♥ Client: Mountford Growing Community
♥ Collaboration: Rose Gibbs
♥ Year: 2021
♥ Location: London
♥ Collaboration: Rose Gibbs
♥ Year: 2021
♥ Location: London
Mountford Community Hall is an ongoing project developed in collaboration with Mountford Growing Community and artist Rose Gibbs. The project focuses on underrepresented young people within the built environment, including those from global majority and working-class backgrounds.
The work began with a Summer School and Autumn School in 2021, each running for five days on-site at Mountford Community Hall. Through workshops with young people and community consultations with residents, a design for the new hall was developed. A publication and a report to the Greater London Authority (GLA) are forthcoming. The project has been funded through crowdfunding and the Mayor of London's Spacehive scheme.
Across the project, the question of how space is used in London is held at the centre. The city is in the middle of a housing crisis, with homes unaffordable for many. While government and developers focus on building new housing, these efforts often overlook the need for community provision alongside new homes. Mountford Community Hallcritiques this approach and argues for the importance of spaces like community halls as part of how a city houses its people.
Community halls function as living rooms for the public. They are shared spaces where people gather, host events, participate in programmes, and socialise. They make room for after-school clubs, exercise classes, study spaces, coffee mornings, and the slow work of meeting your neighbours. They extend domestic space into the public realm and offer something that small living rooms cannot. The project's ambition is to ensure that the new Mountford Community Halloffers a high-quality, inclusive space for everyone, and that community infrastructure is recognised as essential alongside housing.
The work began with a Summer School and Autumn School in 2021, each running for five days on-site at Mountford Community Hall. Through workshops with young people and community consultations with residents, a design for the new hall was developed. A publication and a report to the Greater London Authority (GLA) are forthcoming. The project has been funded through crowdfunding and the Mayor of London's Spacehive scheme.
Across the project, the question of how space is used in London is held at the centre. The city is in the middle of a housing crisis, with homes unaffordable for many. While government and developers focus on building new housing, these efforts often overlook the need for community provision alongside new homes. Mountford Community Hallcritiques this approach and argues for the importance of spaces like community halls as part of how a city houses its people.
Community halls function as living rooms for the public. They are shared spaces where people gather, host events, participate in programmes, and socialise. They make room for after-school clubs, exercise classes, study spaces, coffee mornings, and the slow work of meeting your neighbours. They extend domestic space into the public realm and offer something that small living rooms cannot. The project's ambition is to ensure that the new Mountford Community Halloffers a high-quality, inclusive space for everyone, and that community infrastructure is recognised as essential alongside housing.