St Luke’s, Oxford

Documenting community led design with Empowering Design Practices

I have been working with the Empowering Design Practices team since 2016 on the research around community led design in places of worship. It's a fascinating project looking at how historic places of worship can be use as a catalyst for connecting communities.

In 2019 I was commissioned to make three case-study films on places of worship that had successfully re-designed their space, involved the community, and were now thriving as a result. It was incredible to see such brilliant projects flourishing up and down the country.

St Luke’s completed a project to develop their church in 2014 creating a space that effectively serves worshiping needs alongside offering a variety of activities and services for the wider local community. This film tells the story of the design process, and how the community helped change the proposed development.

Empowering Design Practices is a five year research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The research team is a multi-disciplinary collaboration of academics, community partners and professionals, led by the strategic partnership of The Design Group at The Open University and Glass-House Community Led Design.

September - November 2019