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Old Bailey Open Space is the winner of Street Design Award. Old Bailey Open Space is the winner of 2006 Street Design Award in the category of Best Pedestrian Environment. The City of London was awarded the 2006 Street Design Award in the category of Best Pedestrian Environment for the new public space at the Old Bailey designed by B U R N S + N I C E. “Despite being set in a prominent and historic location, this space was previously dominated by cars and traffic. Now as part of a wider street scene challenge, this project impressed our judges so much they have named it winner of the Pedestrian Environment category. The main objective of this scheme was to create a high quality pedestrian space, incorporating new seating, lighting and tree planting. The end result is a pedestrian area that maintains public access to the surrounding buildings, while creating a space that people want to move through and enjoy. One of the most impressive aspects of this project is the new oval water feature, located on the middle terrace platform. Not only does it create a central focal point to the space, but it also offers a dramatic foreground for the listed building at 16 Old Bailey. The water feature is a shallow pool with a weir at the southern end where water slips across and down into the plant room below. The height of the 15 water jets, set within the pool in a rising curve, are automatically adjusted by an anemoter discreetly attached to a nearby lamp column. This allows the height of the water jets to drop when the wind levels rise. The new design of the space is very modern, uncluttered and of high quality to reflect its location. Tactile paving is used to signal the steps for disabled users and the crossing points. The design of the planters related to the building frontages on the west side of the space, create formalised entrance points as part of a truly integrated design. They also contain modern topiary hedging. A variety of other low level planting has also been used, including grasses and flowering shrubs. Throughout the scheme, high quality stone and timber benches have been installed, with seating also available on the edges of the many planters and visitors are encouraged to eat lunch and socialise. To help define the space further, three mature trees have also been planted. The two London Plane trees are located at the north side of the space., liked with the other trees planted on Holborn Viaduct. The third one is an ornamental species planted at the south side to set the limit of the space. In order to create an attractive night-time environment, up lighters have been placed below the trees, and a dynamic lighting system has been incorporated into the water feature. The general lighting of the area has also been enhanced for pedestrians with the installation of three street lighting columns, each with two luminaries in soft white light for ambiance.” extract from: Local Government News, August 2006 , Page 24 |