DIY Community Part 2 Project 2004 Max Kettenacker University of Cambridge | UK Sited in Hornchurch, my scheme is framed by an urban strategy that draws upon the existing medieval fabric and plots of the High Street. Mediating stitches are introduced to establish a hierarchy of spaces from the commercial edge to the suburban hinterland. The proposal itself is imagined as a re-interpretation of the DIY store encompassing a craft school, workshops and retail accommodation. My aspiration is to provide a viable alternative to the retail park that builds on the vitality of Hornchurch High Street to provide a community of related activities that is ultimately more sustainable and more human in scale. Max Kettenacker’s project is a bold response to the particular problems of Hornchurch, Essex, which seeks to address a broader issue: the relationship between areas of suburban sprawl and the town centres that form their core. Careful investigation of the cultural and financial condition of suburbia has informed a new type of development that aims to contribute to both the civic and commercial life of this fragile environment. The resultant project takes a critical position towards the approach to suburban transportation problems reflected in out-of-town shed development, by demonstrating how new attitudes to development can restructure and revitalise suburban centres.