RE-CYCLE STAGE: Bike Storage with a Twist!
by Steve
An intriguing project emerged at the London Design Festival’s Eco-Design Day: the Re-Cycle Stage. This bicycle storage shed/community event stage is a creation of architect Christos Choraitis.
The Sanford Housing Co-op had a growing bicycle problem; over a hundred bikes cluttered hallways and fire exits because there were no secure places to store them. A solution was needed to keep bikes on the property, so Choraitis and other residents skilled in woodworking, environmental design, and carpentry stepped forward to help out their co-op in the New Cross Gate neighborhood of London (all residents are required to work for the co-op in some fashion, in addition to paying their rent.)
Only ten standard bike lockers would fit in the allotted space, so utilizing the free labor, the design got creative; a bespoke vertical hanging lock solution was designed. The enclosure will be built using railway sleepers (from the retrofitting of the East London Line) and scaffold poles. The “roof” of the shed will be laid with turf and used for concerts or as an event stage. Most impressive is that the team is working with a budget of only £12,000 ($20,000). If the implementation is as high-quality as the design, I’m sure many visitors will be coming to this isolated corner of London to see the Sanford Co-op’s newest creation.
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Beautiful design and innovation.
Amazing use of space; creates a new space-really good work.