Europan 9: Milton Keynes

Winner: A Forest in the City

The project

The project re-evaluates the city plan of Milton Keynes as a ‘city in the forest’ (the 1960s planned city has 20 million mature trees), to a ‘forest in the city’, an approach that aims to provide a denser, more urban setting for community life.

The project is organised into perimeter housing block with internal courts, a shared protected community space under a canopy of trees, on which mews units are located. The mews building is intended to be for various uses that can be adapted over time: covered parking, home working or extra bedrooms. The housing that addresses the city street to the south is of a higher density, presenting a more urban edge to the main road in the extension area.

Why it won

The jury felt this project was very accomplished, proposing a credible future urbanity for Milton Keynes, the principle question underlying the brief. The family housing and mews housing types were considered to be an appropriate and good quality example for the future development of medium density housing in this area, and had the potential to set a strong identity for the expansion of Milton Keynes.

Team members

Tom Russell
Victoria Emmett
Oliver Leonard