A12

Jasmine Abu Hamdan (Year: 4)

The two A12s running through Belfast and Bow act as striking division lines. In Belfast, the A12 does the same job as the peace walls, acting as a political division. In Bow, there is a larger concern about what requires mediation. The project aims to counter division by activating a reciprocal engagement. A set of experiments attempts to test out different mechanisms of reciprocity across the layers of division in Bow, as the antithesis of the purely divisive A12 in Belfast. The first experiment inhabits the neglected space under the flyover at the intersection of the A11 and A12. The site is anchored by multiple social structures which are claimed within the domain of engagement, establishing a self-governed space for the anchors to manifest their identities at a point of centrality. In the next experiment, images negotiated by the anchors are projected internally under the flyover, and externally, spilling over and claiming the surrounding buildings. The A12 runs parallel to the borough line of Tower Hamlets and Newham. The final experiment speculates how to establish a cross-borough dialogue as anchors begin to inhabit vacant on-border borough assets. Anchor reciprocity begins to change the territory of urban reciprocity.