London Festival of Architecture Bloomsbury/Fitzrovia

The King’s Cross, Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia & Covent Garden Hub takes A Fresh Approach as its theme. With the new St Pancras International station at its northern point, the area has gained both new significance and new challenges as a major gateway to London. An exciting programme of LFA2008 activities throughout the Hub reflects the changing nature of the area.

50 million passengers will travel through St Pancras every year; most will continue their journey from the station by Tube. Yet the relative proximity of King’s Cross to the River Thames, through Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia and Covent Garden, makes the Hub a natural starting point for explorations of the capital.

There is much to explore. The Hub represents London’s cultural and intellectual heart. The world’s largest concentration of leading academic and intellectual institutions – UCL, The Wellcome Trust, University College Hospital, The Architectural Association, The British Museum, Royal Opera House and Somerset House – are spread across its four quarters. It’s squares and green public spaces also set the area apart. While much of the Hub’s architecture is already highly regarded, a number of pockets of new development will have major impact, not least at King’s Cross and Central St Giles near Tottenham Court Road.

The challenge is to encourage these visitors from the UK and abroad to cross over Euston Road from St Pancras and start their exploration of London on foot. A lack of signage poses a major challenge, with the Hub’s four quarters ill defined in places, a one-way system giving dominance to motorised traffic and the potential of its many squares and green places unrealised.

LFA2008 will address these challenges by showcasing a ‘living masterplan’ for the area, offering ideas about how the area will be developed in the future. Exhibitions, installations and events will help to create routes, encouraging visitors to explore the Hub from King’s Cross St Pancras and celebrate its architectural heritage and future.

Debbie Whitfield, New London Architecture

For anyone at a loose end tomorrow we have a huge festival and street party going on around our office.

It is a family event as well with open air concerts and picnics. The focal point is the NLA Sky Walk party on Montague Place, behind the British Museum. Lots of other activities going on.

We are here from 10-3 tomorrow so if you are passing pop in and we might give you a cup of coffee and a cookie.