FROMTHEGROUNDUP         All  Arts  Commercial  Community   Research  Residential

 
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.



+44 (0)115 6670335
Email
Instagram

FROMTHEGROUNDUP STUDIO LIMITED
Registration number: 15478884

MEADOWS CLIMATE RESILIENCE TOOLS
‘Sponge City Planters’ (2024 - 2025)

Over the last year we have been engaging with residents in The Meadows area of Nottingham around the topic of ‘climate resilience’, with the goal of co-creating tools to tackle shifts as a result of climate change. Commissioned by Green Meadows and MOZES, the project aspires to citizen-led change. FTGU facilitated a democratic process to first identify the most appropriate tools and then design, test and implement one.

In collaboration with The Meadows community, the development of water-retaining planters was elected as the tool to develop. Not only was the idea of community planters a popular idea amongst residents, it also provides resilience in a number of ways; water resilience - both conserving water for times of scarcity and storing excess rainwater, urban cooling through planting, potential for local food production, and increasing biodiversity.

The wider campaign highlights the benefits of reducing water run-off and encourages the residents of The Meadows to remove hardstanding in favour of permeable surfaces, and to install rainwater collection systems to their roofs.

Project Team: Jacob Kelly, Will Harvey, Elin Keyser, Hannah Burrough, Alice Grant
Client: Green Meadows & MOZES
Location: Nottingham