Year 1 Studio - Integrated Sustainable Neighbourhood

More Canal - Reinforcing the Ecological and Urban Potentials of the Regent’s Canal at Broadway Market. We design sustainable and integrated neighbourhoods benefitting from London as our City Lab. Under the title More Canal, we focused on the Regent’s Canal at Broadway Market between Hackney and Tower Hamlet. The work explored the ecological and health potential of the Canal in North London, and unpacked the canal and waterways that have historically shaped the city’s spatial structure, and its ecology, economy, and society. The students worked in groups to assess the qualities, specific potentials and needs of the area using site-appraisal and urban mapping methods and engaging with city debate and policies. They developed creative sustainable urban strategies using the canal’s multiple opportunities as a spine for ecological, social and economic revival and for stitching the neighbourhoods together around the canal. Meanwhile the students explored the unique architectural, urban and ecological experience and the industrial typologies. The students then developed individual architectural and urban design propositions based on sustainability principles with varied themes: Readapting the gasholders site, re-wilding and hanging farms, reuse of underused spaces, pocket parks, and green links, community hubs, recycling stations, and many more. A series of key lectures, site visits and skills workshops helped the students develop and communicate their projects.

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