Could This Be Old Street In 2020?

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By M@ Last edited 73 months ago

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Could This Be Old Street In 2020?

Later in 2018, work will begin to transform the Old Street Roundabout. But what will replace the tired advertising displays and concrete blocks?

A long-list of 39 contenders has now been announced, ahead of a public consultation.

Below, we've pasted in 11 of the more unusual designs for your perusal. Further details can be found on Islington Council's website.

Official name: The Iris
Our name: That's Blockbusters
WTF?: Lights and mirrors combine to make a live performance space shaped like a giant iris, a nod to nearby Moorfields Eye Hospital.

Official name: Old Street Common
Our Name: Honey I Shrunk The Hipsters And Lost Them In My Beard Hair
WTF?: A 'common land' at the crossroads of retail (Angel), finance (City), art and entertainment (Shoreditch) and design (Clerkenwell). Features a sound installation guaranteed to make you think you're in a forest.

Official name: The Tech Tower Park
Our name: The Cynic's Dream
WTF?: A 60-storey 'vertical park' that includes a 'robot testing' floor, a tech academy, and something called post-organic aeroponics. There's also garage space for hundreds of self-driving cars on the top levels.

Official name: Tech Forest
Our name: Stricken Elephant
WTF?: Five limb-like 'trees' protrude from the pavement, each with a different theme (garden tree, knowledge tree, transit tree, observatory tree, and ventilation tree).

Official name: The Infinite Library
Our name: Borges meets Borg
WTF?: A digital repository of art and books, encouraging people to 'meet in archaeology' rather than 'at exit 8'.

Official name: Introvert-Extrovert
Our name: RUN!
WTF?: Dynamic building facades blend online and offline, and project giant menacing heads using some kind of magic technology.

Official Name: Old Street Cloud
Our name: Driver distraction
WTF?: 24 'slender totems' conceal more magic projection technology, which illuminates the space above the roundabout with eye-catching visuals. These also emit sounds and soft mist, which supposedly cuts air pollution.

Official name: Sowing the Seed
Our name: USS Discovery's Spore Drive Has Malfunctioned Again
WTF?: Another plan to include a theatre, neatly hidden among a forest of small trees. It's also described as 'A legible dynamo at the centre of an incremental strategy,' which makes our brain hurt.

Official name: Art & Technology Hub
Our name: If Apple made tube stations
WTF?: The official name might be dull, but it's also self-explanatory.

Official name: The Stone Circle
Our name: The Silly-Con Roundabout
WTF?: Create a stone circle around the tube entrance inspired by Stonehenge. It would look nothing like this, but it makes for an attractive featured image.

Official name: HYDROPONIqA
Our name: Tom Daley Tower
WTF?: A tower of hydroponic gardens, growing produce to be consumed on site.


These and many other longlisted proposals can be found on Islington's planning website. A public exhibition will run at Old Street Yard until 2 March.

Last Updated 14 February 2018