Lynch Architects Barking Abbey Green Competition 1st Prize «

TOWN & RIVER

Abbey Green is a threshold. The River Roding valley has a rich ecology and our aim is to extend this across the site, and to ground our proposals in the principles identified in the East London Green Grid. We are seeking to bring the town and river together in a landscape that acknowledges the various scales of time that co-exist here: geological time, archaeological time, diurnal time, secular and cosmic time. We propose to do this by exposing the evidence of material culture and its ruination: in creating settings for everyday life and public rituals; and in expressing the resonance of recent memories and distant ghosts.

RIVER & TOWN

Abbey Green is a relatively recent place-name. A ‘green’ typically sits at the centre of a village. Barking Abbey Green sits between a landscape of cars and boats on the one hand: and the major civic institutions of a town on the other. It isn’t a village green; it is much more interesting and exciting. It is a major public space between two rich landscapes. We propose to bring them into resonant influence. Bringing the town and river together entails creating places to view both from, bringing both to a state of appearance. It involves placing urban forms into a riverine topography.

BRINGING THINGS INTO PLAY

In developing our scheme for the transformation of Abbey Green, we have been inspired by several key ideas. Our central theme concerns the relationship between the town centre and the history of the Green, and the Abbey ruins in particular. They should be perceived as having become something new and useful and valuable to Barking. Not just in a superficially interesting way, but as something memorable because it brings everything else there ‘into play’, into focus, and makes what is already there seem remarkable.

BARKING ABBEY

Barking Abbey Church was once the largest structure in the area. Traces of courtyards and cloisters, are still discernible today. Monastic settlements resemble small towns, and were the origins also of colleges. Barking Abbey was also the court of William the Conqueror and is a monument of national importance. In the 19th century ancient monuments began to be seen as valuable curiosities rather than simply as detria or Romantic ruins. Barking Abbey ruins have been largely untouched since its dissolution, and they retain a powerful if understated presence. Its story deserves to be told to a wider audience, which we propose to do.

RUINS, IMAGINATION & REALITY

Ruins excited the imagination of 18th and 19th century architects and artists, and in particular the ways in which wild or ‘sublime’ nature renders them Romantic. In contrast, earlier painters such as Beugel depicted a working landscape made up of allegorical and realistic events. Barking is almost unique in that its Abbey is still legible as a space and the Abbey Green is still part of a town. Billy Bragg recalls hearing the ‘Doric’ Medievalplainchant of ‘Scarborough Fair’ for the first time, and connecting it with the ruins of Barking Abbey. We aim to retain this atmosphere and to make it a useful part of the town.

PLAY & WORK

Abbey Green has historically housed a number of activities: sport, drama, work and study. Scholarship and husbandry co-existed in the medieval Abbey, making it a microcosm of a town. In our proposal Abbey Green will retain its historically ambivalent character, becoming once again a threshold between work and learning and play, celebrating the ambiguous nature of culture and leisure.

BUILDING & DEMOLITION

Abbey Green is a palimpsest – a slate which has been over-written and never really fully erased. The Abbey is still clearly present, if only as an absence now defined by grassy mounds and layers of relatively recent stonewalls. Heath Street and Hart Street and Prince Regent’s Court; these names are now almost forgotten. We aim to bring these traces to the surface and in doing so to re-connect Abbey Green to its neighbours.

CONNECTIVITY & IDENTITY

Our scheme establishes a new ordering of this public space whose composition, and architectural and landscaping language, is strikingly contemporary at certain points, yet historically referential at others. We do not wish to over-determine Abbey Green’s uses. The new setting must be culturally and urbanistically inclusive – a setting that’s open to a wide range of movements and uses and contemplations that will tie together the urban contexts on both sides of the Green and in a way that clarifies, rather than complicates, and that connects the Green to the town centre and to the ‘hinterland’ in new and welcoming ways.

A NEW TOWN WALL

The Western edge of Abbey Green is the electoral boundary of Barking and Dagenham and marks a border between the river and the town. It leads, via the footbridge, to Newham, and could connect to future developments along the river. Yet at present the site seems to drift away at the South-west corner and doesn’t have a strong territorial boundary. Conversely, the Abbey itself is relatively inaccessible and feels cut off. Our proposal is to thicken and to articulate the edge of the site, making it appear like a wall around a garden: or, perhaps more accurately, like a town or city wall punctuated by portals.

