Aldgate landmark competition_TRIGATE

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Aldgate landmark competition_TRIGATE

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Cultural ›
Government + Health ›

The competition brief was to erect a temporary
landmark on the site of the historic Aldgate, on the eastern edge of the City of London. The landmark will stand for the duration of
the year 2012, coinciding with the London
Olympic and Paralympic Games. The
landmark should reinforce the City’s links with the City Fringe and with the regeneration of this area of East London and
contribute to the celebration of the Games.
The interventions should also help to define the identity of the rapidly
changing Aldgate area and assist in its
regeneration. It is desired that the new Aldgate landmark serve a functional
purpose or amenity aswell as providing a
transient moment of delight. Our proposal seeks to reinforce the urban connection between the City of London and the City Fringe by referencing in juxtaposition the influence of the 2012 London Olympics with the history of the site and local area.Modern society no longer requires defensive structures such as the historic London Wall and the ‘Aldgate’. Our concept therefore takes the idea of the historic ‘wall’ driven eastwards by the forces of development and progression. This new dynamism gestures toward the Olympic Park, pushing the wall from its footings, leaving only a footprint of its former location. Under these forces the wall disintegrates, creating new gateways which allow pedestrian flow through and around the wall. This drive to the east is further expressed by a parallel analogy of three abstracted figures sprinting toward the Olympic Park, chest out, as they charge toward the finishing line. The three figures come together almost as one as they approach the finishing tape, leaving traces of their dynamic movement in the landscape.