Launched for London Design Festival 2024
Warning
Allergen Notice –This exhibition contains barley straw
Under Construction is an evolving collaborative architecture project, under construction at the Stanley Picker Gallery throughout September – December 2024. The exhibition surveys more than a decade of ambitious live-build projects guided by architect Takeshi Hayatsu, working with Kingston University Architecture and Landscape students and a growing cohort of participants and community partners (including The Community Brain, Citizen Zoo, 121 Collective and more). Since 2011, these projects have provided imaginative and highly resourceful responses to their chosen locations in collaboration with diverse communities around Kingston, Surbiton, Tolworth and beyond.
Under Construction presents a selection of these past projects through tactile materials, highlighting different craft techniques, scale models, and re-constructed structures built for the exhibition by 121 Collective, itself formed of alumni of Hayatsu. The women’s film collective w.in.c has created a short documentary focussing on Hayatsu’s approach to teaching through making, his community centred ethos, and the haptic methodologies of the various builds, whilst the accumulative publication provides a summary of each project to date.
Throughout the exhibition an entirely new live build will take place at the Stanley Picker Gallery, developed with the 2024-25 cohort of Unit 5 MArch students from the Department of Architecture and Landscape at Kingston School of Art, Kingston University. This will include a temporary rammed earth Shrine outside the entrance and a Sauna on the Gallery’s riverside terrace.
Past projects such as the Bridge (2011-12), a replica of 17th century Japanese wooden Kintaikyo bridge or Woodland Chapel (2013-14), a structure made for a local St John’s Primary School both made entirely from donated and recycled materials are exemplary of the economy of means and the ethos of DIY builds. Temple (2014-15) and Seminar House Pavilion (2015-16) were created for the garden of Dorich House Museum, each championing special techniques such as elaborate carpentry or yakisugi, a Japanese method for scorching timber. The following year, the Barbican Tea House (2016-17) was a burnt timber cladded tea house specially commissioned for the exhibition ‘The Japanese House: Architecture and Life After 1945’ at the Barbican Centre London, as a collaboration between architect Terunobu Fujimori, Takeshi Hayatsu and architecture and product design students from Kingston University.
SHEDx was a community engagement programme initiated by The Community Brain. As part of the project, The Heritage Shed (2017-18) housed a display of allotment culture. Like many other builds, this shed travelled to various contexts including the V&A, RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival and the Garden Museum. Hayatsu’s idea of democratising crafts have continued to unfold through recent collaborations such as the Green Shed (2018-19) and Hide (2019-21), which involved schoolchildren decorating individual wooden panels with locally sourced clay paint, as well as public engagement elements of the Surbiton Yatai (2017-18) and the Lantern (2023) launched with public processions.
A series of workshops and events encourage visitors to learn about the exhibition and get involved in the live build. See all public event at the bottom of this page.
Biographies & Further Information:
Takeshi Hayatsu is a Japanese architect based in London. He studied architecture at Musashino Art University, Tokyo and Architectural Association, London. He worked for David Chipperfield Architects, Haworth Tompkins and 6a architects before establishing Hayatsu Architects in 2017. Alongside his practice, he teaches a MArch unit at Kingston School of Art. He also conducts annual summer school in Japan with Grizedale Arts. He is a member of the Design Review Panel at Harrow Council.
Department of Architecture and Landscape, Kingston University. Architecture and Landscape are richly interconnected. The large workshops and the ethos of thinking through making speak of the inherent dynamic of how we see knowledge generated in the productive tension between tectonics and representation. This is a fundamental part of how the department seeks to enable its students through a direct and immediate connection with how things are made, and the nature of the spaces that result.
121 Collective are architectural designers and makers with a special appreciation for craft, community and sustainability. After being introduced to the local community interest company The Community Brain during their time as architecture students at Kingston School of Art, they have continued to work closely together on a range of community-led projects. 121 are based at Tolworth Main Allotments at the Farm of Futures, creating a sustainable community hub, which promotes the growth of local ideas, food, cross-generational skill sharing, circular economy and upcycling.
w.in.c (Women’s Independent Collective) films, was founded in 2008 by Abbe Leigh Fletcher, Petra Reynolds, Sabela Pernas Soto and Claudia Vásquez Ramírez. They are a growing network of filmmakers from the MA Filmmaking course at Kingston School of Art. They aim to tackle gender inequality through film and challenge established hierarchical modes of production by working collectively across continents.
Events:
Weekly from 21 September 11am-12.30pm Onsite
Saturday Art Club (ages 7-11) and monthly (ages 14-18)
Book you FREE workshop spot here
Friday 27 September, 1-5pm Offsite
Community Heritage Harvest Day, organised by Ariadne’s Thread
Offsite at Kingston Museum’s Garden (KT1 2PS)
FREE, drop in any time
Wednesday, 2 October, 5-7pm Onsite
Communities Forum with Dorich House Museum &
Stanley Picker Gallery
Saturday 12 October 10am-1pm Onsite
SEND Quiet Open & Creative Activities.
FREE, drop in any time
Wednesday 16 October 6-8pm Onsite & Kingston School of Art
Tour of the exhibition ‘Under Construction’ at Stanley Picker Gallery (6-6.30pm).
Followed by Takeshi Hayatsu’s Talk at the Atrium of the Architecture & Landscape Department KSA(6.30-8pm).
FREE
Tuesday, fortnightly from 29 October 12.30-2pm Onsite
Community Kantha & Flax Workshops, organised by Ariadne’s Thread
FREE, drop in any time
Wednesday 30 October 1-2pm Onsite
Talk: Simon Jones from Jones Neville discusses joinery, jigs and templates
FREE
Thursday 31 October 10am-11am Onsite
SEND Relaxed Open & Creative Activities.
Book your FREE ticket here & drop in any time
Thursday 31 October 11am-1pm Onsite
Family Fun: Halloween-themed Creative Activities
Book your FREE ticket here & drop in any time
Thursday 31 October 1-2pm Onsite
Join Curator Bori Borbala Soós Onsite for a Lunchtime Curator’s Tour of the Exhibition.
Book your FREE ticket here
Wednesday 6 November 1-2pm Onsite
Talk: David Leviatin from London Timber Frame on carpentry and repair.
FREE
Wednesday 13 November 1-2pm Onsite
Talk: Diana Ibanez Lopez from MA Cities Central Saint Martins on social practice.
FREE
Thursday 28 November 1-2pm Online
Join Curator Bori Borbala Soós Online for a Lunchtime Curator’s Tour of the Exhibition.
Book your FREE ticket here
Wednesday 4 December 5-7pm Onsite
Come and have a drink with us to celebrate our new Sauna and rammed earth Shrine at the Gallery!
FREE, drop in any time
