LFA2023 Let's Meet On The Edge
Co-founder and Lead Designer at Edgy Collective
“Nature – of which we are a part – has become disenfranchised from Edgware. Station Road, its beating heart, is a grey mass of concrete, tarmac, fences, and litter. History has been lost in Edgware’s urban development. Communities are visible, but also hidden and disconnected”, according to Edgy Collective Creative Director Leila Taheri.
As a response to this problem, the collective unveils three design installations, each centered around a unique theme. Each installation will use natural and reclaimed materials, underscoring the importance of reusing resources and enhancing sustainability. The installations invite visitors to:
1. Create a Buzz at ‘Edge’ Station: Insect populations are declining dramatically and without them there is no life. This installation celebrates nature’s unsung heroes with a larger than life totem to invertebrates, creating a home as well as doubling up as alternative wayfinding outside Edgware Station.
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Image © Luke O'Donovan
2. Plant Life at Garden City: This installation turns Garden City into an actual garden city. It creates opportunities for play and rest, and transforms this dead zone into a living space, bursting with life and colour through specially created planters.
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Image © Luke O'Donovan
3. Break Bread at Bakery Path: A breadportal welcomes visitors with warm leavened thoughts, greenery and place-poetry. It directs visitors to a nearby green and blue space, with a short stop to take a mossy selfie!
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Image © Luke O'Donovan
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Image © Luke O'Donovan
With construction materials responsible for 11% of global energy-related carbon emissions, and demolition and excavation debris accounting for 63% of total UK waste, The Edgy Collective believes in making a change. Their temporary installations in Edgware are an experiment in maximising the use of reclaimed materials within a tight timeline. The overall project utilises an estimated 60% reclaimed materials, with future plans to rehome all structures, targeting 0% project waste.
“The reality of climate breakdown necessitates a drastic change in design and construction,” according to Adrienne Lau, Edgy Collective Architect. “Through this project, we aim to show how creative design can exist in synergy with material reuse and uphold sustainability.”
Lau explains further: “The principle of ‘form follows materials’ guides the project. This approach both anticipates the use of commonly found reclaimed materials and designs towards already existing reclaimed elements. We want to celebrate the traces and imperfections of old structures, viewing them through a wabi-sabi lens.”
The project sees Victorian Douglas Fir beams and pine joists reclaimed from century-old army barracks and repurposed to form outdoor furniture in Garden City and a timber frame structure for the Bakery Path portal arch. Used plywood hoarding boards, salvaged from a local construction site, are incorporated into an insect totem that will stand proudly in the centre of Edgware station arrival roundabout.
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Image © Luke O'Donovan
Moreover, found objects such as bamboo poles, metal pipes, century-old ceramic electric cable insulators, and old instruments will form an analogue sound instrument in the Garden City music closet. Even packaging materials like Hessian & Jute sacks, recovered from coffee beans packaging worldwide, are repurposed as container planters.
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Image © Luke O'Donovan
The Edgy Collective’s commitment to sustainable practices extends beyond the project, with plans to distribute the design interventions to the local community post-festival, ensuring their ongoing use and minimising waste.
“This project has been deeply influenced by community, historical and spatial research. These designs would only make sense in Edgware – they are hyper local and hyper contextual,” according to Edgy Collective Environmentalist Daniella Levene. Speaking of the rich community festival programme that accompanies the installations, she said: “Re-engaging communities is at the heart of what we do, we want locals to take notice of the unseen, come together and encourage better stewardship of our shared spaces.”
“Edgware might appear unassuming, but it has a fascinating and rich history, which we’ve tried to highlight with our ‘Alternative Map of Edgware’. We hope this can help create a better shared community identity, by celebrating commonalities and connecting with Nature, even in the most urban of settings.”
Credit:
Research and Design: Adrienne Lau, Daniella Levene and Leila Taheri (Edgy Collective)
Fabrication and Installation: Rosie Strickland and The Loop
Lettering Artist: Jackaline Chow
Mural Artist: Julia Elmore
Sound Design: Thomas Grandjean
About Edgy Collective:
Edgy Collective is a team of designers and storytellers committed to revitalising and greening urban environments by reconnecting them with their natural and people histories and present day realities, and promoting sustainable practices. The Edgy Collective aims to reimagine public spaces and foster a deeper sense of community and ecological consciousness. Currently the group consists of Architect & Designer Adrienne Lau, Environmentalist Daniella Levene, and Creative Director & Urban Green Spaces Activist Leila Taheri.