Alice Foreman

A project for integrating infrastructure into the urban environment.

It proposes a multi-purpose building as a connecting linear element which draws together the disparate and changing conditions of Gallions Reach and Thamesmead.

As London heads towards becoming a zero-waste city by 2025 and a decarbonised road network by 2050, the project questions how this could affect our way of life in a place where a new road and DLR route on a 2km bridge is proposed to connect Thamesmead to the city. A masterplan proposes that the valuable open landscape adjacent to this connection, which was previously for military use, will be replaced with 11,000 new homes.

Instead, considering the importance of our environmental climate, this project will utilise the large-scale infrastructure not only as a transportation connection, but also to provide a range of public functions and housing based around the road. This takes influence from Alison and Peter Smithson’s ‘cluster city’ proposal from their unsuccessful competition entry for the Golden Lane Estate, which weaves the building through the city, providing new connections but also framing and protecting the city with a dense linear alternative.

Ultimately, the project seeks to create a high density which would allow for the preservation of the neighbouring open landscape whilst also acting as an extra investment into a large-scale infrastructure project and suggesting the future of our life in this new age of clean transport mobility.