MUDCHUTE

Making and Construction Workshops

Architecture BArch RIBA 1

London Metropolitan University

2002–2024

Making Workshops at Mudchute City Farm

Every year undergraduate students take part in multi-day making workshops at Mudchute City Farm on the Isle of Dogs.

These practical workshops give them the chance to have hands-on experience in construction through material experimentation. Led by a technical staff member, each team explores themes of reuse of materials and the circular economy, often employing natural materials and innovative structural systems.

Students sketch and document the design and construction of each project, learning on-site skills such as planning, use of simple tools and construction techniques, tolerance and working as a team.

At the end of the workshops reviews are held in which students are encouraged to describe the process in their own words and gain valuable feedback on structure, construction and material qualities. Structures are then de-mounted and materials stored ready for reuse the next year.

2020 Workshops, Siting projects on the earth bank amphiheatre at Mudchute City Farm

Bamboo Dome, 2017 Workshop

Coppiced wood lattice

Roundwood pole construction

Bamboo Spaceframe

Bamboo Spaceframe

Brettstapel, solid unilam interlocking panels, softwood studs with hardwood dowels

Flange space frame

Plywood lattice

Lath Weave,

Pole truss

Reciprocal arch structure, after Da Vinci, nterlocking broomsticks and timber studs.

Coppiced timber truss

Double curved lamella structure

Frame construction

Zollinger Frame, a section of a hypothetical reciprocal structure dome

Double curved lamella structure

Triangulated roundwood shelter, cedar shingles

Wikihouse, cnc plywood structure

Composite beam, made from recycled materials from previous year’s structures

Different methods of processing and joining timber, natural and product based

What and how we teach

A key skill students learn during the Mudchute making workshops is how to collaborate, organise workflows and co-ordinate how different fabricated parts come together. Sometimes the projects are precisely planned, drawn and modelled but often on-site, dynamic decisions are taken. This experiential learning process encompasses using drawings, sketches and schedules to plan construction sequences as well as the problem solving skills and openness to improvise and be flexible as a project unfolds.

Most of the construction projects involve timber in all its forms, due to its ease of working with simple tools. We use natural and unseasoned timber as well as precisely machined engineered timber products. Coppiced timber and underutilised local tree species form part of our ongoing research into regenerative design practices.

The workshops instil an awareness of material economy, with processes such as recycling and upcycling, splitting, joining, weaving, machining, combining to make new hybrid structures, interacting with the various sites and topographies of the Mudchute City farm.