Award-winning London architectural practice East has created the new public realm for Bermondsey Square in Southwark, London. The Square aims to stimulate the sense of community within the new mixed-use development by igloo, linking with surrounding spaces, pedestrian and cycle routes, and day-to-day activities. The square has been created to allow flexible use seating, outdoor cinema, informal play and for markets.
The Bermondsey Antiques Market has been trading on the site since 1855. The new Square was conceived as a carpet upon which are scattered an array of simple design elements - benches, bollards, cycle hoops and boules pitch like trinkets laid out on the market stalls. It responds to the rough and glinting quality of the place and market, through setting out a background "baize" against which the "trinkets" have been placed. The "baize" is drag faced clay paving that runs beyond the development to engage with the streets and spaces around the site edges. The "trinkets" are painted iron icosohedrons bollards, created with artist Jonathan Hares. The bollards deter vehicles; provide seating, and their shape brings extra delight to the square. Oak sleepers on stainless steel rotating legs act as additional seats and vehicle barriers. The boules pitch adds to the relaxed, playful ambiance of Bermondsey Square.
The textural quality of the paving is enhanced by the undulating ground levels: various gradients across the space direct rain water toward a central gulley, and give the ground surface a particular fluidity. The furniture elements are fixed parallel to the gradients of the ground surface and are read as though they are heavy weights, pinning the ground surface down. The pathway material is extended where necessary into the site to blur the edges and merge the areas. The result is a seamless addition that flows into its surroundings.
The site itself is a Schedule Ancient Monument, with the ruins of Bermondsey Abbey, founded in 1082 and dismantled in the 16th Century, lying below. Construction was very sensitive to the ground conditions, and English Heritage excavated and documented the site throughout. PCA, archaeological contractors, were on site at all times during construction to ensure no element of the ruins were disturbed, and to ensure that no new archaeology was exposed without being properly recorded and excavated where appropriate.
East director Julian Lewis said, "It has been a delight to create the new Bermondsey Square public realm. Our primary motivation as architects is not to design architecture, but to discover, prescribe and give shape to the need for it. With Bermondsey Square, we believe we have helped provide a space that is enjoyable, yet highly functional, and able in particular to continue to accommodate the distinctive Bermondsey Antiques Market.