ARCHIVE:
Adrienne Lau
Adrienne Lau (She/Her) is an Architect and Co-founder of Edgy Collective
This summer has impressed on many of us the hurt of social divisions. Places need to be repaired and communities need to heal. Let’s rebuild collective strengths by understanding lived experiences and celebrating London’s tremendous diversity.
The Moon Festival is a traditional harvest festival celebrated by many East and South East Asian (ESEA) communities who have long lived and contributed to London. On behalf of Edgy Collective, it is my honour to design Moon Bloom, a moon gate garden commissioned by Sutton Council and the London Festival Of Architecture. It draws on the full moon’s cultural symbolism of unity and the migrant experience of building a sense of belonging in a new home. The installation will open with lanterns, mooncakes and community celebrations that welcome everyone.
Migration has been a part of human history since its beginning. The Museum of Migration is reopening with exciting exhibitions that explore the universal experience of crossing borders. The RIBA Raise the Roof exhibition offers insights into the connections between the institution and the British Empire, a topic that warrants further critical study. At the London Design Festival, the ESEA Art Collective curates a group exhibition focusing on hybrid identities and the meaning of ‘home.’
Speaking of home, something that concerns all of us is the right to genuinely affordable and suitable housing. Retrofitting social housing at the Building Centre presents sustainable solutions to the housing crisis and counters the narrative that human and environmental imperatives are at odds with each other. Rotor’s book on Marcel Raymaekers’s salvage architecture stories gives another clue to unlocking the architectural potentials of waste material. The September episode of Negroni Talks will touch on particular housing challenges faced by non-binary communities in current residential designs.
Beyond private living spaces, community gardens are valuable shared spaces for local food growing, building social cohesion and enhancing wellbeing. This year’s Open House programme features the wonderful Abbey Gardens in a guided urban nature walk as well as Our Yard At Clitterhouse Farm. Both grassroot assets have excellent cafes and family-friendly creative workshops. From my experience, they are often fertile grounds for experimental creative collaborations such as Abbey Garden’s Acute and Obtuse, a furniture set made of salvaged materials from the garden.
Lastly, it’s an opportune moment to reflect on how socio-economic systems shape our environments and lives. Don’t miss the last chance to visit the Museum of Neoliberalism before it closes in mid-September.
