Developing on from the theories of the Situationist International and their favoured practice of psychogeography, this project challenges our modern-day approach to how we travel around cities like London. The proposal aims to keep alive the spirit of urban exploration, and of wandering without purpose, in order to reclaim the city rather than simply adhering to the usual pattern of travelling between home-work-commerce. This puts the act of observing the built environment and the city’s inhabitants at the forefront of people’s minds as they continue their daily lives amid the urban landscape.

Located beside Blackfriars Station on the southern back of the Thames, the new building provides a large public space, painting studios, music practice spaces, waiting rooms and a docking station that can attach observatory modules to the rear of trains as they arrive at Blackfriars Station. A diverse range of interlinked conditions within the scheme cater to preferences for exhibitionism and voyeurism, pause and exploration. Altogether this creates a labyrinth of liminal and activatable spaces, promoting observation of not only its own visibly articulated structure and its surrounding environments but also–and perhaps more importantly–of visitors, onlookers, and their varied activities.