 Three steps we’ve learned for creating more innovative and productive spaces.A recent review of Co-DB’s work with clients past and present has revealed a particular appreciation for our straightforward and structured strategic consultation approach. This early stage of collaborative design has been developed together with clients and end-users, over years in practice as a way of structuring collective thinking and decision making around change. Step 1 - Think about what to keepWhen we begin a consultation with any client, we start with what the current space offers: why it is the way it is. What works? A crucial part of understanding what you need is seeing what elements of your current situation already work well for you. What do you know is regularly beneficial, and is there anything about it that you might be able to replicate elsewhere? What doesn’t work? Understanding what isn’t working about a space can highlight what is. Addressing the source of issues or problems can help to understand what needs to change. Step 2 - Understand what to addOur clients come to us because they are ready to make a change - to innovate and improve their built environment and how they use it. There is already a recognition at some level that change is required. This might be because of a decision to change a service, an external or internal change in circumstances, or simply a recognition that things could be better. What’s missing? The questions you have considered about the existing space, will allow you to begin the process of imagining how your new space will answer your needs. One helpful way to explore these is by looking at other examples of similar spaces, and seeing what it is that makes them work well. These examples may or may not be connected directly to what you do, but they can provide a springboard from which new ideas can be explored, and allow us to consider how things might be done differently and why. This second stage helps to develop and instill a collaborative and creative way of working. Once developed, this in turn encourages communication, and a willingness and ability to make adjustments and changes in response to evolving needs. Step 3 - Be open to future changeWith the collaborative approach instilled and developed through Stages 1 and 2, this third stage can look quite different, but it can be the most playful and fun. However, it is still vitally important to the long term effectiveness of change. What needs to be flexible? Step 3 is for the big ideas, the dreams of what might happen and where you might want to go in the future. It’s about acknowledging that results are rarely perfect first time, and enabling yourself to continue to benefit from the creative process of change. Think big, and consider how your ambitions might impact your need for ongoing flexibility and adaptation. One design strategy has some elements that are fixed and some that move, so that you can adjust the space over time; another sets clear guidance for seamlessly adding in new components down the line. This will open up an organisation to unknown further changes, setting up the idea that change will happen, as opposed to the idea of finishishing a fixed, completed whole. It worksGiving a structure to this initial process allows us to break down an otherwise daunting challenge and provide a more accessible way of collectively approaching and benefiting from change. It makes it easier to bring in different stakeholders at different stages of the design and build process, using a variety of creative techniques that best match their ways of working.
If you'd like help with facilitating a discussion or some consultation to decide how to best innovate and improve your built environment, get in touch with us today at info@co-db.uk, by phone on 0208 558 1175 or on social media.  At the beginning of the this year one of our favourite local nursery and long time collaborator Grasshoppers in the Park came to us with a unique problem. Staff were finding it hard on their backs always having to get down to the kids level and sitting on the very low early years seating. They were looking for chairs that would fit under the kids tables while supporting adult backs.
Taking the sizing from an existing chair they found to be a comfortable height, we designed a chair with an oiled softwood frame, CNC cut lacquered birch plywood back rest and seat recycled from coloured HPL offcuts.  These little chairs are now supporting backs everyday. It's such a pleasure to work with an ongoing collaborator and continue to support them to find solutions to problems as they arise! I wonder what we will make together next?
Over the last year we have been working with the Barbican creative learning team on a residency programme for Barbican Blocks called Blocks on the Move.  ©Matthew Kaltenborn Through the Blocks on the Move programme, Barbican Blocks have become a resource for various children’s centres, community organisations and other institutions engaged in supporting children at play. Through a collaborative program of training and practice sharing Co-DB Play and Barbican have been able to support staff and families across setting to enjoy and explore the full potential of the Blocks.
We produced a handbook to accompany the blocks to each residency. It has been great to remind ourselves about the Blocks too and why they are such a fun, exciting and successful tool for adults and children a like to exlore the world and the built environment.
