Stratford Waterfront

The cultural district as a typology appears in many different shapes and sizes. Berlin has an island; Vienna, a quarter; Los Angeles, a mile. Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi are building whole new cultural waterfronts. Cities often thread pieces of glittering cultural jewellery together. London is no different. In fact, it is a tradition very familiar to the city. The legacy of the Great Exhibition of 1851 created the cluster of cultural and educational institutions that now define South Kensington - the so-called Albertopolis. In the 20th Century, the Festival of Britain on the south bank of the Thames was the entree to today's Southbank Centre. It is in this spirit that this project was conceived in the years following the 2012 Olympic Games.

As part of the wider ambition to leave a lasting and positive benefit to the communities that hosted those Games that memorable summer, Stratford Waterfront will soon be the setting of cultural and educational institutions on a prominent site on the eastern edge of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It will be London's 21st Century district of learning and discovery.

The new buildings are designed to be approachable and connected through a sequence of clearly legible public spaces. A key principle of the masterplan is of a 'common ground' which flows continuously from the Park up and into the public buildings, inviting easy colonisation by people, nature and culture. The buildings form a terrace which, while compact and efficient in its use of land, is deliberately relaxed in its composition. There is a distinct identity for each of the institutions and the masterplan maximises the potential of close adjacencies in a way that is natural and dynamic to explore the opportunities for permeability, interaction and collaboration at the interfaces. All the buildings embrace the concept of 'casting', whether it be concrete, glass, metal, brick or ceramic, to create a warm palette which reflects the character of the site's - and east London's - industrial past.

Each building is unique. Sadler's Wells has a recognisable saw-tooth roofline and is a robust building of natural coloured brick and cast clay tiles, metal windows and concrete structure. The BBC building consists of a weathered steel volume containing the studio for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with support spaces encased in concrete and glass. The largest building is the London College of Fashion. Conceived as a 21st century hub for making, encased in concrete, it has a perimeter of day-lit and naturally ventilated workshops which wraps around a dramatic internal courtyard crossed by stairs linking spaces for exchange. Its neighbour, V&A East contains two galleries, for permanent display and temporary exhibitions within a distinctive angular form cast in textured stone-like concrete. Beyond are the 600 new homes across an ensemble of four buildings, the tallest and most visible at the prow where the River Lea and the Waterworks River meet, offering a contrast to the others which are more delicate in appearance.

This is an exciting project. Not only will it be the largest cultural investment in London in more than a century, it is a continuation of our own involvement in the Olympic Legacy. Combined with neighbouring UCL East, the entire East Bank cluster of cultural and educational buildings will bring an additional 1.5 million visitors to the Park, generating new jobs and educational opportunity for east Londoners. In the architecture, there has been and emphasis on building hard-working buildings that will last and bring different types of educational and cultural offerings together. The hope is that in moving together to east London, these institutions will attract diverse audiences and create new synergies yet to be known.