Bringing Home to the Unknown

A temporary, functional installation in Regent’s Park by POoR Collective and Mayesbrook Park School, Becontree.

8 October 2021 to 7 November 2021

This temporary installation in London’s Regent’s Park was designed as a collaboration between students from Mayesbrook Park School, an alternative provision school in Becontree, and social enterprise POoR Collective (Power Out of Restriction). It was the culmination of a series of workshops that have explored ideas of belonging and activating public spaces. The installation expressed the young people’s collective experiences of central London as a mythical place – a landmark in their memory – that represents an area so close to Becontree, yet so far away from their reality and daily life. Through a colourful and functional structure, the young people took residence in the park, using their voice to create a place where they could have a genuine stake in.

The installation was located near the York Bridge entrance to Regent’s Park, close to Baker Street Station and Regent’s Park Station. The project was developed as part of RIBA’s National Schools Programme that seeks to connect young people with architects and architecture through creative and skills developing experiences.

RIBA and POoR Collective would like to thank the following students for their unwavering participation and patience in realising this installation: Saddiqa Yasmin, Tommy Morgan, Nicky Saint, Anjola Odula and Guilherme Brito Lopes.

The commission was delivered in partnership with Royal Parks and was generously supported using public funding by Arts Council England, the Art Fund and Span Trust.

'Bringing Home to the Unknown' was part of the Becontree centenary, a partnership between Create London, London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (LBBD) and RIBA.