Take-Away edibles, model making and cake, what more could you ask for at a Pop Up ‘Architectural Corner Shop’?

Visitors were invited to take part in model-making activities, recording ideas to help FCBStudios design the future of the city. They were also able to enjoy free refreshments and invited to take away fresh herbs and vegetables from the living window displays.



Design your City



People of all generations set to work with bags of materials selected from the shop counter and modelled a colourful future of different typologies, including towers, terraces, courtyards, mansions, house-boats and bridges. Choosing their ideal locations in London they were encouraged to be bold and playful as they developed their designs to add to a growing interactive model of London.



Take-Away Edibles



The chosen spot was the FCBStudios corner space at the junction of Whitfield and Tottenham Streets. Contemporary 'hanging baskets' framed delicate neon wire models of some of FCB’s famous housing projects (designed and made by the in-house model making team), all with ‘living gardens’. Lighting up the shop window, these were suspended above planters overflowing with takeaway herbs and vegetables for our visitors to help themselves to.



Interactive Fun and Refreshments



Through a series of questions, comical animations and a slightly psychedelic twist, a row of booths addressed the needs and wants of London residents and explored the impact that their decisions have on the city. Other fun included playing with a giant milk carton, free refreshments as well as sweets from the shop counter. Quiet spaces were provided for guests to see architectural models close-up or to simply relax and read about architecure and our work.



Recording Ideas and Helping Design the Future



The eagerness to record all the ideas from the public sparked a mass anarchic doodle on walls, windows and mirrors throughout the day. The information gathered from the interactive installations was analysed and helps inform FCBS designs for housing.