Diploma 11 has been archiving leftover matter, unplanned sites and accidental architecture throughout London (Ed). These are expressions of times and places resulting in peculiar overlay of physical spaces (Raha). The redevelopment of Euston station is estimated to open up approximately 2.5 million square feet of predictably generic mixed-use development while increasing the number of platforms for a new High Speed 2 (HS2) railway that will connect the city to the Midlands and the North (Conrad).
The rebuild will have a direct impact on certain landmarks (Marko), but before any work has begun the repercussions are already affecting the area (Summer), and this uncertain future has left the neighbourhood, particularly the station itself, in a state of limbo. Physical decay is left unchecked as investment on piecemeal improvements becomes futile under the impending threat of demolition (Yannick). Our challenge is to define what makes up London today by sampling the city with careful consideration and investigating networks (Jonas), layers and levels of complexity that form its urban definition.
Our technique is the collage. By cutting and pasting, we reconfigure the existing and expect the unexpected (Max). We responded to a series of ‘what ifs?’ and proposed fixtures, fragments and forms that reveal, connect and cut through the essential matters of the existing fabric. Proposals derived from our research stand for continuity in the current reality of a market economy where the homogenisation caused by the likes of Starbucks and Holiday Inn has engulfed the city and transformed it with immense speed.
Our technical studies have continued to explore composite structures and material organisations that respond to the permanency and temporality inherent in Euston’s restructuring (Tom). Urban sampling extended to Nanjing China’s Xiaguan district and was juxtaposed with Euston as we suggested possibilities of how the local community around the abandoned train station can co-exist within the overall masterplan proposed by SOM (Xia). The unit plays a game of scales, materials, city stories and textures that are to be materialised in one design discourse (Jessica) – a counter proposal of sorts – in response to the overbearing sameness of the conventional masterplan (Yannick).
Unit Staff
Shin Egashira
Guest critics and thanks
Valentin Bontjes van Beek
Nicholas Boyarsky
Carlos Villanueva Brandt
Peter Carl
Javier Castañón
Homa Fajardi
David Greene
Hugo Hinsley
Ken Livingstone
Robert Mull
David Grahame Shane
Brett Steele
Sylvie Taher
Carolina Vallejo
Michael Weinstock
Georgie and Charlie Corry Wright
South East University Nanjing
Susan Chai
Hua Lee
Zhu Yuan
Edward Pepper
RE:USE_at_Euston
Can spaces that are ‘unused’, awkward, extreme or hidden contribute positively to the city and can they be created intentionally?
The project argues and explores this idea within the context of the imminent arrival of High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) to the Euston Area of London, the brief calls for an alternative strategy to the various current plans. My proposal aims to provide an antithesis to the traditional commercially driven master plan which consistently caters to the likes of Starbucks and Holiday Inn, leading to the homogenisation of the city.
I have proposed to create a deliberately awkward, extreme and disordered urban condition through the manipulation of the proposed HS2 route, to fragment part of the city into spaces which is are unusable for large scale commercial development. These spaces are given back to residents of the city to encourage informal use - in this the proposal offers a marked contrast in scale texture and formality to the current plans.