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Beyond The Box CIC

@beyondtheb_x

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Creating space for culture and community to connect.
Civic engagement & cultural placemaking.

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The People’s Pavilion isn’t just about design — it’s about who gets to access, curate, and shape culture.

This summer, the People’s Pavilion 2025 Community Festival brought the William Morris Gallery alive for its 75th anniversary. Over five weeks of free events, the Pavilion became a stage for music, film, conversation, creativity and design — created with and for local residents, and led by young people from across London.

Highlights included:
• 15+ free events — from live music and film screenings to workshops and installations
• £30,000+ invested to make culture accessible for everyone
• Collaborations with brilliant artists, makers, bands and community partners across Waltham Forest and beyond

Produced by Beyond The Box CIC with our incredible Young Producers, the festival proved the power of culture to connect people, open up public spaces and celebrate community creativity.

👉 Watch the full film now and head to the link in bio (projects page) and relive the festival energy and story.

Supported by @aceagrams

🎥 @patrickdempsey__ and Ben Parry

#PeoplesPavilion2025 #CommunityFestival #BeyondTheBoxCIC #EquityByDesign #Placemaking #YouthLed taken in William Morris Gallery by @beyondtheb_x

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a year ago

Expressions of Resilience - Reclaiming Space for Creativity, Authenticity, and Community @beyondtheb_x @buildhollywood

At the heart of Expressions of Resilience is true collaboration—valuing every voice, medium, and story. From film and dance to visual art and soundscapes, every piece in this exhibition represents the unique perspective of an emerging artist, empowered to experiment and grow in an environment free from gatekeepers.

This self-funded exhibition, has become a movement of resilience, featuring: Hand-built furniture made by local volunteers—seven benches, a stage, and more, designed to connect everyone who stepped inside.

A cultural space and programme co-designed and co-produced with young creatives @akif.ur @tlnfilms @taja.designs @42braulio & @taylorddacosta, a space without gatekeepers, where emerging creators and communities can freely explore their voices, boundaries, and identities.

In partnership with @_recollective_ , Expressions of Resilience exemplifies a commitment to sustainable design. Ninety percent of the materials used to create the exhibition were sourced from recycled film and tv sets, and an impressive 90% of those materials were repurposed post-event. This visionary approach ensures the project not only celebrates creativity but also respects the planet, setting a new standard for responsible design.

Together, we’ve reclaimed physical space for real-time creativity, proving that when we connect and create, resilience and unity thrive.

Every exhibiting artist, designer, and creative producer was fairly compensated for their contributions, reflecting our commitment to valuing creative labor and fostering equity in the arts.

#expression #creativity #collaborativedesign #collaborativeproduction #beyondthebox taken in East London by @beyondtheb_x

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2 years ago

So many hands, voices and ideas came together to make the People’s Pavilion 2025 the best one yet.

Our new film — Collaboration in Action — captures the energy, teamwork and imagination behind this year’s Pavilion. From bold ideas to shared learning, it’s a celebration of what’s possible when we build together.

Sustainability was at the heart of the project:

40% of materials came from Recollective’s pre-used stores

85% of the Pavilion has been repurposed and gifted to local youth organisation Project Zero

Watch the full film and explore the story via the link in bio.

Too many brilliant collaborators to tag here — check the comments as we celebrate this collective achievement together.

🎥 by @patrickdempsey__ and Ben Parry.

#PeoplesPavilion2025 #CollaborationInAction #EquityByDesign #BeyondTheBoxCIC #Placemaking #YouthLed taken in William Morris Gallery by @beyondtheb_x

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a year ago

Who really shapes the spaces around us?

We’re bringing Who Has Agency to Festival of the Future 2026 — a free two-day festival at the Royal College of Art, Battersea, celebrating the people shaping the built environment.

Step up to Emmie, our mobile game structure, and take on a persona — human or otherwise — in a playful game about power, place and who gets a say in our cities. Through light-hearted negotiations, you’ll discover who holds influence, who gets overlooked, and how working together opens up new possibilities.

Drop in, play, and leave when you like.

📅 Saturday 10 October · Royal College of Art, Battersea
🎟️ Free — book your Saturday place via the link in bio

Come and play with us. 🎲

#FestivaloftheFuture #WhoHasAgency #BuiltEnvironment #CityMaking #DesignForEveryone by @beyondtheb_x

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4 days ago

📣✨️ Alternative Routes in the Built Environment: Designing Your Own Career Panel✨️📣

As part of @beyondtheb_x ’s Festival of the Future 2026 at the Royal College of Art's Battersea Campus, HomeGrown Plus will be hosting a panel discussion on 10th October at 4pm - 5pm all about alternative careers in the built environment!

