Overview

As part of the Gateway to Walthamstow Regeneration Project a tensile canopy walkway was developed between Fabric Architecture and architects Building Design Partnership, to enhance the key route from Walthamstow Bus Station to the High Street.

The original brief to produce a covered walkway has been achieved without the need for secondary steelwork or cables to support the fabric canopies, replacing old street lamps with an entirely new design.

Lighting was incorporated into the fabric structures with street illumination from the tip of the radius mast and atmospheric blue uplighters at the base of each canopy.

Close collaboration with lighting manufacturers iGuzzini ensured that the steel structure provided the neccesary lamp and photocell housings, cable routes and access hatches for the lighting equipment.

This highly successful installation gives the impression by day of a tree-lined avenue, with sunlight diffused by the mesh fabric "leaves". By night the scene is transformed, the up-lit canopies bathing the street in a neon glow.