The design was developed with a group of school pupils. Three meetings and a visit to a local adventure park were instrumental in fixing the brief for the project. The children all agreed that the climbing frame should be somewhere that all ages at the school could play together with different activities aimed at different age groups and devices to help interaction. They also were concerned that the area should have possible wheelchair access. The overriding concept behind the climbing frame however was that it should be possible to climb around the whole complex without having to touch the ground.

The central fort buildings are now surrounded by a forrest of tree trunks that can be climbed through on ropes and that add to the storytelling aspects of the area. Other features include  sunken talking tubes for opening conversations with strangers.

The Tiger was installed in 2007

Designed in collaboration with Carl Clerkin and Gitta Gschwendtner. 2006

My brief was originally to provide secure storage for the corridor areas of Brecknock school in Camden. It became obvious however that there was no need for secure lockers as these would cause new problems but instaed there was a need to help the primary school children respect each others belongings. This was achieved by providing each student with an individual locker that appeared to be a little home. The lockers could be personalised by displaying interests and name in the window and letter boxes in the front door of each locker opened new possibilities of posting each other letters.

Each locker in the school is unique. There are four variables of front door design, four colour ways for both body and door sections and seventy different designs of brass plaque showing the aspirational jobs of the school children and drawn by them.

Because of a lack of space around the school to put all this extra storage, the lockers were designed to be put everywhere. They can be stacked and bolted together, attached to the wall or under desk surfaces or even used as seating.

The home lockers were developed with an existing UK manufacturer called Helmsman. This collaboration not only meant that the design for the lockers was realistic and suitable for production, but also that the school was able to place an order for five hundred lockers when the project was finished. The design work was finished in 2005.

The FFF Workbench is designed to better suit the developments in the new curriculum for secondary school Design and Technology lessons. It has a replaceable Linoleum top for written and drawing work and a solid beech edge for more demanding practical work. The Lino has a graphic in the centre that aims to provide ‘Incidental learning’ by showing technical details in everyday objects such as radius, inside diameter, cubic measurements and isometric views. The workbench has rulers set into its edges and legs so students can quickly calculate approximate measurements.

There are coat hooks under the table surface, a brush, a central board for bags and locations for Gratnells plastic trays, all designed to keep the working area clean. The benches are designed to be used seated on stools or standing and they have an adjustable height leg. The tables also have square flat sides so they can be pushed together or kept as individual units. There is a hole in the centre of the table for cable management, that keeps the tables options open for changing technologies.

The Ergo stool has four leg rests at different heights on each side so that it can be rotated to fit different heights of school children. The stools can be fitted into the workbench to help keep the workshop tidy and safe.

Designed with Carl Clerkin, the FFF workbench and Ergo stool was developed in collaboration with manufacturer Emir. The project was awarded as a commission from the Design Council following a competitive bidding phase.

Link to the workstation on the Emir website.