Project Overview
The Paper Garden is a temporary educational garden situated in the heart of the developing Canada Water Masterplan. As these long-term redevelopments often cause disruption to local communities, the garden utilises meanwhile space for temporary communal learning and growing, creating a local sense of ownership and agency alongside large-scale redevelopments.
Nested within the garden, The Shed will provide an educational space, community kitchen and administrative offices, and remain as a legacy project after the masterplan’s completion. Its regenerative design is built from recycled and low-tech materials. Yes Make leads workshops with volunteers, local businesses and school children, who participate in its construction. In their words, “making things together in workshops builds skills, experience, confidence and an opportunity to have tangible conversations with the community about design and its impact on our lives”.
Process
1. Co-design of the Paper Garden
The design for the Paper Garden was conceived through workshops with British Land, TEDI and young people participating in Global Generation’s Generator Program (a youth and environmental action programme for 10-18 year olds).
2. Detailed design
Global Generation, with Jan Kattein Architects, took forward the concept designs to planning and detailed design. Cordwood masonry was chosen for the construction of ‘The Shed’ as it is an inexpensive, simple and environmentally sound method of building walls, combining wood logs with lime mortar and a cavity filled with insulation that can be made from the sawdust. This low-tech construction method allowed for an effective co-build process.
3. Co-delivery of The Shed
Yes Make conducted a series of co-delivery (construction) workshops with volunteers, local businesses and school children to construct the walls for The Shed, which took shape over the course of a year.
4. Co-delivery of the Paper Garden
50 local people will have access to community growing beds as a part of the garden proposal, with priority given to people without access to green space, clients from Time and Talents Food Larder, or those in need of mental health support. The garden will thus grow and thrive as a result of the continued planting by local groups.
5. Long term legacy
The Paper Garden and The Shed will be used as a base to run activities which informs Global Generation’s involvement in the development of layers of biodiversity and community engagement within the public realm of the wider Canada Water Masterplan. These include: bi-weekly twilight gardening workshops, monthly workshops for families visiting with the NHS mental health intervention scheme; holiday clubs for school children, nature explorer workshops for smaller groups chosen by the school’s heads of inclusion and pastoral care team, setting up food growing areas and natural habitats for education and wildlife in three local schools, and cooking workshops for local ‘Time & Talents Food Pantry’ clients.
