Making communities
Place-making contributes significantlyto the life of a community. But interactionbetween people and places is complexbecause a physical environmentembodies emotions, aspirations andmemories as well as influencing howit is function.
Successful place-making has to address each of theselevels. Our designs for the Gateway to Grahame Parkin north London show how they might be interwoven.As it marks the entrance to a large residential estate ithas considerable symbolic importance, but the threebuildings which form the gateway also provide homesfor individuals and families so they need to work at anintimate and detailed scale as well. Similar principlesmark all our residential schemes that are large enoughto form their own community.
Between large scale symbol and small scale homecomes the level of local public realm, the network ofroutes and spaces around the buildings. They havea crucial bearing on the community because theydetermine how its members can meet and interact,and reach local amenities within and beyond the site,providing a crucial mediation between the urban scaleand their individual homes.