Urban Design Portfolio
The Billingsgate Development is viewed as a globally significant opportunity to extend the prosperity of Canary Wharf. Locally, however, it is viewed as an opportunity to connect South Poplar and Canary Wharf and reduce the deprivation in that neighbourhood. The proposed masterplan seeks to balance these two objectives delivering world-class office space, a distinctive new neighbourhood, and high-quality green space.
Working as a team, a detailed site analysis was created to inform a strategic masterplan. The intial brief was restricted to the site of the current Billingsgate Market. In order to maximise connectivity to South Poplar, we proposed an overbuild deck (over a road and rail depot). This enabled the site to create visual and physical connectivity, and delivers more homes and social amenities.
Following this, I undertook a literature and case study review to understand how greenspaces can affect deprived neighbourhoods. The study found that not only do deprived neighbourhoods typically have fewer greenspaces, but they are of a poorer quality, and implementing high-quality greenspace can have benefits for health, wellbeing and sense of safety.
The inidivudal masterplan seeks to deliver a proposal at a neighbourhood scale. My proposal considered its context to deliver housing, office, and a significant amount of public space. Public amenity was a key focus, as it ensures the distinctiveness of the neighbourhood and creates the benefits noted in the research report.
Skills Learnt:
-
Literature review
-
Case study analysis
-
Sketched masterplan
-
Design & Access Statement Production
-
Ground floor plan design
-
Designing identity