About the Paradise building
In late 2022, we worked with a group of 33 eleven-year-olds from Oasis Academy Southbank, next-door to our studio, to co-design the ceramic façade of a new, carbon-negative building in their local neighbourhood in Lambeth. Over the course of four workshops they explored their local area, developed design ideas, and reflected on their work as a collective of young designers.
This innovative building and initiative have been developed by progressive developers, Bywater Properties, and is being designed by leading architects, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios.
The young people began by taking inspiration from patterns, textures, stories and memories from their local area, plus references from the collection at the Garden Museum. They then used collage to collate these ideas to find new forms and patterns. Working in pairs they collated their designs and extracted simplified patterns which they pressed into clay to create a negative of their tile forms. Finally, they cast using plaster to reveal their extruded tile designs.
Theo from Bywater Properties and Joya from Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects joined these workshops to share their unique insight, along with designers from Jestico+Whiles, our Industry Champions. FCB are now developing the young people’s tile designs into finished products which will be used to clad the building.
The hoped-for outcome – on top of a beautiful, community-sourced façade for a key local building – is to upskill and empower young people to be actively involved in the shaping of their local area. The children will hopefully see their façade become a reality over their next few years at secondary school and see at first-hand how they have shaped their local area.
What’s Next?
The Paradise building is set to open in autumn 2024. Keep your eyes peeled for the co-designed façade!
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