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Описание: Photo from the website of John McAslan + Partners. Accessed 4 March 2017 and posted here as a review. (To enlarge the photo above, please left-click on it. And see if you notice anything slightly odd.) A Little Learning? As this "initiative" has officially closed, I was curious how it would be written-up by Haringey Borough Council "Comms" team. Sadly my low expectations were confirmed. Apparently nobody in that team has observed that even in authoritarian dictatorships, the results of elections aren't supposed to be 100% in favour of the ruling regime. To achieve a fig leaf of credibility a few dissenting voices (and votes) are acknowledged. Similarly, even the most glowing evaluation of a project will embarrass honest participants by claiming perfection. They know that true experiments are for learning. Not for smugly illustrating success. In fact learning often comes more from errors, false starts, and the occasional big mistakes. But that's not how it works in Haringey. Nor apparently at John McAslan + Partners. In both, it seems failure is not an option and so we're invited to admire "wonderful work" and two years unremitting and "ground breaking" success. As we see from these paragraphs from Haringey Council's website. (Accessed 4 March 2017.) __________________________________________ N17 Design Studio Partnership comes to a close Tuesday 17 January 2017 "After two successful years, the ground-breaking N17 Design Studio partnership between Haringey Council, John McAslan + Partners (JMP), and the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL) to transform an empty Tottenham shop into a design hub offering work placements and training to local people, has come to a close. "The project was originally planned as a 1 year pilot but was extended to run until December 2016. As well as taking on six apprentices and providing work experience placements, JMP have worked with pupils and teachers in Haringey Schools running field trips, workshops and interview skills training to actively promote the different career pathways into architecture and design. The schools engaged include Northumberland Park Community School, Woodside High, St Thomas More and Highgate Wood School. [. . .] "The Studio hosted numerous community events from talks on heritage and conservation to Tottenham Traders Partnership meetings and has helped promote Tottenham London-wide through Open House events and the London Festival of Architecture. "Natasha Manzaroli, Director at JMP said: 'We are proud of our two-year collaboration with Haringey Council and CONEL – the N17 Design Studio has proved to be a successful community facility on the High Road, showcasing regeneration plans, initiating education outreach programmes with local schools and creating a forum in Tottenham for the future of local young people through structured apprenticeships'.” "Clare Kober, Leader of the Haringey Council said: 'We’d like to thank JMP for their work in Tottenham. The legacy of this project will help inspire the next generation of budding architects and designers for years to come'." Although the N17 Design Studio will no longer operate, the collaboration between Haringey and JMP will continue throughout 2017 with an apprenticeship placement and an ongoing education outreach programme with local schools." Casts No Shadow? Some questions struck me when looking at the photo above. It shows a bunch of people in the JMP (John McAslan + Partners) "N17 Studio". They seem to be looking intently at an image projected on a wall. What's the woman with a small girl doing among this group? (Bottom right) Even more curious - why doesn't the woman cast a shadow? Reading the text on the webpage, a further question. Why do JMP coyly refer to their studio being "almost opposite the spot where the riots began". As they know full well, that "spot" was not a random location. It was outside Tottenham Police Station. The reason people - family members and others - gathered there on 6 August 2011 was to ask the Police for information about the killing of Mark Duggan. If John McAslan + Partners can't be clear and precise about the chain of events which brought them to Tottenham (and some presumably very profitable architectural contracts) I wonder whether they learned anything at all of value?

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