WORK completeD on BURLINGTON GARDENS
The design relates closely to the new Royal Academy of Arts entrance, and joins a suite of projects helping to reinforce the setting of East Mayfair as the centre of the London art world
Photography by Edward Bishop
Burlington Gardens is designed as a civic space, facilitating the shared use of the street by pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles. The public realm recognises the importance of the street for the Royal Academy of Arts, while also providing an inviting threshold to local places.
Burlington Gardens is part of a wider vision for ‘East Mayfair’ – a distinct urban quarter between Bond Street and Regent Street with a concentration of galleries, cultural and knowledge institutions, and specialist retail establishments. It highlights the subtle relationships between street and interior, tradition and innovation, and making and exhibition, while enriching the character and legibility of the area in anticipation of increased footfall after the Elizabeth Line opens nearby. Burlington Gardens acts as a principal east–west pedestrian connection, linking Mayfair to Regent Street and Soho via Bond Street.
The design enhances the civic nature of the area and emphasises its importance as the public forecourt to the Royal Academy’s new entrance. It creates a suitable setting for this historic building through timeless design moves, including the use of granite setts in the carriageway to enhance the sense of a shared space; the unification of the setting of surrounding buildings; the provision of new seating; the upgrading of lamp columns; the addition of greenery, and the upgrading of iconic features such as coal holes and telephone boxes.
The street is designed to accommodate everyday use and traffic, as well temporary closures. Three telephone boxes will be transformed into public art projects by the Royal Academy Schools as part of the animation of the street. The scheme reduces the dominance of traffic with timed control of deliveries and rationalised parking including part closure of Vigo Street. Widened footways and improved accessibility enhance pedestrian comfort. WCC’s material palette for East Mayfair acts as a coordinated link between recent and future public realm improvements in the area.
Alongside the Burlington Gardens work, Publica produced the vision and strategy for a suite of East Mayfair projects, working collaboratively with transport consultants Norman Rourke Pryme to significantly improve the public realm. All of the works are intended to support the area during a time of considerable change, with the arrival of the Elizabeth line, the opening of the new Royal Academy building and entrance on Burlington Gardens, the regeneration of the galleries associated uses on Cork Street.
The project was commissioned by The Pollen Estate, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), O&H and the Royal Academy of Arts, in consultation with the Savile Row Strategic Group, Native Land, Westminster City Council (WCC) and New West End Company (NWEC).
Read more about the Public Realm Vision, Strategy and Applied Urban Design for East Mayfair project here.
Projects ⋅ June 2021
See more
WORK completeD on BURLINGTON GARDENS
The design relates closely to the new Royal Academy of Arts entrance, and joins a suite of projects helping to reinforce the setting of East Mayfair as the centre of the London art world
Photography by Edward Bishop
Burlington Gardens is designed as a civic space, facilitating the shared use of the street by pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles. The public realm recognises the importance of the street for the Royal Academy of Arts, while also providing an inviting threshold to local places.
Burlington Gardens is part of a wider vision for ‘East Mayfair’ – a distinct urban quarter between Bond Street and Regent Street with a concentration of galleries, cultural and knowledge institutions, and specialist retail establishments. It highlights the subtle relationships between street and interior, tradition and innovation, and making and exhibition, while enriching the character and legibility of the area in anticipation of increased footfall after the Elizabeth Line opens nearby. Burlington Gardens acts as a principal east–west pedestrian connection, linking Mayfair to Regent Street and Soho via Bond Street.
The design enhances the civic nature of the area and emphasises its importance as the public forecourt to the Royal Academy’s new entrance. It creates a suitable setting for this historic building through timeless design moves, including the use of granite setts in the carriageway to enhance the sense of a shared space; the unification of the setting of surrounding buildings; the provision of new seating; the upgrading of lamp columns; the addition of greenery, and the upgrading of iconic features such as coal holes and telephone boxes.
The street is designed to accommodate everyday use and traffic, as well temporary closures. Three telephone boxes will be transformed into public art projects by the Royal Academy Schools as part of the animation of the street. The scheme reduces the dominance of traffic with timed control of deliveries and rationalised parking including part closure of Vigo Street. Widened footways and improved accessibility enhance pedestrian comfort. WCC’s material palette for East Mayfair acts as a coordinated link between recent and future public realm improvements in the area.
Alongside the Burlington Gardens work, Publica produced the vision and strategy for a suite of East Mayfair projects, working collaboratively with transport consultants Norman Rourke Pryme to significantly improve the public realm. All of the works are intended to support the area during a time of considerable change, with the arrival of the Elizabeth line, the opening of the new Royal Academy building and entrance on Burlington Gardens, the regeneration of the galleries associated uses on Cork Street.
The project was commissioned by The Pollen Estate, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), O&H and the Royal Academy of Arts, in consultation with the Savile Row Strategic Group, Native Land, Westminster City Council (WCC) and New West End Company (NWEC).
Read more about the Public Realm Vision, Strategy and Applied Urban Design for East Mayfair project here.
Projects ⋅ June 2021
See more