Battersea Exchange
Our work has put culture at the heart of a new mixed-used neighbourhood in Battersea. Centred on the rebuilding and enlargement of St Mary’s primary school, Battersea Exchange provides new homes and commercial space on a former brownfield site. We developed a cultural strategy for the neigbourhood based around a series of connections to embed culture within Battersea Exchange. The strategy formed part of the planning conditions for the development and has helped steer Taylor Wimpey Central London’s engagement with St Mary’s school.
Cultural Strategy document
Battersea Exchange is located at the western edge of the Nine Elms regeneration area. This part of Battersea already benefits from a cluster of cultural industries and arts organisations including; the Royal College of Art, The Pump House gallery in Battersea Park and the National Trust’s 575 Wandsworth Road. By establishing a unique cultural identity for Battersea Exchange we will add to the cultural mix of Nine Elms on the Southbank. This in turn will help provide new opportunities for those living, learning, working or relaxing in Battersea Exchange.
Cultural Strategy proposals
Cultural Strategy proposals
Cultural Strategy proposals
Cultural Strategy proposals
Cultural Strategy proposals
Cultural Strategy proposals
Underpinning the cultural strategy is the aspiration to connect the new development with its wider context and the people who live and work in it. Within our research we identified seven connections that the Cultural Strategy develops in order to create a vibrant neighbourhood.
Concept image
Our role has been to create an overall cultural vision by building on the architect and landscape architects’ proposals, aligning with the local authority’s priorities and understanding the client’s aspirations. The creation of the strategy was therefore extremely collaborative, working with Enable (the Wandsworth Arts Team), Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Planit IE and Taylor Wimpey Central London. We continued this collaborative approach into the implementation stages by engaging with other developers and the wider Nine Elms team to share learning and ensure joined-up thinking across the area.
Participant in the Moving Walls commission
Completed hoarding artwork
Completed hoarding artwork
Artist Orly Orbach with children from St Mary’s Catholic Primary School
Following the approval of the Cultural Strategy by Wnadsworth Council we undertook the artist commissioning. We commissioned artist Artist Orly Orbach to work with with every pupil in St Mary’s RC School to create a colourful hoarding display, entitled Moving Walls. In our project Push and Pull we co-designed a new boundary treatment for the new school with pupils.
Completed Push and Pull commission
Design workshop
Design workshop
Design workshop
The final commission to be delivered, Chromatic Cycle, designed by Umut Yamac in collaboration with ourselves, is a creative lighting installation under the victorian viaduct.