Project Experience

A+A consulted with British Waterways, the agency responsible for managing canals and rivers across the UK, on Project Experience—a vision for the development of leisure destinations along the waterways. Seven destination models were conceived for common sites that included city centers, market towns, countryside hubs, remote pristine nature refuges and themed water parks.

A common set of experience and design standards were developed for retail, food, visitor services, interpretation and live events. Each of these elements were then combined together and scaled based on the character and visitor patterns of each of the destination models.

A+A collaborated with two regional design firms on developing the experience strategy principles into a kit of common design elements that would be extended across the network of destinations. The design language was inspired by the objective of reusing in furniture the massive timber lock gates that were prevalent throughout the system.