Join us at the Sheffield Modern Architecture Weekender !
Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th November 2019
Venues across Sheffield, in partnership with Our Favourite Places
To view all events, visit -
https://www.ourfaveplaces.co.uk/our-picks/sheffield-modern/
The Sheffield Society of Architects is partnering with Our Favourite Places to bring you a series of events as part of Sheffield Modern! Here are the events we're involved in, and there are so many more!
Fantastical Cities - A crafting session for all the family!
Fantastical Cities is aimed at inspiring the architects of the future. Let your imagination run wild and help construct a fantasy cityscape made out of cardboard and Lego in the atrium at Yorkshire Artspace: Persistence Works.
Hosted by members of the Sheffield Society of Architects and RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects).
Fantastical Cities is part of an afternoon of hands-on, drop-in, family-friendly creative workshops called Return to the Workshop. Taking place in two venues, next-door to one another, from 12 till 4pm, the workshops will use different forms of art and play to explore building and housing. All workshops are drop-in sessions, aimed at children and young people (big kids also welcome!).
Standing at the Sky's Edge - Learn how the musical was born!
The Park Hill-set musical Standing at the Sky's Edge made its sell-out debut in spring 2019 at the Crucible Theatre. Bringing together the talents of playwright Chris Bush with music by Richard Hawley, the production centred around the polarising housing estate whose concrete "streets in the sky" have helped shape the city’s skyline for six decades.
The musical follows the stories of three families in one Park Hill flat over the course of the estate's history – from 1960s optimism, through its decline along with the steel industry in the 1980s-90s, to its 2010s regeneration. In it, Bush raises some uncomfortable questions around gentrification and the human cost of regeneration, explores how social and political change impacts private realities, and tells both a melancholy and a hopeful story of what makes a place a home.
Seven months on from the end of its run at the Crucible, join Chris Bush as she shares her experience of researching and writing a musical spanning three generations of Park Hill. Chris will be joined in conversation by a panel of speakers including architects Jeremy Till and Sarah Wigglesworth and current/former Park Hill residents. The conversation will be moderated by Satwinder Samra from the University of Sheffield's Department of Architecture, and there'll be chance for audience questions.
This event will take place in the Adelphi Room at the Crucible Theatre.
Use the link button opposite to book at a discounted rate for RIBA members!
Giant Dolls' House - Get involved with the build!
Join in this collaborative community art project led by architect Catja de Haas, creating a community of dolls' houses made out of shoeboxes. What would form the ideal social housing community?
These drop-in workshops invite you to come up with your own answer and to make your contribution in a shoebox – either individually or with family/friends. Completed houses will be assembled onto a blank canvas throughout the day on Saturday and linked with ropes, ramps and ladders, to form a miniature community.
The Giant Dolls' House Project aims to raise awareness of the importance of a home and community for all. Since 2014 it's been to Dubai, North Carolina, Goa in India, and formed part of the London Festival of Architecture. By giving different people the same blank space to work with, the project creates a collage of ideas, dreams, memories, and endless possibilities to generate stories, where each participant has an equal voice.
All workshops and the storytelling session are free – donations welcome to ASSIST, a Sheffield-based charity supporting destitute asylum seekers by providing accommodation and advice.
Workshop 1: Friday 22 November, 11am-3pm, at Foodhall
There'll be a break at 12:30pm for lunch, which Foodhall serves on a pay-as-you-can basis.
Workshop 2: Saturday 23 November, 12-4pm, at Yorkshire Artspace: Persistence Works
With artist Jennifer Booth.
Giant Dolls' House Stories: Saturday 23 Nov, 4-5pm, at Yorkshire Artspace: Persistence Works
Stick around after the workshop on Saturday for a storytelling session in the gallery led by storyteller and writer Nana-Essi Casely-Hayford. Bring your imagination and enjoy the magic of stories, all while exploring ideas around community and home. To begin, there'll be a short talk from Catja and a representative of ASSIST.
The installation of completed shoeboxes will remain on display at Yorkshire Artspace until Saturday 30th November, open each day 11am-4pm. After that, participants are free to take home their doll's house creation.
What is Sheffield Modern?
Sheffield Modern is an arts festival inspired by the city's architecture, taking place for the second time on 22-24 November 2019.
Sheffield's experiments in modern architecture have played a significant role in defining not just the skyline but also the character and culture of the city. Looking at the past and present of the city's design and developments, the second Sheffield Modern weekender aims to get people thinking about the shape of the city in new ways – through exhibitions, talks, walks, family-focussed workshops, installations, and film screenings. This year's programme is themed around two strands:
Social Housing at 100 – looking at questions around housing today, one hundred years on from the Housing Act (also known as the Addison Act), which paved the way for large-scale council housing developments.
Return to the Workshop – taking its name and inspiration from the teachings of the hugely influential Bauhaus art school, founded in Germany one hundred years ago. The school's manifesto called for artists to bring the spirit of architecture into other art forms, unite disciplines, and "return to the workshop" in order to become "a world that builds".
