This is written by us, informed by our experience in conjunction with feedback from clients and mentors, with the intention of sharing our creative journey and physical experience with you, the reader.

Our collaboration with Peckham Platform is an example of the adaptive approach that we tend to undertake. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the organisation had their previous makers pull out of the design and making of their structure and sought out a replacement Maker. 

A core element of our design process is engaging with our users, enabling us to understand who our user/s is/are through in-person interactions and conversations. This provides us insight into their needs and desires while allowing for their agency and ownership to be present in any work that we produce with them in mind. The circumstances under which we were offered this project meant that we would be designing and building without direct engagement with our user. Initially, we were hesitant because of the quick turn around that the client needed from us, but ultimately we decided to undertake the challenge. The result was a beautiful coming together of many different aspects. 

For us as Yes Make, we had just increased the size of our family to a team of 9 people. This meant we were able to allocate elements of the project to different team members according to their strengths and interests. This resulted in a barrelled roof structure courtesy of our genius co-founder Joel, built from laminated slats of 8mm cedar curved at our site using our own former. Components of its canopy were sewn together from recycled ton-bags by our teammate Anna. It was ballasted with IBC containers each containing 500L of water which we  disposed of by watering local green areas when the event was finished during our pack down process.

Materials

The whole structure was intended to be temporary. Erected and dismantled over the space of 7 days, creating a magical space that came and went like the wind. For this reason, holding true to low-carbon construction techniques and circular economy practice, we ensured that all materials used could be reused for other purposes and projects. The IBC containers were second-hand and now support rainwater harvesting at The Paper Garden. The barrel roof timber slats were reused in a subsequent project to create the structure of an outdoor classroom and the ton bag canopy is currently being used to protect our locally-sourced timber at our site.

All of the timber that was used for the roof, the book shelves, and supporting elements had been milled by us at our worksite from trees that had come down in Southwark due to disease, property development, or storms. This timber was milled and dimensioned by us to create the majestic structure you see here. Once we dismantled the structure, we released the ballast water to surrounding green space and transported all materials from Peckham Square back to our site using our renovated 1980’s electric Milkfloat. 

We understand the logistical challenge that is present when dismantling structures with the intention of reducing or eradicating waste, as opposed to disposing of components to landfill. It is time consuming. It is resource and time intensive. It is difficult to design forward where these materials go. 

But we are not in the business of typical construction. We are creative with every element of our business, not just the making. We do whatever we can to make sure that challenges are overcome to both address the Climate Crisis we face and to provide a social and technical model to creative public installations. 

Conclusion

The overall sentiment of this project was that we made something beautiful and had a great amount of fun doing so. Our team was able to grow together and collaboratively with Peckham Platform to fulfil the physical and cultural vision that they had, whilst also adding our own nuggets of beauty to it to compliment their vision.

This is not to say there weren’t barriers that presented challenges which we faced. Timelines, illness (Joel got meningitis!), design flaws, and life issues were all present throughout this project, but as a team, we banded together to overcome them. All of our projects are an adventure that always end up with a significant and appreciative outcome. We welcome the inevitable challenges and encourage others to embark on these journeys with us, collaboratively creating public spaces, temporary or permanent, that we will remember forever.