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Camberwell Bus Garage

Part 2 Project 2005
Emily Greeves
James Lalor
London Metropolitan University | UK
Designs for Camberwell Bus Garage seek out particular architectural qualities that might give industry a more stable and valued presence in London, against a context of rapid displacement. Industrial rooms with a canopy of fine trusses fit beside garden walls of terraced houses behind the garage. A petrol station and block of houses share public spaces in front. A bus repair room on the high street is given the character and proportions of a public hall. It celebrates the spectacle of a room filled with buses - lifted up for servicing, they appear behind the windows at unexpected heights.


Industy in the City was the subject of the design research programme this year. How might industry have a civic presence and offer vitality to a public space? Emily’s research about vanishing industries in inner city London is outstanding. She has designed a small portfolio of urban repair projects at the Camberwell Bus Garage, near Camberwell Green. The design of the Repair Hall shows a refined imagination and a precision of judgement. It has a firm public presence in Camberwell. The design of the interior of this hall with its large windows is similarly well developed. Its steel and brick wall structure inside and out, and shallow dome has a remarkable dignity for a bus garage, reminiscent of the direct and generous quality of a Wren church.

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2005
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