A chance to redefine the “garden” component of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester by translocating slices of nature from the surrounding topographical landscapes
Strategy
Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester is one of the city's most significant public spaces. Studio Egret West's competition scheme looks to make the space an exemplar for the city's greener future.
Overly manicured greenspace is a thing of the past if we
are to embrace and nurture more biodiverse and habitat rich environments. We
think that Piccadilly Gardens needs to be an example of this ambition and adopt
a radically different approach to public realm and landscape design.
Specificity
Our proposals sought to redefine the “garden” component of Piccadilly Gardens by translocating slices of nature from the surrounding topographical landscapes North and East of Greater Manchester into the space.
The design creates a series of stepping mounds, plateaus and outcrops which interpret the landform, ecology, geology and character of these outlying environments and brings them into the heart of the city centre.
Taking influence from surrounding landscapes our design arranges a series of topographical forms around a central, programmable open space. The footprints of the forms are carved by the anticipated routes of pedestrian flow with desire lines considered from all key connecting streets and spaces. South facing steps are chiselled into the hills which create an informal auditorium.
We have wrapped integrated seating plinths around each hill to enable people to face in all directions depending on the weather, time of day and preference for sunlight, shade or wind shelter.
Interlocking hill formations create opportunities to break down the central area into smaller programmable sub spaces as well as retaining the ability to host larger singular events.
Sustainability
The impact of amplifying nature in this urban area means trees are arranged more informally in clusters not grids. Planting areas will resemble a designed ecology not a manicured garden. Nature based systems for surface water collection are preferred to formal water features and integrated topography creates discreet and robust seating capacity without the reliance on too much separate street furniture.
