Wapping High School

Corner block clad with pre-fabricated panels and glass, c.1970s.

Three o'clock walk
Contributed by Mariame_Amouche on May 23, 2018

This is an extract from a longer piece of observational writing about a walk undertaken in 2018 by Mariame Amouche, a first year architecture student at the University of Westminster:

My journey at New Road began as I stood opposite Wapping High
 School’s main building. As the clock struck three o’clock in the
 afternoon, the school bell rang signalling that the academic day had 
finally ended. I watched the crowded building as it started to empty, as
, one by one, the rowdy students exited through the automatic doors
 and entered the sidewalk of the street. Some of them hurriedly raced
 home with their big rucksacks bumping against their backs, whilst
 other students decided to linger around the entrance for friends
 allowing snippets of conversations to bounce across the walls along the street. Eventually, the once densely populated road became 
empty and deserted as the students diffused into thin air, leaving the
 glassy superstructure of Wapping High School to openly tower 
above me. This observation was interrupted by the moving red double decker bus which caused my feet to pivot towards its direction and look further down the street. My gaze lingered at the public vehicle as it stopped at the crowded bus stop to allow the students to get in. The disappearance of the bus left the empty street to occupy my vision.

Continue walking up New Road with Mariame here.

Themes