Mariel Nerveza Master of Interior Architecture

The Community Terraces: A Living Landscape for Oxford Street

Oxford Street is one of London’s most active commercial streets, yet it is primarily experienced as a place of consumption and movement rather than belonging. As the street transitions into a pedestrian-focused public realm, there is an opportunity to introduce spaces that encourage people to pause and engage with their surroundings. Through adaptive reuse, this project responds to that shift by reimagining the former DH Evans department store as a Community Living Landscape: a new civic space that fosters participation and a renewed connection between people and nature. 

Inspired by the social role of London’s parks and garden squares as shared spaces for gathering and interaction with nature, this project reinterprets this tradition as an indoor terraced garden: The Living Terraces. 

Acting as both a communal gathering space and the foundation of the building’s living landscape, it creates a restorative environment supported by spaces for wellness, public assembly, cultivation workshops, and a community market showcasing
produce grown within the building.