About the Giant Dolls’ House Project

Part of LFA (Reimagine) and Refugee week (home). Theme: reimagine your neighbours. With students in O.M Behketov National university of urban economics in Kharkiv. Students from Richmond College and young visitors to the sanctuary in Chichester

Drop in workshop with students, staff and children and passers by. With Care4Calais. 

The Festival for Community Organising was a participatory programme involving talks, events and creative workshops all themed on community, well-being, and housing. The Dollshouse workshops encouraged school-age children to be emboldened to think about the spaces that they share with others, in the context of Southwark.

The Festival for Community Organising was a participatory programme involving talks, events and creative workshops all themed on community, well-being, and housing. The Dollshouse workshops encouraged school-age children to be emboldened to think about the spaces that they share with others, in the context of Southwark.

Shape your Space! Taking a simple shoe box, and using fabric scraps, pieces of paper, lolly sticks, bottle caps, and sweet wrappers, the event-goers made boxes that reflected their experiences, emotions, and surroundings. Ranging from real or imagined spaces, the boxes were built individually or with friends and family. The boxes created were to be potentially used as conversation pieces, to tell stories, or just to look at. As inspiration, the box-makers began their journey by looking at our large model of Bloomsbury and thinking about what London meant to them.

Contributions came from the UK and internationally including the USA, Australia, Netherlands, Greece, India, Spain and Thailand. Companies who participated included Ali Warner Photography, City Planista, Feista4u, Lee Evans Partnership, McCloy + Muchemwa Architects, Peanut Factory, Stavropoulou Architects. Schools and organisations who participated included 1st Lewisham Park Scouts, Archimake, Bootham School, Cragside C of E Primary, King’s Lynn School, Manchester Libraries, Messy Church St Andrews, Mount Stuart Primary School, North Ealing Primary School, Northbridge House Senior School, Poole Museum, Scotts Park Primary School, Shamble Hurst School, Share Community, St Osmund’s School, STAR Student Action group, Valley Invicta Kings Hill School, Welsh House Farm Primary School. Thank you to everyone involved!

Installation with my Fav Spaces, Sheffield Foodhall, Sheffield University Second year and participants from drop in workshop with Jennifer Booth 

Contributions from workshops in Za’atari Refugee Camp, New Horizon Youth Centre, Colne Engaine Church of England Primary School, Valley Invicta Primary School at Kings Hill, Starks Field Primary School, Woodside High School, Upton-by-Chester High School, Bootham School, Qatari School, Za’atari, Jennifer Frewin (architect), Rob Chivers (urban green) and participants to the V&A Museum of Childhood workshop

Hosted by Museum of Goa. Contributions from Goa College of Architecture Students, Women@Work, Green Meadows School, Indiranagar Bookworm Library, Mezbo Artists, Cacara Bookworm Library, Chaitali Morajkar Art Class and participants to the MOG workshops (with Louise Ten Bosch, Noreen van Holstein and the MOG Team)

Hosted by Squire and Partners Architects. Contributions from Squire and Partners, Sudbourne Primary School, Clapham Youth Centre and participants of the one day workshop (with Lala Thorpe from Artescape, Shelter, Sophie ten Bosch and Charlotte Fisher)

Visitors to the workshop made dolls’ houses, children from the Gates Country High School, the John A Holmes High School, the Studio 551 arts club and the Boys and Girls Club Edenton, Professional Dolls’house makers (Beverly Kirchmeir and Vero Brentjes) with Louise ten Bosch

First year students of Shibboleth Shechter and Colin Priest made dolls’ houses on their first day in London about where they are from and participants in the day long workshop (with Ellidth Watson, Sophie Walker and Victor ten Bosch)

Children from Fitzjohn’s Primary School Nursery Class (Silva Latoracca), from Artescape (Lala Thorpe and Lorraine McCourt), from Swiss Cottage School (Nicole Marks) and Chigwell Primary School, Holmes Miller Architects, Spark, Modelshop of MAKE architects and Erika Suzuki

Visitors to the two day workshop with a contribution from Syrian artist Sylva Karakit

Staff and students of Professor Julia Townsend, Professor Saba Qizilbash, Professor Annemaria Lambri and Professor Nadine Bitar Chadine, Dr Bilal Wajid, children from International School of Art and Science, students from Gizela Van Der Sandt, among others

Students and staff made dolls’ houses (with Shibboleth Shechter and Colin Priest)

Children from St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, the Roche School (Susi Pruce) and Tower House School (Jon Wolf), Beneficiaries of the Red Cross Destitution Centre in Dalston (with Cindy Hanegraaf), Diony Karpaiou, and Takero Shimazaki Architects

Student from the department of architecture, led by Simon Beeson and Dr. Willem de Bruyn

Two hour long workshop made dolls’ houses

Day-long workshop filled the existing dolls’ houses

Children from Duncombe Primary School, office of ALL-design and Ana Aruaujo (with Artescape and Shelter)

(with Artescape)

Students from Tower House School and Artescape (with Artescape)