Situating on the old street station in London, the silicone roundabout is now the one of the few remaining public spaces on the street that can be read as a negation to its highly privatised context. (i.e The Tech city in London) The project looks at preserving the remnants of a brutalist scheme of vents, toilets and other service structures on the roundabout, that have been co-opted by their commercial use value,( Currently there exists a ‘new age’ hipster bar on the site) to become a public destination of remembrance, observation and experience.
This is done by creating a ‘Value Generator’ - a large hermetic advertising surface (LED screen), scaled to absurdity, on the periphery of the roundabout, (with a minimal footprint on the site) which generates 52.2 Million pounds worth of revenue.This architectural analysis based on reminiscence does not attempt to nostalgically reactivate the site, but uses this ruin as a vehicle to critique the contemporary phenomenon of maximising utility and the privatisation of public space in and around old street, and largely all over london. by creating a useless and inaccessible space, that can only be observed through the proposed structure and terraces, in the heart of the city, on one of the most lucrative locations.
The reason codas are necessary, is that, in the climax of the main body of a piece, often an expanded phrase, is created by “working an idea through to its structural conclusions” and that, after all the momentum is created, a coda is required to “look back” on the main body, allow listeners to “take it all in”, and “create a sense of balance.”
The project is a coda to london, because it reveals something about the city, and also creates a moment of reflection - both on the garish and spectacle driven form of advertisement on the outside, one that dominates all aspects of life and the overgrown, vital and neglected space created within.