On The Cobbles
Competition-winning public bench in East London’s Thames Barrier Park.
Drawing inspiration from the Royal Docks’ rich history as a thriving hub for trade, from archive photos of it’s shipping heyday with countless cargos of meat, fruit, vegetables and other goods passing through encased in rough timber crates.
The bench echoes the transitory character of the site, with steel-banded boxes dropped on the promenade temporarily forming a place for passersby to rest and ruminate. Named ‘On The Cobbles’, a slang term from dockers standing on the cobbled street for decades waiting outside the dock gates for work.
Overlooking the Thames Barrier on the perimeter of a public park, the design is completely demountable, with screws and steel banding joining a series of reclaimed railway sleepers built by Poacea members to form generous seats of varying heights with a table to watch the sunset over the river with a refreshing drink.
Decorated with tiles hand-carved by members of the public during a series of guided workshops to record their individual stories and experiences of living in Newham, which were then fired and integrated within the seating, recalling stamps decorating the timber crates that historically lined this dock.
Made possible by funding from the London Festival of Architecture through their Pews and Perches Competition, with a focus on sustainability and ‘Our People, Our Stories’, with site and local delivery facilitated by The Royal Docks. Workshops run in collaboration with The Community Shop Newham, Green Fair by Sustainable Newham, and Bow Arts.