Drapers FieldLeyton Open Spaces


Drapers Field has a strategic role in the Olympic Legacy. This new park in East London is the first ‘Stitching the Fringe’ project integrating new Olympic developments into the surrounding existing communities.

Creating a playful walk to school through the park to Chobham Academy was a key component of the layout, integrating the site into the adjacent public realm.

The diagonal path which facilitates ‘the playful walk to school’ provides a route which follows the key desire line between the communities of Leyton and the new Chobam Academy. The bike track provides a series of obstacles of varying difficulties allowing children on scooters and bikes to progressively build their skills and confidence. It also allows space - and has marking to help facilitate – bike ability courses which teach children core bike skills. ‘The playful walk to school’ cuts through the grass waves and has trampolines located at one end and terminates with a hill at the other. The overall layout does not territorialise play space but allows play to flow over a wide and ranging landscape, encouraging collaborative and intergenerational playfulness in the urban realm.

While maintaining a clear design language and visual identity the proposals at Drapers Field have achieved a lot in a relatively small space including: providing a focal point for new and established communities; cohesion in the public realm; addressing strategic London wide issues of such as childhood obesity by establishing opportunities for spontaneous activity and intergenerational play; and allowing space for cycling skills and cycling to school.

2011–2014
Waltham Forest, London

Client

London Borough of Waltham Forest

Value

£2m

Architect

mae

Cost Consultant

Cinns Ltd

Engineer

Webb Yates

Photographer

Adrian Taylor

Awards

2014 WAN Landscape Award Commendation



Drapers Field

Drapers Field has a strategic role in the Olympic Legacy. This new park in East London is the first ‘Stitching the Fringe’ project integrating new Olympic developments into the surrounding existing communities.

Kinnear Landscape Architects
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