Thamesmead Waterfront

NES is part of Urban Orchestra, a collection of creative architects, engineers and masterplanners who collaborated on the Thamesmead Waterfront competition. We focused on humanising the development by creating Nyla, a fictional young Thamesmead resident and pictured what this new area would need to do to support her, and her family and friends though all stages of her life and over the next 30+ years. 

We focused on the ideals and potentials of ‘home’ rather than housing, ‘play’ rather than public realm, and ‘career’ rather than office. Further spaces prioritised learning, culture, environment and the planet, and placemaking that encourages people to not just move the Thamesmead, but stay there. 

The team included Tibbalds, Expedition, Haptic Architects and Mikhail Riches; with Create Culture; Gardiner and Theobald; Gibson Thornley; GS Solutions; Innovation First; Kjellander Sjöberg; LOLA; Madeleine Kessler Architecture; Mary Duggan Architects; Nick Elias Studio; Nordic – Office of Architecture; William Matthews Architects and ZCD Architects. The team was supported by Deb Khan.