Guest blog: Introducing botanical gardens to BD5…

July 24, 2020
Posted in Place Panel
July 24, 2020 Bradford Civic Society

Guest blog: Introducing botanical gardens to BD5…

Faya Kunu is a BD5-based design agency, founded in 2020 by Interior Architecture & Design graduate – and Bradford Civic Society member – Kasim Tariq.

Like all great Bradfordians, Kasim has a dream…

He’s proposing a new community workshop to be housed within a Victorian building in West Bowling – a place for teaching arts, crafts and new skills within a safe and innovative environment. At its heart is a new botanical garden for BD5. This garden will also feature aquaponics systems to showcase urban micro-farming in the 21st century; it will compost its own soil whilst growing gourmet mushroom varieties; and later it will become a sustainable source of produce for the wider community.

In this guest blog for Bradford Civic Society, Kasim shares a bit more about his project, and calls upon the people of Bradford to show their support.

We are proposing an urban intervention looking to teach vocational skills, life skills, and provide a peaceful environment for all those that enter. Revitalising an old victorian building – currently used solely a mosque – we offer to open woodworking, blacksmithing, and various art and culture workshops.

Complimenting the art workshops, an indoor botanical garden will be open to the community for them to garden, enjoy, or to attend mental health workshops – catering for groups and schools.

The indoor botanical garden will also feature aquaponics systems to showcase urban micro-farming in the 21st century. The garden will compost its own soil whilst growing gourmet mushroom varieties, later growing edible vegetation from the soil.

The art workshops will offer pottery, plaster carving, textile arts & dyeing techniques. The wood & metal workshops offer “build your own…” days, looking to build easels, desks, and even Stirling engine models to teach science principles and applications.

The workshop will offer its service to the community for interior renovation, bespoke design, and general handyman jobs in order to help fund the project.

The workshops will also be used to renovate the building to reduce costs. Either blacksmithing the tools, to populate the workshop or looking to crowdfund the project, as there is much-needed equipment to be acquired in order to establish the workshop.

Once established, the art and cultural workshops will inspire those youths with a more artistic nature whilst also providing a bridge for all age groups to enjoy and learn from each other. The wood and metal workshop provides exciting and productive outlets to the youths, that may use their energy on other “industrious activities,” whilst also teaching valuable vocational skills in an order to build confidence.

Kasim Tariq

To support this project or offer advice to Kasim, you can find out more here.

@fayakunu