Custom House

A Spatial Intervention

by Zhuo (Spike) Chen

Custom House

No.3 Freemasons Road It was February 2021 when I met Scarlett and her daughter Amber for the first time.

The UK is still on national lockdown during that month. Most of the shops were closed, only the place been considered necessary kept open.

Scarlett was selling fruits and veg boxes every Wednesday at No.3 Freemasons Road, Custom House, an area in the London Borough of Newham during the lockdown. She saw local people having trouble accessing affordable fresh veg when shops were closed, so she contacted a local wholesale dealer to provide food boxes every week in a unit space that the council allowed her to use.

Amber usually follows Scarlett to the unit space. Unlike adults who can have a chat when they buy the food box, Amber was quite lonely - not many children visiting the unit space so she usually just spent time watching cartoons on her iPad. That was the time I thought to make a toy library in this space and got the first collection of toys on Facebook Marketplace.

The Shop Goes On The shutter of this unit had some issues - two middle columns were sinking into the ground caused by the ground settlement, and only the shutter in the middle can be opened. Scarlett reported this problem to the council and after waiting for several months, the repair team came to resurface the pavement. But they didn’t think lifting the shutter should be their job. In the end, Scarlett had to find someone can repair the shutter by herself.

When the shutter was broken, activities inside the unit have been moved to outside.

Back In Business After the shutter had been fixed, we rearranged the position of the furniture in the unit. The area closed to the door became the playing area as there was much more sunlight can come inside after the door can be opened. When people pass by the shop they can easily see what happens in the unit. It attracted more children to join. The food box preparation area was moved to the back of the unit and more chairs have been brought to the space. When people came here to collect food boxes they stayed much longer than before - they will sit down to enjoy a cup of tea and some fresh fruits.

I also noticed more mothers bring their children to this unit. While their children play together, they can sit down to have a chat or drink tea. They were taking turns to look after the children, and others can relax when they don’t need to put much attention on children. Gradually, people began to bring things to share - the cake they made or the toys they don’t need anymore. This unit space became a collective childcare.

Moving Out The Newham council took back this unit space in October 2021. Scarlett had to move out and find a new space.