed our design process. Fragments of 19th century detail we spotted along Rye Lane and in photographs: chequered tiled ground surfaces; public access routes to first floor level from the street; arcades; the Architecture Research Unit; the first floor level as a datum; Uxbridge Station; the East practice and the waiting room at Peckham Station. The charrette is an invaluable experience to remind yourself how much can be done in a day and that being forced to make quick decisions does not have to be detrimental to the work, but can actually be beneficial, forcing you to get quickly to the essence of something. Having produced a design, model and drawings for the station in about five hours, we have also been inspired to use the charrette format with our students at London Metropolitan University. We usually spend a lot of time drawing and researching the context in detail before we commence designing. It was challenging and unfamiliar to not have the luxury of this approach, but also quite liberating to work quickly and intuitively, trusting our decisions and then reflecting upon them. To us, ‘Peckhamness’ is a hidden public stairway between shops that, once ascended, lets you get close to the original fragments of facades above and gives a view along the high street and to the sky above. n
Top left Work in progress on a clay and card model of the reworked Peckham Rye Station Top right Perspective sketch of the station forecourt with colonnades Right The completed model
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peckham charrette
peckham charrette
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Peckham Charrette Robin Lee Architecture/Sutton Vane Associates
Robin Lee Architecture Participants Robin Lee and Adam Summerfield with Michael Grubb of Sutton Vane Copeland Road Car Park PNAAP 7
Copeland Road Car Park and the Rye extension (site 7 in the Peckham and Nunhead Area Action Plan) The Copeland Road car park is one of six town centre car parks. Its position at the southern gateway to the town centre provides the possibility of a landmark building of up to ten storeys on the southern-most section of the site. It also provides opportunity to connect Peckham Rye park with Rye Lane more effectively. Uses are residential, retail, business, student accommodation. Indicative residential capacity (Class C3) 95 units. ■ Retain through access to the rear of Rye Lane properties. ■ Potential for a six to 10-storey building. ■ Street-level active use on corner of Rye Lane.
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peckham charrette
Left An integrated lighting scheme illuminating the deep-set brick facade of RLA’s proposed gateway tower with plan and model studies
Our approach The site marks the very active entrance the Rye Lane. We thought this a particularly challenging situation but, being on the periphery, it suggested a certain freedom from the existing typologies. Our proposal was to develop a tall building that acts as a quiet landmark at a key location at the entrance to Rye Lane. We focused on the opportunity to develop an expression and language for the buildings that was imbued with the logic and character of the area. We were interested in the particular way that Rye Lane is characterised by open-fronted wholesale trading and drew inspiration from the active light industrial functions, the existing brickbuilt warehouses, the rice stacked in sacks and open crates of fish. We conceived buildings composed of repetitively stacked multiples. Like the utilitarian warehouses in the area we envisaged that the buildings could peckham charrette
be appropriated for different uses including living, working and making. Lighting We wanted to demonstrate the value of integrating lighting design into both the design process and the building itself. Our strategy was to connect the building with the public realm in a way that allowed us to animate the space and provide a clear visual introduction to Rye Lane by night. Designing the lighting into the fabric of the proposed building not only helps create a landmark but also links into the lighting strategy for the whole area by creating a portal into Rye Lane and the first of a series of features along the main thoroughfare. We achieved this with a grid of programmable, colour-changing luminaires integrated into the niches around the container-like boxes comprising the upper floors. Tree lanterns help give the building human scale at street level. 39
Peckham Charrette Robin Lee Architecture/Sutton Vane Associates
Left Elevation and perspective studies of proposed gateway tower
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I was struck by the vibrancy of Peckham. It was a quality that was distinctive because the activities within the high street were notably mundane – buying chickens, rice and mobile phone covers. It was underwhelming and spectacular at the same time. We worked closely with Michael Grubb of Sutton Vane to ensure that the architectural design and lighting design strategies developed concurrently. We were all interested in taking a reading of the everyday activity we saw in the high street and distilling that to make a highly repetitive building that was subtly animated and activated by the lighting strategy. We talked about the appropriation of utilitarian warehouses in New York in the 1960s and the possibility of making equivalent new buildings that are open and could allow occupation to evolve over time, depending on economic forces and development