Children's Creative Studio
Bromwich Hall Museum Hall Green Road, West Bromwich, B71 2EA
3rd-17th August
Creative Studio with MATT + FIONA is a specially designed children’s creative studio + gallery in a shipping container set within the grounds of Bromwich Hall Museum as part of FLOW Children’s Biennial.
The Studio has been designed by Children who were part of the Design Team,
guided by the expertise of architectural practice MATT + FIONA and local designer-maker Lisa Lucy Gakunga, the children worked together over two days of half term to design the children’s creative studio + gallery.
The Children's Design Team went through a design thinking process to explore how the space would be used, making choices about what the space looks and feels like, the children made their ideas into designs and models working together to think ideas through and to solve problems. The children’s designs will be brought to life, built and installed into the space for others to enjoy.
The Children’s Creative Studio will be open in August with a free programme for children and families. It will be a place to tinker, to play, to make, to create, a children’s art studio, a huge dressing up box, a play box….a place to play and be creative.
For the full programme click here.
Who is involved
Lisa Lucy Gakunga - Maker of Architecture/RIBA Part II
Lisa has spent the last 10 years developing and refining her practice within the field of architecture and the built environment. During this time, Lisa Lucy has worked with different communities to co-create the architecture which represents the identity of their communities, and the communal spaces they inhabit. At present, she manages BlackTapeSociety - an imagination platform, inviting co-creation with everyday people. The main aim of this platform it to investigate social-political issues within the arts, architecture, and cultural fields through creative expression. On a day to day, she manages PopIN UK - a design company that co-creates architectural/interior design projects across commercial, domestic, and community spaces. PopIN UK focus is to create holistic spaces, using innovative and sustainable methods.
MATT + FIONA - is a social enterprise founded in 2016 and led by architectural educators Matthew Springett and Fiona MacDonald, supported by a small core team.
MATT + FIONA share a deeply held commitment to change design education and the built environment for the better. They empower young people and enable their ideas about the world around them to be expressed and made real. MATT+FIONA believes everyone should have the right to shape their built environment, by asking young people how their built environment could be improved and empowering them to bring that vision to life.
Sandwell Museums and Library Service
Sandwell Museums continues to provide a lively programme of events, interactive activities and things to get involved with. Sandwell Museum Service has a range of different sites, full of surprises, across the borough. Most of them are free to visit, and provide a host of different activities and experiences for you to discover.
Bromwich Hall Museum
Built by Richard de Marnham in the 1270s, Bromwich Hall is now probably one of the most important surviving medieval timber framed buildings in the Midlands and the most recent building to become part of Sandwell Museum Service.
Over its 750 year history Bromwich Hall has been the home of a number of notable residents including the Solicitor General to Charles I. It has also been the home of ordinary families when it became tenements in the later 1800s. The site was a public house from the 1960s and when it first opened was an extremely prestigious venue, where footballers and VIPs would dine. The pub closed in 2009 and the building is now back in the guardianship of Sandwell Council and looked after by Sandwell Museum Service.
The building is now a heritage visitor attraction and used for a variety of community projects and activities and new activities are happening all the time. There is also a lively programme of events and activities.