Design concept for ‘Views on the Atlantic’ at Windrush Square
Brixton Community Cinema with Bamidele Awoyemi, Farouk Agoro and Livia Wang have won London Festival of Architecture (LFA), Lambeth Council and Brixton Business Improvement District (BID)’s design competition ‘People at the Centre of Brixton’. The team’s design ‘Views on the Atlantic’ will see two cinema-facilitating interventions installed at Atlantic Road and Windrush Square in Brixton.
The competition launched in March this year. It asked architects, designers, and artists to re-imagine these key sites in Brixton and test alternative scenarios to improve the experience of businesses, residents, and visitors in the area. The winning team were selected out of 6 shortlisted applicants and over 30 entrants.
With this competition LFA, Lambeth Council and Brixton BID wanted to encourage people to Brixton’s public realm, sparking discussion and debate about the role that historical common land plays in our urban environment. The judges were impressed by ‘Views on the Atlantic’ in the way that it draws on local shared history and creates new common spaces which facilitate creative exchange and spark conversation.
‘Views on the Atlantic’ is composed of a series of built interventions at Atlantic Road and Windrush Square. These will be used as places for evening cinema screenings, exhibitions, and other programme activities. During the day, both sites will be places for ‘gathering, education and artistic expression’, for example, with a series of learning workshops at Atlantic Road.
Design concept for ‘Views on the Atlantic’ at Atlantic Road
The cinema screening programme will seek inspiration from LFA theme ‘In Common’ and will be a celebration of Brixton’s rich cultural and historical past. Displays of archival photography and film will be gathered from local organisations and archives, such as Lambeth Archives, Ritzy Cinema and Black Cultural Archives. The interventions will also have a varied input from local creatives and international community cinemas.
‘Views on the Atlantic’ will be installed in June 2023, aligning with LFA and the 70th Anniversary of Windrush Square. Brixton is one of 7 official LFA Destinations and will form a key part of the overall LFA Programme which will be announced on 10 May.
The judging panel for round 2 was:
- Rosa Rogina, London Festival of Architecture, Director (Chair)
- Gianluca Rizzo, Brixton BID Director
- Binki Taylor, LFA Curation Panel 2023, The Brixton Project
- Dawn Bunce, Lambeth Council
- Tim Gledstone, Partner at Squires & Partners
- Jessica Dyer, Content Curator of Make It in Brixton, Brixton’s Creative Enterprise Zone
- Lisa Anderson, Interim Managing Director, Black Cultural Archives
Rosa Rogina, Director of the London Festival of Architecture, said:
“The Brixton Community Cinema team are a fantastic local collaboration with both creative and programming experience. We are so pleased that they are also providing a platform for other local creatives and organisations through their project.
“We are delighted by the way that the team have responded to LFA’s theme ‘In Common’ in their design. ‘Views on the Atlantic’ really puts people and their experience of the public realm into the foreground, looking to future uses of Brixton’s commons.”
Cllr Donatus Anyanwu, Cabinet Member for Stronger Communities, Leisure and Sport, Lambeth Council, said:
“I congratulate Brixton Community Cinema, Bamidele, Farouk and Livia on their winning design and we are looking forward to working with them to develop this further.
“The People at the centre of Brixton competition was an opportunity for us to encourage people to come together to look at our public spaces and how we use them. I look forward to seeing this winning design in place, join the activities that are planned and take part in the conversations that come out of this.”
Gianluca Rizzo, Managing Director, Brixton BID, said:
“We are excited that the judging panel have awarded Brixton Community Cinema, Bamidele, Farouk and Livia the People at the Centre of Brixton competition build. The design is an exciting way to reimagine our common spaces, bringing our communities together to share conversations, stories, and histories. We can’t wait to welcome you to explore Brixton.”
