SPACE GAP - London Design Festival 2018

Space Gap by Unknown Works in collaboration with Hildrey Studio explores the disparity of space allocation in London. A take on the ‘wealth gap’, the project seeks to address the social divide created by the current housing crisis.

 

For the London Design Festival 2018 from 19th - 22nd September, Space Gap manifested as a pavilion and events programme where design and social issues, ranging from homelessness to ghost mansions, were addressed through talks, debates, film screenings and in the immersive design of the pavilion itself. The project takes a holistic view of this complex debate. By raising awareness, the project asks fundamental questions in order to find sustainable solutions; the foremost being - ‘Who has the right to space in the city?’

 

Space Gap is a self initiated project by newly formed London and Hong Kong based creative studio, Unknown Works who designed and made the pavilion. The extensive event programme and funding for the project were developed in collaboration with London based, Hildrey Studio.

 

Set in front of Kensington Olympia, the pavilion formed the gateway installation to 100% Design as part of the newly created West Kensington Design District for LDF18.

The project was made possible through the generosity of those who pledged as part of a successful crowdfunding campaign, the generous support of Origin Housing - one of London’s medium sized housing associations and Arts Council England through a Lottery Arts Council Grant.

 

The pavilion is an open forum, set within a three dimensional spatial diagram formed from scaled representations taken from true stories of inhabitation found throughout London compared against existing space standards. It is both a representation and commentary on the absurd division of space allocation in London. It lays bare the appalling contrast in size, quality and density of occupation between the largest of homes and the smallest of spaces that people are forced to endure.

 

The pavilion hosted panel discussions addressing the specific role of Policy, Design and rights to space in the city. The discussions were following by a curated selection of film screenings made by a number of emerging filmmakers tackling a spectrum of issues related to the Space Gap.

 

The panel discussions proved fascinating and engaging, bringing together the expertise of individuals across various fields. These included Cat Drew (UsCreates), Louise Wyman (Homes England), John Bibby (Shelter), Alice Brownfield (Peter Barber Architects), Heinz Richardson (Jestico & Whiles), Ed Thomas (The Collective) and Geoff Denton (White Arkitekter).

 

Highlights of the programme included a lively interaction between Patrik Schumacher (Principle of Zaha Hadid Architects), Cllr. Aarien-Uday Areti (Councillor from Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea), Alastair Parvin, (CEO of Open Systems Lab), Tom Copley (GLA assembly member) and Chaired by Christine Murray, (Former Editor-in-chief of The Architectural Review and the Architects' Journal, Founder of the Women in Architecture Awards)

 

Events

The pavilion played host to three panel discussions, each followed by a series of film screenings showing films related to the issues at hand.

 

Panel Discussion 1: The Policy Gap: Wednesday 19th September

 

With the government having described the housing market as ‘broken’ and the private market struggling to meet current housing needs, what role should the public sector and its policies play in fixing it? This panel discussed the role of policy in tackling the housing crisis, including the constraints and opportunities it brings. Speakers included: Louise Wyman - Head of Strategy, Homes England, Cat Drew - Us Creates, John Bibby - Policy Manager, Shelter, Chair: Tom Copley, London Assembly.

 

Panel Discussion 2: The Design Gap: Thursday 20th September

 

With the design of our cities generally imposed upon, rather than specifically chosen by, its end users, what responsibility do designers have to protect their interests and how able are they to act? The panel discussed the role of design and the designer in tackling the housing crisis. Speakers included: Alice Brownfield - Associate Director, Peter Barber Architects, Geoff Denton - Partner, White Arkitekter, Ed Thomas - Insight Lead, The Collective, Chair: Heinz Richardson - Director, Jestico + Whiles.

 

Panel Discussion 3: The Space Gap: Friday 21st September

 

A link to a film of the talk can be found here: www.unknown.works/spacegap

 

The panel discussed fundamental questions such as: who has the right to space in the city? How do we deal with the disparity of space allocation in the future? Speakers included: Patrik Schumacher - Principal, Zaha Hadid Architects, Alastair Parvin - CEO, Open Systems Lab, Tom Copley - London Assembly, Cllr. Aarien-Uday Areti - Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Chair: Christine Murray - Writer, critic, former Editor-in-chief of The Architectural Review and the Architects' Journal, Founder of the Women in Architecture Awards.

 

Films:

‘Streets in the Sky’ by Joe Gilbert.

‘Tony’s Story’ by Patrick Steel (Fat Toad Films).

