Ebbsfleet Design Group builds on our pioneering three-year creative placemaking programme This Must Be The Place to continue our work collaborating with local young people on the development of the new Ebbsfleet Garden City, supported by artists, academics, architects, and designers.
Following our 24/25 Community Researchers programme led by researcher Rana Khazbak and RESOLVE Collective, 25/26's Design Group centred around the theme of reciprocity.
Facilitated by architecture studio Flimsy Works, the programme built upon the notion of the circular economy and the re-use/re-purposing of materials, but took it a step further and encouraged the young people who form the Design Group to think about how the movement of materials impacts the landscapes they are extracted, stored on, or grown from, too.
Together with the young people, Flimsy Works used the sessions throughout the programme to explore 'reciprocal spaces' as a way of demonstrating how architecture and engineering principles can change what we think is needed to make new spaces. Drawing from reclaimed, natural materials and redistribution initiatives, the programme prototyped a ‘Reciprocal Pavilion’ which was sourced and constructed in ways which thought differently about the landscape of Ebbsfleet.
Ebbsfleet Design Group 26/27 is once again led by Flimsy Works, as an extension and expansion of last year's ‘Reciprocal Spaces’ programme, where the Design Group will continue designing and building new community resources for Ebbsfleet Garden City. They will explore what types of structures and spaces Ebbsfleet might benefit from, and attempt to bring those into being using sustainable processes and materials.
Ebbsfleet Design Group is delivered in partnership with the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation.
