THE PROJECT

As mentioned on Beyond the Box’s website:

The People’s Pavilion was born from an act of protest as to who has the power to design and curate cultural civic space in our city. Beyond the Box set out to create a test ground for collaborative design and production methodologies that sought to explore equity-centred community design.

Located in Lea Bridge Library's garden in Waltham Forest, the pavilion was designed by 18-year-olds Bruno De Marco, Tomi Balogun, and Zhané Philips. The trio’s winning proposal was chosen over six other designs after receiving more than 2,500 public votes. Named ‘Roots of Heritage’ the scheme uses locally sourced timber to create an open space for reflection.

The design competition invited young people 14-18 years of age from across East London, to work collaboratively as part of a small team, and in partnership with professionals from the architectural, construction, and creative arts industries, to design their own temporary pavilion.

After initial outreach workshops across all seven boroughs of East London, we shortlisted a team to represent each borough to go forward and take part in a week-long design development week in February half term, we the aspiring designers working in collaboration with a variety of industry professionals.

The trio’s winning proposal was chosen over six other designs after receiving more than 2,500 public votes. Named ‘Roots of Heritage’ the scheme uses locally sourced timber to create an open space for reflection. The three students from the borough of Tower Hamlets also won an all-expenses trip to the Venice Biennale 2023, where they received a special tour of the British Pavilion. 

Young people not only design and build the pavilion but also curate what happens inside of it. As part of the programme, Beyond The Box employed a team of young people to produce a free summer festival at the temporary building.