Barking Arcade, part of the award winning Barking Town Square
An town square on the London/Essex border has won the European Prize for Urban Public Space.
Barking Town Square, designed by muf architecture/art, is the first project in Britain to win the accolade.
The jury applauded the collaboration between the architects, London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, Redrow Regeneration and Allford Hall Monaghan and Morris, saying the scheme incorporated multiple architectural languages to enhance the new development, creating a place of distinctive character.
Barking Town Square is a mix of buildings and uses. It includes a town hall, a library, a child and primary health centre, a major public art commission, approximately 500 new homes, shops and cafes.
The facilities come together around a 6000 square metre âTâ shaped square which comprises four interlocking elements; a civic square, an arboretum, a folly wall and an arcade.
The next phase of the project consists of an extensive arboretum adjacent to the Arcade, which will be planted in July 2008 and opened to the public in the Autumn.
The arboretum will comprise 40 mature trees of 16 different species arranged to create settings of different scales and character, which invite exploration, performance and play.
Play will not be ring fenced but instead fostered through the occasional miniaturisation of street furniture; hiding spaces; balustrades and walls made out of tree trunks and branches; literary reference and landscapes for role play.
The arboretum will be illuminated by suspended chandeliers; the intensity of the light will adjust with the seasons and respond to the changing colour of the leaves.
Councillor Sid Kallar MBE, executive member for regeneration, said: "The development of Barking Town Square has been an integral part of the regeneration of the borough as a whole, and it is extremely gratifying that our efforts have been acknowledged in this way."
Other Peoples Photographs in Folkestone, Kent, and Promenade of Light in London, recieved Honourable Mentions in the awards.
