An open workshop as part of the Unlocking Pentonville weekend of events.

Background

For this year’s London Festival of Architecture, Sarah Wigglesworth Architects is unearthing memories of Pentonville Prison to imagine a radically different future for its site.

HM Prison Service is selling its inner city jails, releasing their sites for redevelopment. Nearby Holloway Prison is being marketed and a planning brief has been written; it is likely that the iconic Pentonville will follow. Given the prison’s history and listed status, pressure from the King’s Cross development and concerns around housing, the challenge is to envision a new life for the site that communicates its past and relevance into the future.

Unlocking Pentonville aims to imagine a radical new vision for this area of Caledonian Road by producing a spatial, social and economic proposition for the prison site. Through a provocative exhibition and a weekend of public debates and workshops, Sarah Wigglesworth Architects will lead the Caledonian Road community in asking ‘what next?’ for the troubled prison’s landmark structures.

Create your Pentonville – all weekend when the exhibition is open

Come and create your own ideas for Pentonville on our big wooden model! Play architect to the prison with a set of pieces – buildings, structures, streets and landmarks – open to everyone throughout the weekend, no experience necessary!

Unlocking Pentonville: Building the Brief

Join Sarah Wigglesworth Architects on Sunday afternoon to have your say on a future planning brief for the prison site. Taking stock of the weekend’s discussions and everyone’s ideas from the Create your Pentonville model, together we will distill some founding principles for a Pentonville vision.