I am the co-director of Flimsy Works, an architectural design and build studio that make spaces that connect communities to the natural environment, developing designs closely with end-users and for self-builders. Our projects make the most of existing or readily-available materials, arranging these with care to make playful and beautiful structures.
Each of the below projects were delivered within budgets of £5-7.5k, inclusive of materials, design and construction. This modest cost is achieved through working with volunteers, cataloguing and reusing existing materials on site, reclaiming and moving materials from elsewhere, using light-touch structural engineering and a lean approach to design. All of these projects are temporary structures - no permanent wet trades are used and their foundations are fully demountable.
A sheltered teaching space, designed to take up the exact floor area and volume of a beloved but rotting yurt. The project used uncut polycarbonate panels as a nod to greenhouse vernacular and strapped breezeblocks on top of reclaimed railway sleeper foundations as ballast and seats.
An outdoor shelter built from the recycled components of two defunct horse sheds on-site. This structure is designed as a gathering space, whilst also telling a story of a landscape shifting from its use as ex-grazing land, to community-led ecological restoration.
With youngwilders for Maple Farm
An urban log cabin, made from stacking dowel-laminated builders' merchant carcassing timber together to form walls for a temporary pavilion. Designed to be completely disassembled, the cabin was built with sixteen teemagers as part of a Summer School with STORE. Students learnt the process of CNC-milling carved reliefs, joinery techniques, and how timber is used in architecture.
For STORE Projects
An octagonal bar designed and built for the Three Wheel Drive festival. First constructed last year as a light frame with fabric enclosures, the bar was reconstructed this year with a reciprocal roof and mirror-clad ply panels. The column-free internal space and reflective surfaces allow the bar to open up and disappear into the forest scene, camouflaged by dappled light.
Four shower cubicles inspired by bird hides, providing a rare moment of enclosure after long days working in the outdoors. Apertures in each cubicle have been orientated towards a beautiful oak tree on site. The shower block sits on zero-cement footings, comprising of tree trunks from the site resting on compacted gravel pits. Reclaimed concrete pavers are used as the shower floor, which also act as ballast for the structure
With youngwilders for the Knepp Wildland Foundation