We're so excited to be welcoming speakers from a range of disciplines - from architects to writers to co-designers to content creators. There'll also be a chance to ask any questions you might have to the panellists!

Pssst! Young people can also join our GLAM wearable architecture workshop happening just before our panel in the morning at 10:30am PLUS celebrate their designs on our catwalk.

It will be a great opportunity to quickly make something in a welcoming envrionment and get feedback. Some of our panellists will be acting as "judges" for participants designs (think RuPaul's Drag Race vibes!).

So if you’re a young person aged 16+ (or know a young person!) who wants to attend our panel and/or workshop, you can book a ticket for the Festival of the Future at our link in bio!

Akil is a director of RESOLVE Collective, an interdisciplinary design collective that combines architecture, engineering, technology, and art to address social challenges. They have delivered numerous projects, workshops, publications, and talks in the UK and across the world, all of which look toward realising just and equitable visions of change in our built environment.

Phineas Harper is an architecture critic and sculptor from the Midlands. A regular contributor to The Guardian, they were formerly CEO of Open City and Chief Curator of the Oslo Architecture Triennale. They live in south east London with two cats, Kaspar and Alvar.

Sandra is an architect and National Teaching Fellow who brings over two decades of experience in Higher Education to her role as Interim Dean in the School of Architecture at the RCA. Her leadership has sparked curriculum innovations, fostered intercultural learner relationships and generated fresh insights to tackle global challenges. As an advocate for inclusivity in architectural education, she champions interdisciplinarity and by @beyondtheb_x

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7 days ago

Open City Accelerate Debate — Amplifying Young Voices. The line-up is now revealed. 🎤

This is the Friday evening special at Festival of the Future 2026 — a free, two-day festival at the Royal College of Art in Battersea, celebrating the people shaping the built environment and opening up careers in architecture, design and beyond.

As Schools Day winds down, the festival steps up. The Accelerate Debate is a free evening of live, honest conversation about the future of the built environment — and who gets to shape it. Real talk, big questions.

This year we ask how the next generation can take greater control of a world they’ll inherit — one shaped by AI, climate change and an industry that still leaves them out of the room.

Hosted by Khaira Abimbola, with:
→ Muyiwa Oki — chartered architect & past President of the RIBA
→ Hani Ali — Caro Communications; founder, 4 African People
→ Larry Botchway — architect & co-founder, POoR Collective
→ Emaan Asif — Level 6 Apprentice, Grimshaw Architects

Run with @opencity_uk as part of its @opencityeducation programme.

📅 Friday 9 October · doors 6pm, starts 6.30pm
📍 Royal College of Art, Battersea
🎟️ Free — open to all. Book via the link in our bio.

Whether you’re a student, early-career, a seasoned practitioner or simply curious — come and be part of it.

Creating equity by design.

#FestivaloftheFuture #AccelerateDebate #BuiltEnvironment #AmplifyingYoungVoices #CreatingEquityByDesign taken in Royal College of Art by @beyondtheb_x

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18 days ago

Meet the RCA Trailblazers. ✊

They’re part of our Saturday 16+ open day at Festival of the Future — free, at the @royalcollegeofart battersea campus, where three groundbreaking collectives, all Royal College of Art alumni, are reshaping who architecture is for:

▪️ POoR Collective (Power Out of Restriction) — award-winning designers putting young people at the heart of the built environment.

▪️ EDIT — a feminist architecture collective challenging the biases built into our spaces through design, research and exhibitions.

▪️ Deaf Architecture Front — a Deaf-led practice, founded by Chris Laing (Director of Studio Yokwesi), embedding Deaf perspectives and DeafSpace principles into architecture and public space.

Join them for an honest in-conversation on their journeys from RCA to practice and the organisations they’ve built — then get hands-on in creative workshops on community-led, inclusive design and making, before seeing their work up close.

An inspiring, practical way to learn directly from the people creating a more equitable and representative built environment.

Great for those interested in starting their own practice and those interested in shaping an inclusive built environment.

📍 RCA Battersea ·
📅 Saturday 10 October · 16+ · Free
🎟️ Link in bio to book

#FestivaloftheFuture #RCATrailblazers #InclusiveDesign #DeafSpace #Architecture taken in Royal College of Art by @beyondtheb_x

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22 days ago

3/3 — and we’ve saved the headline for last. 🎉

Our keynote for Designing Better Futures is Meneesha Kellay — Lead Curator of South Asia Now: Fashion. Art. Design. at V&A East, Trustee of the British Museum, and co-curator of the award-winning British Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale.

