The first of a family of nine kiosks, designed by award-winning Maltese architecture and design practice Mizzi Studio has opened at the Ritz Corner, in London’s Green Park.
Eight more kiosks will open throughout winter, culminating with the opening of a landmark café on the Serpentine Bridge in spring 2019.
The organic-inspired designs for the family of kiosks respond sympathetically to the Grade I listed landscape and embody the ethos of The Royal Parks as a sustainability leader.
Mizzi Studio has used sustainable materials and traditional craft techniques, together with state-of-the-art manufacturing methods to create simple, functional forms that are both striking and elegant.
Curvaceous oak cladding has been made by Tom Raffield for a number of the kiosks, using a pioneering steam bending technique.
Together with artisan brand Colicci, Mizzi Studio explored the parks’ heritage and tailored the design of each kiosk to the history and nuances of their respective site to create new visitor experiences and make a refreshment stop an integral part of a journey through the parks.
Jonathan Mizzi, director of Mizzi Studio, said: “We are absolutely delighted to see the first kiosk open in Green Park. It is an honour to have been entrusted with such a high-profile project of this size and scale. The kiosks form an important part of The Royal Parks’ heritage by serving the public with refreshments and acting as local information points.
“The design challenge was to create a family of functional sculptures with a goal to continuously surprise and delight while further enhancing the visitor’s experience. This is an important milestone for Mizzi Studio and is central to our commitment to innovative sustainable design for the public realm.”
The kiosks will mark the entrances to Hyde Park, St James’s Park and Green Park. The kiosks are conceived as a family of individual forms that are united in their design language, with a 360-degree sculptural canopy that swells out like a tree’s crown, creating a recognisable silhouette.
The flagship Horse Shoe Bend kiosk in St James’s Park, in view of Buckingham Palace, will be clad in tubular brass and mirror the ornate precious metals that adorn Sir Thomas Brock’s Queen Victoria Memorial, while the choice of timber cladding for the rest of the kiosks rests on the relationship with the park environment.
Mizzi Studio has used high-quality materials throughout the design, from sustainable British oak to oxidised copper, new copper, stainless steel and brass.
The new cafe by Mizzi Studio, opening in Hyde Park in spring 2019 is a new landmark cafe with views towards the Serpentine Lake and the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.