Architecture educator Matt+Fiona has worked with 100 primary school children to design and built a creative lab for other children.
Named the Mega Maker Lab, the 1,100-square-metre former fire-engine-fixing hall in south London has been converted into a space for children to experiment, design, build and invent.
The space for making has been created for the Institute of Imagination by Matt+Fiona with the support of architecture studio Jestico + Whiles.
As the space is for children, Matt+Fiona collaborated with 100 children from three London primary schools to design and then build it.
Photo is by Mark Mercer
"Working with us, over 100 local children decided what a maker space should include, designed it and then fabricated it through a series of modular systems which we developed based on their designs," explained Fiona MacDonald who along with Matthew Springett makes up Matt+Fiona. "In designing a children's maker space, it is children, not adults, who will know most accurately what it is that they want, and what they don't," she told Dezeen.

The creative workshop is roughly divided into five zones ? for play, invention, undertaking building challenges, testing their builds, and using tools. The divisions are marked by timber ramps, tables, and seating platforms designed by the children.
These are meant to suggest a route though the large space, but also let the children decide their own paths. Other spaces are enclosed and topped by sculptural ev...