granton:hub
granton:hub is a new charity located in the historic Madelvic House, a Victorian building nestled in between the established and newly-settled communities of Edinburgh’s Waterfront.
The hub hosts art classes and craft workshops, with Edinburgh Scrapstore recently re-locating within the grounds where a wildflower nursery and community garden are flourishing. The hub regularly organises heritage talks and walking tours, and is setting up a café.
University involvement
Students from Edinburgh College of Art were invited to submit proposals to enhance five specific areas of Madelvic House: the reception, the café, the heritage archive, the Edinburgh Scrapstore container and the wider surroundings.
This project fitted in with a course the students had undertaken where they studied how to develop practical skills which will help them work and design collaboratively in a real-world setting. It also allowed granton:hub to benefit from the input of one of the UK’s top design institutions and from a wide range of creative and deliverable solutions which resulted from mutual exchange and collaboration.
Design ideas
The students’ suggestions included proposals for:
- fun loyalty card systems and merchandise to retain custom within the café and shop
- a mural and wall stickers which narrate the journey from the reception area through to the café
- the historic story of Granton told through metal cutouts and climbing plants’ pallet gardens and moss walls
- joining-the-dots astronomy chalk walls
- an augmented reality phone app leading people on a Granton inspired ‘constellations' treasure hunt in the local area.
The students came up with a range of wonderful ideas. They demonstrated that they had understood our objectives and we were blown away by the creative output of the final presentations. I'm hopeful that there will be some lasting legacy of the students' work that will enhance the hub's activities well into the future. We are a very happy client, so thanks to all the students who took part.
Visitors were asked over the summer to vote for their favourite project. The trustees and steering committee of granton:hub will now, on the basis of votes cast as well as practical and budgetary considerations, decide how to take the project forward.
Contact
You can find all the latest news and events from granton:hub on their website.