Design competition organized by The Architecture Foundation behalf of Better Bankside Business Improvement District. The aim of this competition is to generate creative, practical and affordable designs for a modular, portable and secure cycle parking solution to serve the Bankside area of London, whilst also raising the national and international profile of Better Bankside Business Improvement District (‘the client’) as an exemplar, sustainable place for businesses of all sizes to thrive.
The Accordion BikeShed
Design competition organized by The Architecture Foundation behalf of Better Bankside Business Improvement District. The aim of this competition is to generate creative, practical and affordable designs for a modular, portable and secure cycle parking solution to serve the Bankside area of London, whilst also raising the national and international profile of Better Bankside Business Improvement District (‘the client’) as an exemplar, sustainable place for businesses of all sizes to thrive.
The Accordion BikeShed
The concept of the design is simple. A folding surface creates a double-sided volume. The two ends are formed with deep cuts for the bicycles to insert. The result is a series of stripes placed next to each other. Some of the stripes are selected to be shorter in order to be used as additional accessories of the urban furniture. In this way the furniture will be multi-functional and user-friendly. The additional uses are seating areas, recycling bins and green spots.
The vertical surface is the part that contains the cover system. It is actually a mechanism that moves an accordion – tent out of the vertical ”wall” in order to protect the bikes placed both from the weather and from possible theft and vandalism.
The structure is actually a sculptural shape, especially when all the accordion tents are closed. It converts into a parking area with one move. Thus, it remains a discretionary volume when not used.