Unlocking Pentonville: Architectural Liberation in Self‐Initiated Projects

Capital‐driven development is causing an adversarial atmosphere in built‐environment planning. Architects often find themselves walking a tightrope between their clients' demands and their own professional imperative to work for the good of the community. But challenging a client on ethics can mean losing work. To improve the situation all round, London‐based architect Sarah Wigglesworth advocates involving architects at an earlier stage in the planning process, and also encourages her peers to initiate projects themselves to spur debate and potential collaboration. Her practice's urban regeneration proposal centred on a historic prison building in one of the UK's most deprived neighbourhoods serves as an example.