Alexandra Palace, London

Alexandra Palace is one of those extraordinary buildings that has been periodically reinvented throughout its 150-year history. Originally a pleasure dome to entertain North London, today it is a successful music and events venue. Proposals for the Heritage Lottery funded East Court regeneration carefully balance the conservation of an important historic building with the need to increased access, participation and learning. Design proposals include reanimating the Nineteenth Century theatre and telling the story of the BBC’s television developments.

Gillespies’ landscape proposals create a strong sense of arrival that welcomes visitors to this unique destination, creating a setting for the events and transitioning into the internal east court space and activities beyond.

The landscape proposals take reference from the building’s architecture, such as the use of feature lights that reflect the BBC transmitter structure and also create a ‘red carpet’ welcome that is fitting for the scale of this site