COCKPIT YARD
A mixed-use masterplan in a highly sensitive heritage location fully remodels Holborn Library, creates new studio spaces, delivers 110 homes, and makes new public realm for the community
FOR CAMDEN COUNCIL WITH U+I
A private-public partnership between developer U+I and Camden City Council looks to unlock the full economic, social and cultural potential of a tired site in Holborn.
Our design is anchored around Little Cockpit Yard – a conical event and performance space that plays on the original hexagonal motif in the library and brings daylight to all floors of the community space. It will regenerate the library as an attractive destination in Holborn, connecting to the wider Holborn hinterland beyond, significantly boosting the area’s public realm offering.
THE CONE
The conical Cockpit form is at the heart of the scheme. It is a meeting point, a gathering place, a place to study, read and relax. It draws people in from the street and forms a focus of the library and the public spaces.
Conceptually, the cone brings together many of the themes in the proposals. Its form is taken from the conical roof of the historic cockfighting arena that gives Cockpit Yard its name, and once again creates a place for people to gather.
LITTLE COCKPIT YARD & COCKPIT LANE
The historic route into the site is restored as a public route into and through the library. Anchored around the conical “cockpit” event space, this open, welcoming space attracts people into the library and connects the activity of the site to Theobald’s Road. Cockpit Lane runs from the south end of John’s Mews.
This new public space links all the uses on the site. It opens to Little Cockpit Yard to the south, and provides a view to Cockpit Arts’ space at its end, with residential accommodation accessed from each side of the lane.
A FORUM FOR CREATIVITY
The southern portion of Cockpit Yard is glazed over to form a light-filled atrium, bringing daylight to the studio spaces accessed from balconies spanning the space. Below is a generous area where activities can spill out, where events can take place and where the designer-makers can gather. This strategy creates a forum for collaboration and a social space at the heart of the Cockpit Arts scheme and a place where the designer-makers can come together.
LOCATION
London
SIZE
180,000 sqft
STATUS
Pre-application
CLIENT
Camden Council with U+I