Chilton Square

Built

Photography: Rachel Ferriman

A sculptural woodland playscape in the heart of King's Cross, Chilton Square brings multigenerational play, fitness and the calm of nature into the city and is open to all, 24 hours a day.

Chilton Square is a sculptural woodland playscape at the heart of King’s Cross, accessible to the local community 24 hours a day. Located on a former site compound, it is one of the final projects completing the Kings Cross Masterplan. Our prior work on the estate - delivering the Camley Street Natural Park visitor centre in 2020 – brought a deep understanding of King’s Cross’s ecological network and community that directly informed Chilton Square’s design.

Whilst conceived with 4–12 year-olds in mind, it is designed to engage all generations - to play, explore, work out, have lunch and relax. Twenty-seven newly planted trees were carefully placed to mediate the microclimate of the surrounding buildings and create a new arboreal environment, with woodland underplanting and willow features for calmer play. The shady woodland scheme also functions as a green corridor between Canal Reach to the north-west and Lewis Cubitt Park to the south-east.