The Cathedral of Movement

Every day you wake up, check the time, and proceed to your daily activities. You might start your day with a cup of coffee, or toast which is a personal preference of yours. However,  that in itself it is a pattern that contributes to your rhythm. The moment you step out of your personal zone and pass next to the first person that day the rhythm of your activities collides with other. and that is just the beginning.  

In the City of London, five hundred thousand rhythms collide every day in just over a square mile. This area known for both, being the oldest area of London as well as the international banking district has such a huge density of users it is nearly impossible to observe the rhythm of just one individual. Workers I talked to claimed that the city makes them stuck in the rhythm which is impossible to escape if within the City. Alternating between home and office,  they give the area a reputation of being a working district deprived of any entertainment activities. However, is this what we are calling productive? Is this a sustainable way of working?

The following project creates an integrated response by developing a regeneration plan for the site of Bayard House. This brutalist office and the car park, being an opposite neighbour to the famous Tate Modern standing on London North Bank is an old telecommunication workspace. It has been long abandoned as its large footprint is not appropriate for today's needs and for a long time it has been collecting opinions about the negative working environment it creates.

Hence the side has been marked by the City authorities as one of seven key areas for redevelopment mostly due to its elevated risk of flooding and lost potential in its use. The brief outlines the need for using the site to enhance the public realm and introduce greenery and space for recreation. And this is where I am going to be proposing the Cathedral of Movement.

The Cathedral of Movement is a mix-use sports and movement centre that will create an alternative to the monotonous rhythm of the city of London life. The site has two real grass football pitches already highly popular among city workers as well as kids from the city of London school adjacent to the site exposing a need and interest in sports activities. The Cathedral of Movement will take this need further making the variety of sports and movement accessible to city workers, kids from local schools and visitors. The new alternative to a busy rhythm will promote movement as a way of relaxing, improving mental and physical health and simply enjoying it, also among the young (responding to the adjacent school).

With the project, I am maximising the use of the existing structure to fit the new purpose. Starting with stripping the building of its elevation I am retaining the original structure. However, cutting it back as the building size is too big and the design wants to reclaim the natural ground on the riverside. That will not only remove the part of the building which was at flooding risk but also will create a natural flooding barrier that will absorb the heavy rains and flooding water. The creation of a nice, south-facing, riverside Park makes a flooding strategy became a social strategy.  As the next step variety of sports objects is fitted within the structure. Their big open, multiple storey space allows for removing many of the existing columns. However, extra support to uphold a new more dynamic load connected to sports activities is needed. Steel trusses are fitted to uphold the load and allow for those activities. Concrete from the removed structure can be then reused as aggregate to create and south-facing grand staircase which will create a positive setting outdoor area for future users. Finally, skylights are cut into the existing structure to allow light even in the middle of this deep footprint to address complaints about the dark environment in the previous design.

The Cathedral of Movement will become a place to celebrate new rhythm as Tate modern is a  cathedral of the art. It will be far seen from the riverbank standing as a movement advertisement and attracting new visitors.  The Cathedral allows a variety of movements allowing everyone to change their daily rhythm in the way that suits them best. Calming down the rhythm through yoga or swimming or intensifying through martial art or climbing. Some of the sports are individual some encourage sharing the rhythm with others.

For example, the multipurpose sports hall is carefully fitted between the existing structure supported by new colourful trusses. It creates a big, light open space for a variety of games with the audience having an exciting view not only for the players but also south bank in the back.

Multiple walkways and glazing through design allow bypass to look into sports facilities, get familiar with the building program and encourage them to join.

Overall, this injection is challenging conventional dense urban landscape with new activities to change the city rhythm. The open space park is a response to the flooding need of its side and its surrounding as well as lack of green public spaces in the area. If taken further the project would propose to keep the regeneration of London North bank, which has a huge potential for greenery as it is south facing and could serve as a great public space. Additionally, a series of smaller sports interventions would have been proposed within the City in order to make the activity even more accessible to workers.

With this project, I have learned that we can change the existing urban rhythm without interrupting anyone’s routine but simply just create an alternative for users to choose from. And this alternative for the city of London in my opinion is the Cathedral of Movement.