A shortlisted competition entry for the London Festival of Architecture to regenerate a neglected but much-loved underpass. We proposed dramatic optical instruments including a periscope and a camera obscura in the grounds of a local primary school, which allow the underpass to interact with passengers on trains above the bridge, while also acting as totems, revealing the existing low-income community in the midst of rapid private development.

As these two communities come to accommodate each other, the totems also act as wayfinding, knitting the neighbourhood back into the wider city. The project was a collaboration led by Architecture Doing Place, with fine artist Mary Evans, West Port & Company & WriteTalkListen.