Peckham Levels throws open its doors

Carl Turner Architects masterminded Peckham Levels, an unexpected new work and leisure destination in South London. Photography: Tim Crocker

(Image credit: Tim Crocker)

The high street is dead – long live the multistorey car park. In the fun-and-gritty south London neighbourhood of Peckham, seven levels of a car park have been reinvented as a creative and entertainment hub. The car park already had creative form, with the roof top café Franks, and Bold Tendencies commissioning artwork up there, and the Multi Story Orchestra operating on one level. Now Carl Turner Architects has created Peckham Levels by converting parking bays into studio spaces, and devoting a whole floor to eating, drinking and enjoying yourself. The venue is operated and managed by social enterprise Make Shift.

Levels 5 is open to the public and houses seven street-food kiosks run by local outfits with seating for diners provided at yellow timber trestle tables. There’s also a cocktail bar and restaurants including the vegan offering Wild Flower, a hair salon, and a children’s play area, with colourful 3D obstacles on a rubber floor, and curved walls for running up and down. Meanwhile an event space can be cordoned off with a brightly patterned curtain from an African textile supplier on nearby Rye Lane.

There is no disguising the building’s former use, so Carl Turner Architects' Paul O’Brien used a light touch. He left the big yellow arrows on the floors and brought light into the corridors from the outside through polycarbonate opaque panels in the studios’ walls. These are occupied by local creatives including Hilary Cottam, who was named UK Designer of the Year in 2005.

“The big challenge with the building was that it had no services,” explains O’Brien. He put in toilets and a water point in the centre of every level. Another issue was that “everything slopes to the edge for drainage”, making constructing studios tricky for the builders.

While long-standing stores continue to close on the UK’s towns and cities, things couldn’t be more vibrant at Peckham Levels. And its oh-so local bent makes it an antidote to the more heavily curated, privately-operated public realms of the capital.

Families eating and drinking at yellow picnic tables with red lightbulbs overhead — Created in a transformed old car park, Peckham Levels offers studio space and also options for eating, drinking and enjoying yourself. *Photography: Tim Crocker*

Round, tiled table with plant beside a disco ball and eating area beyond — Levels 5 is open to the public and houses seven street food kiosks run by local outfits. *Photography: Tim Crocker*

Dining area with wooden picnic-style seating and plants hanging overhead — Apart from the slew of restaurants, there's also a hair salon, and a children’s play area. *Photography: Tim Crocker*

Blue hair salon with two chairs outside and large yellow arrow painted on the ground from when the building was a car park — Carl Turner left the big yellow arrows on the floors... *Photography: Tim Crocker*

Studio spaces with opaque polycarbonate walls to allow the outside light through — ...and brought light into the corridors from the outside through polycarbonate opaque panels in the studios’ walls. *Photography: Tim Crocker*

INFORMATION

For more information visit the Carl Turner Architects' website

Clare Dowdy is a London-based freelance design and architecture journalist who has written for titles including Wallpaper*, BBC, Monocle and the Financial Times. She’s the author of ‘Made In London: From Workshops to Factories’ and co-author of ‘Made in Ibiza: A Journey into the Creative Heart of the White Island’.