Closeup of Oak Tree

Community Projects

Many of the community projects carried out by Cura Design are for grass roots based organizations, The projects are often characterized by a high level of local participation by area residents and local businesses, Most are "crowd funded" financially and gained substantial support in terms of time and materials and knowledge from local builders. Click on the image for further drawings and videos on a given project.

Click on the image for the Story of Stiltskin Theatre and a video

Stiltskin Childrens Theatre Plymouth - Winner People of Plymouth Award 2017 and Winner Abercrombie Award 2017 for Best Community Project

Cura Design gained planning permission in October 2015 for a derelict WWll gas decontamination building and Heritage Asset to be converted into Plymouths first dedicated childrens theatre and managed amphitheatre space in Plymouths oldest public park. The design of the Childrens Theatre and amphitheatre endeavours to acknowledge and encourage the relationship between childrens theatre and the heritage and natural setting. Cura Design have looked to both biophilic design principles and passive haus technologies (in collaboration with Peter Warm Consultants) to integrate nature into the day to day life of the theatre. External green walls provide additional habitat for birds, insects and butterflies while providing an affordable design feature and as well deterent for grafitti. The existing water tower element is exposed and expressed in the design. This important element will have two lives; a past life that held the water tanks for the facility and its present and future life as a key element of the reuse of the building as this area will provide a mini fly tower for scenery changes and lighting with the stage below. In this way the tower will continue to provide a "life force" though in an entirely new way and with a new spirit.

Click on the image for the Story of Union Corner

Union Corner Community Centre and Garden - Winner Abercrombie Award Best Community Project 2011

Union Corner is a grass roots based community project. Similar to Stiltskin,

the project is characterized by a high level of local participation of area residents and local businesses. The project was initially "crowd funded"

financially and has also gained massive support in terms of time and mate-

rials and knowledge from local building construction businesses.

Union street is currently a boarded up and run down street. The proposed

facade that surrounds the building and the garden envisages all of these

boarded up buildings opening up and becoming inhabited with nature and

people. Facade panels that initially give the proposal a boarded up and

closed appearance, open in the morning to create places to sit and talk. In

this way the space between the private space of the garden and the public space of the pavement is reclaimed by the local residents.

Hand crafted elements produced by local artists and fabricated by craftspeople are fixed into a low cost backdrop of prefab-ricated industrial cladding that wraps around the garden and becomes partof the main facade. Everytime a visitor walks through a door or opens a window they come in direct contact and touch these handcrafted elements and become more aware of these natural materials. They sense the care,

thought and craft of the local people that made them.

Medititation Centre

Cura Design were approached by the Kadampa Meditation Centre to provide planning and design sevices for a new centre in Plymouth. The project was a conversion and change of use from a previous bank building and included accomodation and garden in the upper floors.

Traditional Bandstand in Listed Park

Plymouth City Council and the Friends of Devonport Park appointed Cura Design to look at creating a covered space for events to be held in Devonport Park - Plymouths oldest listed park. The 150 year-old-park was awarded £5.3m including Heritage Lottery Funding/BIG funding worth £3.294 million and £750,000 from the Devonport Regeneration Community Partnership and Plymouth City Council.

Cura Design worked together with assistance from students from the Plymouth College of Art at a structure based on the original design of the Victorian bandstand, which was removed in the 1950s, a contemporary or modern interpretation of the bandstand and a third alternative, which combines both contemporary and traditional designs. Local residnets voted on the designs and the Victorian bandstand was constructed to Cura Designs designs and specifications.