Paddington Reservoir Gardens

The Paddington Reservoir park is a genuinely unique urban adventure. Eschewing a top-and-turf answer to the brief, the design team has created a park that is spatially, materially and topographically diverse.

Adroit handling of the section generates the park’s experiential qualities. The most ambitious move is the creation of a sunken, public garden room, hewn from the partially ruined reservoir vaults. Visually this immersive space bears a disarming resemblance to the ruins of Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli. An incisive approach to materials and space expresses the archaeology of the site. Each intersection between the extant reservoir fabric and the new architectural insertions is detailed carefully, but without fussiness.

The park facilitates a broad range of experiences – reading a book in the sun, teaching a child how to ride a bike, a midweek lunchtime debriefing. In the sunken courtyard, wire chairs are arranged and rearranged to suit the weather and the gathering. The atmosphere of this park is a direct consequence of its architectural expression.

– Jury citation