Three Mills Playspace site area, courtesy Lee Valley Regional Park Authority
The Architecture Foundation organised a design competition for a new and permanent playspace for Three Mills Green located in the borough of Newham, East London on behalf of a collaborative partnership including the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority – which owns the land - the Olympic Park Legacy Company, and newly launched charity The Legacy List.
Three Mills Green is situated immediately south of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park close to Bromley-by-Bow, Stratford High Street and West Ham. It has recently been renovated by the Park Authority and Design for London as one of the Mayor’s Great Outdoors programme. It is an invaluable part of the 26-mile long Lee Valley Regional Park, and forms one of six proposed parks along the Fatwalk, a planned walking and cycling route from the Olympic Park to the Thames.
This two stage competition invited architects, landscape architects, designers, artists as well as those from other disciplines to express their interest in taking part by responding to a prequalification questionnaire. Group submissions were also welcomed.
Based on the information submitted, the client group selected a shortlist of four practices (erect architecture, We Made That with Free Play, Studio Weave with Wayward Plants, and Kinnear Landscape Architects) to develop designs for the play space to RIBA Stage C. We Made That with Free Play were announced as the winners of the competition and have been selected to deliver their design. You can read more here: www.architecturefoundation.org.uk/news/2011/sep/we-made-that-with-free-play-announced-as-the-winners-of-3-mills-competition
Shortlisted entries were judged by a high-profile jury including Neil Porter, Director, Gustafson Porter; Sarah Weir, Chief Executive, The Legacy List; Eleanor Fawcett, Head of Design, OPLC; Ron Arad, Director Ron Arad Associates and Tim Gill, Play Expert, Writer/Researcher, Rethinking Childhood.