Assemble
Assemble are a collective based in London who work across the fields of art, architecture and design. They began working together in 2010 and are comprised of 18 members. Assemble’s working practice seeks to address the typical disconnection between the public and the process by which places are made. Assemble champion a working practice that is interdependent and collaborative, seeking to actively involve the public as both participant and collaborator in the on-going realization of the work. For more information please use the contact details below.
2015 Turner prize winners, Assemble: "Art? We're more interested in plumbing!"
It’s been declared the death of the Turner prize: a bunch of radical young architects winning instead of an artist. Are Assemble bothered? No – they’re too busy working out how to change the world over a few pints.
The Winning Project
Granby Four Streets
The Granby Four Streets are a cluster of terraced houses in Toxteth, Liverpool that were built around 1900 to house artisan workers. Following the Toxteth riots in 1981, the council acquired many of the houses in the area for demolition and redevelopment. Hundreds of people were moved out the area and houses subsequently fell into disrepair.
Local residents consistently fought plans for demolition and battled to save the houses. Over the past 10 years they have cleaned and planted their streets, painted the empty houses, organized a thriving monthly market, founded a Community Land Trust and shown their area in a different light.
Assemble worked with the Granby Four Streets CLT and Steinbeck Studios to present a sustainable and incremental vision for the area that builds on the hard work already done by local residents and translates it to the refurbishment of housing, public space and the provision of new work and enterprise opportunities.
The approach is characterised by celebrating the value of the area’s architectural and cultural heritage, supporting public involvement and partnership working, offering local training and employment opportunities and nurturing the resourcefulness and DIY spirit that defines the four streets.
I had the pleasure to assist at a lecture given by one of the members of the team. Their hands-on general attitude and the way the whole team interacted together are definite, pleasant traits of the group. They are an inspiration to proactive thought and action, much needed in our present world. There carry a lively spirit within their projects, with high sense of respect for conservation and sustainable re-use and re-invention. And most importantly, they seem to find personalised ways in which they can pass on this creativeness on to others, who will then want to pass it on themselves.
I think that as far as they are concerned, the world has been changed by their influence, and it is the better for it.
For more of their work and their projects, visit their website:
