How do you capture a community’s cultural spirit?

We believe that meaningful placemaking is born out of an understanding of the spirit of a place, rather than high-level ideas void of local grounding. The Barking Bay project follows this line of thinking, demonstrating that grassroots proposals can act as the foundation for longer-term change.

'Mindful of acting in the interest of the community, we sought first to understand more about the kind of cultural activity happening locally, which then informed our brief'

The project is a collaboration, aiming to improve the social infrastructure along the River Roding adjacent to Abbey Green in Barking, east London. The local council brought together a consortium of local stakeholders to work together to regenerate an area of public land on the riverside. We proposed a series of temporary events and pop-up structures that would enable change to happen organically. Jazz festivals, youth parades, dance classes and empowerment groups all co-exist in the area, and we wanted to host and promote these groups in a more accessible way so their programmes would grow and flourish.