The Agora

Our site was a large ‘black-box’ hall in the SECC Glasgow. We were tasked with creating a high visual impact space where delegates of the TEDx Glasgow conference could gather to eat their lunch, network and engage in informal workshops. 

Our design consisted of four individual structures constructed out of scaffolding. These were connected with debris net – the bright translucent material that covers buildings under construction – to create connections between different parts of the structure and to create nooks for people to claim as their own. The structures were then adorned with material drapes featuring work by local artists. Each structure was a different height and configuration, creating varied environments which encouraged different modes of interacting with those around you. 

Using scaffolding as the structural material brought multiple benefits. It was an affordable way to span a large space, it could be installed with speed (we only had one morning), it was a pre-engineered system and - most importantly - was zero waste. The structure was only required to be used during one afternoon so, from the offset, we were determined to avoid a ‘build and burn’ approach. In addition to the scaffolding being reusable, the material drapes have since been repurposed to various uses for example as wall hangings, clothes and upholstery.

Photography by Alexander Hoyles