Scale Rule’s Next Generation Design Pavilion Inspires at Clerkenwell Design Week 2018
As a headline part of Clerkenwell Design Week, 22-24 May 2018, design collective Scale Rule will install a pavilion in St James’ Churchyard for the third consecutive year. Conceived by GCSE students from central London, the structure will respond to this year’s Clerkenwell Design Week theme of ‘sustainability’, and strengthen the idea of social cohesion as a community meeting space.
Scale Rule consists of engineers and architects from Grimshaw and AKT-II, with support from other professional design specialists. The group has now been running the Next Generation pavilion project for several years, borne out of a desire to encourage students from a variety of backgrounds to enter a career in architecture or engineering.
For this year’s pavilion, Scale Rule worked with inner-city teenagers aged 13-16 from Lister Community School and School 21 to introduce a younger audience to the world of construction. The programme began earlier in the year, where students took part in talks and workshops to develop an understanding of different roles in architecture and inspire their creativity for the project, before competing in teams to decide upon the winning entry.
The two-day workshops were a combination of talks delivered by professional architects and engineers followed by design sessions to implement what they had learnt. The students produced sketches, plans, sections and a 3D model in teams to visually explain their ideas to the panel of judges.
The winning team gave the theme of ‘sustainability’ a creative twist by using time as a form of measurement, examining the past, present and future. While St James’ Churchyard reflects the past, the communities using the space are the ‘present’ element. Using the metaphor of layers, delicate pieces of string will be used to produce a layered, geometric design at the top of the structure. Visitors will be invited to look up into a kaleidoscopic pattern, symbolising the next generation’s optimism for the future.
Following its installation during Clerkenwell Design Week, the pavilion will remain in St James’ Churchyard for three months before being reassembled in a new public space in London. Being situated in a different part of the city further emphasises the theme of ‘sustainability’ and will give different communities the opportunity to engage with the creative output of the Next Generation Design project. Grimshaw Associate Principal and Scale Rule Director, Steve Kennedy, said: “This is a really exciting project for us at Scale Rule – the profession needs a grassroots approach to addressing fair access and needs to work harder to raise the awareness and aspirations of young people from all backgrounds. For us the Next Generation Design Pavilion is a practical means for students and young professionals to get hands-on experience in designing and constructing a project that members of the public can enjoy on our journey to create a more equitable city”.