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Purpose and Pleasure

Folio

A pleasure gardens that enriches the night-time economy with 24-hour opportunities to study, work and relax. Leaders: Yasir Azami and Andrew McEwan (Orms), Theo Games Petrohilos (Unknown Works). Students: Alisha Gould, Kiril Georgiev, Thomas Ka Ming Tse, George Johnson, Kurtis Gentry, Felix Chu

They shall inherit the Earth

GenerationsYand Z are aware of the global challenges they face. But by the time they succeed to positions of power, it could be too late to make the changes we need now. What would today’s London be like if reshaped by the generation that will inherit the city in decades to come? We asked fourth-year students at the London School of Architecture to share their proposals for transforming the lives of Londoners in the borough of Hackney. Within eight design think tanks, students and practices collaborated to reimagine everyday activities, from waste and wilderness to playfulness and pleasure.

Circadian Commons sits moulded into the landscape with the lido on an axis with St John’s Church.
Section through night walking channel leading from the arrival wall to the lido at the northern end of the site.
Site plan.
The landscape shown in summer.
The same landscape shown in winter.
The walking channel leads through the retained structural frame of the bus garage.
The bus garage frame is covered with mesh allowing for projections of the night sky.
The blank facade of the bus garage is replaced by workshops that enliven the street.
The pavilions are a deliberate departure from flexible workspace generally on offer.
By night the pavilions offer an opportunity for study and relaxation.
The lido offers night-time swimming with views of the sky.
The threshold to the commons is marked by an arrival wall constructed from reclaimed bricks from the bus station that previously occupied the site.
Walking channel with pavilions either side.

Challenge

Investment in the night-time economy tends to focus on people relaxing after a day at work. But for many city-dwellers, the night-time is the working ‘day’. The challenge is to create an architecture that allows people to experience the city by night in a range of different ways – to walk, read, work, socialise, or simply reflect and enjoy the cover of night.

UN Sustainable Development Goals:
10 Reduced Inequalities

Proposal

Circadian Commons is a new metropolitan building type, a reimagining of the area around St John’s Church and Gardens in Hackney into a contemporary pleasure gardens offering opportunities for education, work and leisure 24 hours a day.

The arrival is marked by a new wall constructed of bricks from the bus station that currently occupies the site, the assumption being that, as we move towards a 24/7 economy, bus journeys will be more evenly distributed around the clock, reducing the demand for bus storage.

The proposal consists of six key components: a lido and observatory offering opportunities for night-time swimming and star-gazing; a new, more efficient 21st-century bus depot; skill-sharing workshops; pleasure gardens; routes for night walking; and Purpose and Pleasure pavilions, flexible structures that can be used for work or relaxation by day or by night.

Impact

Circadian Commons is conceived as part of a wider strategy to enrich London’s night-time offering, destigmatise night-time working, and move towards a 24-hour economy. This is a key component for a more efficient, sustainable city, decreasing the impact of ‘peak’ demand for public transport and key services. More consistent energy demand will facilitate more efficient power generation and increasing use of renewable energy sources.

The hope is that the success of this project, and others like it, would encourage wider policy and legislation to enshrine the human right to access daylight and darkness in safety. A positive outcome would be the introduction of a 1.5 per cent tax – to be applied to companies with more than 100 employees – to support Sadiq Khan’s vision of a 24-hour Trailblazing City, by investing in relevant research and development and in areas of 24-hour activity around the UK. Companies would be able to claim a tax rebate for offering their buildings and resources for community use outside working hours.