A Building Exploratory tour of the Commonwealth Institute for the Design Museum

The former Commonwealth Institute on Kensington High Street, which once welcomed over 500 school children to its exhibitions per day, has been closed to the public for nine years. The Design Museum will be taking over the building and opening it to the public as the site of their new home in 2014. 

In the mean time, we are delighted to have been given the task of creating a tour that makes the design and engineering behind the wonderful and complex structure of the Commonwealth Institute building accessible and engaging to the public.

The impressive hyperbolic parabola roof that sweeps away from you wherever you stand, was designed by Robert Matthew Johnson-Marshall and Partners and represents the experimentation characteristic of 1950s and 60s engineering and architecture. 

The Commonwealth Institute will be opened up over the Open House weekend, 17th-18th September. To see the amazing roof and learn more about the building, you cab book a place on one of the tours during the Open House weekend.

The Open House weekend is the last chance to see this incredible building, in its original internal configuration. Book your by visiting www.designmuseum.org

 

Our changing view..

From this...

... to this in 6 months. 

The view from our office, across the Regent's canal, has changed dramatically in the last 6 months. We miss the nice multi-coloured wall... It is seriously noisy with all this going on!

Canal Sounds

On Saturday 16th July we held our first ‘Imagine Hackney’ workshop for young people as part of the Shoreditch Festival. Working with the theme of this year’s festival which was all about Regents Canal, we decided to run a workshop titled ‘Canal Sounds’ in which participants would create a Soundscape of the canal. During the workshop, the participants first learnt about the history of Regents Canal and of soundscapes. Recording soundscapes was part of a movement started in the 1970s by the World Soundscape Project who advocated that recording the sounds made by the built environment is equally important to recording the built environment via photos or drawings. Armed with this knowledge, the participants set out along Regents Canal to record occurring and found sounds. These sounds will later be organised into a composition, which will appear on our website soon.

Canal Sounds: Event for young people

On Saturday 16th July we are holding our first ‘Imagine Hackney’ event for young people to explore the built environment.

Canal Sounds is a workshop where you will explore the life and history of the Regent’s Canal and think about how it is used today through creating a soundscape. During the workshop you’ll learn about music production and how to use digital sound recording equipment, as well as learning about the history of Regent’s canal. All of this knowledge will enable you to make recordings that will be used to create the soundscape. So you’ll be learning new skills and exploring the world around you in a creative way, all at the same time!

Canal Sounds takes place at the Building Exploratory (and along Regents Canal) from 2pm-4pm on Saturday 16th July. If you can make it and would like to book a place, please contact us by email (mail@buildingexploratory.org.uk), or by phone on  02077292011.

Open House: Saturday 23rd July

This saturday we will be open to the public between 1pm and 5pm. As part of the Shoreditch Festival, this is a chance to come and visit our bespoke designed space, over looking the canal at 8 Orsman Road - A great opportunity to explore our wonderful collection of maps, photos and resources related to the history of the built environment along the canal and in the local area.

 

 

Canal Sounds - Saturday 16th July. An event for young people.

On Saturday 16th July we are holding our first ‘Imagine Hackney’ event for young people to explore the built environment.

Canal Sounds is a workshop where you will explore the life and history of the Regent’s Canal and think about how it is used today through creating a soundscape. During the workshop you’ll learn about music production and how to use digital sound recording equipment, as well as learning about the history of Regent’s canal. All of this knowledge will enable you to make recordings that will be used to create the soundscape. So you’ll be learning new skills and exploring the world around you in a creative way, all at the same time!

Canal Sounds takes place at the Building Exploratory (and along Regents Canal) from 2pm-4pm on Saturday 16th July. If you can make it and would like to book a place, please contact us by email mail@buildingexploratory.org.uk, or by phone on 02077292011.

Folly for a Flyover

Last Saturday, Nicole and our volunteers Sarah Khalaf and Esin Gumus, took part in the structures week of Folly for A Flyover, a temporary structure that is hosting creative activities for 6 weeks underneath the A12 flyover.

Working with a wide range of enthusiastic local people they built a giant tetrahedron out of smaller newspaper triangles. The weather stayed really bright and it turned out to be a fantastic day exploring structures in this exciting creative space.