Y/N Studio Proposes First Commuter Swim Lane In London

Architizer News

Y/N Studio Proposes First Commuter Swim Lane In London

October 9, 2012

We posted the winner of the “High Line for London” competition yesterday, but we’d thought we’d share the runner-up scheme–the LidoLine. The whimsical proposal, by Alex Smith and David Lomax of Y/N Studio, revamps the city’s Regent’s Canal into a swimming commute lane. Yes, the LidoLine imagines workers swimming and kayaking to the office because why bike or shuttlebus when you can go front crawl or backstroke (showoff) to the office tower lobby. The project explores the conversion of the unused 8.6 mile waterway into a super clean stream for the commuting duckies. As for those pesky winter months, the team envisions the frozen lane to appeal to ice skaters too. Read more!

Ever since New York City’s High Line walkway changed the way people see urban spaces, cities around the world have been developing their own alternative green walkways. The Mayor of London recently launched a city-wide competition, asking architects and designers to create their own High Line-inspired space. While many entrants scoured the city for green plots, Y/N Studio dove right into a prominent yet underused resource: water. The LidoLine would not only encourage exercise and eco-friendly commuting, but would also revitalize a run-down industrial area with waterfront hang-outs and corporate sponsored competitions and events on floating rafts and amphitheaters.