East Bank is the UK's largest cultural project in generations, bringing together new arts and educational venues and 600 new homes, retail and community spaces within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

This new neighbourhood at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will enable some of the world's leading cultural and educational institutions to reach out into the London boroughs that hosted the Olympic Games. The UK's largest cultural project in generations, it brings together new cultural and educational venues and 600 new homes, retail and community spaces. It aspires to bring people and ideas together through accessible and welcoming architecture.

As part of the wider ambition to leave a lasting and positive benefit to the communities that hosted the 2012 Games, East Bank was conceived in the years that followed. The masterplan, devised by a team led by Allies and Morrison, brings together: V&A East with its distinctive angular form, Sadler's Wells East with its recognisable saw-tooth roofline, both designed by O'Donnell + Tuomey. The BBC Music Studios with its weathered steel volume and a new home for the London College of Fashion, a 21st century workshop with a dramatic central atrium, both designed by Allies and Morrison.

Each building is unique but all are designed to be approachable and connected through a sequence of clearly legible public spaces. A key principle of the masterplan is of a 'common ground' which flows continuously from the park up and into the public buildings, inviting easy colonisation by people, nature and culture. Each institution will have a distinct identity and the masterplan maximises the potential of close adjacencies in a way that is natural and dynamic and explores the opportunities for permeability, interaction and collaboration. All the buildings embrace the concept of 'casting', whether it be concrete, glass, metal, brick or ceramic, to create a warm palette which reflects the character of the site's - and east London's - industrial past.

Now onsite and coming into its own, East Bank will be a significant addition to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and east London. The project is a true legacy of the Games and the success of the masterplan and development strategy that followed. The key design challenge has been needing to achieve an ambitious quantum of area on a compact site, resulting in vertically configured and terraced cultural and education buildings. In itself, this has been a huge technical challenge, more so while meeting LLDC and their partners' aspirations to create an inclusive, welcoming and cohesive place. It has been exciting for us, and all our team, to design and deliver.

- Alex Wraight, partner, Allies and Morrison