Pop-up sensory garden in London - The Milkshake Tree

A pop-up garden has appeared on Greenwich Peninsula, London, created for the London Festival of Architecture 2016. The installation to stimulate play by pH+ architects was inspired by its collaboration with the London Centre for Children with Cerebral Palsy (LCCCP).



You all know that at Livegreenblog we hold a torch for installations, and if you add gardens in an urban environment, and gardens with a real purpose - to encourage play through sensorial experiences thanks to the project - then we'll fall head over heels in love.





This is just what happened with the latest project by pH+, an architecture practice that specialises in “site-specific” projects where the architectural and urban planning factor play the part of a social catalyst. Their pop-up garden, The Milkshake Tree was created for the London Festival of Architecture 2016 on Greenwich Peninsula. Greenwich Peninsula is an area undergoing substantial redevelopment with more than 15,000 new homes and a real desire to try and connect the river to the city and its activities, a new hub of creative London.





The Milkshake Tree is a hands-on example of the philosophy of learning through play. Located outside the NOW Gallery, the installation includes a ramped walkway bounded by a screen of timber fins combined with copper xylophones that the children can play as they pass by. Half of the ramp is a mirrored cube with leaf-shaped cut-outs, an Amelanchier tree and a glass prism in the centre that creates a kaleidoscope of colours and light.



The project was inspired by the collaboration of pH+ with the London Centre for Children with Cerebral Palsy (LCCCP) and after the London Festival of Architecture 2016, it will be relocated to the playground of the centre's new home in North London. The Milkshake Tree (named after a request by one of the children to have a milkshake tree in their new Centre and just oozing fun and games) pop-up not only brings play to education, it also explains the work the Centre does for these children to a wider public. 



A sensorial installation that expands the experiences of the young users and touches the hearts of the older ones.

Christiane Bürklein

Project: pH+ architects - http://phplusarchitects.com/
Location: Greenwich Peninsula, London greenwichpeninsula.co.uk
Client: London Centre for Children with Cerebral Palsy (LCCCP), cplondon.org.uk 
Year: 2016
Images: see captions, © AndyPuncher, © Paul Raftery - thanks to carocomuncations