8/8/2019 Anti Social Studio Practice Project

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Name:

Occupation:

Proposal:

 Jamie Oxtoby 

Student Designer

Garden Carnival,

 Walcot Square, SE11

Outlineof  Anti-Social

 Through my research in the Kennington Road area, Idistinguished that there was a divide appearing across

the main road between the two residential areas. I

found that the west side, though having a poorer

standard of living, had a greater sense of a social

community, as opposed the higher standard of living 

on the east side.

I investigated some of the reasons why the east had agreater social feel to it. One of which was the various

public parks and playgrounds. In particular the Roots

and Shoots project.

I could begin to see how by using the garden and natural environment as a mediator, the residents were

benetting from a greater social community. I located a somewhat unused green in Walcot Square, which also

had a lock on so that nobody other than the street residents could enter.

How could this type of closure invite a notion of community any further than the end of the road?

 This is when I decided that this green would be my area to intervene by creating a social environment that

could be enjoyed by a wider community.

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Experimentsand

Interventions

 Walcot Square was an area where I initially had a feeling that I was being watched as I walked around.

 Although the streets seem empty during work hours, I felt an atmosphere of ‘curtain twitchers’ were always

aware of what I was doing. Every house seems to be like the last, with the majority having a ‘no junk mail

please’ sign on the letterbox. They were not willing to hear about new ideas or what people they did not know 

had to offer. The houses had very little space at the front either, leaving little opputunity to personalise a space.

On the rst few visits, I did not really notice the green. But when I did I realised how poorly maintained it was

compared to the houses and the rest of the square. Weeds were growing wildly around trees and the grass had

not been mown for some time. As I went for a closer inspection, I found I was locked out, as only residents

had a key. The green however did not seem to be an area that great pride was taken to maintain it.

So how could I implement a strategy on the green without stepping foot on it?

 This is where I looked into guerrilla gardening and

how practicioners nd ways of tackling this dillema.

One of which was seed bombs. These are made from

one part clay dust to ve parts compost, seeds and

a small amount of water. These are then rolled into

shapes and dried, and can be thrown even into the

most infertlie areas to begin growing from the starter

ingredients.

I used two types of owers, one blue and one yellow - the colours of the lambeth council logo, as well as

some winter vegetables that will need to be tended to and harvested. From this I hoped that the residents

could share responsibilities for the garden and get a sense of pride from growing and then using their own

 vegetables in a sustainable environment.

I designed a map for the green so that the seeds could be thrown into designated areas, as well a tags for seed

bombs with useful information on how to care for the crops.

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I wanted to really push the idea of being environmentally friendly and sustainable so I used biodegradable

string and bre pots, which could be used in compost or thrown in when empty.

From my tutorial feedback, I was told to consider making the event more fun, perhaps using catapults, an

earlier idea, to hurl the bombs. As well as considering the aesthetics of the fence, which could be introduced

into a design of a slingshot.

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 At this point, I considered the trajectory of the slingshots, what would be the longest reach etc. And from this

I created both a working slingshot and an ideal aesthetic to one if I were to create it. I implemented all of the

tools designed so far at the point of the presentation.

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PresentationFeedback andDevelopment

 The feedback I recieved from the presentation was:

 To extend the notion of fun further into the location.

Make more design choices, developing the intervention.

Create a strategy surrounding the intervention i.e. leaetting.

Overall I wanted to make the experience more fun. I wanted to create an experiecne that made gardening 

enjoyable, by being part of a social act.

Could I employ prizes? Could I create more games?

I could see that a pattern was emerging from these ideas, and I decided to design a carnival style gardening 

event on the green. This could include traditional side stall games that had a gardening theme. I also developed

it from just planting seeds to improving a habitat for wildlife.

I began to think about traditional side stalls at carnivals and how they could be adapted to a garden

environment. Such as hoopla, the coconut shy, water guns and my original sling shot idea.

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FinalIntervention

I began by creating the event itself via a poster, giving it a time and date, but not explaining exactly what was

happening. I developed the slingshot idea, sticking with a new colour theme and new target areas to aim the

seed bombs in.

I also designed a water gun area, where hand held pistols can be aimed at plants without having to go into the

green.

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 The coconut shy was inspired by some coconut bird feeders that already existed. Similar to the traditonal

games, some coconuts will fall, some will not.

Some will hit the oor and crack open to release the bird feed inside.

 And some when hit will hang from the stand. These have been hollowed out and can act as bird houses.

 The hoopla game works like any other. However at the end of the game the hoops can be unravelled, pulled

up and tied around the sticks to act as a skeleton for the climber plants to grow on, leaving it with a cone

shaped feature over time.

 The seed bombs from the initial intervention will still be used around the green with the slingshots, to knock 

down the coconuts and generally spread around the garden at the users desire to give an area of enchantment

rather than regiment in my previous design

I believe that I have taken on board the feedback from presentation. I wanted to create an area wheregardening could be used as a mediator for the local community to make the most of their surroundings. I

 wanted to make it as fun as possible, and perhaps at the same time twisting the ideas around conventional

guerrilla gardening