Lacey Green: Applications Open for Architectural Association Programme Student-run Workshop
Second-year Architecture student and founding member of WORKSHOP Clementine Blakemore will be directing a two-week workshop this spring at Grymsdyke Farm in Lacey Green, Buckinghamshire as part of the Architectural Association’s Visiting School programme. This will be the fourth Visiting School directed by WORKSHOP, a non-profit architecture collective with an ambition ‘to use the design and construction process as a tool for positive social change, and to create beautiful buildings that are modest, practical and meaningful’.
The Visiting School, which runs from 28 March to 11 April 2015, forms part of Project Lacey Green, a long-term partnership between the Royal College of Art, the Architectural Association and Grymsdyke Farm, that will inform Clementine’s MA thesis. The intention of the project is to engage with the wider context of Lacey Green village, examining connections between design, making and place. As Clementine has explained: ‘It aims to explore modes of production that engage with both traditional craftsmanship and digital technology, through a ‘live’ (built) project developed collaboratively with the local community. This year our client is St John’s Primary School, a small state school located opposite the farm that has limited financial resources and is in need of additional space – particularly for musical education.’
The music pavilion was designed following a period of immersive research. ‘I began researching the area in 2014,’ Clementine says, ‘finding out more about the local history, culture, manufacturing, resources and so on. I’ve been working on the project full-time since September, living between London and Lacey Green, developing relationships with teachers and parents, as well as local fabricators and suppliers that are key to the project.’
The structure will be built collaboratively as part of the Visiting School, which will be based at Grymsdyke Farm, an innovative research and fabrication studio in a rural setting. The design and construction will be informed by local knowledge and expertise, with input from specialist manufacturers in the area, such as the Ercol factory in Princes Risborough which combines hand tools with digital manufacturing processes such as CNC milling, and HG Matthews brickworks in Chesham. The project will also take advantage of the fabrication tools at Grymsdyke Farm, which include a CNC router, 3D printer and robotic arm.
In an interview for AA Conversations, Clementine has explained the format of the workshop: ‘The structural design of the pavilion will be resolved by the time the Visiting School starts, which will allow us to jump straight into fabrication and construction of the timber frame during the first week. The second week will involve the design and production of a number of prototype clay roof tiles, experimenting with digital mould-making techniques and firing processes.’
The Lacey Green Visiting School offers an opportunity to engage with a live project in partnership with the local community, to connect with the site and landscape, and to explore design through materials, tools and hands-on fabrication skills. Participants are invited as collaborators, and the construction site opened up as a platform for exchange. Alongside the Visiting School attendees, a number of guests will visit to join the conversation throughout the fortnight, including Alexander Groves and Azusa Murakami from Studio Swine (Super Wide Interdisciplinary New Explorers); Martin Self, engineer and Director of Hooke Park; Steve Webb, founding partner of Webb Yates Engineers who has been working on the music pavilion for St John’s since December; and British sculptor and educator Richard Wentworth.
The deadline for applications to the Lacey Green Visiting School is 14 March, click here for further details and to apply.
Anyone not attending the Visiting School in person can follow their progress on the WORKSHOP blog and via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook using #projectlaceygreen. Clementine will also be presenting the project at the next Sustain Talk titled We Build: Powering Communities Through Co-Creation, on Wednesday 25 March.