She closes the night in conversation with two of our own — Beyond the Box alumni and architecture graduates Ayo Odedina and Tomi Balogun — for Beyond Buildings: protecting not just the buildings, but the culture, creativity and community that give places meaning.

It’s the finale of Festival of the Future 2026. It’s also our 8th birthday. Open to all. Free.

📍 Dyson Building, RCA Battersea
📅 Sat 10 Oct · from 6pm
🎟️ free to attend - link in bio

Creating equity by design. ✨

#FestivaloftheFuture #DesigningBetterFutures #culture #place #indentity taken in Royal College of Art by @beyondtheb_x

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24 days ago

2/3 · Community as Collaborators

We’re 8 and going big. The Festival of the Future finale is one evening, three conversations about who really shapes our places — and it’s free.

Next up — Community as Collaborators: how communities stop being consulted and start being collaborators, and how architects, planners and developers build fairer, more honest relationships with the people who know places best.

Chaired by our founder Neil Onions, with:
→ Nouvella · The Urban Planher
→ María José Gonzales & Vicky Álvarez · Wards Corner
→ Saba Shafi · The Advocacy Academy
→ Nabil Al-Kinani · Authors of the Estate

Community power, co-design, ownership and long-term value — and what real collaboration looks like when people are in from the very start.

👀 That’s 2 of 3 — catch Panel 1 below and Panel 3 next.

🎂 8 years of Beyond the Box
🗓️ Sat 10 Oct · 6–10pm · RCA Battersea
🎟️ FREE — space is limited. Book now, link in bio.

#FestivaloftheFuture #DesigningBetterFutures #CommunityLed #Placemaking #BuiltEnvironment taken in Royal College of Art by @beyondtheb_x

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24 days ago

1/3 · Growing the Next Generation

This October, Beyond the Box turns 8 — and we’re marking it with the finale of Festival of the Future: one evening of bold provocations, honest conversation and celebration. People. Place. Culture.

First up — Growing the Next Generation: how we throw open architecture, design, planning and construction to the people who’ll shape what comes next, whatever their background.

Chaired by Sam El-Bahja (ISO Collective), with:
→ Siraaj Mitha · Open City Accelerate
→ Barakat Omomayowa · SORI collective
→ Beth Hughes · Royal College of Art
→ Dhruv Gulabchande · Narrative Practice / HFM

Access and opportunity, mentors and role models, the ARB’s education reforms, and what education, industry and policy owe the next generation.

👀 This is 1 of 3 conversations — keep an eye on our page for Panels 2 & 3.

🎂 Celebrating 8 years of Beyond the Box
🗓️ Sat 10 Oct · 6–10pm · RCA Battersea
🎟️ FREE — but space is limited. Book now, link in bio.

#FestivaloftheFuture #DesigningBetterFutures #Architecture #BuiltEnvironment #NextGeneration taken in Royal College of Art by @beyondtheb_x

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24 days ago

Meet @riba — with us across both days.

🟢 Friday — A Eutopia for All (Schools Day, ages 11–16)
Imagine a city with no barriers — one everyone can enjoy, feel safe in and truly belong to. Drop in with RIBA Learning to explore how we make buildings more accessible, inclusive and adaptable, then design and build your own truly inclusive city.

🩷 Saturday — Building Together (everyone 16+)
Led by young people, for young people: drop in to the RIBA Youth Forum for hands-on, creative activities exploring everything from social housing to accessible cities — architecture seen through the eyes of the next generation.

Two days, one big idea: cities that work for everyone.

📍 Royal College of Art, Battersea
📅 Fri 9 & Sat 10 October
🎟️ Free — link in our bio to book

#FestivaloftheFuture #careers #architecture #youth #RIBA taken in Royal College of Art by @beyondtheb_x

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25 days ago

Meet @elliottwood_partnership

Can you build a paper tower strong enough to carry weight — and survive the wind? 🗼

In Paper Towers with Elliott Wood, young people take on a hands-on engineering challenge: shaping, folding and bracing paper into towers, then testing them under load and against a fan to see whose stands tallest and strongest.

Along the way they’ll discover the science real buildings rely on — how shape creates strength, how bracing and load paths work, and how structures resist gravity, wind and everything in between. Playful, competitive, and a proper taste of what structural engineers really do.

🟢 Friday 9 October — Schools Day (ages 11–16)

Teachers — a hands-on STEM challenge that makes engineering click. Spaces are limited, so book early.

📍 Royal College of Art, Battersea
📅 Friday 9 October
🎟️ Free — link in our bio

#FestivaloftheFuture #Free #engineering #STEM #elliottwoodengineers taken in Royal College of Art by @beyondtheb_x

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a month ago