Hammersmith Society Awards 2018

Queen's Wharf building - award winner

The Hammersmith Society, guardians of good architecture in our neighbourhood, recently announced the 2018 winners of its annual awards.

There were two Main Awards given in 2018, for the Queen’s Wharf (see photo left) and Riverside Walk, Hammersmith, W6.

And, of course, there were wooden spoons for the new buildings which make our neighbourhood worse, not better.

Queen's Wharf
The new Queen's Wharf building, which was designed by Assael Architecture and Fourpoint Architects, provides "a well-mannered backdrop to Hammersmith Bridge that offers a successful composition of the riverside elevation."

River Walk
The River Walk is described as a "wonderful wide promenade" which is "integral to the success of the Queen’s Wharf building and is a great example of successful town planning."

Helios Building - award

Helios Building

The Hammersmith Society also praised the redevelopment, by developer Stanhope and architects Alford Hall Monaghan Morris, of the Helios building in what used to be known as BBC TV Centre - now rebranded as TV Centre. 

"A successful marriage of the new and old which restores the Helios building and includes a new office building which is respectful of  its Listed neighbour.  The public space has excellent landscaping which includes lawns, a miniature woodland, semi-mature trees and york stone paving".

LAMDA new extension

Wooden Spoons

LAMDA

Wooden Spoons went to the new extension on the Talgarth Rd by the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

"Whilst the Talgarth Road site is a challenging one, hemmed in as it is by the A4 and the tube line, the building offers nothing to the community and appears like a shipping container left on the roadside that offers no insight into the architectural and cultural creativity within."

BT Inlink "ugly and block the footways"

BT "InLink" Phone Boxes

BT InLinkUK Phone Boxes - which also also won wooden spoons last year - won again this year. They are "are not only ugly and block the footways, but are an undisguised method of attaining advertising revenue while pretending to offer a public service, which in the era of mobile phones and wifi is largely redundant."

Here at the Shepherd's Bush blog we would hand out our own Wooden Spoon to the old-style BT phone booths as well as the new ones. What purpose do they serve today, other than providing a public urinal and a place to post adverts for KFC?

The Shepherd's Bush Blog offers a personal view on life in Shepherd's Bush. If you would like to contribute a story, email us at shepherdsbushblog(at)gmail.com. And don't forget to add your opinion in the comments section below.