Image: courtesy of Fletcher Priest Architects

Fletcher Priest Architects has won the competition to create a High Line for London with its “low line” design. The contest, inspired by New York’s High Line and aimed at “enriching the capital’s green infrastructure,” attracted 170 entries from a wide range of both well-known and new firms. The winning proposal, entitled “Pop Down,” is a scheme for an urban mushroom garden beneath Oxford Street. Read more!

Describing the winning proposal, the architects explain, “Pop Down seeks to capitalize on a forgotten network of tunnels under London, an urban experience where visitors can embark on an expedition underground, entering, and exiting the tunnels from street level. The tunnels provide the ideal environment for an urban mushroom farm with the introduction of daylight through a series of sculptural glass-fibre ‘mushrooms’ at street level. These will highlight the route of the tunnel above ground and will convey daylight to the tunnels below through punctures along their length. The produce will serve new pop-up concept ‘Funghi’ restaurants and cafés at each entrance.”

Image: courtesy of YN Studio

YN Studio came in second with a proposal for the “Lido Line,” a scheme that would create a swimming channel in the Regent’s Canal connecting Little Venice to the Limehouse. The judging panel included Joshua David and Robert Hammond, co-founders of New York’s High Line; Penelope Curtis, director of Tate Britain; Mark Brearley, head of Design for London; and landscape architects Kim Wilkie and Jo Gibbons. London mayor Boris Johnson announced the winner as a part of the High Line Symposium at the Garden Museum, with the winning proposal receiving £2,500 and the runner-up £500.

[via bdonline]

by Architizer Editors

posted in Uncategorized

tagged canal, funghi, High Line, london, low line, mushrooms, new york city, nyc, Regent's Canal, symposium

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