The practice won a competition in 2021 to reimagine the much-loved Peckham Square in London. The resulting design emerged after extensive public consultation, inspired by the long-lost memory of the timber wharf and Peckham’s multilingual heritage.

The Peckham Square project was the first under ‘Southwark Stands Together’ initiative, guided by Southwark’s Climate Emergency Plan 2021, which stipulates the urgency to achieve a carbon neutral Southwark by 2030. The scheme incorporated retail, commercial and cultural elements, aiming to support and promote local culture and produce, with a focus on sustainability ambitions.

We approached this project through the lens of ‘Psychogeography’, a concept which emphasises the importance of the human scale and seeks authentic and emotion-based urbanism. Therefore, we developed personas, inspired by our real-life encounters with local residents and stakeholders, to help us ‘step into their shoes’.