Pews and Perches 2023 , London / Vereinigtes Königreich

 

London Festival of Architecture (LFA)

Royal Docks Team (RDT)

 

The London Festival of Architecture (LFA) and the Royal Docks Team (RDT) have launched the fourth edition of the Pews and Perches design competition, which will see a series of bespoke public benches delivered throughout the Royal Docks this year.

 

Following the success of the previous years, the competition is open to architecture and design students, recent graduates and emerging practitioners. We are inviting them to deliver creative bench proposals that encourage those who live, work in and visit the Royal Docks to come together and have meaningful exchanges within the public realm. Now in its fourth year, the Pews and Perches competition highlights the transformative impact of small-scale interventions in the public realm and offers visitors and residents alike unique spaces to sit and make the most of their surrounding public space.

 

This year, five benches will be installed in the Royal Docks; four selected from this design competition open to all, with the fifth bench being designed by a student team from UTC college in the Royal Docks, mentored by previous competition winner, Andre Kong.

 

Designers are asked to respond to this year’s LFA theme of ‘In Common’, creating a bench that facilitates and celebrates the ways in which communities share experiences and resources, including public spaces. The competition invites you to share your unique perspective on the theme ‘in common’ through the design of each bench. Consider what people have in common (or what they don’t) when they gather in and use public space as well as the diversity of users and communities in the Royal Docks. Is there adequate provision for the needs of the community in public seating already provided?

 

The below locations across the Royal Docks have been selected for the 2023 Pews and Perches. Below the areas where there is significant scope for public realm enhancement or seating provision:

 

• Royal Victoria Dock Floating Garden (in addition to What A Water Waste! bench from 2023).

• Lyle Park

• The Factory Project, Factory Rd, London E16 2HB

• Royal Albert Wharf

• London Design & Engineering UTC College (to be designed by students from UTC)

 

The locations above are subject to final landowner approval.

 

Interested applicants are invited to submit their proposal by midday on 1 December 2022 via the online form. The winners will each be awarded £2,100 including a design fee of £500 to develop, build and install their bench in summer 2023. Each bench will stay in place until at least summer 2024.