Street Studio: Derry/Londonderry 2017

This portfolio presents the outcomes of Street Studio – a design studio in the Masters of Architecture Course at Queen’s University Belfast that ran September to December 2017. Street Studio is the result of a collaboration between Community Organisations in Derry/ Londonderry, the Urban Villages Team (within The Executive Office) and QUB.

Street Studio evolved from Street Society: A pedagogical event that has been running in Queen’s University Belfast for the last 8 years. Street Society is a week-long annual design event that enables students and community representatives to work together to generate a new vision for their neighbourhoods. For the last 2 years, Street Society has been funded by the Department of Communities in support of Urban Villages: an initiative driven by the NI Executive Office, and a headline action of the ‘Together Building a United community.’ (T:BUC) Strategy.
Street Society provides a rich, live learning experience for students of architecture but significantly it also creates a place where residents and
community organisations can collaborate with students to capture and
visualise ideas that evolve into proposals about the future use of local spaces and buildings.
Over the last 2 years Street Society has worked on 26 projects across all 5 of the Urban Villages and from these collaborations projects have successfully entered the capital pipeline and are moving towards potential investment and delivery. The community clients and the Urban Village team were keen to expand the process of Street Society beyond a single week, and engage a group of masters students in Street Studio over a more intensive 10 week long process. The students have examined in greater detail, one of the identified proposed capital project areas: The Lecky Road in the Bogside, Derry/Londonderry, with a specific focus on the potential of the Meenan Square site. The overall brief, aims, objectives and outputs of Street Studio were developed by the Urban Villages Capital Team with QUB to capture information including site, local history, context and area information. Design strategies were generated to inform the future site brief, and the procurement and development of ideas by any formally appointed Integrated Consultant Team in the future.
In order to achieve the overall aim, the students:
1. Researched models of best practice related to community development. 2. Carried out site and area analysis: Asset mapping (including analysis
of historical/physical/cultural/ organisational context).
3. Consulted with community representatives, Urban Villages team and other stakeholders.
4. Evolved and tested accessible and engaging forms of representation.
5. Developed and presented outline design strategies.
Street Studio involved:
Gavin Gribben, Adrienne Barr, Shauneen Donaghy (2nd year masters students) Safa Sharif and Emilie Houdmon (1st year Masters Students)
Tom McKeogh, practicing architect, acting as Studio Tutor and
Ruth Morrow, Professor of Architecture.

STREET STUDIO
Street Studio was supported by Carl Southern (Urban Villages Capital Technical Project Sponsor Architect) and Maureen Fox (Urban Villages Bogside / Fountain Local Co-Ordinator)