The pandemic has forced us to spend more time in our homes and thus highlighted the problem areas of these domestic spaces. Going forward it will be important for us as architects to rethink the way we design spaces for living, as the way we live and the time we spend at home has changed. My design thesis aims at critiquing the current stock of poor-quality housing in Woolwich and proposing a cost-effective upgrade to four existing tower blocks. I wanted to improve the quality of life of the residents by providing more space by extending the existing towers and allowing for more sunlight, better insulation, and thus more comfortable living conditions.
Woolwich is a place where people from different cultures are living separate but connected lives. However, a vast majority of residents tend to leave Woolwich to spend their leisure time somewhere else as the existing public spaces are unwelcoming and limited. The second part of my thesis project was to redesign the currently fenced off and empty public spaces on the ground floor of the four tower blocks and provide a new public amenity, connecting people to their community and get them familiar with their neighbours, while celebrating the different cultures through the performing arts, perhaps the most inclusive and most relevant artform for this purpose.
