Lurking in the concrete undergrowth of cities, architects Ulrike Steven and Gareth Morris saw a surprising number of underused or vacant spaces. Some of these have been left unused and unloved for years, nothing built on them, nothing happening there apart from the usual urban blossom of broken glass, ripped plastic and other stuff you wouldn’t want to tread on.  So, as architects, did they fantasize about constructing Dalstonesque steel and glass apartment spaces or office blocks?  Well, if they did, Ulrike wasn’t saying, because she had more interesting things to talk about, particularly the notion that the space itself may be more valuable than a new building. This architectural project started with thinking along the lines of: What if … we don’t build another building? What if … we ask people in the neighbourhood what they need? What if … the local community uses the space itself?

Ulrike admits that she and Gareth were labelled ‘anti-architects’, but she says it’s not true.  She points out that once you create a building, you create problems – a building uses energy, produces waste, etc. And sometimes a space is what a community needs more than anything, space to meet, sit in, talk in, grow things in. Property developers and other bigfatcats might make more money out of a building, but most of that revenue will probably leave the neighbourhood.

Hoxton is a case in point. A lot of people come into the area each night, to drink cider, wear leotards and listen to nu music.  But many people in the local community feel excluded from this, some are even resentful – the generally well-off revellers in the transient evening population are mostly from outside the area, and locals are not able to use their neighbourhood space in a way that suits them. A project like What-If finds a way of giving something back to the community, by working with the people who live there – and if what the community needs is space, then these architects are very happy not to build.

The theme of this year’s Shoreditch Festival is ‘spaces’, so this was a perfect fit with how the What If architects were thinking. The Festival has included Vacant Lot OS TQ3382NW TQ3282NE in its collection of innovative art commissions. This commission is a What-If urban community space project very near Hoxton Square; go and see it at the Festival this week, or have a look at www.what-if.info/VACANT_LOT.html.

The project has local residents nurturing plants in a space that they have made their own. Despite the glum predictions of vandalism, there hasn’t been any; each grow-bag is looked after by a different household, and neighbours keep an eye on things for each other.

Check out the website www.what-if.info for more information and links to other architectural urban space projects.  

Ulrike Steven was interviewed by Ros Bell.