Studio Reiver are a group of architects who work on a volunteer basis to help local communities, charities, and education organisations develop and realise low budget, environmentally low-impact, transformative projects.
Forgotten Promenade Triptych
These three views depict a speculative proposal made in collaboration with residents, local community groups and schools for the reclamation of an abandoned, but historically significant sea-side promenade for public use.
We have proposed a phased strategy for the transformative reclamation of the promenade, which is to be implemented as and when funding becomes available. Initial works will make the site more accessible and inclusive, with new lighting and repairs to existing steps and rampways. From there, the site will be developed as three ‘landscape territories’ - ‘cliff face’; hard-standings’; and ‘red walk’ - informed by its existing features and ‘spatial structure’. Each ‘landscape territory’ will be densely re-planted with regional species that thrive in coastal environments, greatly improving the overall biodiversity of the site. The existing qualities of the site will be further intensified by a series of low-cost, low-maintenance and environmentally low-impact interventions which collectively make the site more accessible. Recycled infrastructural pipework will be used to create containerised tree planting, low level lighting, sheltered areas of seating, and kiosks for selling hot drinks and food. Pathways, borders, and planted landforms or ‘spoil heaps’ will be made from aggregate removed from other areas of the site to eliminate material waste from any building works. Proposals will be realised and maintained by the community, relieving local authorities of the burden of the site, which, despite its prominence, has been identified as problematic and left to ruin. Local schools and outdoor learning organisations will assume guardianship of certain areas of the site with its upkeep included as part of their extended curricula.
Rewilding Education: Three Pavilions
These drawings describe proposals for three pavilions designed in collaboration with two primary schools and a non-profit outdoor education charity. All three organisations are looking to integrate Forest School and outdoor learning principles into their curricula and transform how they engage with their surrounding communities. Collectively, these projects aim towards a proposed ‘rewilding’ of contemporary education, underpinned by the belief that engagement with the natural environment makes education more inclusive and improves cognitive development, mental health, and physical well-being.