City News

A house made from junk mail, a home spanning just 2.6m3 and a 12m2 ‘Fashion House’ designed by celebrated architect Will Alsop are just a selection of the innovative projects to be showcased at the Festival of Xtreme Building (FXB), launching in Digbeth on Friday 8 June.
 
Located on a site donated by Land Securities opposite the new Matthew Boulton College, the festival will shine an international spotlight on the £6bn regeneration of Eastside, using a stream of internationally renowned architects, professional building developers and designers to engage and support local residents during the evolution of their new urban environment.

The festival, which spans four months, aims to create a visible exhibition platform for the design aspirations of the citizens of the city working together with, and supported by, professional practitioners. The result will be a temporary parallel city that captures a snap shot of the cultural landscape of Birmingham in 2007 in an effort to engage the public in the regeneration and create a sense of pride and ownership in the community.

Dave Pollard, curator of FXB, comments: “This is a fantastic opportunity for designers, constructors and members of the public to design and make amazing, extreme structures that will be exhibited in a highly visible location. I am genuinely excited to see how the project develops and to be a part of the many wonderful structures that will appear as a part of the festival.

“Most talk these days refers to sustainability in terms of energy and low carbon footprints.  I say, if people are disconnected from buildings, they (the buildings) won’t survive. There’s a need to give people a sense of pride and ownership of their surroundings, and we anticipate that FXB will address these concerns.”

With entry to the festival completely free, the extreme buildings and works of art will make for an entertaining, not to mention educational, day out for families and schoolchildren.  And visitors to the site will be given the opportunity to explore the buildings; a vast contrast to the usual encounters of such projects through DIY or home magazines.

The highlight of the launch will be Professor Richard Horden’s high specification and ergonomically designed micro-compact home.  The 2.65m2 aluminium cube is a revolutionary light weight, low energy dwelling designed for short-stay, smart living.  And, given that the home is now habitable for the first time in the UK since its launch in November 2005, as part of the festival members of the public will have the opportunity to win a night in the home to experience a state of the art dwelling for themselves.

Also on show at the launch will be the T-House by Colin Pearce and Ranbir Lal, a deconstruction of the Japanese tea house and the English garden pavilion, and Peter Hadfield’s Paper House, a building inspired by the vast amount of junk mail posted through the artist’s door.

Many extreme buildings will be exhibited throughout the duration of the festival, including a 12m2 ‘Fashion House’ designed by celebrity artist Will Alsop which will showcase fashion in a new way.  Fashion students from Matthew Boulton College will be given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with him to utilise the building and host a catwalk show with a difference. 

Another extreme project to be exhibited is Norbert Brunner’s’ International Shopping Connection’ building. This is a structure which will show live streaming images from a number of European retail centres, allowing people to shop interactively across national boundaries.  So a person trying on a pair of jeans in Birmingham can ask someone in Moscow how they look!  Its origins stem from Brunner’s beliefs that shopping is the new religion and in this respect he is constructing a place of worship for the 21st century.

FXB is the physical manifestation of the future aspirations of key stakeholders operating in Birmingham’s flagship Eastside Regeneration Zone. 

For more information and to find out how you can get involved, visit www.festival-xtremebuilding.org.uk/

The FXB is supported by Birmingham City Council, Arts Council, Arts and Business, European Regional Development Fund and Advantage West Midlands.