CONCEPT
“Street food is revolutionising Britain’s food culture forever.”
Combining a love of food and travel, the concept for the project is inspired by street food cultures from around the world. Street food is an integral part of many local communities - cooked by the locals, for the locals. Its origins lie in providing affordable, accessible, fresh food for workers on a daily basis. However, the excitement and buzz surrounding street food has lead to increased popularity amongst adventurous travellers as well as locals. Interaction between vendors and customers provides a truly tangible eating experience, enhanced further by the theatrical nature of street food. Chefs no longer hide in the kitchen; instead the spotlight is on and they become performers in the theatre of street food, often framed by the doorway or cart from which they sell, on full view of an eagerly anticipating (and hungry) audience. In the past few years, entrepreneurs and chefs from around the country have taken inspiration from such food cultures and decided to swap bricks and mortar for wheels and wagons, kick-starting the ‘British Street Food Revolution’. We are changing the way in which we want to eat, going in search of a less prescribed, more flexible and more sociable dining experience.
BRIEF
The Street Food Revolution is truly apparent in London with events and markets being held everyday. However in order for the revolution to continue and grow, street food must become available more widely across the country. The Malt Cross Market draws inspiration from street food cultures from around the world to provide Nottingham with its first permanent space to showcase and celebrate street food and performance. Reflecting the transient nature of markets, the project aims to create a dynamic space which lends itself to changing function and atmosphere throughout the day, from a bustling market to a rooftop allotment auditorium.
SITE
The Malt Cross, 16 St James’s Street, Nottingham
Situated on a pedestrianised street in the heart of the city, The Malt Cross is an original Victorian music hall designed and built in 1877. Located just off Market Square and within walking distance of the city’s main amenities, the building is situated perfectly to encourage workers, shoppers and students to break from the norm and experience a new wave of street eating.
The Malt Cross consists of five floors and has prominent original features, such as a decorative facade, cast iron columns and balaustades, and a glazed barrel roof which displays the first know use of glue lam in Britain. New interventions remain sympathetic to the original fabric by taking structural cues from the existing building, and using raw contemporary materials to distinguish the new from the old. The project aims to recreate forgotten links with the building’s history as a music hall by using a design language of layering; by opening up the floors and creating connections throughout the whole building, from the lower basement right through to the roof, wherever you are in the space there is a link to another part of the building and the activity taking place.
Sectional Perspective BB
The Malt Cross Market Facade, St James's Street
Front stalls and tables extending into St James's Street
A corten steel pivot door guides pedestrians from both ends of the street into the market, whilst bi-folding doors allow the front of the building to completely open up and tables to extend and spill out into the street. Street food stalls positioned at the front of the building can be used when the rest of the market is shut down, for example early breakfast time or late at night after pubs and clubs close.
Street Food Kitchen
Corten steel shutters open to reveal a communal street food kitchen. Chefs are entirely on show in the performance and theatre of street food. Individual vendors occupy their own stalls yet the continuous work surfaces and serving counters connect the stalls, encouraging interaction and enhancing the sense of community between vendors, whilst remaining entirely accessible and tangible to customers.
Pop-Up Market Stalls
Pop-up market stalls in the form of steel and wire mesh doors with folding tables swing out from the wall to provide space for local producers to sell produce in the city centre.
Ground Floor seating framework with a view to Basement and First Floor
Taking inspiration from street food cultures from around the world, the seating framework that runs throughout the ground and first floors is designed as a dining space void of tables, to encourage a less prescribed and more sociable approach to eating. Busking spots are interspersed amongst the seating to enhance the opportunity for street performance and music in the Malt Cross Market.
Outdoor Performance space and Urban Allotment
A sunken allotment and outdoor performance space is situated at First Floor level, incorporating social auditorium-style seating for use throughout the day and on warm summer evenings. Allotment planters run through the rows of seating, breaking up the space to create more intimate spaces amongst the more open, social seating. Vegetables and herbs grown in the allotment can be used in the Street Food Cooking School or sold in the pop-up market. Light wells with re-used pavement lights from the original Malt Cross interior alow light to flood into the street kitchen below. Sliding corten steel doors open up to reveal three more street food stalls which are designed to serve inside and out, giving the outdoor space the opportunity to function on it’s own and hold events even when the rest of the market is closed. A platform at Second Floor level provides views down onto the outdoor performance space or through the curved barrel roof into the main Malt Cross building.
Second Floor Dormer Window seating
A place to escape the chaotic main market, seating in the dormer windows is more intimate and provides the opportunity to observe passers-by on St James’s Street. The mezzanine gallery also provides a direct view onto the First Floor street food stalls, enhancing the concept that vendors and chefs are always performing and putting on a show in view of the audience.
Street Performance Theatre
A void in the Ground Floor lets light into the Basement performance venue, a space to showcase and celebrate street theatre and performance, as well as upcoming bands and artists who otherwise may busk in the street.
Street Food Cooking School
Street food vendors give lessons in how to cook their dishes. The cooking school is a double height space with a mezzanine floor, containg a library full of inspiring cook books and a long sociable table for students of the cooking school to enjoy their creations.
