bermondsey street

Hi all

I am an Architectural student studying for my diploma.

I have a design project located on Bermondsey Street

(The little bit of park on the corner of Tanner Street and Bermondsey street- I stress this is only an academic project NOT a real development)

The brief is to provide a new "work place" which also acts as a "gate" to the larger park (the two pieces of park being separated by Alan camp architects offices)

I was hoping that you guys might be able to give me a better insight in to the area.

What you like about Bermondsey Street?
Places you like on Bermondsey Street?
What you do there - live, work, play?
How you feel about Bermondsey Street and the park?
Why you live, work, play there?

Anything you can think of to give me a better understanding of the area.
I believe an architectural response should be sensitive to its locality, culturally and environmentally.

I would much appreciate any information you could provide.

Stuart

Stuart,

I'm a qualified architect living in the area.

I find it a little strange you have chosen a park to develop, even as a hypothetical scheme.

There are still many derelict / brownfield sites in the area, or under-used sites (garages between council blocks for example) that have potential, but there is actually relatively little open 'green' space.

Bermondsey Street is 'on its way' already - it's the blocks South of Long Lane where the development challenges lie.

The things that are woefully missing in the area are:

a 'normal' quality supermarket like Tesco Metro or Sainsbury's Local

a cinema - an art house style with a bar like the Ritzy in Brixton

a nice bar where you can get a bite to eat - e.g like All Bar One for e.g.

a nice place to have a cup of coffee and a pastry - even Starbucks would be a start!

If you compare London with a city like Barcelona, one striking difference is that in Spain, housing and offices always have some form of commercial operation at street level - a bar,a shop, a chemists etc.

I firmly believe this is one of the 'intangible' elements that make it such a popular city with open-minded Londoners.

Good luck with your project

Max

Thanks Max

i know that the brief may seem a little odd, transforming a park space in to a building and i too agree that something like a brown-field or infill site would have been perhaps more intresting.
the brief was proposed by the university and is actually for a "workplace", this i think is one thing bermondsey street does not need many(if any) more of, having seen some of the "live/work" units being developed in the area.
i do feel that this particular "green" corner provides relief from the street hugging facade of the rest of bermondsey street.

Thank you again for you comments
I look forward to hearing others

Stu

Great points made here, especially the Picture House suggestion.

Proposed developement of 100- 140 Union Street for 20+ story residential with ground floor retail plus 6 story office and 30+ parking spots - might mean a 'local' supermart in the ground floor.

Has anyone seen this proposal, anyone have views - in many ways great to have a local supermarket if that's what's going there - but I'm not sure about 20+ tower and increased traffic down Union Street.

I have seen the plans for this. I think the council will like it as (if I recall correctly) it has a big chunk o' affordable housing. I personally don't like it - the previous comments about Barcelona ring true here - it is well out of scale with the rest of the street and will stand out like a sore thumb.

Even New York (much liked by ken) famed for its skyscrapers, is in the vast majority, 4-8 story with plenty of street level stuff (as barcelona).

Without being a clairvoyant I know what the developers will have in mind here - xx apartments with a restaurant at ground floor (possibly a Starbucks too)... (groan).

Where did you see the plans - are they on-line at all do you know?