2010 – AIA International Design Charrette – Part of the winning team at the AA Charrette.

In October 2009 eight Architecture students from London Southbank University attended the AIA UK Design Charrette. They won the first prize, competing against five schools from around the country. Their design aimed to regenerate the area around Centre Point, London. 

The Charrette was held at the Architectural Association, Bedford Square, on 24^th October 2009. Competitors were given seven hours to develop a proposal for one or more of the sites based on their visit to the area. The overall aim was to ease congestion in the area, both for pedestrians and traffic to improve safety.

The Southbank team were Alex Cox, Muzzammil Dadabhoy, Mattia Donati, Beatrix Frankfurt, Ahmad Said, Kiku Simcoe, Alber Suen, Jonathan Telkamp and Ziyan Xing. We were also assigned an excellent architect mentor, James Lai. After visiting the sites we came to the conclusion that, unlike Oxford Street, our sites were positioned around a large transport network. This needed to be maintained in order to keep London moving.

By studying the demographic and traffic density of the area, we determined that the site required safer entrances to the transport network. Our plans were spread over three sites. The largest two sites, adjacent to Oxford Street, provided a raised hotel and restaurant, bringing the commuter up through the station and into the shopping centre. The third site was a social space designed as a ‘lung’, providing the visitor with an escape from the busy street. It was important to give the area something new, whilst at the same time improving the current situation. We succeeded because our proposal fitted seamlessly into the existing area providing improvements for the present and future.

The winners were decided by a judging panel that included Paul Finch (ex-editor of the Architectural Review), Kathryn Firth (Architect and Urban Designer) and William Gordon (Architect currently working at Norman Foster Associates). London Southbank University were came in first place with Canterbury School of Architecture and Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication taking second and third respectively.