Unit A

Young Clapton

Carsten Jungfer, Fernanda Palmieri

Henri Lefebvre understands the formation of space as the outcome of collective action and therefore as “social product” itself. Unit A is interested in collaborative processes that support the production of space in urban contexts. Our agenda is to promote learning through engagement in live project sites and to create opportunities for knowledge exchange with external partners and communities. Through a research-led design approach Unit A methodology proposes to use architecture as a tool to investigate and think critically, by challenging students to engage with live urban conditions to respond with meaningful contextual spatial proposals with a focus on social sustainability.

This year, as result of the coronavirus pandemic, our relationship with the built environment and our understanding of city radically changed. Dense urban neighbourhoods, such as East London, where we live, work and play have been disproportionally impacted by this shift. We started to embrace new routines and with reduced desire to travel long distances, spent more time at home and engaged more at local scale. Local Authorities responded to this quickly, too, by taking temporary measures, that accelerated adoption of innovative policies to rebuild healthier, fairer and more sustainable neighbourhoods. This includes the introduction of low traffic zones, the improvement of infrastructure for cycling and walking, and improvements to the public realm with a more child & youth friendly approach.

The London Borough of Hackney introduced a new Child-friendly planning policy this year. This innovative move, places the needs of young people at the centre of future development, which is a first in the UK. We took this opportunity as subject for this years investigation and continued our long-standing collaboration with the Hackney Council planning department.

Ingrid Gehl (wife of urban designer Jan Gehl) proclaimed in the 1970-ties in Bo-miljø, that the need for play in the city was not necessarily restricted to formal situations for young people only, but for everybody, including informal opportunities for play. As a trained psychologist, Ingrid Gehl understood the importance of play as a form of freedom of expression and something that gives people choices of how to behave. This of course is strongly linked to happiness, satisfaction and well-being.

Alongside Gehl’s and Lefebvre’s points of reference, we continued our ongoing research into civic spaces, investigating opportunities to improve the quality of local life and well-being in East London by focusing on spaces for the Youth across a range of scales: inclusive spaces for Playing, Meeting, Learning, Exchanging and Caring. Working across disciplines and institutions, we collaborated on this topic with the Hackney Council’s planning department, Hackney Quest (a local youth club) and multiple community stakeholders. The understanding that emerged from this this public engagement process, opened up a new spectrum of opportunities. The design proposals are informed by the idea of neighbourhood as a shared and collective place to live, work and play.

The students’ responses embed critical, sustainable and strategic thinking into their spatial designs, that explore new and innovative forms of an architecture rooted in social sustainability.

Students:

Y3: Abdulmajiid Omar, Amy-Chloe Leeshue-Booth Aya Nasr, Busthana Nusren Odayapurath, Czerrina Salayog, Dilnaz Mohammed, Florentina-Nadina Ivanescu, Georgios Kastanidis, Haleema Ahmed, Laila Rose Kricha, Michael Ngam, Muhammad Tawfik, Nazia Begum, Pavlos Giannopoulos, Sumaya Sheikh-Ali Y2: Ainsley Moffat, Claudiu Theodor Cazan, Esra Karakoc, John Paul Nasayao, Le’Quan Bailey, Roland Vata, Simran Maria Pires

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Special thanks to:

Visiting Critics: Alfred Hatch, Alexander Hills (AH-Architects), Amor Guiterrez, Conor Keappock, (London Borough of Hackney, LBH), Dickon Hayward (Material Works), Felix Xylander-Swannell, Gabrielle Abadi (LBH), Harry Zimmermann, Judith Lösing (East) Lily Dowse (Buildup Hackney), Mark Sustr, Mariam Touray, Norbert Kling (zectorarchitects), Reem Charif, Tim Rettler (GLA), Zeena Ismail

Contributors: Blanka Hay (LBH), Lizzie Bird (LBH), Lucy McMeneny (LBH), Luke Billingham (Hackney Quest), Sianead Crawford (Homerton Adventure Playground)

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1 Socio-spatial analysis drawing by Busthana Nusren Odayapurath investigating relationships between infrastructure for children across Clapton Park through the observational frame of daily routine. 2 Analytical axonometric drawing exploring aspects of doorstep play and children’s safe-guarding at the cage / multi-use games area (MUGA) at Banister House estate, by Roland Vata. 3 ‘Kingsmead Village’ is a proposal for a series of zero-carbon youth spaces, constructed by young residents of Kingsmead Estate, comprising timber & bicycle workshops and cabins for quiet study & reading, by Muhammad Tawfik. 4 ‘Daubeney Greenhouse’ pro-actively supports well-being: food is grown here and cooked together by children age 8+. The hybrid-building contains a greenhouse and edible garden, a large teaching kitchen and a meeting space that connects with nearby orchards, allotments and the ‘Daubeney Fields Forever’ growing’ community, by Busthana Nusren Odayapurath.

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5 ‘Build-up Clapton’ is a proposal for a youth-led self-build project along Daubeney Fields water-edge and is aimed at 16-25 year-olds. Involving Build-up Hackney to help deliver this programme, sustainable knowledge in construction and life-skills will be acquired by young local residents. This innovative project aims to deliver social sustainability through community-led space production across ecological and technical scales by collaborating with multiple community stakeholders to empower a new generation of environmental activists and explore alternative models for more impactful local developments, by Haleema Ahmed. 6 ’Super Cage’ is a proposal for the re-programming of an obsolete car-park at the Western corner of Daubeney Fields near Landmark Heights, a refurbished 1960-ties tower-block. The new super-structure spans across the retained deck to provide inclusive access to a series of spaces for play, recreation and meeting for the local youth, by Claudiu Theodor Cazan

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7 ‘Daubeney Gateway’ re-purposes an obsolete two-storey car-park to reconnect young residents across different estates of Clapton Park by introducing new spaces for playing and meeting. The proposal retains the existing RFC-frame and demolished materials are up-cycled to minimise the carbon impact. The renewable energy strategy re-introduces a former football pitch to Daubeney fields, that also acts as thermal energy collector for hot water needs and heating across the seasons, by Aya Nasr 8 ‘Basket-box’ provides Clapton Park with youth activities that are uncommon in the area: Basketball and Rock Climbing; the proposal explores threshold conditions between the site of the under-used car-park and Daubeney Fields public realm, by John Paul Nasayao 9 ‘Social Condenser’ introduces a strategy for much needed spaces for playing and the community onto the doorstep of residents at the Kingsmead Estate. An innovative proposal for play under consideration of safe-guarding in high density contexts, Chun Kiu Michael Ngam

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