Davey chocs out in Oxford Street

Well, yes, we did have cross-fertilisation in mind when we set about putting multidisciplinary teams together to revitalise London’s Oxford Street (DW 20 Jan). But we hadn’t expected the collaboration to cross national boundaries quite as it did.

A lively addition to our first workshop came in the form of three bright sparks from the Austrian art’n’architecture outfit Raumwerk. Delighted to see one return the second week with two more colleagues in tow, we were intrigued to know what was in the small wooden box she carried.

A model, someone said, and we went along with that – until the lid was lifted to reveal a calorie-laden sacchertorte (good old chocolate cake to you).

Lips were licked, belts were loosened, but, no, this wasn’t a group thing. The cake was for charismatic TKO designer Andy Davey, and for him alone. Well, he is such a sweetie.

Apparently he’d confessed his love of Viennese goodies during a teabreak at the RIBA Architecture Centre’s new upmarket caff and our Raumwerk chums recognised a fellow cakeoholic. We were glad he didn’t own up to his (secret) liking for salted pig’s knuckle.