HSA played the part of local architect in a multi-disciplinary design team, including JA Projects and BIG, to deliver Sankofa Docks. A pop-up installation to demonstrate an approach to transforming the waterfront of Liverpool.

The temporary structure was conceived and delivered as part of the National Museums of Liverpool’s (NML) Waterfront Transformation competition, which is tasked with finding a diverse and highly-skilled design team to redesign the public realm that borders the Museum of Liverpool, the Merseyside Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum.

The site sits at the heart of Liverpool’s UNESCO World Heritage Site and includes the Canning and Graving Docks, which in the past fitted out, cleaned, and repaired ships used in the transatlantic slave trade. Sankofa Docks is an architectural essay that unpacks Liverpool’s history and asks what a contemporary memorial to international slavery could and should be.

The purpose of the Waterfront installations in Stage 2 of the competition was to showcase the shortlisted teams’ ingenuity in design as well as explore their ability to engage with the client, stakeholders and the local community. As such, we delivered a structure that was collaboratively produced and activated with different local communities.

The full team included:

BIG
JA Projects
Peter Adjaye
Harrison Stringfellow Architects
CAVA Institute
Beyond the Box
Poor Collective
Futurecity
LDA Design
AKT II
Hilson Moran
Gardiner & Theobald

Working alongside Capoeira for All, Scouse Flower House, Park Palace Ponies, Josh Ramsden, Richard Scott and Polly Moseley amongst other groups

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Read the full Architects Journal article here.