Cambridge to Oxford ARC Design Competition

Design Competition| Project details

"The Cambridge – Milton Keynes – Oxford arc is home to 3.3 million people. The region hosts some of the country’s most successful universities and high-tech manufacturing hubs and has a highly-skilled workforce. But its future success is threatened by significant housing constraints and transport pressures.

This ideas competition focused on essential challenges facing the UK, including how to accelerate the supply of affordable homes without sacrificing the quality of the environment and how to engage and enthuse the public in making the choices ahead. It showcased how new infrastructure can creatively enable new communities to flourish over the coming decades.

The competition, commissioned by the National Infrastructure Commission, caught the attention of many local planners and authorities across the UK as well as achieving coverage in The Spectator and the opinion columns of the international design media." - www.malcolmreading.com

I was part of the team at Barton Willmore selected as a finalist for the ‘Cambridge to Oxford ARC’ national competition, where I contributed to the development of visionary concepts aimed at addressing complex urban challenges promoting sustainable growth.

Through a series of hand drawn studies I was able to demonstrate the pattern of organic growth within communities, which could be carefully guided to encourage them to acquire a rich urban form and varied sense of place. Providing the foundations to build capacity for an increased number of new homes without compromising the existing sense of community and relationship with the landscape.