An Urban Orchard at the London Festival of Architecture

Urban Orchard

During the London Festival of Architecture and beyond, the site of 100 Union Street in SE1 will be transformed into an urban orchard and community garden.

85 trees make up the orchard as well as a whole host of wayward plants. The garden will last from 19 June – 19 August after which the garden will be dismantled and all the plants and trees will go out into Bankside to green this space and thus contribute to the Bankside Urban Forest vision.

It is envisaged that 4 to 5 orchards will be replanted on estates and other local community spaces to act as a lasting legacy of the 2010 London Festival of Architecture.

Volunteer

We are looking for a small army of people to help us construct the Union Street Urban Orchard that will be built for the London Festival of Architecture 2010.

There are a couple of phases to the project that may suit different skills. The first phase focuses on construction using pallets to create containers and seating as well as the building of a temporary stage, garden huts and a coffee station. For this we need people who are good with their hands and not afraid of making things from scratch! We will be there to guide you but there will be some heavy lifting and manual labour involved! Perfect for architecture students, apprentice carpenters or anyone who isn’t scared of being creative!

The second stage starting from 1 June focuses more on gardening and decorating the orchard. We will need people to help plant our wayward plant gardens, apply vynal, paint and generally add the finishing touches to the project.

Our working hours will be 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday with a number of weekend slots (5-6 June and 12-13 June). This promises to be a very rewarding project and a great way of spending sometime in the English sunshine!

See the Orchard website here.