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. Children were encouraged to discard conventional notions of gardens and playgrounds, and instead express freely their dreams for the space, regardless of their realistic realization. The activity yielded compelling drawings of nature-themed playgrounds and fantastical gardens replete with smiling plants and apple trees.

Adults Workshop: Programme Development and Spatial Planning

Residents of the neighbourhood of Al Manakh came together at this event to participate in and directly contribute to the design of the urban garden on the premises of Al Qasimiyah School. The urban garden is intended to be a public green space accessible to neighbourhood residents, and this activity was a first step in understanding the needs of the community. Participants worked together 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 local community in Al Manakh Spaces programme, fostering a collaborative effort between the community and the Triennial to design this public space.