© Joe Howard, BAR Productions
London Festival of Architecture (LFA) has partnered with the City of London BID, Cheapside Business Alliance, on a new installation at Bow Churchyard, in place until 31 August 2023.
‘Common Ground’ by Urban Radicals and Saqqra, considers sustainable use of finite resources as well as the question of how accessible our urban environment is, while also celebrating the history of St Mary-le-Bow Church.
The team used recycled materials salvaged from nearby sites of manufacture, building on the church’s legacy of layered re-construction and re-use. After its destruction, Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt St Mary-le-Bow in 1680, with a tower that used the Roman gravel roadway as its foundations. The project highlights Wren’s 300-year anniversary this year, drawing attention to the ethos of architecture and re-use.
The installation presents an assemblage of various salvaged components: crushed aggregates from ceramic building elements and brick ‘rejects’ are salvaged and cast in lime to form seat surfaces; ceramic cornices, coping blocks and other traditional building elements which have been discarded during recent restoration works; and surplus facade cladding tiles used for the colour tiles produced during a large manufacturing run for a project by Feilden Fowles.
The ramps have been cast with the intention of being donated to St Mary-le-Bow after the project is complete; ensuring wheelchair access to the central aisle of the church.
As conveyed in ‘Common Ground’, the intervention takes the common motifs of accessible design, often latent in our everyday public realm, and raises these to a level that users can see and engage with through physical touch.
This is one of four installations commissioned in partnership with the City of London BIDs.
Visit to see, interact and relax on this new installation and be sure to tag us and #LFA2023 in any photographs you take!
More info can be found here.
About Cheapside Business Alliance
The Cheapside Business Alliance (CBA) is extremely proud to represent the wonderful historic area of Cheapside. Since 2015, it has represented the local business community and created an array of exciting programmes and projects which aim to increase economic prosperity in the area and ensure that Cheapside continues to be a leading destination for leisure and retail.
All images are © Joe Howard, BAR Productions
