100 Union Street

We have been working since 2008 to activate our site on 100 Union Street in Southwark, South London using it as a ‘meanwhile space’ until 2016 when we begin building a 20,000 sq ft self-contained office building completed winter 2017. The iconic design by Stirling Prize winning architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris features open plan interiors with exposed concrete soffit and walls, full height ‘factory style’ windows, maple timber floor tiles, ‘acoustic’ decorative timber panelling and high ceilings.

We believe that empty sites in London should contribute to their wider community and be used to test new ideas and allow emerging creative studios to create projects. We give the land along with water and electricity and give our partners the freedom to develop projects. So, Union Street has been a lido, a community garden, a lake, a public house and more! Read about the individual projects that have created in more detail below.

 

Location 100 Union Street, London SE1
Gross internal area 20000 ft2
Typical ceiling height 4 m
Architect Simon Allford of 2015 Stirling Prize winner Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM)
Completed 2017

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Meanwhile space 2008 Southwark Lido

SHR Split

In 2008, we worked with The Architecture Foundation to commission architecture collective, EXYZT and filmmaker Sara Muzio to transform our derelict site on 100 Union Street into a public lido that hosted a series of activities and events that allowed people to congregate, ‘play’ and of course swim on the site. The space welcomed hundreds of visitors and became a real community asset.

EXYZT believe in testing new ways of working on empty plots and engaging with local communities through innovative interventions. They designed and built the Southwark Lido from scratch and curated the activities and events that took place. They even lived on site for the duration of the project!

 

Meanwhile space 2010 The Union Street Urban Orchard

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In 2010, The Architecture Foundation came to us once again to ask whether we might be open to working with the to transform our site at 100 Union Street into a temporary installation for the London Festival of Architecture. The project was to be inspired by the wider public realm strategy for this area of Southwark devised by Witherford Watson Mann known as the Bankside Urban Forest. Led by curator Moira Lascelles, The Architecture Foundation commissioned landscape designer and artist Heather Ring of the Wayward Plant Registry to imagine a community garden on the site that involved bringing in 85 fruit trees of a variety of species and countless other plants to transform the site into a vibrant, public and communal green space. The project lasted one harvest and played host to a series of activities from screenings to cider making. Legacy was at the heart of this project and all of the plants and trees were relocated onto existing community gardens and estates in the area by Southwark Council in order to contribute to the wider Bankside Urban Forest vision.

 

Meanwhile space 2011 The Union Physic Garden

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In 2011 we worked once again with Heather Ring and the Wayward Plant Registry to transform 100 Union Street into the Urban Physic Garden, an urban garden of living medicine shaped by the hospital and pharmacy, with a focus on medicinal plants and herbs that heal. Extending beyond herbal remedies, the garden demonstrated the potential of Food as Medicine, tackling urban nutrition, obesity, healthy cooking, food growing and education. Once again the garden hosted a range of activities during its time on site and was incredibly popular with the local community.

 

Meanwhile space 2012 The reUNION

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Four years on from the Southwark Lido we worked with EXYZT once more to occupy and transform our site into The reUnion Public House. The project took inspiration from the 1830’s Beer Act that allowed anyone to apply for a licence to open up their front room to the public to sell or even brew alcohol from their own home.  The reUNION was an experiment of what a public house could be beyond the traditional notion of ‘the pub’. Once again the project involved the participation of lots of people and played host to many activities and events over its lifetime. The project was hugely popular and showed how important communal spaces such as public houses are. By giving the pub a new twist and making it family-friendly, a truly communal space was created. . You can watch a video of the project here.

 

Meanwhile space 2014 The Lake

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The following year in 2014, EXYZT transformed 100 Union Street into a temporary Lake – a new urban oasis in Southwark. The project featured a shallow boating lake (for inflatables and home-made toy boats), a paddling pool, a juice bar and a long timber deck for sunbathing. The Lake hosted discussions about the wider regeneration of the area and the notion of activating public spaces. You can watch a video of the making of The Lake here.

 

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