CAPITAL WATCH

In the 1960s Jane Jacobs wrote that "the sight of people attracts still other people, is something that city planners and city architectural designers seem to find incomprehensible. They operate on the premise that city people seek the sight of emptiness, obvious order and quiet. Nothing could be less true. The presences of great numbers of people gathered together in cities should not only be frankly accepted as a physical fact – they should also be enjoyed as an asset and their presence celebrated”. This is not a modern phenomenon. In ancient Rome, the Forum was the public square and marketplace that was the focal point of any Roman city. Today the word “forum” is generally first defined in most dictionaries as “a meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged”, as opposed to the actual physical description of ancient times. The physical place had such a powerful effect on the public that it became a description of a concept. For a place to be truly successful, it has to fire up the right side of the brain. It cannot just “make sense” to people. It has to delight, inspire, compel, and create that Proustian moment where intellect is met and overwhelmed by instinct and joy. Usually, there are a number of ingredients that will make an urban “place” succeed or fail – and they were largely the same in ancient Rome as they are in New York’s Hudson Yards today. Certain elements such as transport connectivity are necessary for a place to function: but the features below are what will make it truly compelling. London has numerous examples of the impact a successful public space can have on its surroundings. These spaces don’t have to be big – “Silence” by Tadao Ando and Blair Associates, the water feature at the junction of Mount Street and Carlos Place, is remarkable for the impact it has had on its surroundings. Jumping to New York for a moment, Paley Park has the same effect – it surprises, delights and engages an area far larger than the space it occupies. At a larger scale, King’s Cross has unquestionably broken new ground recently in terms of creating public spaces that draw people to them. Granary Square has not only significantly influenced King’s Cross; it has become a landmark on the to-do list of almost every visitor to London – and of course the people who live here. This pattern will next be seen at Wood Wharf, near Canary Wharf. This location is already a world- famous urban centre: its next iteration will see truly delightful public spaces where people will be able to fully engage with the environment around them on a human scale. What makes places great? Public spaces Water Activity Buildings that delight Whether by a canal or the river itself, people love to be near water. Water adds life, authenticity and a subliminal feeling of connectedness – one of the most attractive London walks is along the Regent’s Canal from King’s Cross to Paddington. Paddington is now addressing the canal in a way it never has before, with exemplary new architecture like the Brunel Building offering double-height sliding panoramic doors on the canalside. Who is going to sit in reception here and fail to be delighted? Jane Jacobs was right – who wants to visit an empty, lifeless civic area? Things need to be going on in a place to engage its potential audience. One of the best recent examples of this along the canal in Paddington – which has been completely energised with the new Go Boats, stand-up paddleboard yoga, and Darcie and May Green (the restaurant barges). On the other side of London, at Here East, the canalside restaurants and other activities are very hard indeed to beat on a summer’s day. The buildings people enjoy working in most are those that bring in maximum amounts of natural light – especially ones that also offer some outside space that is part of the building. The White Collar Factory running track and top- floor terrace/café/bar have rightly drawn international recognition. The Gantry at Here East is also a fabulous creative hive. The four buildings I can’t wait to see finished are the Brunel Building in Paddington, the Google and Facebook buildings at King’s Cross, and the Market Building at Wood Wharf. All will offer huge amounts of natural light, all engage with their surroundings in a compelling way, and all will have truly remarkable outside spaces. People Defining the community is a vital part of making a space compelling. This is not to say that everyone must be doing the same thing – far from it. But the idea of being in a dynamic community where everyone is breaking new ground is very exciting, whether this is UCL’s robotics teams at Here East (which looks like the set of a Spielberg movie), DeepMind, The Francis Crick Institute, Facebook at King’s Cross, or Level 39 at Canary Wharf. Feeling the crackle of pioneering intellect in the air leaves you wanting to be a part of this inspiration. For a place to be truly successful, it has to fire up the right side of the brain. It cannot just “make sense” to people. It has to delight, inspire, compel The idea of being in a dynamic community where everyone is breaking new ground is very exciting CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD 05 LEAD ARTICLE 04 LEAD ARTICLE