Hall of 100 Hands
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Christophe Dembinski Download Original
A design and self-build greenhouse, workshop and event space for the King's Cross Skip Garden
The rammed earth ‘Hall of 100 Hands’ is a third year design and build project in King's Cross, London.
It is a greenhouse, workshop, and an event space that responds specifically to the values of the Skip Garden and celebrates the activities that surround and embody it such as education through hands-on workshops for young and old, catering events, outreach programmes, recycling and organic farming.
This building engages with a broad network of stakeholders. From the client to developers and contractors (to harness their waste materials: clay, waste aggregate, scaffold boards), consultants and groups of volunteers who have travelled from each corner of the UK to help build and learn. In this sense, it is a building of the moment - only possible because of the resources available at that time on King’s Cross, and the network of people who helped.
The result is not only a passive solar greenhouse made with unstabilised rammed earth and used scaffold boards, but a community that has grown through participation.
Data
- Begun: May 2015
- Completed: Aug 2015
- Floor area: 27m2
- Sector: Arts and culture
- Total cost: £4,500
- Tender date: Sep 2014
- Address: Global Generation's Skip Garden, Tapper Walk, King's Cross, London, N1C 4AQ, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Christophe Dembinski
- Client: Global Generation
- Consultant: Rammed Earth Consulting
- Structural engineer: Webb Yates
- Structural engineer (concept): Mark Whitby