The Harlesden Town Garden Hub is at the heart of Harlesden, one of the most deprived areas within London. The Harlesden Town Garden has been established on a dilapidated site previously responsible for more that 50% of all anti-social behaviour & crime in the area. Since being initiated by a local gardening group it has steadily grown into an exciting community park bringing together local people interested in gardening and caring about their community.

Together with the members of the HTG, StorpWeberArchitects have designed the Hub for the activities of the community, the Hub. The design is based on a 20-foot metal shipping container, fitted out to host a small office space, a basic kitchen facility, shelving for gardening literature and a toilet. The surrounding structure is made out of scaffolding boards mounted on a scaffolding structure. The design of this wooden skin is looking at the surrounding terraced houses taking reference form the undulating rooflines.

The completed building has been built over a period of 6 months with the help of local volunteers. Building training days have been set up with the ISOVER to help the community to get new skills in DIY. This process has been documented in a film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJmg_dfiMPo

Solar cells means all activities are fully off-grid. It has hosted workshops for local scouts on sustainability hosted by Grohe, it is a base for the local crisis office for one-to-one counselling work etc.

The project has been supported by the Architecture Research Fund at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Brent Council CIL funding. The main sponsors were: Saint Gobain ISOVER, Grohe, Brundle Steel, Joseph Ash Galvansing.

https://www.harlesdentowngarden.co.uk/

All Photos by Andy Tye from French+Tye thank you!

www.frenchandtye.com