Urban intervention, Glasgow

In order to revamp this urban connection's negative and inhospitable perception, and in turn increase both its aesthetic and functional appeal, 7N Architects and rankinfraser landscape architecture developed the Garscube Link, an urban intervention project completed just over a month ago as the first phase of a strategy they have developed for the regeneration of the wider area. Dubbed 'The Phoenix Flowers' – an allusion to the old Phoenix Park, which pre-dated the construction of the motorway on the site – the intervention has implemented a colourful and inviting transition point for cyclists and pedestrians, again linking a significant portion of northern Glasgow to the city centre. There is now a marked contrast between the eye-catching red that blankets the area's surface and the visual bleakness of the surrounding concrete and motorway flyovers. The 50 aluminium 'flowers' – growing up to eight metres tall in radiant orange, yellow and pink – line the entire route and serve to illuminate the area at night.

If healing the scars the motorway has left on the area's urban fabric was a primary objective of this initiative, the architects have indeed succeeded. The improved physical connection to the city centre will hopefully stimulate increased usage, not only by non-automotive traffic moving through the city, but also by creative groups encouraged by the physical and economic circumstances the revitalization strategy intends to develop. As Ewan Anderson, partner at 7N, stated, 'We set out to 'turn up the volume' a bit in the approach to the new underpass to compete with the scale and visual cacophony of the M8 flyover. The intention was to grab some critical territory back for pedestrians and cyclists by giving it a rather otherworldly feel, to transform what was previously a grey and mundane experience into a slightly surreal swathe of colour.' The Phoenix Flowers certainly speak for themselves.