Sound Garden - Temporary Urban Installation

The aim of the Sound Garden project is to develop of a co-produced music installation to be located in an un-used open space within Somerstown, a distinctly socio-economically deprived area of Portsmouth.

The installation provides an accessible and user-friendly structure to facilitate the musical inclusion of children who would otherwise not have the opportunity to engage in music outside of the classroom. A series of workshops will be organized, led by University of Portsmouth staff and students with contributing participation from local children aged 12-13 attending a school in close proximity, allowing creative input at source and a sense of ownership of the project.

Children will be inspired through the process of developing and constructing their own musical instruments to embed within the structure. This will encourage and promote learning of creative processes through designing and making as well as promote a diverse mix of musical techniques to be shared with other beneficiaries within the community. A series of practitioner led musical events will follow utilising the structure and engaging other children within the community. The project will also empower the local community to take ownership of unused urban spaces to decide on their use and take action.

The ‘Sound Garden’ intervention is part of a wider research project: “Co-Production of Temporary Interventions in Public Space as a Tools for Placemaking”, a project that measures the impacts of co-creational practices on the quality of public urban life in contemporary cities. The project promotes and develops tactical small-sized co-created temporary interventions in public spaces bringing together architectural students and local communities. It builds on the assumption that, in cities, there is an abundance of under-used spaces and empowering local communities to take ownership can re-activate the public realm through a process of appropriation, define new forms of civic participation and establish new alternative ways for urban regeneration.