Futurecity win some extraordinary cultural projects, but they don’t come more exciting than The London Tunnels, a complex of five large tunnels deep under the Holborn area of the City of London and the London Borough of Camden.
We are proud to announce our involvement devising an ambitious cultural strategy for The London Tunnels planning application. Constructed during the Blitz as a deep-level air-raid shelter under the London Underground in 1944, they were occupied by the Special Operations Executive, a location thought to have inspired Q Branch in Ian Fleming’s iconic James Bond novels.
The Futurecity Cultural Strategy sets out an exciting and ambitious range of experiential and digital art projects for The London Tunnels, which will fill the vast tunnels under the area under Holborn and the Fleet Street Quarter area. The strategy proposes creative partnerships with major galleries, art schools, artists, designers and creative tech partners. An experimental Lab will develop technologies, ideas and content for the tunnels.
There is also a community strategy to encourage skills and training, participation and subsidised access for young people, schools, members of the armed forces and others, also protecting the heritage of the tunnels with a future purpose.
The London Tunnels experience will bring to life the wartime history of Britain by preserving the existing equipment within the tunnels and installing cutting edge audiovisual equipment (such as high-resolution large-scale curved screens), together with interactive structures, scent-emitting technology and hundreds of individual acoustic pinpoint speakers.
With an estimated operational capacity of three million visitors per year, the tunnels will be able to host a wide range of different experiences in partnership with artists and creatives, theatre and performance, fashion labels and film makers and major entertainment businesses.
The London Tunnels planning application was approved by the London Borough of Camden and the City of London. This opens the door to a major cultural venue for the City of London and a boost to its Destination City programme. The wartime experience and contemporary cultural offer will join other major cultural attractions such as the Barbican, Museum of London and Guildhall School of Music.
The London Tunnels project team consists of Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Gardiner & Theobold, Montagu Evans, WSP, Volterra, DBOX and Futurecity, bringing unrivalled expertise across the arts, technology, architecture and business.
Futurecity
Futurecity have been involved in many large-scale digital and technology projects including a two-year Future Pace programme with the Pace Gallery, leading to artist Leo Villareal’s Illuminated River Project, Michal Rovner’s large digital work in Canary Wharf for the Crossrail Culture line, and large-scale public art commissions for Matt Collishaw, Random International, Teamlab, Studio Drift, Studio Swine and UVA.
To find out more: https://thelondontunnels.com/
All images by DBOX for the London Tunnels.