air street + soho - a journey

Discovering Soho in pieces was quite an interesting journey. It started with the first trip to Air Street, and entered from Regent Street. The first reaction to the place - hmmm.. just another street cut in the middle by the giant REGENT street. Or is it? Just another street?

It housed the erstwhile regent palace hotel, which has seen soho change for over 9 decades.. At first the site did not instigate any thought or attract me in any way. So I headed out in a journey to find what Soho is all about. Started with the history of the place.

Started off as farm lands - a royal park - a rich neighbourhood - artists, theatre, prostitution hub - foreign nationals setting up cheap eateries (a fashionable place for intellectuals, writers and artists to meet) - sex hub - gay centre - fashionable restaurants.

Every street in Soho seems to have a specific activity attached to it. e.g. Old Compton - houses a lot of gay pubs and a theatre., Broadwick Street - location of the street pump which spread cholera killing many sohoites back in 1854, houses many of the printing houses and shops selling artists' and printing equipment and stationary, Golden Square housing many of the post production houses and related offices, Gerrard Street housing the London China Town etc.

The activities in these places also vary during the day time

What is Soho today??

A multi cultural area of central London
Home to industry, commerce and entertainment
A residential area for both the rich and the poor
Home of the main gay village
Religious and spiritual mini hub - St. Annes church on Dean Street, St. Patrick's church on Soho square, City Gates church in Greens court, Hare krishna temple off soho square, a mosque on Berwick Street.

What did i find in Soho??
A large contrast in the environment. Streets housing churches and theatre next to each other.
bookshops + sex shops (SOHO BOOKS)
church + square
church + theatre
church + greens court (sex hub)
activity centric development on streets
bright colours and vibrance in the street level. The streets being narrow, it didn't really matter much as to how the building looked or what kind of emotions it created above the field of vision.

Soho had a variety of streets - with lots of activity and buzz, some generating life only in the evening, and some so dull and dead throughout.

The colourful part of Soho

A dull or rather dead street

There was an element of surprise when you walk through the Rupert Street onto the corner of Brewer St. and Walkers Ct.

The surprise - you enter a street flooded with all the sex shops and related clubs and then you walk out into this normal neighbourhood with a Sommerfeld and residential area welcoming you at the end of it. Quite a stunner!!!

You also tend to notice the change in the outlook, the colours, the tones and the moods of the place at different times.

Do I really want to do something with Air Street? Really? or blend into Soho.. and intervene...??