Blackstock Greenhouse [Ldn, 2011-2013]: , 2013

A temporary community space near Blackstock Road (North London).

Initiated by @mrbenjaminperrot, #CityMined and @echelleinconnue, local shopkeepers, artists, gardeners, and key figures from the neighbourhood’s Algerian community joined forces.

On a disused plot of land, a polytunnel was built as a symbol of both gardening and nomadism.

Because Blackstock Greenhouse managed to remain autonomous and open in a neighbourhood characterised by hyper-diversity and high turnover, different realities were able to meet and interact. It became an effective connecting factor in the area, and a place where many new initiatives emerged and developed networks.

Alongside garden activities — exhibitions, film screenings, festivals and gardening workshops, often accompanied by generous neighbourhood barbecues — an artistic project was developed around Airship Radio: a hot air balloon equipped with a radio transmitter, designed to connect other groups, collectives and organisations in the area in a non-physical way.

(A nod to the UK’s first balloon flight, which took off nearby in Finsbury Park in 1784.)

The site was redeveloped in 2014, and the unique collaborative design studio El Warcha was born.