Compendium

Arnold Circus: “Observing a place in the city”
Vertical Project A.Y. 2015/2016
When visiting Arnold Circus - Boundary Estate it quickly became apparent
why it is described as an ’inner city sanctuary’.
The Boundary Estate was built as a result of careful observation by the
‘Victorian social explorer Charles Booth who produced a series of pioneering
maps that colour coded the streets of London according to the
ever shifting class of it’s residents’. It is arguably one of the first council
estates built. Rich and poor remain living along side/ above and below
each other to this day.
As a group we were interested in the bizarrely quiet condition that the
public space known as Arnold Circus possesses. The estate is built
around a central open garden within a ring road. The garden however is
lined with trees and creates a quiet sanctuary raised above street level
that has an oasis-like quality. We observed that the raised level of the
circus hides the garden from the passers-by on the street, and that the
height of the estate created a wall-like feeling between the centre and
the surrounding area.
The location of the estate, only one street away from the buzz of
Shoreditch High Street, suggests a potentially fast moving and noisy
space/ condition, but nothing could be further removed.