Forge (2019)
Forge is a social participatory building event for arts festivals leading to the creation of a colourful public semi-permanent pavilion for cultural or artistic benefit of the area, using compressed-earth building processes.
Tickertape Parade and collaborating architects Coda Workshop work with the hosts to identify a location and client to host a social pavilion which serves a local need.
Tickertape Parade and Coda Workshop host and guide the creation of the structure by members of the public, who select their mixture of materials and define the colour and pattern. They then feed this into a manual brick press and compress the material into a CEB block which we join to the structure.
Through 2019 we have been testing brick compression techniques, design durability and brick pigments to design a system for quick and accessible creation of a brick by a walk-up participant. In the final iteration of the project we will build an ornate multi-purpose pavilion to the same design each time, with participants choosing whether to colour their bricks red or black (or a marbled mix). The size and pattern of the pavilion will be unique to the choices and numbers of the drop-in participants – each one a manifestation of the public input on the day.
Forge aims to introduce sustainable building practices to the public in a hands-on way, through a guided activity where anyone can contribute towards a new piece of sculptural architecture for our community.
R&D Summer 2019 // Supported by Birmingham Hippodrome and the OffSite affiliate partners – Déda, Derby Féste, So Festival and Appetite Stoke