Tonkin Liu

Walking alone, ideas unfold, walking together, relationships grow. The Promenade Of 
Light is a celebration of walking, and of the community. On the site 18 new trees take 
root along a raised stone promenade; a canvas for dappled light and shadows. Around 
the trees sit stone rings, some big, some small, some in-between.  They protect the 
trees and mark them as special.

The rings are benches, planters and counters for the micro-communities that cluster
under the shelter of the trees. Commuters, shoppers, couriers, school children, elderly,
office workers, families. Each inhabit different sections of the promenade at different
times of day. Their pace range from the very fast to the very still, from rushing to
waiting. At dusk, clusters of light – narrow to wide, white to yellow - turn on one by
one. 

Architects Tonkin Liu
Client London Borough of Islington, EC1 NDC (New Deals for Communities), TFL
(Transport for London)
Location London, UK
Budget £ 1.5 million
Size 3,500 m²
Structural Engineer Atelier One
Contractor Gabriel’s
Completion October 2006
Awards RIBA Award; RIBA Urban Space Award first prize; Prime Minister’s Better
Building Award finalist, Regeneration Award finalist, Lighting Design Award finalist,
Natural Stone Award finalist, European Prize for Urban Public Space finalist
Exhibitions Building Centre Public Spaces, 50 years of London Architecture 1960 -
2010; New London Architecture Centre; Greater London Assembly Urban Space by
Design; RIBA Urban Space by Design