WALL, TOWERS, TREES & FIELDS

Abbey Green retains a sense of being a series of large fields. Monastic settlements grew to become universities, and the college typology is essentially cloisters around fields. The university Campus is thus a series of fields (Campi). We propose that Abbey Green becomes a place for leisure and culture, a place to enjoy theatre, history, sport, and all the forms of play that make life fun and interesting. Our ‘city wall’ becomes a mound, a belvedere and an amphitheatre and is broken at certain points by gateways or by gaps beside towers. Large trees sit beside these figures and new trees also join in the field game.

TOWERS & WETLANDS

The towers of Barking mark it out in a flat wetland landscape and give it a clear presence on the horizon as well as a memorable identity. These two essential characteristics inspire our design. We want to emphasise the horizontal and vertical character of the site, bringing the man-made and the natural landscape into dialogue, and placing the existing and ‘new’ ruins into a dramatic dialogue with each other.

AMBIGUOUS TYPES

A family of Types creates a strong sense of place and of belonging. The Abbey Green comprises a series of recognizable structures, and they seem almost to ‘speak’ to each other. Muf’s Wall appears part of this conversation about time and place. We wish to place a number of discrete yet familiar typologies together to amplify this conversation. It isn’t necessary to build all of the structures, and they can be erected over time. In this way the site will never appear completed, but will seem in a state of on-going evolution, ruination and weathering.

HISTORY & POETRY

We want to create a place that still seems familiar, but is also a vision of urban change that is poetic and earthy, atmospheric yet physically durable. We want to create a place that adds something slightly unexpected to the rituals of everyday life – but absolutely not in a virtual or illusory way. The new Abbey Green must have a sense of historical connection and 21st century meaning . . . the old-new, and the new-old, different times and places working together.

CARPARKS & TRAFFIC

The new Axe Street and proposed London Road/North Street carparks will provide spaces that can be shared by visitors to Abbey Green. We are aware of the existing and potential traffic problems along North Street associated with drop-offs at St Margaret’s school, the new market and access to other new developments. We believe that our proposal of paving, planting, street furniture and traffic engineering can deal with this challenge. For example, the proposed play areas at the rear of St Margaret’s and St Joseph’s schools can also act as pick up points, encouraging parents to park elsewhere or even to walk to school.

CURFEW TOWER

The area directly in front of the Curfew Tower is to be cleared of low quality trees and laid with granite sets, extending the High Street across The Broadway. We believe that this will re-establish the mediating role of the tower in the streetscape and re-connect the sacred territory of the churchyard with the mundane stage of the town. This new ‘stage’ will act as the setting for various forms of performance ranging from markets to funerals and festive processions.

SCHOOL GATES

St Joseph’s and St Margaret’s schools face onto The Broadway, but they lack decent entrances. The recent granite modifications to the streetscape, and the additions to The Broadway Theatre have improved the setting, but the schools don’t really address this new civic boulevard. Muf’s brick ‘city wall’ sets up a conversation that we want to join in with. We propose that the schools should have grand entrance porticos with ornamental gates facing The Broadway, and smaller new gateways that open onto the new play spaces at the rear. The porticos would be quite simple structures whilst the ironwork could be more ornate.

GARDEN THEATRE

Another form of stage will sit in front of The Broadway Theatre, allowing the town to act as a backdrop to summer performances. West evening sunlight will illuminate the actors. During the rest of the year the amphitheatre acts as a pleasant place to eat lunch and to meet friends as well as a place for less structured play.

CAFÉ FOR ABBEY GREEN

The Café is housed under a long colonnaded, pitched-roof structure, which also creates shelter for sitting outside all year ‘round. It looks out onto a childrens’ play area and a wetland landscape. The ground is gently terraced to create ‘outside rooms’. They are formed by low brick walls which sit on top of the ruins of the Victorian terraced houses along Heath Street that were demolished in the 1960s. These walls are the right height for adults to sit on and for children to play games with. You won’t need to purchase anything to be able to picnic here, but it’s convenient to have a WC and a café close-by.

