Rubble Garden – ADC

Rubbing shoulders with a Rafael Viñoly-designed visual arts centre and Colchester High Street is the ‘Rubble Garden’. Featuring planting by local (but globally renowned) horticulturalists Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens working with Darryl Moore Design, the new community space’s main attraction is some garden furniture that, remarkably, has been designed by a group of children.

Aged 11 to 14, the children have designed a four-metre-long table with seating and a bench with a frame for climbing plants. The designs are the result of a three-day-long summer design studio led by London-based practice and educator, MATT+FIONA and help the Rubble Garden transform previously forgotten and derelict site, formerly a bus depot, into a garden for the community.

Led by Matthew Springett and Fiona MacDonald, the practice was brought onto the project by Latimer, the development arm of Clarion Housing Group. It was tasked with bringing forward a youth engagement programme so that Colchester and Tendring’s young people could have a significant say in the way the new and ongoing Garden Community development takes shape.

The wider development is set to deliver 7,500 new homes just east of Colchester in the district of Tendring. In the Rubble Garden, meanwhile, the garden’s new bench is hallmarked by distinctive cut-away elements that encourage interaction across it, while further seating angles its away across the garden, being appropriately sized so children can safely lean over and examine the flora below.

“Our strategy with MATT+FIONA empowers young people to meaningfully engage in the design process, giving them genuine agency,” said Russ Edwards, project director at Latimer in a statement. “The Garden Community will be for them to live, work and enjoy, and their ideas are therefore crucial in ensuring that the designs meet the needs and aspirations of future generations.”

The children’s designs were realised and fabricated by local makers Tim Germain and Danny Sharpe, made using native oak board and a painted metal frame.

“The Garden Community will be an integral part of the local area, with youth engagement and empowerment at the heart of our plans,” added Michele King, community and social impact Manager at Latimer.

“Young people offer unique insights that shape development in original and creative ways. We’re very excited to see these insights come to life at the Rubble Garden and in the Garden Community’s continued evolution.”