Paleys Upon Pilers, Aldgate
Date uploaded: August 15, 2012
Paleys Upon Pilers, Aldgate
Architects and designers - Studio Weave - have produced a temporary commission in Aldgate in East London.
Paleys Upon Pilers is an intricate timber palace perched on pillars that marks the spot of the historic Aldgate and commemorates its most distinguished resident, Geoffrey Chaucer, who lived there between 1374 and 1386. It also celebrates the gateway from the City of London to the Olympic Park for the London Festival of Architecture 2012.
The historic eastern gateway into the City existed since the Roman times until 1761. However, it remains a strategically positioned site today – standing at the road that leads to Stratford. Paleys Upon Pilers also signals the vast transformation that this area is going to see, in terms of development, over the next decade.
Studio Weave’s design has been inspired by two dream poems written by Chaucer while resident in the rooms above the gate in the 14th century: The House of Fame and The Parlement of Foules, or Parliament of Fowls.
‘Paleys Upon Pilers is an abstraction of the uppermost room (a small niche with a pitched roof) of the old gate, an evocation of Chaucer’s luxurious dreamed temples and, like a dressmaker’s bust, a ghostly base over which new dreams and imaginings can be overlaid.
It speaks to Chaucer’s elevated temples, while providing a focus for the public space and highlighting the extent of the old City walls.’
The structure was made of timber and sat in the air above Aldgate High Street, supported on pillars decorated with a pattern inspired by the illuminated manuscripts. The pattern was designed and screen-printed by Linda Florence in red, blue and gold, the latter of which has been gilded with Dutch gold leaf.
Paleys Upon Pilers was commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects for the Olympic Games.