agendas. We proposed buildings that were intended to be capable of functioning for working, living, making, storage and leisure in order to acknowledge the state of flux in the area and thereby future-proof their viability. We thought there was value in such an approach in a city where change is a constant condition. The charrette by its nature forces quick thinking and cutting quickly to the core of a particular situation. I enjoyed being out in the high street and hinterland, exploring and trying to find ways to capture and distill the experience. Inevitably we work so much now with computers to test and illustrate ideas within presentations. Being forced to sketch ideas and present only hand-drawn material was probably the most challenging aspect of the charrette. We spent a good portion of the day on site and discussing the ideas, so further pressure was put on the actual production time. That pressure can be inspiring, though. I liked Konishi Gaffney’s project for the careful balance between intensification and surgical removal of building fabric and I liked Joe and Mary’s (Duggan Morris) for its joie de vivre and enthusiasm for Peckham. n
peckham charrette
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Peckham Charrette Critical commentary
The crit Michael Tsoukaris, design and conservation manager, Southwark Council
On a recent balmy winter afternoon I made my way to the Peckham Library. As the head of design and conservation for Southwark I was on the jury for the Peckham design charrette and very interested to see what a day of design could deliver for the Area Action Plan in this recently designated conservation area. The programme was ambitious: design six urban interventions and an area-wide lighting vision in one day. 42
Six design teams were assembled and challenged to present a co-ordinated proposal for each site and the area. The results were inspirational. They ranged from schemes for existing civic spaces at the library and the station to a new square in a supermarket car park. They included visions of a landmark building at the entrance to Rye Lane and sensitive reinventions of existing buildings, like the Bussey Building and the multistorey car park at the heart of Peckham. Each proposal included a lighting scheme. The designers relished the rich
diversity of the built fabric, the urban experience and the ‘found’ space that Peckham has to offer and which makes it so unique. From the buildings around the elevated railway platforms to the spaces off the beaten track, each scheme brought out the best of Peckham, celebrating its vitality and inviting others to discover it. For me the day was summarised by the thought that urban design is not just about spaces and public realm, but the built form. This was not a competition; it was a unique dialogue in which there could only be one winner. To my mind it was Peckham. n
Above Pankaj Patel of Patel Taylor contemplates Pie’s model of a revamped Peckham Rye Station
peckham charrette
A selection of critical remarks and comments by the charrette jury
The charrette jury Paul Finch (chairman) Michael Tsoukaris design and conservation manager, Southwark Council Pankaj Patel Patel Taylor Michael Simpson technical director, Philips Lighting Rowena Preiss creative director, Philips Lighting Rory Olcayto, deputy editor, The Architects’ Journal
peckham charrette
BDP, Eagle Wharf PP I quite enjoyed the latter strategy – the third and final one – about a series of elements. A square is a place you walk in. Your regeneration proposal will encourage people to use it. It needs that impetus. MT The library has a pivotal role in the square and in this space. I like that you have come up with a response to this ‘urban room’ we are sitting in. There is plenty of potential in your proposals. RP I like your reference to lighting
and creating a sense of arrival to Peckham Square, which is a very big space. [This is] where lighting can make a big impact, creating different lighting zones. RO It’s great to see such a speedy, energetic series of responses to a difficult site. Although I’m unsure if the relocation of the cinema to that part of Peckham is necessary, given there is a popular one already in the heart of Rye Lane. Your other proposal centered on housing feels more appropriate. You’ve managed to produce three proposals – quite an achievement in a day! 43
Peckham Charrette Critical commentary
Duggan Morris Architects, the Aylesham Centre MT I like the idea of a found space, it’s very much embodied in Peckham. This chimes with people’s experience of the place – finding new spaces and creating incidents off the beaten track. Making a safe place for people to visit connects to that. RP I really like the way you started with people – but working with existing culture – and how you can encourage people to experience the space. It’s an interesting idea to make it utilitarian: a new, innovative outlook 44
in how you can light the space. RO This is a very difficult part of Peckham to cross – it’s in the way. Making the brave move of connecting it to Rye Lane and the library by knocking a big hole through the existing fabric feels like a very optimistic piece of urban design: as in, you’re confident your idea will work! PP The idea of legibility is very strong. There are references to Jean Nouvel’s Torre Agbar in Barcelona, which is a very lived-in place. The interesting thing about this, is that you can see this regeneration project happening quickly, because it’s not heavy on capital.
