The Queen’s Walk Windows Gardens were a temporary micro-city of large-scale allotments created as part of the Southbank Centre’s Festival of Neighbourhood in 2013. They were built from reclaimed windows and were located along the Thames riverside at one of its busiest points.
Visited by an estimated eight million people, the design addressed the challenges of growing in highly populated areas. Large architectural structures, erected along 80m of the riverfront, functioned as open allotments during the day, transforming into illum nated sheds at night. The structures demonstrated growing at multiple scales – from hundreds of window boxes, built and planted by local schools, to large-scale urban agricultural plots. Residents came together to care for the allotments, with food exchanges and community meals throughout the season.
The allotments were watered using an innovative, sustainable treadle pump system, enabling volunteers to pump and filter water from the Thames at high-tide. The allotments were ultimately dismantled and re-installed in schools throughout London as part of a collaboration with Trees for Cities.
Landscape architect: Wayward
