SPACEmakers

SPACEmakers was a two-year project in which young people, aged between thirteen and fifteen, designed a public space within their own community in the Hartcliffe and Withywood area of Bristol. This is one of the most deprived areas in the UK. The young people who took part in the project gained a real knowledge of the issues involved through visits to public spaces, workshops and field research. They were the clients for the scheme and made key creative decisions throughout its progress. 

After sixteen months the project was due to come to an end, but project manager Mark Rooney had raised funds from the Urban II initiative to deliver a capital project. The group put their ideas into practice and the end result was the SPACEmakers public space, an area within a larger park space in the Hartcliffe and Withywood area of Bristol. 

The project partners were The Architecture Centre, Bristol, The Glasshouse, London, Bristol City Council and Hartcliffe Community Campus: each wanted to create a public space in a deprived area with the fullest involvement of the community. 

The project involved a number of partners, including the Architecture Centre (Bristol), Staff at Withywood Secondary School, Bristol City Council and many others. Spacemakers was independently project managed by Mark Rooney; project artist Kathrin Böhm worked on the scheme, devising workshops and visits that informed and shaped the Spacemakers’ work; artist Cleo Broda undertook a related project; and the landscape architect was Greg White of Loci Design. The stainless steel seating shelter was co-designed by Greg White and sculptor Calum Stirling.