Two MA landscape architecture students at the University of Greenwich have won a competition for one of London’s most prestigious development sites

Winning designs by Alick Nee and Danny Mitchel
Winning designs by Alick Nee and Danny Mitchell

Alick Nee and Danny Mitchell won a competition run by the Landscape Institute, Canary Wharf Group and Townshend Landscape Architects to design event facilities at Wood Wharf, immediately to the east of Canary Wharf in central London.

The competition attracted 120 registrations from around the country. It asked students for design ideas for the temporary use of the space for a range of events in the lead up to and during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games next summer.

The winning students’ design featured the ‘Great British Summer’ theme, with a meadow of British wild flowers divided by walking paths in the shape of the Union Jack, plant life to give a ‘green’ backing for structures such as big screens and large windsocks and umbrellas to ‘celebrate’ the great British summer’s wind and rain.

The winning team will receive £3,000 provided by Canary Wharf Group and will each undertake month long internships at Townshend Landscape Architects.

Robert Townshend from Townshend Landscape Architects said: “The nine finalists produced some thought-provoking schemes demonstrated the strength of landscape students across all the Universities. There were a number of great responses, and I was delighted with the way the students developed such a diversity of ideas to meet the demands of a challenging brief.”

Alastair McCapra, chief executive of the Landscape Institute, said that the competition highlighted the exceptional talent coming up the ranks in the landscape architecture profession. “Alick Nee and Danny Mitchell have come up with a very exciting concept. Their creativity demonstrates the kind of inspiring contribution landscape architects can make in creating beautiful public spaces.”

Stephen Andrews, project design executive at Canary Wharf Group said he and his team were working on ways to integrate some of the ideas into their own designs for the Wood Wharf space. “It seems the future of the landscape architecture profession is in good hands,” he said.

The judges awarded second place to a team of five Masters students from the University of Sheffield, who receive £1,000 between them. Sheffield University also won the University prize of a further £500. Canary Wharf Group decided that the further seven short listed entries merited recognition and so awarded them a further £500 each.

An exhibition of 14 entries will be on display at Canary Wharf next summer.

 

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