The Drum N15

By Huren Marsh – Studio Hah

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Connection to Harringay Warehouse District

I lived in the area at St Johns Road (a five minute’s walk away) from 1967 when I arrived in the UK to join my parents until 1979. In the early 1970’s my mother worked at two of the manufacturing factories located in Eade Road and she still lives in St Johns Road so I am a regular visitor to the area. My proposal is the second iteration of a temporary structure that was originally installed in Tottenham N17 and was one of only two venue/event that represented the borough of Haringey in the London Festival of Architecture 2015.

Proposal Outline

The proposal is a re-imagining of an installation that was part of the London Festival of Architecture’s 2015 programme. It was one of two of the festival highlights in Haringey and was located in Tottenham Hale N17 which is undergoing a major regeneration project in the borough. The installation was a purposed-built circular structure using inexpensive building materials. The rotunda, named The Drum, housed a photographic exhibition of twenty-four crafts and maker professional working within London.

The rotunda form makes the design more self-supporting than a comparable orthogonal form for its 16 sqm footprint. The design fulfils the brief in consideration of being scalable. However, scaling upwards rather than down is more feasible and cost effective. The original drum did not require a roof but one was proposed; also using inexpensive materials that is usually within a DIY garden shed type of construction. The Drum remained in use at Tottenham Hale for several months. This proposal could be a number of inter-connected drums or a larger drum with some satellites to meet the different functions required.

The design of the drum can be immediately understood by non design professionals and so, as a design challenge, it very accessible to most people which may be a critical factor for volunteers who wish to be involved in the Tottenham Pavilion Project.