A location that seven years ago was the centre of a bitter battle to preserve Brixton’s character will now be the site of the winning entry in a major architectural event celebrating the area.
Railway arches on Atlantic Road once housed traders like Mash Brothers fishmongers and Budget Carpets. They closed after a long dispute over refurbishment of the arches by Network Rail and the new rents for them. Some of the arches, now owned by the Arch Company, are still empty.
Now people waiting on Atlantic Road for the 322 bus through the Atlantic and Railton Road low traffic neighbourhood may have the chance to catch a movie thanks to the winning entry for Brixton in the annual London Festival of Architecture (LFA).
Brixton is one of five destinations in this year’s festival – the 19th – with events and installations in the area, “celebrating architecture and citymaking”.
In Brixton, based around the LFA theme “In Common”, events will run throughout June and feature “a diverse and engaging series of public events and installations, aimed at anyone with an interest in London’s architecture and spaces that surround us”.
Brixton is an official LFA Destination and will host events in a programme exploring the architecture which has shaped Brixton, the legacies of colonialism in the public realm and people’s histories of Brixton, explored through walks, workshops, family events, and film screenings.
The LFA coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Empire Windrush’s arrival in Britain and the 25th anniversary of the naming of Windrush Square.
Its Brixton programme celebrates this distinctive legacy, The winning entry, Views on the Atlantic, will be created by Brixton Community Cinema with Bamidele Awoyemi, Farouk Agoro and Livia Wang. Farouk Agoro was one of the designers the iconic bridge messages welcoming people to and from Brixton – Come in Love and Stay in Peace – which was installed in 2018. The collective also won a competition to create an artwork at the Tessa Jowell Health Centre in East Dulwich after winning a competition run by Dulwich Picture Gallery.
The design competition People at the Centre of Brixton, was launched by LFA in partnership with Lambeth council and the Brixton Business Improvement District (BID).
The project will see two “cinema-facilitating interventions” installed at Atlantic Road and Windrush Square – places for evening cinema screenings, exhibitions, and other programme activities celebrating Brixton’s character and history.
LFA is inviting Brixton residents and visitors to explore the many public spaces across the area and encouraging people to come together to enjoy, celebrate and take ownership of them.
LFA said events explore the theme of “In Common” from every perspective, “reflecting on what we share – from the finite number of natural resources we have left and the physical ‘commons’ public spaces we use – to our common differences in lived experience”.
Events in the Brixton programme for the festival include:
- Windrush 75: A Lambeth Story: a guided tour of the Windrush Generation’s legacy in Brixton, from Lambeth Tour Guides.
- COMMON GARDENS: Practice: a day of workshops, talks, and exchanges at Loughborough Farm providing participants with practical knowledge on and around urban gardening, co-hosted by London South Bank University.
- Brixton Re:Created: a performance by Brixton Chamber Orchestra in and around Brixton’s iconic Recreation Centre.
- Legacies of Colonialism in Our Public Realm: a panel discussion at Brixton library exploring legacies of colonialism in our public realm led by local historians, archivists, residents and cultural organisations.
- International House: A Space for Public Good: an event opening the doors and sharing ideas in 3Space International House, the 11-storey building in the centre of Brixton which has worked as a creative, community and social innovation hub. Co-organised with We Go Forth.
- Holding the Flame: an augmented reality statue by Aswarm, designed to speak to its location and history, in Canterbury Square in front of Brixton police station.
Views on the Atlantic, the winning project of ‘People at the Centre of Brixton’ was selected from a shortlist of six, compiled from more than 30 entries.
The competition was designed to encourage people to Brixton’s public realm, and to spark discussion and debate about the role that historical common land plays in our urban environment.
‘Views on the Atlantic’ is a series of built interventions at Atlantic Road and Windrush Square.
These will be used as places for evening cinema screenings, exhibitions, and other programme activities; during the day, both sites will be places for “gathering, education and artistic expression”, with a series of learning workshops.
The cinema screening programme will be a celebration of Brixton’s rich cultural and heritage.
Displays of archival photography and film will be gathered from local organisations and archives, such as Lambeth Archives, Ritzy Cinema and the Black Cultural Archives.
The interventions will also have a varied input from local creatives and international community cinemas.
‘Views on the Atlantic’ will be installed in June.
Brixton Business Improvement District (BID) offered £10,000 worth of grant funding to financially support local event organisers as part of the LFA programme.
Local residents, artists, historians, organisations and others were able to apply for a grant to support new or planned events and activities for LFA2023, on the basis that events were inclusive, clearly benefited Brixton residents, and celebrated architecture and heritage across the area.
The destination status is supported by the London Borough of Lambeth and Brixton BID.
The aim of the competition is “to encourage people to Brixton’s public realm, sparking discussion and debate about the role that historical common land plays in our urban environment”. T
Judges were impressed by ‘Views on the Atlantic’ in the way that it “draws on local shared history and creates new common spaces which facilitate creative exchange and spark conversation”.
The installation is described as “a series of built interventions at Atlantic Road and Windrush Square … used as places for evening cinema screenings, exhibitions, and other programme activities. During the day, both sites will be places for ‘gathering, education and artistic expression’, for example, with a series of learning workshops at Atlantic Road”.
The cinema screening programme will seek inspiration from “In Common” theme and celebrate Brixton’s culture and history.
Displays of archival photography and film will be gathered from local organisations and archives, including Lambeth Archives, Ritzy Cinema and Black Cultural Archives. The interventions will also have “a varied input from local creatives and international community cinemas”.
The judging panel was:
- Rosa Rogina, London Festival of Architecture, director (chair)
- Gianluca Rizzo, Brixton BID director
- Binki Taylor, LFA curation panel 2023, The Brixton Project
- Dawn Bunce, Lambeth council
- Tim Gledstone, partner at Brixton-based architects Squires & Partners
- Jessica Dyer, content curator of Make It in Brixton, Brixton’s Creative Enterprise Zone
- Lisa Anderson, interim managing director, Black Cultural Archives
Rosa Rogina said: “The Brixton Community Cinema team are a fantastic local collaboration with both creative and programming experience. We are so pleased that they are also providing a platform for other local creatives and organisations through their project.
“We are delighted by the way that the team have responded to LFA’s theme ‘In Common’ in their design. ‘Views on the Atlantic’ really puts people and their experience of the public realm into the foreground, looking to future uses of Brixton’s commons.”
Cllr Donatus Anyanwu, Lambeth council cabinet member for stronger communities, leisure and sports, said: “I congratulate Brixton Community Cinema, Bamidele, Farouk and Livia on their winning design and we are looking forward to working with them to develop this further.
“Taking part in this festival will give our local residents as well as visitors to our borough a great opportunity to appreciate and learn more about the area’s fascinating architecture, soak up our local culture and attend interesting events during the month.
“It will also be an opportunity for people to have their say about the future of the area with projects set to run that look at how we all use public spaces in the neighbourhood.
“Coupled with this year’s hugely significant Windrush 75 anniversary, which also takes place in June, these celebrations will guarantee a fun, thought provoking and culturally packed June for Brixton.”
