The Common Room is a collaborative project between the local community organisation Roman Road Trust and design and cultural organisation Public Works.
The Roman Road Trust is a local community organisation contributing to the improvement of Roman Road for the benefit of residents and regular visitors. Roman Road Trust works to support the high street, its independent businesses, as well as community projects and groups. Roman Road Trust previously initiated Bow Her Story and Living in Bow. Both being local heritage projects to celebrate and raise awareness of the rich local heritage surrounding Roman Road.
Public Works is a not-for-profit critical design and cultural practice set up in 2004 working across disciplins of architecture, art and performance and community engagement.
They re-work the city’s opportunities towards citizen-driven development and nurturing citizen’s rights over the city. They create long sustained relationships that build commonality, trust and enable co-authorship. Their outputs are not limited to buildings or art objects.They include discursive events, research, campaigns, urban strategies, participatory art and architecture across all scales. In this project their initiative 'The School For Civic Action' will play a key role after the new building is built.