UC Berkeley, Thamesmead Studio, 2022
UC Berkeley MUD, MRED+D, MCP and MLA students
John Ellis Studio Instructor with Eric Harrison
The Thamesmead studio brought 22 graduate students from the various Departments at the College of Environmental Design to work together to produce designs for a real live project in London.
Thamesmead is a remnant of two previous eras of London’s plans for expansion along the Thames. In the 1960’s it was a first planned as a large scale public housing development in a Brutalist style. In the privatised Thatcher Government years it became an example of suburban sprawl.
With the advent of the new Elizabeth Line the area is part of the emerging linear city along the Thames and is planned for a new phase with 15,000 dwellings and an expansion of the Docklands Light Rail from across the river. The Peabody Trust and Lend Lease are joint developers with Prior & Partners as master planners.
The students visited London for a week over the Spring Break 2022 and were able to see a range of case studies and the Thamesmead site. Jonathan Rose of Prior & Partners generously provided the programme for the studio and together with other jurors gave a valuable critique of the work before the students returned to Berkeley for the final reviews.
The project won a CNU Merit Award in 2023.
Thamesmead is part of a growing linear city on the Thames Estuary. Established originally in the 1960's as a Brutalist era public housing estate, it is now planned as a mixed-income transit-oriented town that is intended to provide much needed new housing and employment as London continues to grow eastwards.
Aerial view of the site looking west towards London.
Thamesmead site showing the different eras of design from the Brutalist public housing estates to the east and the more suburban private estates to the west.
Team 1: 'A City of Choices' proposed an arcing layout in response to the curve in the river. Vedanti Agarwal (MUD), Eugene Lau (MCP), Mausam Jamwal (MCP), Bhavesh Shahani (MRED+D), Helen Bourdeau (MRED+D).
Team 2: 'A City of Villages' proposed a trio of villages separated by green fingers containing open space and lakes. Diksha Singh (MUD), Molly Harris (MCP), Lauren Willey (MCP), James Crampton (MRED+D), Sachin Yadev (MRED+D).
Team 3: 'A Car-free Thamesmead' proposed a car-free development based on a network of pedestrian scaled neighborhoods linked by a transit loop. Daoming Lin (MUD), Claire Mardian (MCP), Lauren Czerniak (MRED+D).
Team 4: 'A Clockwork City' after the 1972 Stanley Kubrick movie that was filmed here, proposed an urban pattern bisected by a curving boulevard. Aditi Subramanian (MUD), Katie Knipfing (MCP), Samantha Serafica (MCP), Diljot Kaur (MRED+D), Jessie DiGiovanni (MRED+D).
Team 5: 'A Studio City' organised around film studios as the economic engine for the emerging linear city along the Thames Gateway. Wenzheng Fan (MUD), Loft Pavida Bualert (MCP), Victor Xu (MRED+D), Krati Jain (MRED+D).
Students visiting the Thamesmead site.
Jurors including Jo Van Heyningen, Peter Howard, Peter Buchanan, Ying Jin.