FROMTHEGROUNDUP           
FROMTHEGROUNDUP (FTGU) is an interdisciplinary art and architectural design studio based at Primary in Nottingham. Made up of a core team of William Harvey, Elin Keyser and Jacob Kelly who bring in a range of collaborators for specific projects bringing together a range of experience in architecture, sustainability, art, research and making.

Our projects are carefully considered to be as low impact as possible by using Passivhaus design principles together with low embodied carbon materials, helping to reduce the environmental impacts of construction on the planet. We use participatory design methodologies to co-produce work, which doesn’t always end-up as a building. Agency throughout design stages is shared, a process which fosters a sense of ownership with those who inhabit and use the resulting space. We believe this creates richer and more sustainable projects.

We work at multiple scales from furniture to domestic up to the organisational and institutional. This includes private clients, arts organisations and community groups with whom we seek to create joyful places and spaces for human and more-than-human cultures to thrive in.

FTGU is a not-for-profit worker’s co-op, with shared responsibility and ownership among its members, creating a more ethical working culture. Any profits are reinvested into community projects,  research, art and writing. This allows for explorations into the ethics, philosophies, and the practicalities behind climate change mitigation, material (re)use, and participatory design.



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FROMTHEGROUNDUP STUDIO LIMITED
Registration number: 15478884
CORNER CAFE

Interior redesign and project management of the New Art Exchange’s (NAE) Corner Cafe. The design was developed from a series of participatory workshops held with multiple stakeholder groups who visit the café. They were all invited to share their responses to the past, present and future vision for this space.

We spoke with all staff, including front of house and back of house, member of NAE’s VOICE assembly, regulars who use the café, artists and passers by who had never ventured into NAE before. This wealth of input was then synthesised into common themes which we used as guiding principles to generate a design which reflected the desires and diversity of the NAE’s community both inside and outside the building.

FTGU then worked closely with local makers to realise design.

Project Team: Elin Keyser, Jacob Kelly, William Harvey
Joinery: FENN Woodwork & Jack Narewski
Textiles: Line Nielsen
Artworks: Farwa Moledina
Services: Chris Coulston & Andy Strudwick
Client: New Art Exchange
Location: Nottingham

2025

HIMMAH HUB

These vision drawings are the result of a workshop held by FTGU with HIMMAH and their partner organisa­tions regarding the [re]use of the former Hyson Green Girls Club into a much-needed community centre. The drawings demonstrate there is ample for space for these organisations to share this building, expressing the varying demands of use each organisation has.

This is an ongoing project with HIMMAH to eventually make a vibrant space for a diverse range of cultures, backgrounds and heritage to thrive in Nottingham.

Project Team: Jacob Kelly, William Harvey
Client: HIMMAH
Location: Nottingham

2024

MAKE n MOOT

Making and mending sessions open to the public with some debate and discussion around materials, culture and beyond!

If you love making, chatting and thinking, about how we can develop a better understanding of the materials around us, what they are and how to put them together, then come and join us :-)  

Who: Elin Keyser, William Harvey, Jacob Kelly
When: Every 3rd Saturday of the month
Where: Primary

2024 - Ongoing
THE STUDIO

Design and fit out of the New Art Exchange’s (NAE) studio space for resident artists.  The design was developed from a workshop held with past artist residents of NAE.

While a range of functional requirements came out of the discussion a key shared desire was a warm environment with the ability to transform from it from a working space to a more meditative and relaxing space. This has been achieved by functional movable furniture and storage which can be hidden away behind curtains and soft furnishings pulled out. Multiple configurations can be made allowing for multiple forms of practice.

FTGU then worked closely with local makers to realise design. 

Project Team: William Harvey, Jacob Kelly
Joinery: FENN Woodwork
Textiles: Kashif Nadim Chaudry
Services: Chris Coulston Electrical & Pawel Pruchniak / Precision Plumbing
Artist Participants: Sofia Yala, Khaya Job, Ismail Khokon, Mita Solanky 
Client: New Art Exchange
Location: Nottingham

2024
Sunstones

A new build timber frame designed to Passiv Haus standards in the Derbyshire Dales. Designed with the clients, one of whom, a builder, has constructed the home himself with the final touches being completed this year.

The house is oriented to the South to maximise solar gain in the winter with overhanging eaves and a veranda to prevent overheating from the high summer sun. The traditional vertical arrangement is flipped with the shared living space on the first floor to take advantage of views down the valley and the spaces vaulted ceiling. Bedrooms are located on the cooler ground floor.

