Really pleased @eastquaywatchet is included in the Democratic Design exhibition in Berlin @aedesberlin that opens on December 12 with a keynote by Richard Sennett. In Democratic Design – Space for Cooperation, Collaboration and Compromise, Aedes explores how architecture, planning processes and public spaces can foster democratic engagement and social cohesion – both more urgent than ever in times of profound societal uncertainty. The programme consists of an exhibition, a series of four Lab Talks and a catalogue featuring contributions from practitioners in Berlin, Germany and across Europe, selected through an open call in collaboration with European architecture centres and through research conducted by the Aedes team. At the core of Democratic Design are democratic planning processes and the spaces they create. The presented projects amplify marginalised voices, encourage participation and inspire collective visions for the future. Dialogue and exchange are essential conditions for democracy, cultivating the ability to accept differing viewpoints and to compromise – the very foundations of democratic culture. This conviction underpins Democratic Design – Space for Cooperation, Collaboration and Compromise, curated by the Aedes team and presented at Aedes in Berlin. Democracy requires tools that spark interest, inspire involvement and enable participation. Architecture and urban planning hold significant potential as drivers of fairer and broader inclusion – particularly for those whose voices remain unheard in political discourse and the shaping of public space. They also open pathways into crucial debates about democracy and the future of our shared living environment. Democratic Design presents exemplary democratic planning processes that make these principles tangible.

Super interesting to be back at Hooke Park today for the Future Forest Symposium. I haven’t been to Hooke for a few years, and have written about some of the projects I was involved with in the book – notably the Caretaker’s House, but also this – the Big Shed/Assembly Workshop – which was the first to come out of the newly established Design & Make programme – the building was designed up to planning by the AA Design & Make / Diploma Students, and then taken on by my office to develop for construction – which my friend Charley Brentnall led. In my PhD I was critical of the building in terms of its process – why were we so conventional…? Ie – the process of development was a conventional one, and the contractual relationship equivalently so, and I’m not convinced we really designed through making, and there is still too much steel in it (when compared with ABK/Frei Otto’s workshop adjacent) and it was crazily expensive compared to a shed . The Assembly Workshop used thinnings screwed together with a large ‘Heco’ screw (adapted from conventional housebuilding technology minimising the use of more conventional steel plates) meaning students with limited construction experience could work on the project. The complex geometry is partly the product of a self-conscious design agenda, but suits the use of small sections built up into large trusses, and sets out a manifesto for making experimental design-led buildings using hyper local materials, which included not just the trusses but also the cladding which was grown and milled on site. The problem of upscaling or wider applicability remains – which is that a steel portal framed shed would been ¼ of the cost. However – I still love the Big Shed, and it was such a formative time to be working at Hooke. Read the chapter in the book for more details and also about other projects there…

Autumn Stories: summary of the stories I’ve posted over the last few days in Greece, checking in on work in progress - kitchen, new steel table which I waxed, new sliding doors, other bits and pieces. The herbs have gone mad - basil, mint, oregano and the orange trees are abundant.

More October…

Steel red oxide kitchen fit out underway. Same brilliant local steel fabricator as trusses and table.

Environmental Moderator. Window detail, Glenn Murcutt’s (own) house, Mosman, Sydney, where he still lives and works. Final photo is of the pivoting hinged frameless glass.

Scenes from a day in Sydney’s Northern Beaches with @peterstutchburyarchitecture

New 8mm lacquered mild steel table, 4m x 1.1m, made by same local fabricator as the rest of the steel work including trusses and sliding screens. He’s totally brilliant. Have put up with the temporary (too small, uncomfortably high (why are so many bought tables so high?) and horrible veneer) too long! Thanks Andreas.