Encounter with the edge

Abstract

London’s ambiguous edges have turned into an area of negligence as they are simply not considered anyone’s responsibility. Its final ends are places where allocated amenities considered as burdens can no longer be pushed further outwards. However, simultaneously, it is where Londoners take advantage of this negligence and escape the city to answer their own alternative needs and desires themselves. Together these actions result in an edge condition where we no longer recognize the city, but yet, it is the only place that confronts us with what the city really is. It is a place of both belonging and estrangement. This project explores an alternative approach to the current undirected piecemeal development that is taking place, by objectifying the conflict with London’s ambiguous edges. Thereby, the architecture of the edge becomes the physical encounter of the psycho- geographic condition, and aims to activate the heterogeneous zone through a more responsible way of building. It does not question the condition, nor takes a position in the ongoing debate about the future of it, but addresses its articulation through a series of fragmented interventions as part of an open-ended strategy.