Announcing our third festival hub: Royal Docks

Festival Hub #3: Royal Docks

This week, we’re thrilled to announce that the Royal Docks is the third Festival Hub to be joining us for the London Festival of Architecture 2019! All the exciting activity surrounding our Royal Docks Design Charrette may have been a give away, but we are delighted to welcome the Royal Docks back on board for our next Festival!

The Royal Docks is embarking on an exciting new chapter. Once London’s gateway to world trade, today the Royal Docks is re-emerging as a prime location for business and as a place to live. Covering over 1,200 acres, this vast area of Newham, East London, is undergoing an incredible revival with thousands of new homes and jobs being delivered in the area over the next 20 years.

The Royal Docks Delivery Team is a joint initiative from the Mayor of London and the Mayor of Newham.

Throwback: Royal Docks festival highlights 2018

Having been one of our wonderful focus areas for LFA2018, the Royal Docks was home to many exciting events last summer, featuring everything from insightful panel discussions to activities for whole the family. Keep reading to check out just a few of our highlights from the Royal Docks during LFA2018:

The Disappearance of Robin Hood
Shown by ArchFilmFest London in partnership with the LFA and the Swiss Embassy in London, the world premiere of Urban-Think Tank’s ’The Disappearance of Robin Hood’ presented the history of the Robin Hood Gardens council housing block and its community, intertwined with contemporary urban narratives of the city. The evening was concluded with a round table panel discussion and Q&A examining the housing crisis that London faces today.

Swiss Sensibility 
Hosted by the Silver Building, Swiss Sensibility examined Switzerland’s rich and deep-rooted architectural culture, as it traced the history of this proud tradition through a photographic exhibition and related artists’ talk. Visitors also had the opportunity to meet and listen to the three Swiss speakers involved with this project, as they shared their experience and views on Swiss architectural identity through a panel discussion.

Estates Playground – An Art Installation
Throughout the festival, Yinka Ilori’s Estate Playground took pride of place in its new Royal Albert Wharf home. The playful installation draws upon Ilori’s memories of the Islington council estate playground where he spent much of his youth, to recreate a place where people historically come together to discuss issues, share problems and connect with each other. Now donated to the Bow Arts Trust, the playground will be experienced by the hundreds of schools across London that the charity work with.

The Urban Legend of Alberta Gallion
As the current Bow Arts artist in residence at RAW Labs, Jojo Hynes led a series of arts workshops with local community and school groups to create a future Heroine for the area. Named ‘Alberta Gallion’, she is an urban legend, inspired by local heroines past and present, and their brilliant stories of creativity, resilience, and resistance. Drawing on the architecture of Royal Albert Wharf by Notting Hill Genesis, ‘Alberta Gallion’ was honoured with a celebratory procession around the area.