PROJECT 01 BENCHSPACE PROBE
Methodology

Given the wide distribution of benchspace across London, a representative and accessible sampling technique was required. We determined three contrasting sampling strips across London, each one hundred meters wide, then set out to identify pathways and map benchspaces along those pathways. Whilst the starting and finishing points are well known, the territory mapped is varied, permitting identification of both typical and atypical sites.

 

PATHWAYone – Westminster Bridge to Trinity Buoy Wharf
PATHWAYtwo -  Highbury Fields to Brockwell Park
PATHWAYthree – Highgate Cemetery to Battersea Park

 

At each location a photographic record was made and a survey form completed. The form documents a range of qualities including occupancy, weather, facilities, adjacencies and traces of past inhabitation, providing a basis for analysis. It offers the potential for others to contribute and for dissemination of the approach to potentially interested parties.

The analysis identifies themes for future interventions; our diagnosis of key differences between sites is beginning to inform new responses. The routes, benchspace database, analysis and preliminary interventions are all archived on this site, which also offers space to invite analytical and creative writing, links to related sites and benchblog, where research and views on the project can be shared.

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