The completion of Studio Weave’s Woolwich Market Pavilion and Gardens on Beresford Square in south-east London sensitively stitches together a mixed-use setting through accessible, communal spaces.

Photos
Jim Stephenson 

Studio Weave’s red brick Market Pavilion takes a barn-like shape, with two chimneys at the apexes that allow for natural ventilation of the public toilets and café. The chimneys protrude from a sharp roofline which dips down to frame the turret of the Arsenal Gatehouse and echoes the series of towers and bartizans of the old Arsenal and Square.

The elevation of the single-storey block is articulated by a series of stepped return arches that create a bright and visually permeable core, increasing a sense of busyness and approachability to the community-oriented square and public toilets. The thickness of the walls also works to insulate the building, which is built atop a base plinth of hardwearing blocks. 

The plan is square, with four elevations. On one side, a large arch signals the location of the toilets across the dual carriageway; on another, glazed, porous smaller arches open out to the market; and facing the gardens is an entrance to the café with a drinking fountain. The interior continues with polished red bases at the walls. The window and door frames are solid oak. 

Studio Weave worked with Tom Massey Studio to re-design a resilient landscape that pieces back together a layered context. Like a pebble on a beach towel, the building sits in the corner of a loosely landscaped square, which is generously planted and pocketed with gentle, rolling mounds. The gardens seek to offer spaces of calm respite from the surrounding traffic, defining a communal and permeable social space. Natural stone is used for main routes, with self-binding gravel and stepping stones, incorporating a sense of playfulness and informality into the square. 

Woolwich Market Pavilion and Gardens is part of a series of public projects executed by Studio Weave, including a new public space at the British Museum and public toilets in Maida Hill. The project was commissioned by the Royal Borough of Greenwich, which used Levelling Up funding, a UK government capital programme that invests in local infrastructure projects across the country. “The architecture has to work hard,” says Eddie Blake, Co-Director of Studio Weave. “It provides an important social gathering space in the café, a backdrop for the life of the market, while offering dignity for the public who use the space. Public toilets are a public good. Ultimately, without accessible public toilets, we are excluding many people from places like Beresford Square. These designs will transform Beresford Square into a haven for people and wildlife right in the middle of Woolwich for many decades.” 

The British Toilet Association estimates that the UK has lost nearly 47 per cent of its public toilets in just over a decade, emphasising a large portion of public infrastructure extinguished from the public realm. Adjacent to the Market Pavilion and Gardens are new public realm designs by LDA and a refurbished historic Gatehouse by Gort Scott.

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