stratford: what about the canopy?,
london

master's studio, personal work

Stratford's transformation into a developed hub, sparked by the Olympic Park project, conceals its original underdeveloped areas and disrupts its historical character. Despite growth, it remains a densely populated and disadvantaged locale, home to students, immigrants, and homeless individuals.

The core project envisions Stratford station as an inviting gateway, anchoring a socio-ecological network for both residents and visitors. Bridging the gap between towering modern developments and traditional two-story houses, a playful interplay between scales reinvigorates a transitional zone. By reducing car dominance, the landscape figure reintegrates the built environment, revitalising social interactions and reestablishing the area's compactness. Roads and railways are reimagined as pedestrian-friendly corridors, enhancing safety.

This proposal seeks to redefine Stratford's identity, connecting it to surrounding spaces through a sequence of layers, culminating in meeting points and ecological zones. The interplay of voids, public spaces, surfaces, and light respects the existing fabric, fostering a sense of community without compromising intimacy. These threshold spaces rekindle lost micro-scale qualities, inviting human engagement and activities.

social and ecological layers

the canopy: where people and nature come together

before

after the canopy

hand sketch

conceptual model

link to the Lee River, with transitional zones, reclamation of streets, and places dedicated to people and nature in different layers

articulation of built and void spaces, reclaimed and transformed, hosting mixed-use functions, including carpentry and manufacture

spaces and empty lots are furnished and ‘covered’ in a way to invite people in, allow for gatherings and for the community to get back together as one.

the large sidewalks along side the existing places are modified, made more permeable, and provided with furniture, equipment inviting for encounter, interrupting the fluidity of the movement in the streets.

big container blocks are replaced by industries, workshops and ateliers where carpentry and other crafts are rediscovered, and pushed towards a futuristic applications (3D printing, virtual reality, etc.)

parts of the backyards are taken away from personal private use (since community gardens are established), and are transformed into semi-private alleys, accessible by the neighbourhood’s residents.

the main connection corridors are enhanced in a way to give less priority for cars, and more importance to humans, soft mobility and nature.

as an extension to the recently established Olympic park, and as a continuity to nature, and to enhance the riparian zone around the Lee, urban forestry and smaller green parks are introduced.

larger pieces of land, situated in critical locations (next to rail roads, etc.) are transformed into community gardens, where every inhabitant has a right to temporarily own a part to grow the household needs.

an empty lot, between the old and new shopping areas, it's reclaimed, and transformed into open market place that can benefit the residents of Stratford, and give the area its identity.

multifunctional building blocks, with mixed uses allow the presence of housing, ateliers, educational centers, cultural hubs, meeting places, etc. in a single frame.