This is the sort of project that architects like doing – a couple of small buildings that appear to do little more than just look quite cool – but in reality, their presence completely re-configures how the space around them is used.

The site is highly visible, but in its current state instantly forgettable, serving as little more than a car park and vehicle access route to surrounding buildings’ back-of-house areas.

This arrangement completely misses the site’s civic potential – to provide a vibrant new social focus and ‘breathing space’ to Queensway as it becomes ever busier with the huge investments being made into Whiteley’s at its north end, Park Modern at its south end, and Queensway Market between the two.

The new pavilions are one of the smallest parts of much bigger planning permission for the Queensway Estate which covers most of the buildings south of Princess Court all the way down to Hyde Park and includes nearly 5,000 sqm of new residential space, further commercial space, and works (by us) to many of the shopfronts along both sides of Queensway.