Published on
May 29, 2021
You’ve now got an extra two weeks to get your craft on and take part in our DIY Daggerboard competition where you can win the chance to have your design built into the Arch 42 Tunnel Visions gateway design by architecture practice Projects Office.
You can use old bits of paper or cardboard as Megan from Projects Office shows on the video below. It’s a simple, fun activity to do with friends or family on a dull day or over the school half-term holidays – just send your designs in by Monday 14 June.
The Victorian railway lines criss-crossing through the area to London Victoria and London Waterloo have played a big part in the history of Nine Elms.
Arch 42 is one of the old Victorian railway arches and will be opened to create a new walking route this autumn ahead of the Northern Line Extension opening. The new shortcut will connect Ponton Road, off Nine Elms Lane, with New Covent Garden Market and Wandsworth Road on the other side of the railway lines.
If you’ve noticed those pieces of pointy wood along the roofs of railway stations, that’s what daggerboards are. They started appearing in station design during Victorian times. They had an important role to play in the canopy structures that were built to cover lots of passengers from rain when waiting for trains. Daggerboards were useful for removing water from canopies as well as looking great. When you think of a typical British railway station, you’ll be able to see daggerboards with all of their patterns along the top of a railway station roof. Each station had its own intricate daggerboard pattern.
Watch the film below to see a quick and easy way to make daggerboard shapes at home!
Now it’s your turn to create your own and enter our ‘DIY Daggerboard’ design competition to get the chance to have your design built into the arch.
Download these simple instructions on how to create your own using the DIY Daggerboard worksheet. The activity is suitable for all ages – children 6+ with supervision from an adult.
If you think your daggerboard stands out from the crowd, enter the competition by uploading a photo of your design to Instagram with the hashtag #Arch42Design by Monday 14 June 2021.
Projects Office will choose their two favourite designs to be included in the Nine Elms installation. Winners will be notified via Instagram direct message on or before Monday 21 June 2021.
Take a look at the brilliant Tunnel Visions design for Arch 42 by Projects Office to see how the daggerboards will be used.
Want to know more about Arch 42? There’s an online panel talk with Projects Office and other guests on 7 June – as well as many more events as part of London Festival of Architecture from 1-30 June.
Examples of station daggerboard designs by Griffin Primary School
To get the local community involved with the Arch 42 project, Projects Office visited primary schools in Nine Elms to help create a Nine Elms daggerboard pattern for the Tunnel Visions gateway.
Griffin Primary School pupils learn about how their daggerboards will help the Tunnel Visions design by Projects Office on the gateways of Arch 42.
In March, Years 3 and 4 at Griffin Primary School, St Mary’s RC Primary School and St George’s Primary School took part in Arch 42 workshops, where they designed their own daggerboard and learnt about the industrial history of Nine Elms, showing how design can improve an area whilst also reflecting its past. By involving the Nine Elms community in the Arch 42 design, not only will it be inspired by its industrial history but also by people who live nearby now.
St Mary’s RC Primary in Nine Elms with their daggerboard designs
