ABSTRACT
Canning Town Caravanserai began life as a winning entry by the architecture firm Ash Sakula to the 2010-11 Meanwhile London competition for the regeneration of Canning Town and the Royal Docks. The 3.7 billion mixed-use Canning Town project to transform the area's physical, social and economic horizons was launched by the London Borough of Newham, with developers Bouygues behind a 600 million regeneration of the town centre, along with One Housing Group, Countryside Properties, the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and the Homes and Communities Agency. The waterproofed sari-fabric roof on the theatre, and the brick construction by Iliona Outram Khalili, are two examples of experimental building techniques used at the centre. Canning Town lacks safe, public events spaces that have the capacity to bring people of all ages together, and Ash points out that with the Newham population growing at more than twice the London average, this need will only intensify.
