TAPESTRIES OF REFUGE AND REVIVAL

During the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the number of people seeking asylum in the UK tripled over six years, reaching a peak in 2002 with 84,000 asylum applications. The large backlog in processing asylum applications in the UK meant 72% of people were waiting longer than six months for an initial decision in 2022. Despite the government and media pushing narratives of “too many asylum seekers” and newspapers labelling the arrival of asylum seekers into the country as an “invasion”, the UK only accepts 1% of the total global asylum seekers, accounting for a slim 0.7% of London’s total population.

Vacancy is rising across office buildings, housing, and public spaces in the UK. Remote working has left many commercial spaces underused, while a significant number of homes remain empty despite increasing housing need. Public spaces are often similarly underutilised, shaped by design and ownership models that limit access and engagement.

These vacancies reflect deeper structural issues, including speculative development and uneven resource distribution. In the context of housing shortages, homelessness, and asylum displacement, vacancy poses a critical spatial and ethical challenge—calling for a rethinking of how urban space is used, shared, and repurposed.
 

This project focuses on Southwark, which has the highest number of asylum seekers in London, along with the city’s largest stock of vacant homes and a significant amount of disused office space. The chosen site around Bankside 3 reveals a stark social and spatial divide: on one side, the rigid, internalised world of commercial offices; on the other, long-established council-owned housing estates like the Peabody and Sumner Buildings. These contrasting environments are separated by streets, derelict fences, and unclear public thresholds that interrupt connection and exacerbate disconnection.

The proposal introduces a phased, incremental transformation of Bankside 3. Responding to rising office vacancy trends, parts of the building are gradually adapted into long-term, council-owned housing for asylum seekers. The design works with the existing structure, navigating what is retained, removed, and added—layering new homes, vertical bazaars, shared resource hubs, and communal spaces into and around the commercial fabric. This process remains visible in the façade where a patchwork of materials and spatial forms expresses the ongoing evolution of Bankside 3.

At ground level, the project weaves a vibrant public realm where life unfolds as a shared fabric. Lightweight canopies and soft interventions create sheltered zones for informal food and clothing markets, rooted in cultural exchange and everyday support. Beneath the lifted form of Bankside 3, a generous covered space becomes a stage for storytelling—hosting performances, art installations, and screenings of documentaries and films. These public programs centre the experiences of asylum seekers, bringing visibility, dialogue, and learning into daily life. In a place once defined by separation and opacity, the ground becomes a platform for encounter, participation, and collective re-imagining.

Housing and workspaces are brought into close proximity, challenging conventional separations between vulnerable communities and commercial users. By integrating homes, offices, and shared spaces across floors, the project encourages overlapping routines, mutual visibility, and everyday encounters. This blend of uses fosters a new kind of vertical community—one where dialogue, cultural exchange, and moments of shared life can take root through spatial openness and architectural care.