THE HOARDING ROPE MASTER OF SOUTHWARK

“At the heart of Southwark street lies a forgotten place, lying dormant for over 30 years . Legend says that someone secretly inhabits that place. A solitary man living for his art, spending days and nights building, fixing, spying, overhearing, contemplating. There is innocence and wonder in his voyeurism. He collects every artefact, every object he encounters, every piece of those he meets… Sometimes he gets caught.” Masked behind a series of small artisanal shops, this project promotes a revival of crafts in Southwark, whilst symbolically denouncing the sterility of the new developments in the area. Functioning as a set-construction machine, it is a platform for building, shipping, displaying and recycling theatrical sets. The design is based on organic urban growth and the structures are manually built using old theatre sets and scrap materials. The structure is a parasitic, ever-growing, hand built, timber scaffolding. Just as stage sets oppose the concept of space as something fixed and static, the techtonics of this proposal become veils, allowing perpetual movement and change.