Project Overview

As part of the London Festival of Architecture we created ‘The Milkshake Tree’; a collaborative installation and sensory garden which acts as a platform to share, engage and educate the community on inclusive environments that help to stimulate and support growth.

We have recently received planning permission for a specialist Centre in Haringey; The London Centre for Children with Cerebral Palsy. Through an extensive consultation process we have worked to develop a Centre with an inclusive design; one that helps children develop in a series of environments intended to stimulate the senses through sounds, smells, light and varying surfaces. Using Conductive Education techniques, The Centre turns all given parts of a child’s day into an immersive learning situation, providing opportunities to practice emerging skills not only in specific learning situations but in the many interconnecting parts of their lives and day.

The installation distilled this into a fully immersive playscape for the public to enjoy. Featuring a musical walkway and kids only den the multisensory ramp has been successful in encouraging community interaction, discussions on the future of their built environments and has helped to promote both inclusive design and the work of the LCCCP.

Organisation

pH+ Architects

Team

Design collaboration for London Festival of Architecture 2016 and The London Centre for Cerebral Palsy.
Also featured as part of the Empathy Museum installation series at the Now Gallery in Peninsula Square.

Design Collaborators:

Architects: pH+ Architects
(www.phplusarchitects.com)

Contractor: City Sq. Solutions
(www.citysq.co.uk)

Landscape Designer: B|D Landscape Architects
(www.bdlandarch.com)

Metal Cladding: Creative Aluminium Solutions
(www.creativealuminium.co.uk)

Timber Suppliers: BUILDBASE
(www.buildbase.co.uk)

Structural Engineers: Price & Myers
(www.pricemyers.com)

Operations and Site Support: Now Gallery
(www.nowgallery.co.uk)

Project Brief

The Milkshake Tree was conceived both for the 2016 London Festival of Architecture and to celebrate and raise awareness for The London Centre of Cerebral Palsy.
The 2016 theme for The LFA was the exploration of the theme of ‘Community’; participants in the festival were encouraged to propose ideas for ‘the betterment of the city around them’ through experimental thinking and interactive forms of consultation.

As part of a collaborative team of consultants our vision was to create an inclusive platform to explore and test the principles of design for the proposed Centre with both intended users and the wider community.

The resultant installation, located in close proximity to the O2 arena, was a multisensory playscape with sections of reflective cladding that enabled children to observe their own movements.

Sections of reflective cladding created the illusion of an endless central secret garden and allowed visitors to monitor their movements from all angles.

Upon entering the all-inclusive ramp participants were invited to engage with all aspects of the installation and with other users. The walkway was enclosed by a timber screen which itself becomes a giant xylophone for children and adults alike to play with.

Project Innovation/Need

The installation helped us to push the boundaries of the consultation process and gave us the chance to directly test principles of the Centre design with the end user before implementing when construction commences next year.

The Centre has been working with disabled children and young adults since 1963 and is the only specialist centre for children with cerebral palsy which offers a specialised approach known as ‘Conductive Education’ within London. As a registered charity the LCCCP relies of donations and grants for most of their income. Their aim is to inspire the children to develop their confidence, self-esteem and independence in order to help achieve their full potential. The children respond to a variety of sensory stimulants and sound has proved to be one of their most successful and enjoyable therapy sessions. Careful consideration of materials was required to aid with resonation of the xylophone, which was an integral part of our soundscape.

Located in Peninsula Square, within metres of the Millennium Dome and North Greenwich station, our inclusive installation was accessible to a wide audience and captured the imagination and intrigue of hundreds of passers by with bloggers and media outlets alike also supporting the cause.

Design Challenge

The success of the installation relied heavily on support, time and charitable donations of all materials for the installation.

Further challenges were faced on site due to restricted operations and a tight construction deadline. Careful consideration and management was required to ensure the playscape could be installed with minimal impact to local enterprises.

Our site was located adjacent to a working turning circle and as a result our delivery times were tightly restricted.

Design team collaboration and attention to detail was critical to ensure efficient delivery and construction on site. To minimise the build time at Peninsula Square, a series of cassettes were carefully designed and fabricated off site to enable us to promptly assemble a ‘toolkit’ of parts for the central garden and in modules that could be carried safely without the use of heavy lifting equipment.

This was an ambitious installation that had to be delivered and built by a team of 6 carpenters and 2 full time staff members within a 50-hour time frame.

Sustainability

In order to reduce our carbon footprint materials were sourced locally where possible and any deliveries were kept to a minimum. All lightweight materials that could be easily carried to site were delivered via public transport to further minimise our footprint. Deliveries of materials for the timber cassettes were restricted to a 30mile radius.

We reduced waste through careful consideration and utilisation of the standard material sizes available to us. The timber, which was our primary construction material, was sustainably sourced and readily available from the builder’s merchant.

Although the installation was designed as a temporary pop up it is proposed that its final home and use will be a playscape for the new LCCCP.

In this location the planting will be supplemented by local species to increase biodiversity.