Overview
Bee Leighton (Part 2) and Adam Walsh (Part 1) are Architectural Assistants at WR-AP (Weston-Rengifo Architecture Practice) in South West London. WR-AP's people-centric work spans social housing, community spaces, domestic-scale work and retrofit through its sister company WRAP Retrofit. Their finalist entry — London's Living Room — reimagines Old Spitalfields Market as a civic equivalent of the private living rooms that are quietly disappearing from London life.
The concept
In a period when private living rooms are increasingly squeezed out of new housing, the proposal asks whether Spitalfields can step into that gap — both day-to-day, as a place for ordinary people to gather without spending money, and at scale, as a venue where the whole community can celebrate culture. The idea draws on Spitalfields' existing role in the area, both socially and physically, and overlays it with a programme that treats civic gathering as an architectural function in its own right. The proposal is illustrated through people, happenings, events and seasonal festivities populating the space, demonstrating how the same hall can host very different kinds of London life across the year.
Workflow & process
As with all design competitions, Bee and Adam started with a brainstorm with the wider WR-AP team to set parameters and early concepts. They planned the 'Living Room' concept before heading to site on Saturday morning. As London locals, they brought direct knowledge of Spitalfields' social and physical context, combined with quick research into the topic of disappearing living rooms. From there they generated images based on site photos, rudimentary 3D modelling and hand sketching over the supplied drawings, then iteratively developed diagrams and renders that explained the spatial quality of the design and the construction of the intervention. They then populated the scenes with people, events and seasonal festivities. Communication with the sticky-note and pencil tools made collaboration over the weekend fun and effective, and doubled as a strong presentation device.
Interview
Q: Was this your first time using Gendo, and how has your relationship with it evolved?
We are both experienced Gendo users and frequent collaborators. During this competition we worked on the same board, on the same project, at the same time — something we would not necessarily do based on our current in-house projects. Over our time using Gendo we have seen it evolve from an AI render engine to an effective platform for architects and designers.
Q: What did the result mean to you — and what would you do differently next time?
We did not expect to be a finalist given the calibre of work produced by our fellow contestants, but we are thrilled to be amongst them. Next time we would rely on Gendo more at the conceptual stage — to generate diagrams that explain our process, not just the results. It is very capable in that role.
Q: In your own words, what was it like to compete in Gendo 48?
A different approach to an architectural competition. We found it fun and engaging, and somewhat liberating working at pace — without needing to spend hours in multiple different applications — and still producing high-quality images and a full presentation.
Key takeaways
Bee and Adam's entry is a clean expression of WR-AP's people-centric practice: a project that begins with a social observation and finds a civic answer. The workflow note matters too — two experienced collaborators using a shared board at the same time, in a way they don't normally do at work. The finalist result is the visible part; the new collaborative habit is the more interesting one.