Action for Culture

Year | 2021

Location | Stannington, Sheffield, UK

Clients | Stannington & District Library Group (STAND) and Action for Knowle Top (AKT)

‘Action for Culture’, based in Stannington, Sheffield is a Live Project working in tandem with Stannington & District Library Group (STAND) and Action for Knowle Top (AKT). The organisations aim to retain local buildings as community assets for the purpose of cultural space provision. STAND operates Stannington Library and AKT are a community group seeking to purchase Knowle Top Chapel; two buildings that sit directly opposite each other.

The project had two key elements. It sought to provide: a conceptual feasibility study with two options for the extension and improvement of the facilities at Stannington Library, and visions for the creative reuse of the unoccupied Knowle Top Chapel. Additionally, wayfinding was used to enhance the existing library facade.

The extension proposals in the library supply space for an expanded children’s library, additional IT facilities, flexible zones for community meetings, and recommended sustainable systems for environmental conditions. The chapel’s design interventions connect the chapel space to the school rooms through a two-storey extension, with upgrading mechanical, electrical and acoustic recommendations for flexible community performance purposes.

The project involved community consultation during library visits and chapel Saturday morning tea services. Productive conversations with the client, stakeholders and community user groups, enabled understanding of the physical shortcomings of the buildings and specific group requirements, which guided design decisions.

The outcomes resulted in a toolkit of booklets, a library model displaying the two extension options and a community exhibition event, showcasing the design visions to users for feedback and evaluation.

A community connection between the buildings and organisations is achieved through the visions of enhancement and extension of local facilities. The graphic illustrations and physical model created are vital resources that will aid both the bid for the chapel and fundraising. The two scales of design options have provided STAND and AKT with concepts for the two buildings’ futures, enabling the organisations to have the ability to choose a direction based on their financial flexibility.

Credits

Student Team: 

Silvia Mavakala, Max Betley, Theodora Beckett, Nur Isa, Michelle Wong, Balraj Sehmi, Amy Crellin, Sophie Turner, Leslie Yan, Zishen Bai, Cao Han, Ying Liu, Yankun Wang, Yiyi Yang

Mentor:

Satwinder Samra