Making Borough Yards happen

Borough Yards, winner of a Future Cities Forum Winter Award, is a mixed-use development on the western edge of Borough Market in London’s Southwark. A new space blending cathedral like railway arches, public squares, and secluded shopping ‘streets’. f.r.a. designed the wayfinding and placemaking. The brief started to simply provide wayfinding for the development. But this quickly evolved into something that felt genuinely new and exciting. The client set collaboration at the core of the design process. Working with the whole project team, including architects SPPARC and four artisan sign fabricators, f.r.a. have blurred the lines of wayfinding, storytelling and art.

In this walking tour of the project, f.r.a. Directors Wesley Meyer and Jamie Trippier shared the collaborative processes that helped bring the ambitious designs to life. Insights were gained into such topics as: how to hide 288 neon power cables in plain sight; why you should art direct a four-storey tall mural while it’s happening; sourcing human teeth for use in signage; how to redesign something 38 times and still live with yourself; how to accidently design for the pandemic in 2019; and can wayfinding be about finding joy?

About our speakers

Jamie Trippier is Projects Director at f.r.a. providing the technical backbone for the design studio. With over 20 years in the industry, he brings unique value to the delivery of projects by ensuring that quality is maintained at the highest level. He is a diplomat capable of managing the challenging middle ground between designers, clients and fabricators to getting a project delivered on time and on budget.

Wesley Meyer is Creative Director at f.r.a. Wesley brings 20 years of global design experience focused on human experience in the built environment. Wesley’s team creates wayfinding, placemaking and branding that isn’t afraid to solve practical problems through emotion, narrative, and the occasional bit of humour.