We were invited by CREATE London to respond to a brief focussing around the decommissioned North Woolwich Station. The brief aimed to create a new cultural, educational and social focal point for the area where artists and the community can work, learn and meet. The project brings back into use the Grade II listed Station Building. A key delivery partner of Create is Open School East.

Our proposal improves local connectivity and increases green infrastructure. It creates a green link between Victoria Gardens and St John’s Green. The project creates a closed loop ecosystem converting organic waste into energy, gas and fertile soil.

Across all stages of this project education, knowledge transfer and skilling is a core element. Open School East’s approach to creating a learning environment for both artist and community is at the core of our proposal. North Woolwich Station builds on the existing strands of OSE, a free study programme for emerging artists and a multifaceted programme of events, activities and training open to all. We see the design, development and construction of this site as an ongoing learning environment.

The proposal consists of 3 principal areas: The Station House, The Platforms and The Ecology Area.

Together with the Station House, The Workshop House provides a frontage to the Yard, the triangular open space. The Yard is a busy external making area into which the workshops spills out and where public events happen. Reinstating the station forecourt as a worker’s yard brings back the civic nature of the Station building, reanimating the space for the Woolwich community. This makers yard can be used by artists as overspill and also an event space for markets or community functions. The twin facades of the existing station building and the new Workshop frame the yard, providing a backdrop to this semi-public realm. 

All studio and workshop spaces are located at the South-Eastern end, within the Station House and in new buildings near the station to create a hub of activity: The Workshop House on the site of the 1980s station and a cluster of Self-build Studios sit on the tracks.

Building on the wild ecosystems already emerging on the tracks (pioneer tree species, forest fruit) the site crosses into a civic space and productive growing landscape. This landscape is conceived as a closed loop ecosystem, with composting and organic waste disposal feeding a commercial and community urban growing project, whilst generating energy via an Anaerobic Digester. The growing theme is continued west of Store Road, where the site is let to a cooperative sustainable food producer in Organic Lea.