After each residency we ran a practice sharing session with setting staff to gather thoughts and feedback on the blocks, how they used them, what surprised them, what worked well for them and what they discovered and will take forward into their wider early years offers. My favourite was the addition of light weight ball pool balls which the kids transported, rolled and threw along the paths they created. Using all the information gathered we worked together to co-design a new block to be added to the stack for the next residency. The new blocks:
Since January Co-DB and Co-DB Play have been working with NEF (New Economics Foundation) to design and build a new parent led nursery in Deptford to model affordable childcare.  During a number of community events, over the summer months, Co-DB has supported a range of activities, including planting, installing mud kitchen, building climbing structure and creating a designated nature area, to get the out door spaces ready for the transition from a stay and play venue and community centre, to an early years childcare setting. These community events were open to all the community including older children, partners and neighbours on the estate. They have been a great way to get more people involved as well as an efficient way to get stuff done. Eating together has also played a vital part in all these events. It has been a real pleasure to watch people use these community events to start to take ownership over the space and feel empowered to take actions which positivley impact the space and other people relationship to it. From small things like helping to prepare food and refreshing existing furniture with a lick of paint to bigger things like taking on the design and planning of the whole parts of the garden.  The biggest thing that we acheived together was the constuction of the new ‘Play Mountain’ climbing structure with tree house and ramp. The support and enthusiasm of everyone who came to help was integral to us getting it made and installed with the budget we had available. 
Really looking more to community build days in the autumn!
 Camden Collective's interview with Lily Nicholls for Sustainable Business week. Have a read through the article to have a bit more of an insight about how we decided to incorporate sustainable design for the Camden collective project. https://medium.com/@collectivecmdn/sustainablebusinessweek-in-conversation-with-lily-nicholls-at-co-db-61f628bff2e1
 From the moment we visited Lower Marsh to talk about the Unwined fit-out and were introduced to the space intended for the rear terrace we knew the site had enormous potential. We envisioned a hidden gem, set back from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Marsh thoroughfare a little oasis of greenness and calm nestled behind the hotel and restaurant, a place you would find by accident but want to return to again and again. The brief was to design a covered space for use throughout the year and this got us thinking of some lovely cafes and restaurants where plants and greenery are at the forefront. We considered how best to support the installation of planting by providing an economic and flexible framework, using tactile, earthy materials and a fabrication method that would support making in the workshop and installation on site. Modular design – material choice Settling on a modular design we created a grid-based structure formed from a repeating bay that varied it’s structural elements as it was transposed throughout the design. The structure consists of three main elements; a truss roof constructed from overlaid treated timber batons with a polycarbonate covering sited on two parallel walls to provide our sheltered area. Settling on a modular design we created a grid-based structure formed from a repeating bay that varied it’s structural elements as it was transposed throughout the design. The structure consists of three main elements; a truss roof constructed from overlaid treated timber batons with a polycarbonate covering sited on two parallel walls to provide our sheltered area. One deep wall against the railway arch comprised of modular treated timber cassettes, planters, benches and structural shelves provided a stable footing to sit the roof on whilst adding seating and lots of opportunity for plants to find a foothold. A second wall next to the hotel and restaurant building was formed from large section treated timber columns, with benches and planters in between anchoring the columns to the ground and providing more planting and seating space.
Service buildingsAs the project progressed we were asked to include two service structures to the design, a wine store to bolster the restaurant’s cellar and a bin store to screen the combined waste of the restaurant and hotel. To extend the material language we opted to clad the two sheds in treated timber weatherboarding and to increase the durability we painted it, black. Installation The modular design and pre-planning for the installation made work on site flow smoothly and progress swift. With the entire Co-DB team on site we had the truss wall, columns and frames for the wine and bin store up on day 1. Day 2 saw the roof trusses, shelf supports and planters go in, with insulation and plywood sheeting to the wine and bin store installed. Day 3 and the polycarbonate covered the truss roof whilst the wine and bin store was clad with weatherboarding then painted.
Conclusion We had a great time creating the design for the rear terrace, making up the modules in the workshop then getting onsite for a big build day and were really pleased with the covered space we delivered for Unwined.
Head down to 137-139 Lower Marsh and take a look at the interior and exterior fitout, they are open for business and the weather is just starting to look a bit nicer.  Background At the beginning of February the St Paul’s Plinth competition was announced by the LFA (London Festival of Architecture) to create a new sculpture on the existing structural framework, built in 2018 to support the St Pauls Gateway installation. The existing St Paul’s Plinth support structure consists of a grid formed by tension wires held between a steel aperture raised around 6 metres from the ground. All designs were to make use of this existing framework as a support structure. The competition looked for entries with a strong visual aspect working on a variety of scales that would appeal to a wide audience as the site is familiar to natives and tourists alike with some stopping off briefly whilst others linger longer. The design was also intended to take into account the LFA’s theme for the 2019 Festival of Architecture ‘Boundaries.’ Initial process Lunchtime concept design We began our concept design for the competition with a round table lunchtime discussion, recording our conversation with hastily hand drawn sketches and doing quick research on phones to add flesh to our initial ideas.The foundation for our design was the existing grid structure that we saw creating a datum or boundary which our design would play with. 
