Kingston University's Stanley Picker Gallery unveils decade of community-driven architectural innovations

A new exhibition at Kingston University's Stanley Picker Gallery will immerse visitors in more than a decade of ambitious live-build architecture projects. The show which features tactile materials, scale models, and reconstructed structures from past community-focused initiatives runs until the end of December.

Under Construction is an evolving collaborative architectural project detailing 13 years of ambitious live-build projects guided by Kingston School of Art architecture senior lecturer Takeshi Hayatsu. The exhibition also spotlights an entirely new live build developed with the 2024-25 MArch cohort, exploring the intersection of architecture, education, and civic engagement.

The hands-on community-centred approach to making is implemented within Kingston School of Art's MA Architecture course as a year-long module, with students gaining practical experience of building and designing while studying. Since 2011, these projects have provided imaginative and highly resourceful responses to their chosen locations in collaboration with diverse communities around Kingston, Surbiton, Tolworth and beyond.

Past projects include Bridge, a 17th-century Japanese wooden Kintaikyo bridge replica, and Woodland Chapel, both constructed from donated materials and showcasing DIY ethos. Temple and Seminar House Pavillion were created for Dorich House Museum garden in 2013-14. In 2016, a collaboration with Terunobu Fujimori produced the Barbican Tea House for an exhibition at the Barbican Centre. Recent projects include Hide, involving schoolchildren decorating wooden panels, the Surbiton Yatai in 2018 and the Lantern in 2023, which were launched with public processions.

A curated selection of these projects is presented at Under Construction alongside a short documentary focusing on Hayatsu's approach to teaching through making, his community centred ethos and the methodologies behind the various builds, produced by women's film collective w.in.c.

Over the course of the exhibition an entirely new live build will take place at the Kingston-based Stanley Picker Gallery. A temporary rammed earth Shrine and a Sauna on the Gallery's riverside terrace will be constructed during the exhibition while a series of workshops and events will encourage visitors to get involved in the live build.

Hayatsu said the exhibition had allowed him time to reflect on the achievements of the studio and reconnect with work that had been stored away following completion. "We have built structures each year and accumulated a substantial amount of work that has expanded the network of people that have collaborated," he explained. "This is not only within the University, but with local groups such as The Community Brain, 121 collective and ecologist group Citizen Zoo, part of the Royal Borough of Kingston's biodiversity group."

Having begun to teach at the University in 2011, Hayatsu set up the programme as a group construction project using the workshop at Kingston School of Art as a base, utilising the thinking through making ethos of the faculty. "Students need an understanding of materials and what is involved in construction itself," he explained. "In the real world you have to deal with rain, wind, cold and heat. These projects mirror the professional working environment, with students allocated specific roles while designing and building the structure such as project manager, drawing manager, workshop manager and health and safety manager. Within a group everyone has their own strengths and weakness, this group construction project really highlights student's skills and how they work together"

Stanley Picker Gallery and Dorich House Director David Falkner said the gallery had a history of collaborating on Hayatsu's live projects and the live build allowed them to think imaginatively about the potential of the Hogsmill island site. "At the Stanley Picker Gallery the creative process of making forms a very public part of our programme. This exhibition highlights how the Gallery works with staff, students, external partners and the local community in innovative, inclusive and sustainable ways", he said. "It's really exciting to present a project like this, that changes over the course of an exhibition, with visitors seeing constructions take shape over time."

• Under Construction runs until 20 December at the Stanley Picker Gallery.
• Find out more about architecture at Kingston School of Art.