Urban Living Room

The aim of the project was to provide a new community space from a disused triangular site in a residential street in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Max Dewdney Architects were selected via competitive tender for the design of a new park and playground (Urban Living Room), through a public vote and consultation.

Urban Living Room, is an innovative and experimental pocket park in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, completed in February 2017 that transformed an under-utilised fragment of the street. The project reinforces the typology of the residential street-scape designed to echo the surrounding residential dwellings. The park creates a safe space for play, learning, meeting and performance. The design adds contemporary architectural value to the public park and play space and introduces a model for an imaginative and self sustaining community-led activity and play space.

The site is triangular with two sides facing residential roads. The boundary treatment is constructed with timber sleepers with reclaimed railings above. Along these elevations are a series of reclaimed hardwood window planters with reclaimed benches behind. The third side had an existing public path that was retained in the design. Behind the path is an end of terrace wall that was transformed with a brightly coloured geometric mural developed in collaboration with an artist from Wood Street Walls. The compact site contains a central timber multi play structure in the form of a distorted house, which acts as, a climbing tower and platforms, monkey bars, slide, swing, spinning wheel and rope ladders and netting. The stage is constructed from reclaimed hardwood and the ground surface consists of tones of green crumb rubber with a pink entrance gate for way finding. There is a community library that is incorporated into the boundary providing a local book exchange.