We wanted to create something that would add height to the existing structure moving through the grid from below to above. We imagined a structure that would begin below the grid and grow upwards through it controlling the light and framing a view of the sky above and building that surround it. Considering materials and colour as ways of creating an eye-catching landmark we thought about durability and performance, how to make a big impact with a small move. We found a precedent that resonated with our ideas, Frei Otto’s Diplomatic Club Heart Tent. The way the structure and its cladding came together and interacted with light, colour and the elements gave us inspiration. Installation and maintenance was an integral part of the design brief and helped to whittle down our ideas as we wanted to reduce installation time to a minimum
Rapid prototypeAfter lunch we moved into the workshop quickly selecting some materials to mock up a prototype of our design. Making use of some suitable leftovers from recently completed projects we chose polycarbonate, oak, plywood, timber offcuts and gold faced flooring underlay to construct our prototype fin ready for installation onto our test tension wire. A couple of versions later we had changed the density of materials to better balance the centre of gravity and altered the fixing method to sit more comfortably on the wire before we were happy with the look, feel, size and scale of the fin. We used the protoype model dimensions and materiality as guide for developing our design further through technical and graphic drawings alongside our budget development document.
Design Development Our first step was to draw an individual fin in sketchup. Using the protoype we quickly modelled a fin adjusting some dimensions to produce a more pleasing proportion or to work better with standardised manufacturing sizes and machining tolerances.  Then using an image from streetmap we began a visualisation of a significant view of the site. Whilst creating the visualisation we further enhanced the design by subtly altering the colour and arrangement of the fins within the tension wire grid and decided to orientate the fins to face the longest site line, maximising the visual impact from a distance.
We moved into more technical drawings and drew a plan to scale allowing us to create a general arrangement and pin point the location of 151 fins in 15 shades of colour from red to purple. From plan we moved into section, drawing long and cross-sectional images to test the varying character of our arrangement in these two views, tweaking the individual characteristics and strategic layout until we were happy with our design.  Alongside our drawings a costed budget for the design, production, installation and eventual removal of the design was produced. This was informed by a detail drawing created to demonstrate the method of fixing to the tension wires and helped to identify all the parts involved in creating a secure and durable solution. Submission Our final design had come a long way from the initial ideas we chucked around during a lunchtime chat but still had the same intentions at its core. The proposed installation sees 151 pivoting fins installed on the existing wire grid. Each fin comprised of a lightweight transparent plastic ‘sail’ with a timber counterweight. In the rolling breeze each fin captures the winds energy and transforms it into a rippling, multi-coloured light show. Sunlight, as well as artificial light from neighbouring buildings, street lighting and passing traffic, is focused in a complex, dynamic field of colour onto the ground. Metallic golden tips of each fin capture and reflect light creating an organic shimmer every time a bus passes or a gust of wind rushes through. Conceived from site observations the proposal is based around the interplay of movement between the thoroughfare and the datum produced by the plinth’s grid structure. In line with the theme of the LFA it explores the boundaries between nature and the city, as well as between the city’s highly active ground plane and the apparently empty air space just above, encouraging observers to stop and look up. The design was developed through material modelling and rigorous testing by a range of technical and detailed drawing techniques. Each fin is fully durable and weather resistant, being constructed from a range of plastics and stainless steel fixings, with hardwood elements in oak.  Co-DB were invited by Whitechapel Gallery to devise and deliver a set of workshops in response to the Elmgreen & Dragset Exhibition ‘This is how we bite our tongue’ as part of their Schools programme. The exhibition featured a specially commissioned installation, entitled The Whitechapel Pool, which transformed the main gallery space into a disused swimming pool, provoking ideas about civic space - how everyday places are shared, used and valued, and how that has changed over time. The installation established a surreal vision, a familiar setting made strange by its placement in a gallery and its apparent ruination. It asks the viewer to look at this setting afresh, and think about its value and meaning. This presented an exciting opportunity to combine two of our passions at Co-DB: facilitating cp-design workshops and creating interventions which transform the use of space, public or otherwise, raising questions of who it is for and how it is used. In 2015, the Pop Up Parks van roamed London, stopping to create temporary play parks on public pavements, uncovering opportunities for play in the most ordinary public places, and encouraging people to see the city through a child’s eyes.  Credit: Rob Harris/Whitechapel Gallery At these workshops, the participants were local school groups ranging from year 4 up to year 12. We started off with a presentation, introducing Co-DB and a few of our projects. We wanted to make a direct parallel between their ideas and our work - empowering them to be designers. The presentation included a group discussion about public space, what is it and who is it for, asking them to consider environments they use everyday.  Credit: Rob Harris/Whitechapel Gallery Then we handed over to them. We set a design challenge - to propose a spatial intervention for their school, and gave them a palette of fun large scale materials with which to represent their ideas. We asked them to imagine how things around them could be different, and what that would feel like. How could they be adjusted so that they function better or were more enjoyable for people use them everyday. It was great to see their imaginations explore the possibilities of how their school environment could be different, from the hanging sofa in the reading corner to the recycling zip line and the volcano stress reliever (both educational and a tool for relaxation).
