Pictured: Illustration for ‘More Edgware, Less Anywhere’ by Eleanor Dodman Architects

Earlier this year, the London Festival of Architecture (LFA) launched ‘More Edgware, Less Anywhere’, a design competition with Barnet Council, in partnership with property developer Ballymore and Transport for London, inviting emerging architects, landscape architects and designers to submit a proposal for a new public realm intervention in Edgware.

This competition will see a public realm intervention that tests ideas for ‘re-greening’ the town centre and improving the visibility and permeability of green spaces from Station Road. The intervention will be in place for a month but has capacity to inform long term improvements to the area.

Six teams have been shortlisted by the judging panel based on their originality, demonstration of creativity, relevance to the brief as well as feasibility and how the proposal works in the context of the site.

The shortlisted teams are:

AC//AJ

Adrienne Lau, Daniella Levene and Leila Taheri 

The collective works together in various local public realm design projects through applying a hyper local and holistic approach. By harnessing the power of communities and designing in a human-centric way, collaborative projects inspire positive emotions and interactions in shared spaces.

Adrienne Lau is an architect and designer working in strategic planning, designing and delivering projects of diverse typologies and scales. She holds interdisciplinary endeavours to develop a holistic design point of view on emerging environmental and socio-economic issues our world faces today.

Daniella Levene was recognised last year with two Barnet Civic Awards for her work engaging residents in environmental activities and improving the sustainability of Barnet’s environment. Daniella has founded a number of successful initiatives and specialises in horticulture, community development and event coordination.

Leila Taheri is an associate creative director in advertising. She is responsible for leading campaigns from a copy and strategy perspective. Leila leads Friends of the Welsh Harp, featuring on the BBC, ITV, Guardian, and numerous local media outlets for her work.

Eleanor Dodman Architects

Eleanor Dodman Architects is a London based architecture and design practice. The practice works on projects ranging in scale, from small housing developments to residential and educational spaces. Our projects are highly sensitive to their physical and social contexts, emerging through dialogues with stakeholders and by fully engaging with the peculiarities of each design brief. We develop designs that strive to be both pragmatic and straightforward, yet materially rich and joyful.

The practice was established in 2018 and is led by Eleanor Dodman, supported by Chloe Hudson, Varya Yakovleva and Tetsuya Saito. The practice has strong roots in academia, with Eleanor and Chloe both currently teaching on the undergraduate course at the Architectural Association.

In The Making

In The Making is a multi-disciplinary studio working at the intersection between design, urbanism, architecture, climate justice and social practice. Their relational and process-led approach is driven by and rooted in the (his)stories of place, celebrating what is unique.

Rejecting the dominant cultural stories of humans-as-consumers, endless economic growth and nature and people as resources to exploit, they seek to create authentic opportunities for communities to explore their relationship with their physical and social environment, by listening, collaborating and designing place-based responses.

Lavinia Scaletti is an urban designer passionate about design and everyday lives. She specialises in public realm strategies and the design of public spaces. She is Senior Urban Designer at the London Borough of Camden, previously worked at Publica and has experience in architecture in Europe and Latin America.

Jenny Dunn is a designer and social practice artist, working collaboratively with communities to create platforms for more communal, democratic and ecological practices.  She is Principal Regeneration Officer at the London Borough of Camden, a Public Practice Alumni and previously worked at Penoyre & Prasad and Mace on educational, healthcare and workplace design.

Hazel Mealy is an architect passionate about climate and social justice. She is Principal Strategy Officer (Just Transition) for Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark Councils, and previously worked in emergency shelter and settlements, post-disaster reconstruction, disaster risk reduction, and architecture, in the UK and internationally.

Mark + Cristina and GROW

Mark and Cristina have recently started collaborating on self-initiated projects, and have a shared interest for public architecture, socially-engaged design processes and delivering spaces for the common good.  Mark is a Project Architect at London-based architecture, urban design and research studio We Made That, where he’s been responsible for the design and delivery of a number of community-led public realm projects, ranging in scale from newspapers to market furniture, kiosks, small buildings and town squares. Cristina is an architect, part of Croydon Council’s Placemaking Team and her experience ranges from brief building and urban strategy to concept design and community engagement.

Mark and Cristina will be collaborating with GROW, an organisation based in Barnet who works with schools and communities to deliver bespoke programmes in sustainable food growing and outdoor learning. GROW work predominantly with local children and young people who experience barriers to learning, healthy living, and employment. They believe in food justice and the right to a sustainable way of life for all. They offer participants the skills, knowledge, and confidence to make positive choices and changes in their lives and in the world around them – running early support programmes, AQA courses, holiday, after-school & weekend clubs, school trips, and volunteering & training programmes. They are creating a model for how schools and farms can work together to enhance learning and well-being, reach sustainability goals, and strengthen community – and they also grow a wide range of crops using agroecological principles that they sell to schools, the local community, restaurants, and florists.

Where Pathways Meet with Adam Harris, Amber Elliott, Dr Alice Eldridge, Jules Arthur, Stephanie Holt and Sam Harris

Founded by landscape architect Valerie Beirne in 2022, Where Pathways Meet is a creative placemaking consultancy working across the fields of urban greening, place strategy, project development and project delivery.  Where Pathways Meet specialises in a multidisciplinary approach, working collaboratively and creatively to craft place-based visions, programmes and projects that spark interest and imagination, supporting positive environmental, social, and economic outcomes.

For More Edgware, Less Anywhere, Where Pathways Meet will be teaming up with Adam Harris, designer and project manager who has created numerous art, architecture and environmental projects in the public realm.  His passion lies in community activation and sustainability, crafting projects that deliver social change and connect people with nature.  Other team members include Part 1 Architectural Assistant Amber Elliott, who graduated from University of Brighton with her award-winning project The Sandwich Forum – a timber vertical farm.

Dr Alice Eldridge a sonic consultant based at the University of Sussex’s transdisciplinary Soundscape Research initiative: Ecolistening, Jules Arthur a horticulturist and sound artist and Stephanie Holt a biodiversity expert will weave expertise into the project relating to the art, science and technology of listening to and communicating about ecosystems.  Sam Harris, a graphic designer with extensive experience in designing creative commissions in the public realm completes the team.

The judging panel for round 1 consisted of:

• Rosa Rogina, LFA, Director – Chair
• Lucy Atlee, TfL, Quality & Design Manager
• Lucy Devereux, Barnet Council, Town Centre Investment Manager
• Synthia Griffin, Barnet Council, Creative Economy Officer
• Simon Ryan, Projects Director, Ballymore
• Steve Wayne, Local Business Representative
• Ramsey Yassa, Director, Nooma Studio

For round 2 of the competition, shortlisted applicants will develop their overall design concept and approach, as well as quantify costs. Following the submission of this in late March, the judges will decide on a winning team to materialise their proposal for LFA in June.