MERCATO METROPOLITANO
Elephant Park
Elephant and Castle, London​​
Food market and Factory
Status : In progress
Commissioned by Mercato Metropolitano, this project introduces a new urban food-production and market typology within the evolving district of Elephant & Castle.
Located at the heart of the Elephant Park masterplan in London, the scheme reinterprets the traditional market hall as a transparent, productive landscape where making and consuming food coexist.
The architectural concept is rooted in Mercato Metropolitano’s ethos of circular, sustainable food systems. A central on-site micro-factory - milling heritage grains and producing fresh bakery and pasta - anchors the space both spatially and socially.
Beyond serving the Elephant & Castle community, the facility operates as a local distribution hub for other Mercato Metropolitano venues across London, reinforcing short supply chains and reducing transport impact. The project therefore positions architecture as an active participant in sustainable urban food infrastructure - celebrating craft, transparency, and shared urban life.
This productive core is expressed architecturally as a light, permeable pavilion, wrapped in metal mesh and glass, allowing visitors to engage visually with the processes of preparation and transformation.
Around this nucleus, a sequence of halls and internal streets accommodates independent food traders, dining areas, and communal seating. Generous ceiling heights, continuous glazing, and planted islands introduce daylight, vegetation, and visual depth, creating an indoor market environment that feels open, civic, and garden-like.
Materials are deliberately robust and tactile—steel frames, mineral surfaces, mesh screens - evoking the industrial lineage of food production while remaining warm and contemporary.