Universal Design Studio – Framework for Exchange

The Framework for Exchange pavilion was designed for the 2018 London Design Festival, a week-long international event held each September across the city. It was our second collaboration with the flexible-office-space provider TOG, and its aim was to encourage creativity, a sense of community and collaboration through the different forms of exchange that shared workspaces help to promote. The temporary two-storey pavilion was constructed from scaffolding and occupied the courtyard at the entrance to one of TOG’s buildings inthe heart of Shoreditch, East London.

By using scaffolding, the pavilion could be assembled, disassembled, recycled and reused over and over again. This honesty and singularity in the construction appealed to us, as did the notion that the soul of the pavilion could live on after the festival, existing in other places throughout the city. Framework for Exchange presented a rich public programme; during the opening weekend, social enterprise Good for Nothing hosted a one-day event focused on ‘open-source innovation’ as a means of finding practical solutions for creative problems. Considering the surrounding area’s infamous nightlife, it felt appropriate to create a nocturnal identity. The lighting-design practice Speirs Major created an ultraviolet scheme that transformed the pavilion after dark.