Positioned towards the back of the site to allow views of the garden from the house the ground floor has been pulled out to meet the boundary line on the West side. Its flat roof wraps around the back to join the large attached double garage/workshop and will be finished with Sedum. Parking and turning spaces are at the back.

Super insulated, the house is heated with just a small electric heater and towel radiators in the bathrooms supplied by a large solar photovoltaic array on the roof. A solar themal collector is for hot water production is also due to be added. The house is air tight to reduce heat loss a Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery system provides fresh air. The house is clad in profiled metal and Western red cedar.

Project Team: Jacob Kelly
Client: Private
Location: Derbyshire Dales

2025
THE MATERIALS STORE

The Materials Store provides a space  facilitating material reuse.

Situated at Primaryin Nottingham this new facility aims to elevate the material culture involved in art production and exhibition making. These are both contributing factors to the ecological crises, and as such, both require rapid transformation. This structure aims to employ circular economic thinking as a model that is restorative and regenerative by design, through shifting perspectives on waste thus reducing pollution by keeping products and materials in use out of landfill or incineration.

Designed and built by FTGU the structure is split into three bays. The first bay is for storing Primary’s equipment and materials. The other two bays are used for residents to store, reprocess and remake materials. 
The store has been constructed in keeping with its aims, using reclaimed materials where possible and screwed and bolted together so that it can be reassembled elsewhere at the end of its life at Primary or the materials repurposed.

Project Team: William Harvey & Jacob Kelly
Structural Design: Lois Plaistow Structural Engineers
Build team: Will, Jake, Rob, Danny & Pat
Volunteers: Nick, Connie & Primary residents
Client: Primary
Location: Nottingham

 2023
THE GARDEN ROOM

The Garden Room for a private client in a suburb of Nottingham. It is an addition to the rear of a Victorian terraced house, replacing a UPVC conservatory with a considered piece of architecture.

It provides a more fluid connection to the garden, the space and structure offer new visual, haptic and creative relationships in the garden, activating an otherwise neglected corner of it. The connection will also deepen environmentally as rainwater will be directed off the roof, cascading into a raised trough with an overflow irrigating the adjacent plant life.

It will not only provide shade in summer, but also warmth in winter allowing the inhabitants to enjoy their garden in all seasons.

Project Team: William Harvey & Jacob Kelly
Client: Private
Location: Nottingham 2024
THE MEZZANINE

FTGU were invited to help generate concept drawings for Dizzy Ink to reorganise and rethink their mezzanine space in one of the listed Sneinton Market units. The challenge was to provide cunning storage solutions which are appropriate for different paper sizes and printers. There was also a need for co-working space for four studio members whilst creating a shading strategy to achieve a cooler environment during the summer months.

Project Team: William Harvey & Jacob Kelly
Client: Dizzy Ink
Location: Nottingham 2024

FUTURE-FIT HOUSE

The Future-Fit house is a 1:20 scale model of a typical Victorian terrace house in the ‘old’ Meadows area of Nottingham. It is an example model showing the best practice for retrofitting this housing typology using Natural Building Materials which work with the existing fabric of the building.

The measures include; Internal Wall Insulation (IWI), External Wall Insulation (EWI), Ground floor insulation between suspended floor joists, Roof Insulation, Solar Photo-Voltaic (PV) panels, Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) and upgraded windows and doors. This list is not exhaustive and other measures can be considered for this typology. 

This model was made using mostly found ‘waste’ materials and natural building materials with the help of some highly processed things like glue, screws and paint.  

Maker: William Harvey
Client: Green Meadows
Location: Nottingham

2024
FRAMEWORK-FOR-PRACTICE 
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SONIC SCULPTURES

Framework-For-Practice (FFP) is an architectural art installation using scaffolding.

We use scaffolding both physically, for the flexibility and adaptability it affords, but also metaphorically, as something temporary that is continual flux supporting the (re)making, repair and restoration our buildings, towns and places, only here it aids the (re)making, repair and restoration of culture and creativity. 

We aim to open new possibilities for creative production and collaboration. We work with artists, curators, galleries, organisations, events and movements. 

FFP is essentially a Kit of Parts, which can be used and reused countless times. There is almost zero-waste for each project as the materials are metabolised into the next iteration  

Project Team: William Harvey & Elin Keyser
Collaborators: Ryan Boultbee, Tom Harris, Candice Jacobs (OTOKA), No Jobs In The Arts
Artists: Aja Ireland, Martin Sommerville, Forensic Architecture, Yuri Pattison, Ben Grosser, Robert Mitchell.
Client: Near Now
Location: Nottingham

2022 - Ongoing