Gather - Pop-Up Community Orchard
Aber Valley, Wales
Project Title: Gather
Location: Senghenydd and Abertridwr, Wales
Client: Undercurrents Aber Valley Arts and Addo, with support from Caerphilly CBC and Aber Valley Community Council, funded by Arts Council Wales
Project Type: Community engagement, temporary outdoor community space, arts project
Date: 2023
‘GATHER’ is an innovative arts-based community placemaking project in the Aber Valley, south Wales.
The overall aims of the project were to identify and make visible contemporary narratives of place, and to explore how art and cultural activity may enable communities to connect with their locale in news ways that enhance everyday life. The project takes a critical approach to working in the public realm that is responsive to the specific context of the Aber Valley and participating communities, and moves beyond simple representation and ameliorative activities.
In the first phase of the project, working as ALT-Architecture, we were commissioned to engage with local individuals and community groups to develop creative methodologies for exploring outdoor spaces and the role that they play in promoting well-being and enriching people’s experiences of a place. Walking, mapping and creative engagement activities led to the development of a masterplan map which set out a vision for future outdoor spaces in Aber Valley. You can read more about the first phase here.
Creative Community Engagement
In this second phase, we continued to work in an engaged and collaborative way with local communities who best understand the place. This time, engagement was more targeted, with the Scouts and local youth drop in centre participating in wildflower seed bombing and production of a pop-up outdoor space.
Pop-Up Community Orchard
To test ideas and demonstrate the potential of reimagining forgotten outdoor spaces, a site was selected for a temporary installation. We designed and installed a pop-up community orchard which, following a rainy launch event attended by over 80 people, was in-situ for a month. Recycled and demountable materials were used to create a structure and canopy to provide shelter over a community table to encourage social gathering; colourful seating platforms which double as an informal play space; and a grid of apple trees.
The pilot site facilitated dialogue and ideas exchange and empowered local people to find the potential of place and community in the forgotten spaces within the Aber valley. Learning from the pop-up informed concept proposals for a permanent intervention.
It is hoped that this innovative, creative and collaborative approach to placemaking will act as a catalyst for development of the long-term vision for future change and co-creation across Aber Valley in line with the masterplan map.Undercurrents – On Our Doorstep was a partnership project between Undercurrents – Arts in the Aber Valley community group, Caerphilly County Borough Council and Addo. The project was funded by an Arts Council of Wales Connect & Flourish grant, with additional funding and in-kind support from Caerphilly County Borough Council, the Integrated Wellbeing Network Gwent and Aber Valley Community Council.
This project was undertaken as ALT-Architecture.
