Involve Barkingside
A competition entry for Better Barkingside
Our proposal for Barkingside Frontages is based on a growing series of workshops and installations that engage the local community in a dialogue about their high street in order to develop design proposals. Each workshop will create a common space for encounter, democratising research by sharing every step of the design process.
Involve Architecture Collective
As the design progresses, the knowledge gathered in discussions will be represented back to participants. This is already underway on our blog where residents and other practitioners can access and discuss our research.
Our initial installation - mobilisation - will utilise open access research methods, to engage a local community in a common conversation and spread opportunities for further involvement. This research will form the basis of subsequent workshops, with design outcomes evolving in an iterative process. We will open up the design process to people of all ages, drawing on engagement methods developed with the Open City Architecture in Schools programme. This work uses accessible methods to elicit sophisticated responses to the built environment from the classroom. Our second workshop - procession - will be mobile in order to take the site of discussion to the high street, engaging users in a transformation of the high street as it progresses. Our final workshop - destination - will bring together all participants to construct an installation that creates a space for connection. This collaborative production will allow for individual input towards a collective outcome.
