The Southbank Centre in London invited us to submit proposals for a new skateable space under Hungerford Bridge, which is one of the main train and pedestrian bridge connections between the north and south banks of the Thames. Historically, this area has been a breeding ground for street skateboarding, utilising the concrete banks of the undercroft of the brutalist buildings above. Today, only a small area remains still useable for skateboarding, and as such the Southbank Centre proposed to relocate the skateboarders to a new area, where they could design their own space.

Much in line with our own ideas about how skateboarding could help evolve landscape design in urban settings, the brief called for a skateable public space instead of a skatepark. Working contextually and with the input from the local skateboarding community, we designed a space that paid homage to the original banks, while also offering a new and exploratory terrain.

Overhead, another challenge presented itself. The train tracks would need to be covered from below to avoid debris falling onto the skate space. To solve this, a lightweight and demountable canopy roof made from Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic panels was proposed to be suspended from the bridge, and would give the space additional spatial character and identity through its soft folded geometry.