Matt + Fiona

The Best Rest 🪑🌷 🐛

“We noticed that insects were only found on the plants on the site. We wanted to create a place of rest for both insects, plants and people.

The roof gives shade to the plants and people. The chair is very big and could fit two people with two arm rests on the side so you can eat your lunch. We will grow grape, rose, sunflower, tulips and lavender in the plant boxes. The fabric stops the sun from going onto the bench.”

This structure was imagined, designed and built by members of the CIVIC SQUARE Design and Construction Club during the three-day summer build.
 
Photo Credits:
Angela Grabowska
Jake Phillips

The Water Swing 💧🪣

“We were inspired by the drains we found on the site, we noticed plants growing in these areas. Our structure has a gutter system that takes rainwater to the soil, plants, flowers and rocks.

There is a swing seat built into the structure so you can have fun and watch the water collecting. On the sides are engraved designs of rain, flowers, fruits and animals which the structure can feed, we would like to create a bird bath on the site for the birds.”

This structure was imagined, designed and built by members of the CIVIC SQUARE Design and Construction Club during the three-day summer build.

Photos by Angela Grabowska and jake phillips ~ photographer

The Art Cart 🎨 ✏️

This structure allows people to share their ideas for the site through creativity. It has drawers to store material samples from the site, a drawer for paper, a cup holder for pens, string to hang drying art and paintings, a shelf to display polaroids and a place to put your headphones. The perspex on the doors allow people to draw their own imagined ideas of the site in situ.

This structure was imagined, designed and built by members of the CIVIC SQUARE Design and Construction Club during the three-day summer build.

Photos by Angela Grabowska and jake phillips ~ photographer

The Sun Knight, Sun Clock ☀️ ⏰

“This is a 2.6 metre tall structure which produces shade for the user and community. It has lots of amazing features with things like folding tables and shade hangers, which fold up and down. We created it because the day we were designing and imagining our structure, it was extremely hot, so that influenced our design. We named it the Sun Knight because it is defending us from the sun.”

This structure was imagined, designed and built by members of the CIVIC SQUARE Design and Construction Club during the three-day summer build.

Photos by Angela Grabowska and jake phillips ~ photographer

Last week we hosted our second design & build programme with the truly brilliant CIVIC SQUARE Design and Construction Club in the Neighbourhood Public Square.

This three-day site takeover marks the final chapter of this year’s Design & Construction Club journey.

In Chapter 1, we developed core design skills and explored the fundamentals of the design process.
In Chapter 2, we put those skills into practice by designing and making furniture for the home.
In Chapter 3, we explored where materials have come from, how they are processed and used.

The Design & Construction Club have applied these new skills and learning to the Neighbourhood Public Square Site, exploring the materials, conditions and nature of the existing site while imagining what it could be in the future.

These explorations have led to the four structures in Neighbourhood Public Square, imagined, designed and built by the design and construction club young designers, aged 10 to 16. As the change-of-use planning application is being considered, these structures reveal how the group see the site today and how they envision it becoming a tool for transformation in the future.

Their creations communicate the imagined potential of the space and the role it can play in creating a more welcoming, vibrant, and community-led neighbourhood.

Huge thanks to the CIVIC SQUARE team including Imandeep Kaur Daniel catriona James Binning sarah & so many others who it’s always such a privilege to work with, and of course the amazing young designers themselves. Thanks above all to who leads this project with such care & thought, and to all the volunteers who joined us - above all Katarína from Start with Children Summit who came all the way from Bratislava to knowledge exchange ✨

Photos by Angela Grabowska and jake phillips ~ photographer

This year’s Life Afloat with scaled up in ambition, with the primary schools creating painted timber shakes to decorate a new pop-up shelter Floating Classroom are creating with . The shelter will enable Floating Classroom to make use of Stone Wharf for their brilliant learning activities year-round, in all weathers.

The children used saws to shape the timber (all from sequoia Yes Make had salvaged when it had to be felled due to disease), letter punches to add lettering, and painted graphics to symbolise what the cancel means to them. Great to collaborate with Adam from too.

We will share an update once the shelter is complete!

Looking for a new challenge? We’re recruiting!

MATT+FIONA is looking for a wonderful person to join our team as Assistant Programme Coordinator. Initially this is a fixed term two month role to support us with a busy early autumn period, but with the potential for extension.

The successful candidate will be supporting us to achieve our mission of enabling young people to imagine, design and build real spaces to create a more equitable, representative and joyful built environment. This will include a mixture of internal organisation and external facing project work.

For a full job description, details of essential & desirable skills and experience, and information about how to apply, please see the link to the Job Description in our bio.

Deadline for applications is Sunday 12th July at midnight.

Please do share widely with people who you think might share our vision for a world where all young people have the opportunity to learn how places are shaped, and can have a say in shaping them.

Photo by .grabowska

GOSH Arts have just turned ten and we are so proud to have been collaborators over the past few years. This last week we were humbled to be part of the GOSH Arts Festival where there were creative activities popping up all over the hospital.

We led a collaborative sculpture making session, using materials from the building that was demolished to make space for the new Children’s Cancer Centre. The drop in making session attracted patients and families who popped in for anything from 5 minutes to over an hour, bringing imaginative pieces made from timber and wire.

In the evening the young people’s installation was displayed at the Dig Deep event for GOSH Charity at the Artworkers Guild.

These co-design and making explorations are paving the way towards an installation in the new cancer centre, that will be co-designed and made with patients and their families.

Understanding where materials come from, their natural properties and how they respond to fabrication processes is a vital part of being a good designer. It was therefore a joy to visit Cannock Chase with the Design & Construction Club young designers. This ancient forestry is home to so many species of trees, plants and wildlife.

Following a tour from the forestry guides and Lucy the young designers created spaces and structures responding to specific parts of the forest. These included a swing, ladder and dens, all using found materials and timber in the forest, and colourful pre-made nodal joints

These are all exciting exploratory steps towards our summer build 🔨🪜🔩🪵🌱

Huge thanks to the team including James Sarah & Parm

Beautiful photos as always from .grabowska

The young designers from prototyping their designs for public realm seating and sculpture for the Regents Park Estate. They’ll be physically building their unique designs this summer, using reclaimed materials from the Reflect pavilion and meanwhile garden, formerly on Hampstead Road.

Brilliant project led by Jess Kendall on our team, in collaboration with Kirsty & Manfredi at for Camden Council