Design Workshop Day 2

After an eventful and productive first day we began setting up the tasks for further user participation through re-configring the car park. To do this we temporarily placed some of the cafes furniture upon the expansive asphalt drive way. The purpose of this task was to determine the reaction of the worshipping community to the alteration of traditional procedures.

We then participated as a group in the church service, assimilating ourselves into the rituals of the worshipping community. After this, we all had some tea and coffee on the car park and had some interesting conversations with old and young members of All Hallows Church.

Site participation tool, extending the cafe to the car park and engaging the worshipping community

Conclusion = Exhaustion

Some tired campers...bless their wee cotton socks

Design Workshop Day 1

Today saw the commencement of a two day intensive design workshop within All Hallows Church. The was design to focus our understanding of where the project was going and also to imbed us into the cultural and religious positioning of the church through active engagement of the building users and having a presence within the community / site / building

Community participation tool, posting flyers at specific locations

The day started with the community group descending upon three agreed areas of the ward to informally understand the communities knowledge of the whereabouts of All Hallows. This exercise proved interesting through its verbal application, although less successful (over two days) in its informal documentation as the results gathered were sparse and unhelpful, in saying this, it was insightful as it demonstrates that public members are aware of the urban environment although passive about interacting with it, therefore the exercise was beneficial in providing a better community understanding

Design development, focusing the design approach to specific areas for progression

Whilst the community exercise was undertaken the remainder of the group began recording the initial stage of the matrix (all of the current issues of the design). We then discussed this a collective and began distilling the information into areas of potential focus through voicing the clients interest along with our individual interests. This was assembled through asking four key questions :

1. What is of most important to the client?
2. What is of most importance to us?
3. What will be most beneficial for All Hallows?
4. What is the most achievable?

By doing this we then consolidated the information of the matrix into areas of importance based on the question posed, these being :

Question 1 - What is of most important to the client?

• Building users
• Funding
• Ethos
• Storage and the practical use of the space
• Visibility of activity

Question 2 - What is of most importance to us?

• Organisational networking
• Internal / external connectivity
• Signage

Question 3 - What will be most beneficial for All Hallows?

• Visual appearance
• Funding
• A sustainable business model (increasing the buildings activity)
• Internal / external connectivity

Question 4 - What is the most achievable?

• Increasing the buildings activity
• Signage (communication of the activity and visibility of activity)
• Alteration of the cafe area
• Sustainable food sourcing

This was then consolidated into THREE KEY THEMES :

1. New users of the building through social connectivity and networking
2. Communication of the buildings activity (signage, ethos, presence etc.)
3. Connectivity of spaces internally / externally and the practicality of building uses

After this, we assessed strategies for analysing developing these three themes looking at specific design tasks.

The physical team then interacted with the activity groups within All Hallows through asking a series of poignant questions which were to be answered in a jovial way, through writing upon the back of each team member. This proved very successful as the users responded to the participation tool with a sense of conviviality

Physical participation tool, getting the building users opinion

"...and they hopefully gazed upon what made...and it was good..."

Client meting 02

Inspirational messages within the creche

The presentation to a critical audience

Today was the groups second chance to meet the client team and present work in progress up to this point, proving to be encouraging, insightful and uneasily docile from the client. Some of the more telling points from the meeting (in no particular order) were;

1. the building is seen as a hub and want people to come here and want to attract people there to use the building
2. All Hallow's Church has tenuous connections with the other local community centres but wish to strengthen relationships with these other community and religious centres
3. we should consider the duality of approaches to the building (front and back facias)
4. wishes to make visible the activity within the building to the outside
5. building should be considered to have a fluidity of movement patterns and overlapping of uses
6. the 'greening' of the building should be considered as a tool of engagement with the community
7. skill sharing of the building and community users should be explored in more depth to help place with building within a community context
8. considering the site boundary as a 'green island'
9. enjoys the play of light within and around the building

Project deliverables and progression were;

1. the production of a strategic funding document to aid grant applications and a future visioning of the organisation, starting small and gradually growing to more extreme propositions
2. exploration of religious networks to All Hallow's Church

There was a general consensus that the problems the church currently faces are much bigger than just the physical maintenance, but also includes social engagement and outreach as the congregation is quite isolated due to their radical viewpoints.

"Leave the religion to us"

Steve - All Hallow's Church 2010

Impromptu site meeting

Sacred Wing practicing within the main hall

During site and community centre research today I bumped into Steve whilst photographing the front facade and was invited to meet and converse with a choral group (sacred wing) who were practicing for the All Hallows Church Christmas Service. I had a chance to speak with the group prior to practice and some comments from the discussion were;

• none of the choral group were part of the worshipping community
• All Hallows was seen as a community hub where the faith element was down played
• there is not enough natural or artificial lighting to illuminate a musical score
• sunlight through the main window of the hall was used as a gauge for the passing seasons
• most members arrive via car-sharing therefore the car-park is a valuable resource for this activity group
• thought that the administrative areas of the building were cold and unfriendly

Community centre investigation

After this afternoons meeting with Trish and Simon and the physical activity that ensued, I visited the community centres within walking distance of All hallow's Church, spoke to some of the users and staff of these buildings, documented their physical presence within the community and the welcome received from each, these brief encounters proved incredibly insightful. I will disclose the information gathered at the meeting on Monday. Below is a snippet of the information gathered which can be interpreted without any explanation.

All Hallows Church noticeboard

Cardgian Centre noticeboard(s)

I was unable to enter the Burley Lodge Youth Project due to activities within the building, although stopped and spoke to some of the lingering users outside of the building, whilst the Woodsley Road Multicultural Centre was closed for the entirety of today.

Artist meeting and participation

Rear of All Hallow's Church

We had the chance today to visit the site and understand its social, physical and environmental context in more detail.

Approach from the adjacent park Construction of mosque

Social activity outside the buildings boundary Visual restriction of the window guards

Sanctioning of social interaction Some 'typical' locals

After this we met with the resident artists of All Hallow's Church, Trish and Simon, to comprehend the work they have done for the church and to get a more encompassing view of the tensions within the building and their emotional reading of the spaces and the meanings they provide. We were grateful that Trish and Simon allowed us to converse with the participants of their dance group, providing us with an insight into some of their initial impressions and their emotional response to the spaces within the building, many of which commented on the buildings confused spatial meaning and sequencing, giving a sense that they believed the building itself did not initially seem welcoming but after consistent usage the building acquired new meanings through social and physical associations and participation.

Active participation from the group

We then had a discussion about what each sub-group should produce for Mondays internal meeting, focusing on;

1. the consolidation of all previous research
2. each individuals interpretation of the client brief
3. suggestions for project progression