THE URBAN POLYCEPHALIC

This project started by imagining a multi-headed creature called the Lurking Polycephalic. The monster, who roams Woolwich's streets and alleyways, became an allegory for the fragility of identity and how easily identities can shift, especially within an urban context, spurring an interest in the role of  fac?ades in contributing to the identity of urban spaces.  In the narrative, the LP lurks from void to void searching for a place to call home; along the way, it collects architectural details and encounters people, replicating their faces through stereotomy, adding their visages to its own.  The LP makes its home at Beresford Square by 'dressing up' the Royal Arsenal Gatehouse distorting its identity to reflect the nature of town centre revitalisation. The LP then enacts a more ambitious plan to change the entire face of Beresford Square by introducing a continuous facade augmenting the existing.  Segments of the fac?ade are thicker,  inhabitable, or kinetic, with interrelated programmes reminiscent of the site's history, such as a tea house, theatre, workshop, and retractable market stalls. This architectural unification of the square aims to reinvigorate the local context and enhance the market that exists on the site.