Alex Masters

We must weave the arts into our failing urban fabric, for it is full of colourless, joyless, pointless holes; perfectly usable holes, officially titled ‘meanwhile’ spaces.

'Meanwhile Space' has become a stand-alone sector in property, with the total vacant commercial space in London the equivalent of 27 Westfield’s. This design is an interior that wishes to encourage the use of these (abundant) vacant spaces in London to regenerate the city as a creative one. One that both presents ambitious young artists with an opportunity and presents vacant properties with mitigated business rates, reduced insurance costs and protection of the property.

Millennium Mills has been used here as a pilot site – an old flour mill in East London that has been vacant since 1981 and an extreme case in its scale and vacant period. This design is a rudimentary and affordable one, using plywood and polycarbonate sheets to build liveable spaces with all essential amenities to inhabit the old loading bay on the ground floor.

Ultimately, cultural rebirth, connectivity and economic revival go hand-in-hand, therefore the arts should not be considered folly but vitality. Here is just one idea of how to patch-up our failing urban fabric, meanwhile…