London and Rotterdam-based STORE works with summer School students to create a temporary ‘log cabin’ in London’s Granary Square as a venue for public events at London Design Festival.
The transformed public squares of King’s Cross have been in the news recently. First, Allies and Morrison and Porphyrios Associates’ masterplan was shortlisted for the 2024 Stirling Prize. Then, more recently, there has been debate over a planning submission for new retail structures in Coal Drops Yard. Unfazed by working in this crucible of media attention, this week, a group of young people added their own temporary pavilion to Granary Square for London Design Festival.
The components of this ‘urban log cabin’ were made by different groups of 14- to 18-year-olds during three summer schools run by social enterprise, STORE. One summer school, Cabin Fever with architectural design studio Flimsy Works focused on the walls, which slot together from timber beams. Structural engineer, Manja van de Worp ran a series on ‘raising roofs.’ Designer and architects, Theo Tan and Matt Lucraft also spent a week with students investigating the concept of thresholds: “from a stone arch and a Chinese Paifang to a creaking shed door, how openings operate and how they make people feel.”
Joe Tompkins of Flimsy Works, who worked on the walls programme with students admits that this might not be what architects think of as a pavilion. Instead, he says, “It’s a sketch, a prototype – we haven’t ‘sanded out’ the imperfections of the students’ work.” Tasmin Tabassum, one of STORE’s Young Trustees describes the way all its different components come together as “slightly uncanny, like a dream.”
STORE is an association of artists, designers and architects based between London and Rotterdam. They aim to help address the social imbalance in design and architecture by giving more young people from underrepresented backgrounds the skills, confidence and experience – and develop the portfolios – to apply for creative higher education courses. They do this through workshops, a very popular After School Club for local state school pupils, and public events. STORE also has a shop and educational space, STORE STORE, in Coal Drop’s Yard, which sells some of the products they make, earning the students royalties and giving them a taste of the business side of the industry.
The way the summer schools broke down the different elements and roles in a building project is a prelude to a much more ambitious scheme the STORE team is working on in East London. An underutilised site has been identified for a creative community space – and the plan is for young people, in collaboration with local residents and professional mentors, to design and build it.
Kevin Green, a designer and one of STORE’s associates, is excited by the new building venture and sees their collaborative model as being of potentially wider benefit to local authorities for a variety of creative briefs, from benches to water fountains. Any brief can be broken down in a way that provides meaningful opportunities for learning, he explains. “We can look ahead to the next six months of the build, for instance, at all the details, all the things that have to happen, sometimes quite boring aspects of building, and we can turn them into interesting After School Clubs.”
The pavilion in Granary Square is being used for a series of public workshops for LDF and will be in situ until 22nd September. Learn more about STORE’s work here.
