Last weekend we built a pavilion for the London Festival of Architecture in Bermondsey Spa, inspired by this year’s festival theme of ‘memory’. Architecture, and the work that we do at Levitt Bernstein, is centred on people and how they experience spaces and places, so our event explored this relationship between memory and place through innovative engagement.

We have been researching and designing more visual and interactive methods of community consultation over the past few months. Saturday’s event allowed us to test our latest idea: a pavilion, or temporary piece of architecture, which collects information as people interact with it.

On the day of the event, we arrived on site at 8am to build the structure. The construction process was extremely smooth and the pavilion was built in-situ in record time thanks to our motivated and talented building team! We were also extremely lucky with the weather, with bright sunshine all day!

During the event, approximately 150 people joined us in Bermondsey Spa to share their knowledge and memories of the area. People were invited to answer a series of questions by tying a ribbon to the pavilion as they moved through the space. This gave them the opportunity to express how they felt, and what they knew or remembered about the area.

The ribbons built up over the day, reflecting the way that memories accumulate to tell a story about a place. They created an amazing colourful display (colours represented the age range of participants) where people were able to learn about the neighbourhood from the patterns that emerged and the responses of others.

The day was a huge success; our idea of creating a more visual and interactive approach to community consultation was certainly delivered. We are now looking forward to using the structure for future events and projects! Watch this space…