The Moorings, Thamesmead

Simple lighting to help bring colour to Thamesmead.

With quite a bit of experience in co-designing projects and working in collaboration with local communities, we were delighted to transform a pedestrian underpass at the Moorings in Thamesmead London, bringing a previously ordinary space to life by day and night.

We began the project by speaking with residents and underpass users by day and night to understand the views on, and experience of, the site and surrounding areas to understand the main concerns. We then undertook a program of co-design with young people from Hawksmoor Youth Club which included a guided night walk around King’s Cross and a one-day workshop to explore different ‘atmospheres of light’ and begin to produce unique ideas for the reimagined underpass. A key idea developed was to light in trees and water in colour to add a sense of wonder and connect the underpass to the surrounding nature.

Thanks to Lisa Coombs-Roberts and students at Woolwich Polytechnic, Claire Hallinan and young people at Hawksmoor Youth Club, Mark Wood at Surface Design Studios, Tump 53, and Gogi’s Supermarket.

All photographs by Angus Mill

The improved underpass is lit by a simple, elegant and robust lighting detail which illuminates the beautiful tile mural created by The Grantchester Pottery. The existing lighting was removed and a central light fixture was installed which works with the underpass architecture by day and night. Lighting to the artwork also provides functional light to the underpass accentuating a gateway into the site.

Despite a limited budget and challenging installation and maintenance conditions, the lighting design accentuates the space and artwork while also being very discrete.