Clients:
London Business Partnership / Harrow Council / Young Harrow Foundation
Landscape Architect:
DK-CM
Contractor:
Trimlock Services Ltd
Project details:
Rayners Lane is an Underground station in north west London, set within a 1930s development originally named Harrow Garden Village. The station itself features a large cube-shaped brick and glass ticket hall capped with a flat reinforced concrete roof, designed by renowned transport architect Charles Holden and typical of his new stations built in this period. To the immediate north of the station, two roads converge before crossing the railway lines at Rayners Lane station, forming a wedge of public space that was previously a rather unkempt and inaccessible small low-walled garden. DK-CM architects were commissioned to design public realm improvements which have been financed through GLA’s Crowdfund London initiative and will ultimately incorporate a new unit designed to host community projects and initiatives organised by the Young Harrow Foundation.
The new public space references the strong triangular geometry that is naturally formed by the convergence of Rayners Lane and Imperial Drive, with new raised planters and paving designed to reinforce the angularity of the site. The spaces between the planters are generous, for ease of pedestrian movement across this busy site. The planter walls have been set at a height that allows them to be used for seating, to encourage social interaction within the space, though the naturally cold and rough textured rendered blockwork walls wouldn’t be particularly comfortable for seating purposes. The addition of Furnitubes’ Lapa benches – with a timber-slatted seating surface - is much more inviting to sit on. Following detailed site measurements taken by Furnitubes of the as-built walls we were able to determine the most suitable platform module depth and length so that all modules supplied could be common. In total, 29 no. 1500mm long benches were fitted to the two angular planters, providing seating capacity for nearly 90 people.
Visit the Furnitubes International website for more information on Harrow Garden Village Triangle, London