Children’s Workshop: Dream Garden Drawing Workshop
Being integral members of the local community, young residents of Al Manakh also contributed their input to the design of the urban garden by drawing their ideal, dream gardens. The children were encouraged to discard conventional notions of gardens and playgrounds and instead express freely their dreams for the space, no matter the limits of their realistic realization. The activity yielded compelling drawings of nature-themed playgrounds and fantastical gardens replete with smiling plants and several apple trees.
Adults Workshop: Programme Development and Spatial Planning
Residents of the Al Manakh neighbourhood came together at this event to participate in and directly contribute to the design of the urban garden on the premises of the Al Qasimiyah School. The urban garden intends to be a public green space accessible to the neighbourhood's residents, and this activity acted as the first step in understanding the community's needs. The participants worked with one another in small groups to collectively make decisions regarding preferences of potential programmes in the urban garden and plan their organization within the site. This was done through a collaging activity wherein each group was given a design kit consisting of cutouts of proposed programmes that they collaged onto a plan of the site to express their ideas for the space. This participatory design workshop further engaged the neighbourhood's community in the Al Manakh Spaces programme, fostering a collaborative effort between the community and the Triennial to design this public space.
