Resilient Hay
The Resilient Hay Vertical Studio 2014 asked students to imagine a future for a small town in Mid-Wales over the next 20 years. Our design research involved a live client group and aimed to inform the development of a town plan.
We worked alongside Hay Together, a community group dedicated to promoting and improving Hay’s well-being and aiding the development of the community.
The vertical studio commenced with a visit to Hay-on-Wye to explore the town. This enabled students to gain an understanding of the challenges and to meet with local people and community groups. Returning to the WSA, the studio split into group develop different themes unearthed during the visit: energy, food and literary legacy. In particular the project probed the potential tensions, creative and otherwise, of combining a sustainable and innovative approach to design with a more orthodox conservation-led strategy.