Urban Room Folkestone

Not only are our artists in residence for the MagiC Carpets Creative Europe platform arriving in April to use URF as a public work-space, but they will also use this space as the epicentre for their creative inspirations sourced from the surrounding area.

The Folkestone Urban Analysis – A Narrative of Place and Change will be on view and the Urban Library will be available for those who wish to read about urbanism and built environment practices, citizenship and civics, as well as look at the history, geography and the geology of Folkestone.

The Urban Room Folkestone is also home to thinking about the immediate area around our building. Dr Christopher Houghton-Budd’s project ‘Let’s Play Plaza’ is reviewing how this area of town works.

We are open every Wednesday – Sunday, 11am – 3pm.

Folkestone Urban Problematics include:

The One Way System / The Derelict Gas Works Site / The Redundant Railway Spur along Tram Road / Cycle Routes / Overlooked Gap Sites

The Seven Pillars of Enquiry for Urban Room Folkestone are:

Local Economics/ Local Governance and Politics/ Language / History / Food / Environment to include Geology, Geography, Urban and the Sea /Citizenship

If you would like to host a conversation, carry out your own enquiry, debate or urban workshop and make a contribution to the Folkestone Urban Library contact [email protected]—

Customs House – Urban Room Folkestone 2017

As the first place where passengers arriving from Calais and Boulogne would pass through when setting foot on British soil, the Folkestone Customs House in the 19th century was a grand and impressive building, an epicentre of activity on the harbour.

For the Folkestone Triennial Diane Dever and The Decorators called attention to the site as the last surviving remnant of the old Customs House to bring about a new era of activity on the premises – within the retraced Customs House they hosted the Urban Room Folkestone.

The integration of the Urban Room on this site was an opportunity to re-engage with this history and its past uses through a programme of discussion, debate and learning workshops that created a space that held the past in the present to learn and plan for the future of Folkestone.

Traces of those conversation and activities were archived in the Urban Room library, a catalogue of knowledge including invited contributions from local residents, artists and those involved in the transformation of Folkestone.