eh? Can anyone tell me what it's really for and the idea behind. It could have been many things surely. The solution seems to have been create a very flat space. Can't work it out from Lambeth's site.
The previous layout was incoherent with lots of bits that didn't really relate to each other. Also there was not really one big space that would lend itself to events.
There was the "square" with paths crisscrossing a grassed area at the southern end, and this was fenced off and also cut off from the bit in front of the library by Rushcroft Road. That area was seldom used by anyone.
The bit in front of the Ritzy and the Library was a bit of a jumble of different bits and pieces, and there was that kind of banked up grassy bit on the corner that cut it off from the high street/coldharbour lane. There was that paved area kind of under the tree that was effectively closed off from the surrounding streets, and because the street drinkers tended to congregate there, a lot of people felt uncomfortable walking across that bit or using it so it wasn't really functioning as a "public space" (NB I don't have anything against the street drinkers using the space, and I won't mind if they return to use the new space, but hopefully the new more arrangement will mean that it won't feel dominated by them and people will be happy to use it for other purposes too).
Now, we have a fairly large open paved area which will be good for holding events on, and it's open to the roads on either side so it becomes a part of the town centre as a whole (the road realignments help with this too - hopefully the reduction in amount of traffic going up the first bit of Effra Road will mean the square doesn't feel so much like it's surrounded by main roads. The gentle steps facing towards the KFC corner I think are a good way of accommodating the level difference there, as opposed to the embankment/wall that was there before. I think the big tree sits well in the space, and the way the lighting is arranged makes it seem like an attractive gathering point.
I was a bit unsure, when proposed, whether the "windrushes" would be a bit gimmicky and pointless but I think they have been done well, a good balance between being too literal but also recognisable and something that people can identify with and which marks the space out as distinctive and "Brixton" rather than any old public square anywhere.
I know some folk are grumbling about the amount of grassed areas - but I think they've got it about right - if there was more it would just get churned up whenever events were held and anyway, if you want to lounge about on the grass I don't think central Brixton's really the place to do it - Brockwell park is just up the road after all.
Having said all that, the proof of the pudding is in the eating so we won't really know how successful it is until people start using it (or not). It's not unknown for these kinds of spaces to seem good on paper, but then for some reason they just don't work (someone was telling me about a study they'd done on
Gillett Square in Dalston which had a similar makeover, but for one reason or the other just doesn't seem to be working - people don't use it).