‘London’ Directed by Lewis Knaggs (Words by Suli Breaks).

‘In Ur Eye’ Directed by Ayo Akingbade.

‘Inversion/Reflection’ by Rab Harling.

 

Team Statement:

 

Like so many cities, the system of space distribution in London is broken. Alongside the continued growth of the metropolis, there is a stark increase in those who live in overcrowded housing, on the brink of homelessness or who are already homeless. This is set beside the absurdly polarised size of empty mansions and apartments. Space Gap seeks to draw attention to the current housing crisis, the affordability of space within the city, the class stratification of London and homelessness in its many forms. As part of this dialogue, the pavilion and its programme of curated events sets out to educate, stimulate and challenge perceptions of what is the status quo in London’s housing system.

 

Unknown Works set out to create an immersive experience that engages the public with the realities of the housing crisis.

 

We wanted the pavilion to design itself - the issues we wanted to highlight and the stories we wanted to tell ultimately shaped its form. The pavilion presents the current housing crisis in London as it exists, in all its disparity and lets the shocking truth speak for itself.



The Pavilion:

 

The pavilion is designed to engage the public and form a stage for debate. It makes visible stories that represent the Space Gap. Each element of the pavilion describes a piece of the socio-economic picture and confronts the audience with the unequal distribution of space present in London and laid bare before them.

 

Space Gap was appropriately sited on a street in Kensington: a place with high levels of overcrowding and under-occupation, situated only a mile away from the Grenfell Tower. It is an area with one the greatest disparities of wealth of any place in the UK.

The internal spaces of the pavilion describe existing conditions found in the city - spaces taken from true stories of inhabitation found throughout London seen against existing space standards. These include cases of overcrowded homes, illegal studios, social housing and Housing in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and empty homes, set alongside the national space standards. Each of the stories of inhabitation explored are represented by a physical space and are arranged together according to density.

 

At the entrance of the pavilion is a spatial diagram of one of thousands of overcrowded spaces found in the city - a story from Newham where 26 people were forced to live in a three bedroom house, giving 4.6 SQM of total living space per person. In our investigations we had found situations far worse, cases of 40 people living in a three bedroom house, but the actualities of scaling the pavilion and constraints for fabrication dictated this choice. This is one of many extreme cases of overcrowding found all over the city in which there are multiple families living under one roof. Levels of overcrowding in London are more than twice as high as the rest of England for every tenure. 250,000 households in London were overcrowded in 2014/15, 13% of social renting, 11% of private renting households and 3% of owner-occupier households were overcrowded, and the number has risen. Official statistics do not capture ‘hidden households’ such as those who live in illegal structures ‘beds in sheds’. *www.trustforlondon.org.uk/data/overcrowding

 

The Pavilion sets the above situation beside the national space standards, illegal studios and a case where, due to circumstance and the lack of available and adequate family housing, a family of six are trapped living in a small two bedroom flat. The scarcity of council homes - especially those fit for families - often means that a catch 22 situation arises. Desperate to stay within the system, many families end up being stuck or ‘trapped’ in squalid and cramped environments while they await adequate accommodation.

 

The pavilion is capped at its front with an empty space. This void presents a real case of a house found in Kensington, sitting dormant for over 2 years, thousands of square meters of living space completely unoccupied. There are an estimated 20,000 empty homes in London. An empty home is classified as a dwelling that is vacant because it is either between occupants, empty undergoing modernisation or in disrepair or awaiting demolition. A property is classified as a long-term empty home if it has been vacant for more than six months. The highest number of empty homes is in Kensington and Chelsea, with over 2% of homes in the borough being recorded as long-term empty. The number of long-term vacant homes in Kensington and Chelsea has risen by nearly 25% in a decade. * www.emptyhomes.com. This final space is a reminder of the fact that there is enough space available in London, but it is money and policy that dictates who gets it.

 

 

Credits:

 

Space Gap by Unknown Works in collaboration with Hildrey Studio

 

Pavilion design & build: Unknown Works

Events Programme: Unknown Works and Hildrey Studio

Crowdfunding: Unknown Works

Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant: Hildrey Studio

Structural overview: Structuremode

Funding: Crowdfunding, Origin Housing, Arts Council England

Support team: Annabel Bligh, Rupert Elmes, Kenzo Ejiri, Naomi Games, Peter Greenwood, Jacob Haddad, Claire Reid, Alexandra Reid, Sally Hayes, Tom Underwood, Michelle Young, Chris Blackford, Sophie Elisabeth Morris.