18th Febuary 2009
Gillett Square
Visited Gillett Square, as it's the square i am studying for a part of a module of my course. It is also one of the squares which was selected to be part of the mayor of London's 100 public spaces programme. It has gradually been regenerated since 1993 when the first sketches were drawn up proposing a new town square for Dalston.
There are a line of small market kiosks along one side of the square which were designed by Hawkins/Brown and built in 1999 when the site was still a car park. The kiosks won the Design Week award and a RIBA small building award. I found them fairly unimposing and fairly unimpressive, but i am looking at them ten years down the line.
The square itself is a fairly un-inspiring place. Bland open hard scaped space matches the bland street furniture, and is a harsh contrast to the bustling highstreet and market over the road. There is a feature of four small pines contained in a sort of small paneled stage, which gives some relief to the otherwise hard scaped area. When i visited the trees had little lights in, which brought a bit of cheer to the square. the reason the space is so dull is due to the lack of people in it- no one seems to be interested in it.
I get the feeling that this is a better place to come at night, there are three jazz bars around the square and the Vortex Jazz Club fronts onto the square and is part of a committee in charge of events held in there. This would explain the open, spacey design- all the space is needed to support the events which go on there. And there seems to be some form of entertainment every night excluding the larger events which try to encourage the community to come together. eg: the 'Cool Climate Event', 'Delicious Dalston', 'Vortex Open Rehearsal' and 'Winter Songs', which all went on in the square last year.
i think i got the wrong impression of the square when i visited and really want to go back and see it at night, or when there's an event on.
Link to GS2 Gillet Square's website.
