The following self-initiated group project is the result of firsthand engagement with Somers Town community, London. Somers Town is a small neighbourhood often forgotten amidst the Euston/Kings Cross developments. The 'Somers Town Parade' was an act of taking students out into the urban realm, as an expression of unity and local presence. This Parade informed the programme and design of the Somers Town Transient Pavilion.
Architecture skill-exchange workshops.
After collaborating with a Somers Town School, we coordinated a series of architecture workshops. The aim of these workshops was to give students a taste for architectural communication. The workshops gave means for the students to physically represent their personal perception of the neighbourhood, whilst allowing us to learn about local identity.
Somers Town in relation to the wider city.
The first workshop consisted in students mapping what they interpreted as the neighbourhood boundary on a wider London Map. Interestingly, all answers varied. This exercise allowed us to understand the students perception and understanding of how the neighbourhood connects within its wider urban context.
The neighbourhood through student eyes.
The following workshops consisted of students making dioramas from pictures they had taken within the neighbourhood. We encouraged them to use pictures of the good and the bad. This exercise allowed students to think and express what the neighbourhood means to them in a visual sense.
Parade Preparation - Routes & Props
A parade across Somers Town was organised to celebrate and display the students work in the public realm. The route was planned according to the knowledge gained from student mapping exercises. We built stands for each student to parade their dioramas through the streets of the neighbourhood.
'Somers Town Parade'
During the Somers Town parade, the local scenery became an extra layer of the student's dioramas. The parade route went through iconic Somers Town Streets and areas renewed by development. The dioramas became an act of juxtaposing local identity and expression over the developers vision for the future of Somers Town.
See 'Somers Town Transient Pavilion', designed as a result of the Somers Town Parade.
