By CO’ X
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Connection to Harringay Warehouse District
The Bolt Store is a celebration of the warehouse’s community spirit. Through flexible architecture, local heritage and creativity we look at new ways of inhabiting industrialized architecture. Reflecting a ‘self built’ spirit the Bolt Store is all in the making. Using bolts of fabric, in a reference to the local rag trade, to form woven dividers created by local communities. Showcasing the diverse fabric of the area in opposition to a gentrified vision. A program of activities will celebrate the warehouse communities diverse skills; workshops, talks & socials. The Bolt Store will inspire you with alternative ways of making spaces.
Proposal Outline
The Bolt Store is not intended to be a ‘polished’ pavilion but instead the tectonics reflect the essence of the area. Constructed as a ‘kit of parts’: a prefabricated framework, retractable woven art walls and modular furniture can be moved and assembled by the community at will. Virtually every part of the structure is variable to meet the requirements of the programmed events or become an explorable inhabitable immersive artwork. As if a giant wardrobe full of tapestries leading into the Narnia of the warehouse district. The whole space becomes the ultimate form of livable social artwork.
Utilising the prominent location, the pavilion will be an ‘open house’ experience of warehouse communities where everyone is invited to share in the diverse and differential ways in which we can inhabit buildings and spaces. As an open and neutral meeting point for all it will form a place to gather communities and learn more about each other. Not to impose physical or psychological constraints upon its occupants nor reduce them to a standard form, unlike typical modern architecture. We invite people to be active participants and immerse and interact within an evolving spatial artwork. Showcasing community events and creative outlets for local citizens the framework utilizes programmable spaces with the possibility of change at the behest of its users.
The variety of activities can not be completely forecast. The framework is capable of changes and evolutions throughout its lifetime. Allowing the occupants to have unprecedented control over their environment they can quickly respond to needs and activities taking place. Spaces are created by raising and lowering woven tapestries on a system of rollers, creating an inhabitable, reconfigurable, artwork. Each visit gives a fresh and new experience of the space.
Its form and structure celebrates the architecture and engineering behind the space frames found in warehouses. A large open plan column free space that forms a blank canvas for the tapestries, people and events to bring to life. The design’s flexibility also allows it to translate between sites and adapt to new landscapes.
As part of the first build phase the roller systems will only contain the warp of the woven tapestries, the weft will be introduced after. This will form part of the ongoing evolution of the space. By inviting local community groups, residents and artists to fill these blank canvases with the weft. This evolving woven space will soon fill with celebrations of the rich and diverse threads of life that exist in the area. A sculptural info graphic of the people, styles and cultures that make Harringay.
Complementing the reconfigurable spatial aspects will be a modular set of furniture and planters inspired by the cutting table often found in old warehouses from the Rag trade. You will be able to rearrange these items into dining rooms, classrooms, stags, catwalk and more.