Placemaking and Outdoor Spaces
In addition to designing buildings, Situated Studio works on placemaking projects and the design of outdoor spaces. Our place-centred approach helps us create playgrounds, community growing spaces, public spaces, temporary interventions and outdoor installations with a sense of belonging.
Whether within a rural or urban setting, we seek to create sustainable outdoor places which support social interaction and well-being, and help people connect with nature and landscape.
Who we work with
We work with local authorities, arts organisations, developers and community groups to develop place-specific projects. These can contribute to town centre regeneration, local play provision, public art, green infrastructure strategies, biodiversity enhancements and green prescribing schemes.
What we do
Playgrounds
Our place-responsive artist-led playgrounds are designed to encourage imaginative play and create connections with place and nature. You can read about our Enchanted Woodland-themed playground here, and our proposals for an Earthscape playground for older children which is inspired by historic local quarrying here. These projects combined public art funding with play provision budgets, enabling us to create higher-quality playgrounds for the community. Let us know if you’d like to consider an alternative approach to playground design in your place.
Community growing spaces
Providing places for communities to grow food, flowers and other plants has multiple benefits for people, wildlife and the environment. As well as improving access to healthy eating, community gardens can foster social interaction and help tackle loneliness. They are also a great way to improve biodiversity, providing habitats and food for pollinators. Green spaces also improve well-being and can contribute to the regeneration of neglected streets, public spaces and town centres.
Temporary outdoor spaces
We have experience of delivering temporary or meanwhile outdoor installations which provide an engaging way to test ideas for community growing, social gathering or imaginative play before investing in expensive permanent transformations. Our Gather project is a good example. It transformed a redundant public space in Aber Valley, south Wales, into a pop-up community orchard. Please do get in touch if you’d like to discuss how a meanwhile installation could be a stepping stone in your longer-term placemaking project.
The process
Stages of a project
Every placemaking and design project is different, but the process might involve the following steps:
Developing a brief – We will work with you to shape and refine the project brief to align with your needs, aspirations and the time, budget and resources available. The brief might evolve as we move through the design process and uncover additional opportunities and constraints; and we help you to imagine other possibilities.
Analysis and exploration – Alongside desktop research, we will spend time exploring and mapping the site and surroundings to gain a good understanding of the qualities of the place, the opportunities it offers and the constraints that will need to address. We want to understand the site-specific history, topography, culture and character so that the design can capture a sense of place.
Community engagement – Meaningfully involving people in placemaking projects and the design and creation of outdoor spaces is a valuable part of the process. Our creative approaches to engagement are designed to include and attract a wide range of stakeholders and local people, including children and young people. When communities are engaged in the design and installation process, it leads to a stronger sense of ownership and care for the future of the place. Temporary pop-up installations can draw attention to ideas and gather feedback from people who might not complete a survey or attend a formal consultation event. Find out more about our creative community engagement here.
Design – The design of outdoor spaces and placemaking projects usually starts with the testing of ideas, concepts and strategies, before a process of refinement and detailed design. We will often collaborate with other consultants, such as landscape architects, engineers, SuDs specialists and cost consultants as designs are developed.
Sustainability strategies – As with all of our projects, we consider ways to maximise the sustainability of the outdoor spaces we design. These include using natural materials, reusing existing materials, choosing recycled or recyclable materials, improving biodiversity and integrating sustainable drainage.
Permissions – We can help you understand and navigate the permissions and licences required to deliver outdoor spaces and meanwhile installations.
Get in touch
If you are looking for a creative approach to the design of a playground, community growing space, placemaking project or other outdoor space, please get in touch. We'd love to hear from you for an informal conversation.
