The Competition
Following an open call for concepts, developer Grosvenor invited a number of international firms to submit design concepts for the Grade II-listed Grosvenor Square, in the heart of Mayfair. We formed a collaborative team with Todd Longstaffe Gowan Landscape Design and curators Future Pace.
Considering the site's history, its value as a green space in the heart of the city and its potential for social and cultural activity, we decided to reinstate the concept of the historic "Oval Garden" in the Square, with four dynamic public spaces at its corners.
We began to consider if an opportunity existed to create a large multipurpose, flexible space below ground, to give the square a dynamic new dimension.
Through studying the location of the largest trees, we discovered that a diagonal excavation from the north east to the south west could be undertaken with minimal tree loss. If the new, below-ground space were developed as a series of volumes shifting along this route, further trees could be saved and an immense asset created.
With only minimal interventions in the public spaces, in the form of ramped entrances, the new 2000 m² ‘Room for London’ would have little impact above ground but would generate immense cultural and commercial benefits.