Waterloo City Farm & Feilden Fowles Studio

Waterloo City Farm was established in 2014 on a formerly neglected plot south of Westminster Bridge. Owned by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital and developed under a meanwhile-use lease, the 1630 sq m site was transformed into a collective home for a trio of organisations - Jamie’s Farm, Oasis Waterloo and Feilden Fowles - each with a shared focus on education. Despite economic constraints, the group has fundraised together to deliver a masterplan that has created London’s most central urban farm and a verdant amenity for the local neighbourhood.

The narrow rectangular site, bordered by Royal Street and Carlisle Lane, SE1, is bookended to the east by the barn, and to the west by Feilden Fowles’ studio – both timber-framed pitched roof structures – linked by a central ‘street’ flanked by animal pens, an outdoor kitchen and growing area.
The masterplan and structures of the farm were designed to demonstrate a rational, highly articulated and low-cost architecture, providing a model typology for contemporary workspace and educational facilities. The site creates a range of educational environments, from the spacious barn, which features an intimately-scaled interior classroom, to the active outdoor areas which host activities such as gardening, carpentry, cooking, animal care and lambing, to the quieter, contemplative walled garden.
The forms and materiality of the structures was inspired by typical agricultural buildings. Each building was designed as a prefabricated timber frame that can be disassembled easily and reconfigured in the future - in acknowledgement of the impermanence of the site – and utilises mechanical fixings that can be removed without damage, allowing for a second life.

The garden been designed by local landscape designer Dan Pearson Studio and is sheltered by an historic brick wall, a remnant of the site’s rich history, once home to a row of Victorian terraces that were heavily bombed during the war. It provides a break-out space and an outdoor workshop for the studio, alongside the most recent addition to the site - the garden room. Initially a pavilion located outside the Design Museum, designed by Clem Blakemore, Feilden Fowles reused the components to provide an additional meeting space, often used for model making.

Jamie’s Farm helps urban children at risk of exclusion between the ages of 11-16, through a residential programme combining ‘farming, family and therapy’. Children are involved with the daily running of the farm, learning seasonal activities from lambing to hay making, and also participating in cooking, gardening, carpentry, horse care and art. The week is punctuated by one-to-one and group sessions, and children are supported with the transition back to school by Jamie’s Farm staff. Oasis Farm Waterloo has created the opportunity for Jamie’s Farm to bring their work to central London, through partnering with Oasis Hub Waterloo, a charity deeply embedded within the local community. Oasis runs several local schools, as well as a number of additional facilities supporting children and families in the wider area, including a food bank and children’s centre. Since summer 2014 the new farm development has been regularly hosting local schools, as well as adult and community classes and events.