Eight architects, 16 new buildings and one masterplan have converged in the shadow of London’s O2 to conjure up a neighbourhood for creative types that’s full of energy and charm
There once was an area in Singapore – Bugis – which, its trans nightlife being disturbing to the orderly minds of Singapore’s powers that be, was (in the 1980s) swept away. Belatedly realising that they had removed a major tourist attraction, they then constructed a faint and not-trans simulacrum of its bygone vibrancy, with an array of small restaurants offering a varied range of cuisines. The only thing was, those apparently individual and diverse outlets were served by a single giant kitchen that delivered their orders by conveyor belt.
The Design District at Greenwich Peninsula, east London, which opened to the public last week, is trying to do something similar with architecture. Here, a single developer, Knight Dragon, and a single contractor, Ardmore, are delivering a managed jumble of 16 buildings by eight different architects with a contract value of £56m. The idea, says the Design District’s director, Helen Arvanitakis, is “to build a community who can connect with each other … a totally fantastic ecosystem” where 1,800 “creatives” will work. They want to make a “piece of city”, based on examples in Tokyo, London’s Clerkenwell and “Moroccan souks”, that is intimate and intriguing. They want to make the kind of place that is usually the work of many hands over decades and centuries, all in one go. Amazingly, it shows every sign of working.