Maple Farm is a 40-acre agricultural site undergoing ecological and social transition. Once a patchwork of grazing meadows, the land came under the stewardship of Youngwilders in 2021, with the goal of accelerating nature recovery through youth-led volunteer events. Flimsy Works designed and built a covered space to host workshops, share meals, and facilitate community volunteer days to provide the minimal yet essential infrastructure needed to support this new model of custodianship.
Comprising two blocks of tiered seating, the structure loosely defines a space for gathering. Each block is carefully angled to frame outward views towards an open wildflower meadow, while the mature woodland behind provides a sense of enclosure. The raised roofline ensures that the horizon is always visible - inviting a dialogue between the interior and the wilded landscape beyond. Gabion baskets filled with local construction waste pin the structure down without the need for permanent foundations and provide a habitat or small animals and invertebrates.
Flimsy Works centred the design around the dismantling of two horse shelters, which were being decomissioned as part of the land’s transformation from grazing to a site of nature recovery. The materials from these were audited and carefully deconstructed, becoming a kit of parts for an anticipatory design process. Our design comprised of modular frames that were made from uncut existing lengths where possible, which could enable many hands to work on the construction of the structure at once. Everything was to be assembled in a straightforward and legible manner, in order to better enable its repair or deconstruction as land uses continue to shift.
The design playfully rearranged these materials to make a strong figure in the landscape. Some elements were reused with minimal intervention - like the original metal skids and rubber mats which were retained for the foundations - while other materials underwent a more careful transformation, such as the featherboard cladding which was repainted to make a dark, articulated roofscape suitable for framing views out onto the land.
In the spirit of Youngwilders’ ‘DIY-ilding’ approach to nature recovery that views embodied, creative and experimental engagements with the landscape as integral to wilding practices, the Wilding Hub was assembled with volunteers over two long weekends.