NOOMA Studio wins competition to revamp Nine Elms street

NOOMA Studio has won a competition for a £65,000 public realm project on Wilcox Road, near the new Nine Elms tube station in south-west LondonThe Tottenham-based collective triumphed with its Shine a Light on Wilcox Road concept. The competition was organised by the London Festival of Architecture for Lambeth Council.NOOMA Studio was selected from a five-strong shortlist which also included Embed x Carson Sall; Most Architecture with Urban Growth and The Remakery; Ten Tectons and EH Smith; and a team comprising Anny Stephanou, Anna Muzychak and Patricia Mato-Mora.According to the emerging practice, its concept works with existing street furniture ‘to reduce unnecessary street clutter’. It will see lamp posts powder-coated pink, while a blue thread motif will track through the road and become a painted road crossing. The intervention will also see the creation of two murals, several flag poles and an illuminated sign.The concept is based on telling the road’s ‘vibrant market history’ and uses a ‘kit of parts’ – from the blue and pink colour scheme, to old-school fonts and iconography relevant to current businesses, such as a shark, scissors and dartboard.NOOMA Studio will receive £65,000 – which includes a £10,000 fee – to design, make and install their winning public-realm concept, which will remain in place for at least 10 years.Wilcox Road is sits between the 1950s Wyvil Estate and 1930s Vauxhall Estate and is served by several shops. The road provides a pedestrian link between Nine Elms station on Wandsworth Road and nearby South Lambeth Road.Two years ago, Lambeth Council approved plans for the partial redevelopment of Wilcox Road for a new mixed-use scheme. The new public realm project aims to deliver a ‘transformational and innovative’ intervention on the street so it can serve as an easily recognisable town-centre gateway.A presentation board made by NOOMA Studio for the competition reads: ‘Shine a light on Wilcox Road revives a once thriving market street through distinctive branding that gives a nod to the lost tradition of craft and interactivity on British high streets.‘A kit of parts elevates the crafts, trades and culture that Wilcox Road has to offer, reinvigorating a once essential community asset in Nine Elms.’NOOMA Studio is one of 40 practices and individuals named in AJ’s 40 under 40 in 2020.