Amelia Street Competition

摘要

In October last year, the AJ announced a competition, run by the Architecture Foundation and developer First Base, to design a piece of public realm in the London Borough of Southwark. Here are the five shortlisted entries for the Amelia Street competition The good design of public space is much talked about and rarely achieved. It is a particular challenge to an architect or designer, as it lacks the comforting fixed data of a building brief, such as schedules of accommodation or the resolving of structural issues. Many of the architect's usual tools, such as the manipulation of plan or form, are unavailable. The definition of success or failure is more elusive, but it is plain when either appears in the finished project. Public space, even more than other architectural projects, works itself out over time. Maintenance and use matter as much as the fixed elements. Design is as much about leaving alone as about transformation or addition. Design can improve, and suggest possible futures, but not prescribe or impose.