Oxford St comes under scrutiny

Design Week is organising a project to highlight the potential of design in curing city-centre ills and improving the quality of public environments.

The project will focus on three related sites in the Oxford Street area of central London: the part of Oxford Street that runs between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road; the restaurant area of Charlotte Street and Rathbone Place; and New Oxford Street, which runs between Covent Garden and the British Museum.

Three hand-picked multidisciplinary teams, including graphic, interior and product designers, architects and other disciplines, will spend two consecutive Saturdays considering a site, the aim being to evolve ideas and strategies to improve both the environment and commercial viability.

Areas of concern might range from shopfronts and street furniture to signs, traffic and transport. Tourism will be an issue, but the overall brief will be to enhance existing features to create a positive personality for the street while addressing traffic congestion and pedestrian safety.

The workshops, hosted by the RIBA Architecture Centre and with input from Concord Lighting, will be held on 25 February and 4 March. The results will be published in Design Week in March.