MUSEUM TOWER

The Abbey Ruins should be recognized as being of national importance, if not of UNESCO World Heritage status. In order to achieve this we believe that the ruins need to be supported by a museum that houses artefacts and exhibitions that relate to the Abbey and the town itself. The museum should also be a place to view and study the town and the landscape. Our proposal for the museum comprises of a Limestone tower and a grassy mound that frame a gateway to Abbey Green and which bring the adjacent spaces ‘into play’.

MEMORIES & SECRETS

Emblems sit upon what was the front facade of the theatre, but are now partly obscured by the recent extension. Our proposal seeks to embody the spirit of these emblems in material and spatial forms, creating a new image of communal identity that is contemporary and inclusive. The Abbey floor was made up of gilded tiles, some of which are currently stored in St Margaret’s Church. We propose to re-lay these along with some new versions marking the current form of the Abbey Chapel. Similarly, the Lion of Barking is reappears on the proposed Museum Tower.

ART & GENEROSITY

The artist Hilary Koob-Sassen has worked with us on the 2nd stage of the competition. We wanted to find a way to illuminate some of the hidden treasures of Barking, and one way we propose to do this is to to carve and to gild the Lion of Barking the stone of the Museum Tower. Hilary also wrote a poem based upon the Latin Motto on the Town’s coat of Arms. We propose that the motto, ‘By the grace of God we are what we are’, could be carved into the West facade of the Tower.

BARKING

Hilary Koob-Sassen

By the Grace of God
We are what we are.
We are gardeners,
We are trellis-builders.

We cantilever trellis
From our bridge,
Forever up and out
Toward the light of God.

That we may
Find our way to
Bring all of life into the light.

TOWER GALLERIES

Each of the three rooms in the tower can be used for teaching and they all face different directions, revealing the different aspects of Barking. The first floor looks out over the river and will house exhibitions about geography: the second floor looks over the town and will exhibit historical artefacts; whilst the third floor is high enough for a view of the Abbey Ruins and will exhibit Abbey relics. Each room is 54m2 (581 sq. ft.) which generously accommodates a school class.

ABBEY PORTAL

The Narthex of a Christian church is an ambiguous territory between the sacred interior and the profane world beyond. We propose to build a new Portico structure that serves a number of purposes at once. Firstly, the portal will mark the entrance to the site of the Abbey and the underside of the raked ceiling will display an image of the once-complete space. Secondly, it creates an upper platform from which to view the site. Thirdly, the portal will obscure the view of the retail units across the road.

ABBEY FIELD

Most of the internal volume of the original Abbey church will be marked by a Hoggin surface. There are a handful of the original golden tiles that used to adorn the floor stored in St Margaret’s church, we propose could be exhibited in the museum. A replica set of these tiles could be laid into a new floor surface as part of a public art project, depending upon consultation with English Heritage. Tall Grasses will be planted on the grassy slopes, creating a sense of a Wetland garden. The sacred space at the centre of the cloister will
remain a simple lawn.

ST MARGARET’S FIELD

A new playing field sits to the West of the School, at the same level as the existing playground and will be accessed through a enlarged gateway. This results in a raised plateau around which a new path snakes. The plateau will be planted with wildflowers and herb garden sits between it and the Abbey ruins. St Margaret’s school sits behind a line of mature Plane trees which will now act as a colonnade uniting the building with the garden. This is the site of the Apothecary’s garden of the Abbey and we want to re-create an atmosphere of tranquility. The garden can be also used for outdoor teaching.

RIVER BELVEDERE

Sculptures by Ian Hamilton Finlay will be re-positioned on top of the mound, from where there will be in a better view of the river. We also propose to bring ‘Tree Island’ back to life.

PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

We have drawn on the Green’s past to try to achieve four important things for the future of Barking: first, to ensure full and easy access to the Abbey ruins, to maximise its chances of achieving World Heritage Status and potential funding for further improvements; second, to create a really strong sense of gathering and community that will be apparent from all approaches to the Green; third, to establish a very clear response to the town centre, and to the community at the edges of the Green; and fourth, to use a certain place-sensitive magic in the architecture and landscaping to create an engrossing sense of past, present and future.

[View with PicLens]

12►