The proposal responds to Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s invite to Rediscover Notting Hill Gate, and to contribute to the long-term improvements of the area. The site has a history of activism through gathering to protest, which later transformed into gatherings for music and performance, expressed through Notting Hill Carnival and as a way of claiming this part of the city. The four lane road is re-imagined as a welcoming community corridor, a street for people to pause and mingle.
Today, the site lacks space for people to gather and for spontaneity to emerge. Like much of the public realm around London, it has come to deter people from lingering through defensive design tools.
Our urban strategy breaks down the road into smaller scales activated through the acts of performing, playing, discovering and greening. These programmes suggest the transformation of the busy road into a welcoming street to pause and mingle. Ultimately the existing condition of non-welcoming spaces is subverted by our proposed catalogue of objects; seating, pedestals, raised platforms etc. which are designed to welcome people and allow them to sit and spend time in the area. These go beyond basic public furniture and way-finding exercises, and branch out into a broader strategy for the street which focuses on cultural curation, environmental comfort and events that re-invigorate and tell the story of the place.
Our process undertakes a research-based approach to understanding the context by speaking to local interest groups unearthing stories about place, both in its past and current state, followed by design development with a scope for community engagement to develop and test prototypes in sustainable materials, drawing from the site’s past history of potteries and kilns. With our proposal we hope to reveal stories about how this area used to be, bringing back the idea of activism in a subtle way through the introduction of a catalogue of playful, subversive and educational design objects and programme.
The key acts of discovering, performing, playing and greening, are further enriched by design characters or objects of specific function – to further enhance telling the stories and experiencing the area. The Gatekeeper, The Mini Museum (displaying artefacts from the area), a stall for Free Press, the People’s Parliament (first open air youth parliament), Merry Go Roly, Al Fresco Dining, are some activities which allow for multigenerational engagement. The map locates these various acts and programme along the street.
Discovering the area through the Mini Museum and Free Press Library.
Performing along the street. Day and night view of the People’s Parliament. It offers a flexible platform for dialogue and street performance.
During the day, it becomes a stage for free speech and conversation, exploring the potential for an open air parliament to take place along the streets of London. This may include schools from the area, as well as host the youth parliament. During the night, the Parliament is reconfigured into a Performance Stage for musicians to entertain and create an intimate, joyful ambiance for the area.
Tiny stage – for street basking and curated events.
Playing; Merry Go Roly & Seasaw Bench.
Seating planters; part of the overall greening strategy for the street.
Type: Landscape
Location: Notting Hill, UK
For: the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Status: Design Proposal, LFA Competition Finalist
Featured in: London Festival of Architecture
Collaborators: AFTERPARTI
With thanks to: ATELIER TEN, JAMPS