Creating spaces: plans revealed for vertical design district of studios and start-up work spaces at Greenwich Peninsula in south-east London
London is the most googled city in the world for culture and more than 30,000 students graduate from design degrees in the city every year. Yet in the past decade, more than a third of London's creative spaces have been lost.
A new district of artist's studios and creative workspaces aiming to remedy the conundrum has been unveiled at the heart of the sprawling Greenwich Peninsula regeneration zone — the city's first purpose-built creative work zone.
The supersized £8.4billion neighbourhood is taking shape as part of an ambitious 20-year plan to create a district twice the size of Soho in south-east London, along 1.6 miles of the river bank.
More than 15,000 new homes are planned for the 150-acre site in North Greenwich, along with a futuristic new Tube station, schools, offices, a hotel, an ecology park and a performance venue.
A CULTURAL DESTINATION
Plans for the recently unveiled 'Design District' next to the O2 reveal a cluster of 16 architect-designed buildings with space for design, art, technology, craft, music, food and digital tech creatives.
The spaces are set to be rented out at affordable prices to "anyone with a good idea", according to Richard Margree, chief executive of Knight Dragon, the site's development company.
"Creativity is what drives forward any thriving city," he says. "At the very centre of this new community will be artists mixing with start-ups, mixing with independent market traders and design companies, large and small; everyone is welcome. We want a real mix of companies to come and to take over the place."
The Design District will provide space for 1,800 creatives in open workshops and studios.
Rents will average £25 per square foot, but will start from £10 per square foot. The idea is that artists and makers just starting out in their field, or not yet established, will quality for the cheapest rental rates.
DESIGNED BY CREATIVES FOR CREATIVES
The 16 buildings have been designed by eight different architectural practices from across Europe and are all being constructed at the same time.
Each practice, including RIBA award-winning and Stirling Prize nominees 6a Architects, were given the same brief: to design pair of buildings — or 'unidentical twins' — to form part of the district yet not sit alongside each other.
Each team was asked not to look at the plans submitted by any of the other practices with the aim of achieving 'architectural anarchy', yet each space has been designed with creation in mind.
'Dirty workshops' for makers using materials generating fumes, such as resin, will be set apart from painting studios and digital start-up spaces.
The collected buildings, including double-height studios and shared open spaces, are set around a transparent yellow caterpillar-shaped market hall, with stalls serving food from around the world and a tree canopy designed for people to sit in and eat.
The Design District's first tenants are due to start occupying the spaces by early 2020.