Robin Lee Architecture, Copeland Road car park PP A great strategy. RP Nice to see you have addressed the human scale at low level with some lanterns. RO Lovely interpretation on the wholesale aesthetic you picked up on. It’s a very strong architectural solution. A pulsing gateway to Rye Lane. MT I like the way you have picked up on the character of the shopfronts, because that is such an important part of Peckham. And I like the way you have addressed Copeland Road – peckham charrette
Peckham desperately needs a gateway at that point. Pie, Peckham Rye Station MT This has brought a new dimension to this proposal. Peckham is all about the found spaces at a high level. You get a wonderful view of St Paul’s from the platforms. This is a tantalising picture of what could happen here, what is possible here. RP Congratulations for looking at the ground, it gets forgotten quite a lot. Lovely to hear an architect talk about peckham charrette
the quality of light and how that affects you. It’s certainly a challenge for Philips as we try to recreate those atmospheric touches. RO I really like the idea of an arcaded forecourt because having a public square misses the point – there’s already one in front of the cinema across the road, and another at the north end of the lane by the library. This is more intimate. PP A very poetic and lyrical analysis and proposition. The project is about fragments which trigger regeneration. A great project that doesn’t need a lot of capital.
Lee Marsden and Ben Adams Architects, cinema/multistorey car park PP A very difficult building to resolve, and you’ve done it very well. What might be worth looking at is getting people to walk through the building up to the roofspace – on that journey they will discover the multiple views. MS It can seem a little bit tucked away, but you’re building on that quality. MT This is a really challenging site: a much-loved cinema surrounded by very well used routes. This site could really become the thing that unlocks the whole area. 45
Peckham Charrette Critical commentary
RO I keep thinking about Herzog & de Meuron’s car park project in Miami. This is too good an opportunity to pass up. I particularly like your visuals. PP These generic backland sites – I’m all for edge and danger, but for light too. Lighting will be critical for what route you want to get to. Konishi Gaffney Architects, Copeland Road industrial park MT I like the idea of don’t lose, re-use. You have captured something fabulous about these buildings, particularly the way they dovetail with the urban 46
fabric. The Bussey Building is a big challenge; I guess this gives it a bit of order, capturing the wonderful character and propelling it forward. RP Lovely to see the sense of honesty about how you have addressed the lighting. I like the way you have tackled the hustle and bustle, and the energy in the site, with lighting. RO It is like a separate city in itself. The existing built environment seems robust enough to allow a retrofit rather than a clearing away. PP It could take a tall building and it would be a fantastic contrast. It’s a lovely project. But you’re going to need
a tower to pay for your retrofit developments. Chairman’s closing thoughts All the teams today have several things in common: a robust, empathic relationship to the architecture of the site and interest in exploiting the existing. In particular, reopening existing routes or opening potential routes and making obvious connections. What we’ve seen is a really positive way of thinking about urban grain and experience – a sense of almost natural flow. peckham charrette
thanks to
Teresa Vallis, Philips David Lorrison, Philips Barbara-Ann Overwater, senior planning policy officer, Southwark Council Ella Mackinnon, designer Ben Cronin, editor of Lighting Merlin Fulcher, AJ reporter Eileen Conn, Peckham Vision Benedict O’Looney, RIBA peckham charrette
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‘Peckhamness’