PROJECTS
GREENING ROMFORD RING ROAD, London
FOOD FACTORIES, London
PLANT ROOM, London
EXTENSION, London
OUT-POST, Liverpool
VACANT LOT,London
SIT IN, Liverpool
HATFIELD, Slough
THE TRAVELLING SHED, Surrey
MOBILE STAGE
BERMONDSEY SQUARE, London
SHRINKING CITIES, Liverpool
FACING EAST, London
ROOF GARDEN, London
REFURB, Germany
PRODUCE, London

TEACHING/RESEARCH
FACING EAST, Tower Hamlets, London
SUBVERTING THE REAL, Portsmouth
PLUG IN, Liverpool
PLACES OF UNCERTAINTY, Liverpool
PLACED IN BECKTON, London
PLACES OF UNCERTAINTY, Sheffield
MODESTY SCREENED, London


INFORMATION
CONTACT
PROFILE

PROFILE
WHAT IF: projects Ltd.

What if: projects are an East London based art and architecture practice established in 2005. Our work focuses on urban sustainability and new ways of implementing ideas and strategies through engaging communities. Over the past few years we have initiated and realised various site-specific projects that are responsive to culturally diverse inner city neighbourhoods. In addition we are researching void spaces and the opportunities these spaces could offer to a neighbourhood, a city and beyond.

The What if team have extensive experience in managing and delivering architecture projects and urban interventions at varying scales. We bring creativity, critical thinking and a vision to the projects we are involved with. In collaboration with regeneration agencies, local authorities, art organisations, urban research bodies and the public, we have developed strategies and environmental improvement projects that are responsive to the location, are useable and are engaging. We have realised various site specific projects in Liverpool, London, Slough and Surrey that address the possibilities of urban food and energy production, alternative transport mechanisms and the need for accessible public space. We aim to communicate our strategies through delivering small-scale interventions that
are visually clear, usable and playful. We believe that the active involvement of local communities in the process of change is crucial in developing sustainable urban regeneration.

PROJECT PARTNERS AND CLIENTS:

London Borough of Havering
Design for London
Groundwork
London Festival of Architecture
Sustain, London
Love London
h2dance
Shoreditch Trust, London
Groundwork East London
Include Regeneration Ltd, Liverpool
Metal Space, London
Shrinking Cities, Berlin
Arch+, Berlin
Slough Borough Council
Surrey Arts

EXHIBITIONS:


VACANT LOT
2008/2009 part of Actions: What You Can Do With the City Exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, Canada

February - April 2009 part of Carrot City
Exhibition at Chalmers Design Centre and Teknion Lounge (Design Exchange), Toronto, Canada

FACING EAST
December 2008 Images, drawings and models from Istanbul,
with Unit F, University of East London, AVA Gallery

SIT IN
2007/2008 part of Shrinking Cities exhibition
2007/2008 Site Gallery, Liverpool
2007/2008 IDENSITAT 07 - documentary project
23.11.07 SIT IN presentation at Santa Monica arts centre, in Barcelona, Spain
22.02.-30.03.08 SIT IN exhibition in Mataró, Spain
2008/2009 part of Actions: What You Can Do With the City exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal

COW the udder way
as part of Shrinking Cities touring exhibition
2005 Deutsches Architekturzentrum in Berlin
2006 Gallerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst-Leipzig
2006 Pratt Manhatten Gallery, New York
2007 Cranbrook Art Museum, Detroit
2007 Cleveland, Ohio
2007/2008 Site Gallery, Liverpool
2008 Duisburg

2008/2009 part of Actions: What You Can Do With the City exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal
More info: www.theudderway.info


Placed in Beckton with Unit F, UEL
2006 AVA Gallery, UEL Docklands Campus, London

The travelling shed
as part of Garden Journeys exhibition, 2006 Polsden Lacey

Small Change
with Unit F, UEL, 2006 Tab Centre, Hackney, London

Legwork/Hatfield
2006 Slough Museum

Willkommen in Wädenswil
2005 Wädenswil town hall, CH

Living in Superbia
as part of Europan 7 exhibition
2004 Pärnu, Estonia
2005 Café Moskau, Berlin

What is sustainability?
as part of RIBA Urban sustainability exhibition
2001 RICS, Edinburgh
2002 Cube Gallery, Manchester



PUBLICATIONS:

Spacecraft 2
More Fleeting Architecture and Hideouts (2009)
Vacant Lot features on page 93

Actions:
What you can do with the the city
Canadian Centre for Architecture (2008)

Surviving the Suburb
publication by Gregor Harbusch, Martin Luce, Ton Matton, Wim Timmermans
Rotterdam 2008
ISBN 978-90-5973-090-8

Shrinking Cites
Volume 2: Interventions
“Cow the udder way”

Europan 7 Europe
Europan 7 Europe
„Living in Superbia“

PRESS:

VACANT LOT
2008 BBC Country Files, summer 2008
2008 Metro, Monday, June 23, 2008
2008 Times 28.06.08
2008 BBC Gardeners World, spring 2008
2008 Jellied Eal magazine
2007 Green Spaces, September issue
2007 Hackney Gazette, July
2007 Don't Panic Magazine
2007 Building Design Magazine, July

COW the udder way (www.theudderway.info)
27/06/05 BBC NW evening news ”Jersey by the Mersey
28/06/05 Liverpool Echo ”Amazing Graze”
30/06/05 BBC Radio Merseyside breakfast show
24/06/05 Farmers Guardian ”Jerseys take a city break”
02/07/05 Farmers Weekly ”Merseyside visit for DevonJerseys”
25/11/05 Leipziger Tageszeitung 25.11.2005 “Kühe inder Leerstelle”
01/2006 Green Futures “Move over Tracey”
09/10/05 Independent, The Sunday Review ‘Daisy’s Big Adventure”
01/2006 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

The travelling shed
03/04/06 Independant, "Gardens"
Surrey local press

Living in Superbia
2004 MAJA architecture magazine, Estonia
2004 Kunst, Estonia


AWARDS:

Finalist:
Biodiversity/Landscaping Award for: Vacant Lot
2008 Sustainable Housing Award

Winning entry:
Shrinking Cities-Reinventing Urbanism Competition 2004
with "Udder way team" www.theudderway.info

3rd prize: Honourable Mention
Europan 7 competition
Suburban Challenge Tallinn, Estonia, 2004
with Eike Sindlinger

3rd prize: Honourable Mention
RIBA Urban Sustainability competition, 2001
with Eike Sindlinger