After that we took them into the exhibition to experience the installation of the Whitechapel Pool. We asked them about what they could see and how it made them feel. It was a challenging art work, unclear what was real and what wasn’t, where the ‘art’ started and ended but the kids seemed unfazed with lots of observations and questions for us as workshop leaders. My favourite was the observation that it couldn’t have ever been a real pool because their were no drains! The second design challenge was to imagine how the disused pool could be reinvented and re opened for as a public resource. Working in groups, they shared their ideas and coordinated their efforts. They came up with a huge variety of imaginative concepts, and made installations and models which represented their ideas. These included an indoor pet park, kids play centre and giant sling shot. It was really important to us that we met them as equals, legitimising the power of their imagination, adding weight and value to the amazing ideas they came up with. We asked them to have big ideas, and to think conceptually. At the end of each exercise they presented their ideas to the group, communicating their proposals with confidence and pride.
We deliberately chose materials that would allow experimentation - materials that are not ‘fine’ or ‘valuable’, materials that invite rough and free work, encouraging them to work quickly and get their ideas down without worrying about making something ‘beautiful’. The materials were large in format, allowing them to make large pieces or devise freestanding structures. The materials were varied - different textures, types and colours - giving a big and dynamic vocabulary of parts for them to interpret, ascribe meaning to, and re assemble.
It was an amazingly rewarding experience and I hope that the children who came got as much out it as we did!  Credit: Rob Harris/Whitechapel Gallery Season’s greetings from everyone at Co-DB! 2018 has been a great year for us and we are looking forward to big things in 2019. Here’s a few highlights: We loved working with Scriberia again for the fit-out of their new studio- this was an engaging project which allowed us to expand our designing and making processes and create some really cool pieces of furniture.
We held a series of workshops for children and parents at the Westminster Abbey; providing modular play components in readily available materials with which families could create their own parallel buildings. We loved being in this beautiful space and helping families interact with the architecture and history of Westminster Abbey.
We also undertook our first ‘internal’ project this year – our workshop makeover! We knocked down a wall in our back room to create a meeting room/chill-out space and – almost as excitingly – obtained new extraction systems.
Exciting things have been happening for our team members individually as well. Michael concluded his year-long video project, which was exhibited at Rua Red Gallery in Dublin. Check out his interview with the Dublin Inquirer here. In other news, Eva has continued fighting the good fight with the London Renter’s Union, and James and Dan are both expecting a second child!
One our favourite pieces of furniture that we’ve designed here at Co-DB is the multifunctional bleacher seating that we did last spring for Scriberia. The bleachers are a key part of Scriberia’s flexible workshop space, where they host a variety of live events, including talks and visual communication workshops. As such, we wanted to create a piece of furniture that could transform the space for a variety of uses as well as providing a wealth of dedicated storage for supplies used in creative workshops.
 The bleacher structure consists of two mobile units and a stationary cabinet at the back, creating a three-tiered seating area. The mobile units can be moved around the room to provide a variety of configurations as well as storing the chairs and trestles that are also used in the space. The stationary cabinets feature whiteboard-fronted doors and have specially designed internal shelving for Scriberia’s different stationary supplies. We also created a lapdesk design to accompany the bleachers, which can be used for working on laptops as well as taking notes during talks. Seat pads cut from 15mm wool felt provide extra comfort. By Madeleine Valcour
Top two photographs © Peter Landers 2018.
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