Under Construction by Takeshi Hayatsu & Collaborators

Since 2011, eleven innovative building projects have provided a series of imaginative and highly resourceful responses to the specific opportunities and challenges of chosen locations around the borough of Kingston and elsewhere, as well as to communities and their needs. ‘Under Construction’ will present visual and tactile materials on these diverse projects together with a specially commissioned film by w.in.c films that will consider their impact on the collaborators and participants involved over the years. The film will follow the life of past projects as they are housed at various sites in Kingston, Tolworth and beyond, and how certain materials have since been recycled to become part of new community build projects in collaboration with Citizen Zoo, Community Brain, and 121 Collective – formed by student alumni of Hayatsu. As a key part of ‘Under Construction’, an entirely new live build will take the Stanley Picker Gallery’s unusual island location as the site and subject for a series of evolving architectural interventions both inside and out, that will aim to shift and alter how the building itself behaves as a public gallery and ‘expanded studio’ and how visitors in turn respond and interact. Works will commence in September, during London Design Festival, with elements under construction throughout the exhibition period and then remaining in-situ beyond. Hayatsu has an approach to teaching through making. The projects have often started with a research trip to his home country Japan, where his students encounter traditional building methods and develop new skills and designs based on these experiences. Accordingly, each project has been developed to evolve through a collective and haptic understanding of materials, construction and craft techniques, and delivered through shared core values of community engagement and environmental sustainability. Projects such as the ‘Kintaikyo Bridge’ (2011-12), a replica of 17th century Japanese wooden bridge or ‘Woodland Chapel’ (2013-14), a structure made for a local St Johns Primary School both made entirely from donated and recycled materials are exemplary of the economy of means and the ethos of DIY builds. ‘Temple’ (2014-15) and ‘Seminar House Pavilion’ (2015-16) were created for the garden of Dorich House Museum, each championing special techniques such as elaborate carpentry or yakisugi, a Japanese method for scorching timber. The following year, the ‘Barbican Tea House’ (2016-17) was a burnt timber cladded tea house specially commissioned for the exhibition ‘The Japanese House: Architecture and Lift After 1945’ at the Barbican Centre London, as a collaboration between architect Terunobu Fujimori, Takeshi Hayatsu and architecture and product design students from Kingston University. ‘SHEDx’ was a community engagement programme initiated by a community interest company The Community Brain in Kingston. Based on the notion of the university as a centre for productions and an incubator of new ideas, they built a series of sheds to establish a strong relationship between Kingston University and the local community. As part of the project ‘Heritage Shed’ (2017-18) housed a display of allotment culture. Like many other builds, this shed travelled to various contexts including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Hampton Court Flower Show and the Garden Museum. Hayatsu’s idea of democratising crafts have continued to unfold through recent collaborations such as the ‘Green Shed’ (2018-19) and ‘Nature Hide’ (2019-21), which involved schoolchildren decorating individual wooden panels with locally sourced clay paint, as well as public engagement elements of the ‘Surbiton Yatai’ (2017-18) and the ‘Lantern Procession’ (2023) launched with public processions. 'Under Construction' launches on Saturday 14 September, 11am-1pm and continues until Friday 20 December, with public events and activities programmed throughout. Visit our website for details. Free Entry / All Welcome!