People's Pavilion - The Build

Project Title: People's Pavilion - The Build 

Support East London's young designers to build their People's Pavilion winning design for 2021, a temporary structure to be built at Here East in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. 

Project Description: The People's Pavilion design competition was launched in September 2020 (see video), offering young people in East London aged 14-19 the opportunity to design a Pavilion to host a festival programmed by young Londoners. 

This led to East London's first Pavilion to be designed and curated by young people. 

We have engaged with over 150 young East Londoners to date during what has been a hard year for everyone, constantly rescheduling and replanning our activities, but we now have our winning design, chosen by the public.  

The Pavilion design, by team 'Reverie' will be built at Here East in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The  team comprises three young people from Tower Hamlets, Samira & Dellilah both 17 years of age, and 18-year-old Shahriyar. 

The competition tested a new approach to co-design with young people, engaging them in placemaking and cultural programming. They have developed skills, built networks, engaged with over 30 professional organisations and explored the potential of a career in the design, build and creative sectors. 

Beyond The Box assembled a multidisciplinary team of diverse collaborators to engage  & inspire a generation of young designers, architects, cultural programmers and engineers. 

We have worked extremely hard to ensure the project was equitable (no mean feat when you're a freelancer), but I'm proud to say we have paid all the young freelancers, design collectives and emerging creatives throughout the project to the value of £50,000.   

I'm now asking for your help to support the build of the competition-winning design.

Benefits of the Project:

Support young diverse talent in the design and construction industry: The RIBA has reported the number of architects from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic backgrounds are decreasing, a statistic that applies across the construction sector. The People’s Pavilion exists to inspire the minds of the next generation of architects designers and engineers and expand the industry’s access to a wider pool of talent. 

Empower Young People: 30% per cent of the UK population is under 25, but the number of young citizens who are invited to the decision-making table when it comes to placemaking is extremely low. 

Community Participation: Young people are not just the future users of spaces they are the current users. With 50% of youth centres closing over the past 10 years, there's an opportunity to gain real insights from London’s youth to understand what they want from a physical space. 

Other Info: The People’s Pavilion will form one of the largest creative engagement projects carried out across East London with young people, gaining insight into what the youth community want to see from their built environment and informing new approaches to community and youth engagement. 

Legacy: We will produce a GUIDE at the end of the project and provide the first tried and tested framework for engaging in meaningful co-design with young people. Using data collected over the course of one year. The GUIDE will provide a set of practical tools explaining how to reach out and engage with the youth community. The time has come to think differently on every front.

The People’s Pavilion is as much about the future of the construction industry as it is about creating opportunities for young people.

Through the People’s Pavilion, you are part of a movement that refuses to accept the status quo.

Any help you can give would be gratefully received. 

Stay Safe and Thank You 

Neil Onions 

Beyond The Box