Its been a great year for us at the Barbican and we are pleased to feature in their Creative Learning yearly review. According to the review  over 4,548 under-fives and their parents have engaged with the blocks! One participant describes their experience 'I have been three times now with my one year old, and she absolutely loves it! It's made the Barbican a great place for us to go during the week.'  

We look forward to 6 more months residency!

Read the review here!

We are excited to welcome new team members here at Co-DB! We welcome Michael an artist and graduate of the Fine Art MA programme at Goldsmiths University and Jon who has studied both architecture and is also a graduate of the Fine Art MA programme at Goldsmiths. Maddie joins us from UCL where she studied Architecture and Interdisciplinary Studies and Colin a carpenter and all round maker who worked with us on the recent project The Auction Rooms in Camden and Creekside in Deptford. 

We are getting ready to make some bottle chandeliers as part of our work designing and creating the interior and exterior of new bar Unwined on the Lower Marsh. We are excited to be working with the team behind the Unwined bar in Tooting to make a range of fitted and freestanding furniture, display units, lighting, and shelter and green space in the back garden. Watch this space for more photos!

Yahoo!! Barbican Blocks has been invited to extend its residency at the Barbican for 6 more months. We are excited to stay on and we hope the project continues to make many small people very happy through playing and exploring with this sensory extravaganza. Being in residence at the Barbican has also been excellent research for us at Co-DB as we are able to see how children respond to the blocks. We are continually thinking about what new shapes, materials, textures, and colours to add and this residency provides us with fantastic on the ground research. 

Lily from Co-DB was interviewed by Camden Collective about our work redesigning and constructing the Auction Rooms. The article
also focuses on gender in the design and build industry and Lily's experience working in it.

Co-DB is made up of approximately 50-50 men and women, with all staff taking part in the building process onsite and in our workshop. Statistics about the gender of building and construction workers show that in the UK around 11% of workers are women and only around 1% of workers onsite are women. Likewise in the architectural profession there are clear differences in the treatment of women and men, shown predominantly in the gendered pay gap. The recent Women in Architecture survey shows that female partners in UK architecture firms get paid £55,000 less than men in the same role. This is an increase of £42,000 over the last two years. 

You can read the interview with Lily here!

https://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/2015/may/19/where-are-all-the-women-why-99-of-construction-site-workers-are-male

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/data/industry-barometer/women-in-construction-what-do-the-numbers-say/10017870.article

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/women-in-architecture-survey-reveals-widening-gender-pay-gap/10017147.article​

Co-DB has been working with Camden Collective to build the new co-working space The Auction Rooms in central Camden. Here is a sneaky peak into the work we have been doing over the last couple of months. 

More photos coming soon!

We are excited about getting on the road and travelling to the Hepworth Wakefield to be part of National Play Day at this fantastic museum and gallery. Here we will be running workshops for 2 -12 year olds and their parents and carers to collaboratively design, build and then play in their own outdoor play environment. Dens will be created using wooden pallets as well as a selection of crafty  materials.

Co-DB will provide a selection of raw materials and fixings for participants to work with alongside a variety of tasks in response to words and ideas inspired by the Hepworth Family Gift.

Come and find us there from 11 to 4 pm. We can't wait! For more info and to see what else is happening there that day click here!

Last weekend Co-DB was at the Walthamstow Garden Party, a fantastic community event produced by The Barbican and Create. Our tent Make, Create, Play was filled with materials and building blocks for children and adults of all ages to get creative with.

There were several activities on offer including making paths of textural fun with building blocks, free play sessions for children to create what they want from the range of materials and fixtures available. We also created a giant sheet of fabric, bringing together vibrant colours and different textures into one giant piece. 

A few of us went to artist Yinka Shonibare's studio off Broadway Market to install a new desk we had made. The pine top was made to fit snugly with the artist's existing desk - a much loved and well patinated surface! The idea is that over time the new table surface will pick up colour and work its way into the space. The new desk will help support the work of two members of the studio team, and the matt black birch plywood storage units below the desk creates new storage. 

Our friend, designer Yinka Ilori invited us to make a slide for his new installation at the Citizen M hotel in East London as part of London Design Week. This unique design was fabricated using beech and ironmongery was made specifically for the piece. We look forward to seeing what Yinka will do with the slide and the final installation!