Milton Court play music Part 1 Project 2007 Rena Tanimura University of East London London | UK In contrast and opposition to the 42 storey tower proposed for this site, my project is buried and rooted into the ground. A new urban garden shelters the concert hall required by the nearby Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Four pavilions and the garden make an interaction between the city and the school: a human-scale and neighbourly meeting-place. Sunken gardens either side of the concert hall connect these different layers, creating a natural environment for the learning and playing of music. I have tried to make a gentle, quiet and generous intervention on this site. Rena immersed herself in a current planning controversy concerning a site facing brutal overdevelopment. She addressed the brief's core - a concert hall - with a counterproposal grounded in her own experience as a musician. As a violin and bow are made from tree, horse and sheep (or cat), Rena's project is of few materials and elements. A garden and pavilions make a generous public realm, in counterpoise with a large hall underground. I valued how Rena played with the Architect's primary tools - plans and section - to make a quietly effective alternative for this site.