I was pleased to be invited to sit on the panel of the Living on the River debate last Thursday hosted by the Old Royal Naval College (ORNC) and the Architectural Review (AR). This night was the first in a series of three debates hosted by AR and ORNC and was a good start to what promises to be an excellent series.
I was a bit of an oddity amongst the panellists talking not about the River but instead about London’s canals. My presentation covered some of the things I’ve been looking at with London Waterways Projects whilst at The Cass. I explained a bit of the background to boat numbers, overcrowding and service provision before looking at some of the more speculative architectural responses to the issues and the lessons that can be learnt from the canals. I have included my presentation slides (along with my fairly rough and ready summary notes) here, if anybody wants to download them.
Thanks also to ORNC for a few nice photos of the event – included above. Furthermore AR have put together a series of wonderful films in which Ellis Woodman and some key figures talk about the role of the Thames and its associated waterways play in the 21st century city. The first of which can be seen below, parts 2 and 3 are also available here and here.
