version 1.0
THE SPACE
The Laboratory is conceived as a unified space of approximately 270 m². At its centre are working studios, a central hall, and a small café with tables.
The space is built around sensory experience and action. Wood, paper, sound, voice, colour, plants, light, silence, conversation, and the scent of shavings, paint, flowers, and coffee create a working atmosphere that engages not only mind and body, but the person’s full attention.
The working rooms allow for concentration. The central hall gathers people together. The café adds everyday life: the possibility of staying a while, meeting, observing, and remaining within the atmosphere without direct participation in classes or events.
ABOUT THE LABORATORY
Here, people can move freely between different forms of practice: wood, textile work, drawing, calligraphy, music, floristry, voice and stage practice, literary readings, and chamber events.
An artist may come to work with wood. A musician may begin to learn joinery. A carpenter may try the piano or study calligraphy. A person may come to practise, observe, share knowledge, and gradually find their own rhythm and place within the space.
The Laboratory is not only a place for classes. It is also a place for meeting, working, and creating together, cultural exchange, and an early introduction to the world of THE SAPIENS GARDEN. It is a place for those who value practice, attention to material and sensation, learning through action, and participation in a living cultural environment.
Here, people can move freely between different forms of practice: wood, textile work, drawing, calligraphy, music, floristry, voice and stage practice, literary readings, and chamber events.
An artist may come to work with wood. A musician may begin to learn joinery. A carpenter may try the piano or study calligraphy. A person may come to practise, observe, share knowledge, and gradually find their own rhythm and place within the space.
The Laboratory is not only a place for classes. It is also a place for meeting, working, and creating together, cultural exchange, and an early introduction to the world of THE SAPIENS GARDEN. It is a place for those who value practice, attention to material and sensation, learning through action, and participation in a living cultural environment.
THE SAPIENS LAB
creates a living environment in London where craft becomes a form of cultural participation. Through wood, drawing, plants, sound, conversation, and shared work, a person enters the practical field of THE SAPIENS GARDEN — a project that brings together architecture, memory, landscape, heritage, and long-term stewardship.
The Laboratory is not a conventional workshop studio. Its purpose is to connect accessible hands-on experience with the larger cultural architecture of the project: from a small wooden object to a lighthouse prototype, from a seasonal bouquet to the Garden of Memory, from an intimate conversation to the formation of a community around a future cultural landscape.
creates a living environment in London where craft becomes a form of cultural participation. Through wood, drawing, plants, sound, conversation, and shared work, a person enters the practical field of THE SAPIENS GARDEN — a project that brings together architecture, memory, landscape, heritage, and long-term stewardship.
The Laboratory is not a conventional workshop studio. Its purpose is to connect accessible hands-on experience with the larger cultural architecture of the project: from a small wooden object to a lighthouse prototype, from a seasonal bouquet to the Garden of Memory, from an intimate conversation to the formation of a community around a future cultural landscape.
EYES & COLOR
Art Studio
A space for image, form, and visual thinking:
Art Studio
A space for image, form, and visual thinking:
- drawing and architectural sketching
- work with colour and form
- graphics and calligraphy
- textile work
- glass, ceramics, and handmade jewellery
HANDS & WOOD
Craft Workshop
This is the foundation of the Laboratory and the main
space devoted to working with wood:
Craft Workshop
This is the foundation of the Laboratory and the main
space devoted to working with wood:
- joinery and carpentry practice
- carving, joints, and craft theory
- making objects and small structures
- furniture restoration
- traditional methods: laft and timber frame
- ceramics and clay work
- tool care and sharpening
BREATH & FLOWER
Living Workshop
A space for working with flowers and living material:
Living Workshop
A space for working with flowers and living material:
- floristry
- bouquet making
- work with seasonal plants
EARS & SOUND
Music Studio
A space for sound, stage, and voice:
Music Studio
A space for sound, stage, and voice:
- piano and string instruments
- basic improvisation
- chamber rehearsals
- sound recording
- voice work
- public speaking and stage practice
HOW IT WORKS
The Laboratory is built around practice:
Formats
The Laboratory is built around practice:
- sessions take place in small groups
- individual sessions are also possible
- people can come without prior experience and begin immediately
- sessions are led by practising masters and invited members of the wider community
- all work is organised with attention to safety and safeguarding principles
Formats
- short intensives
- two-day masterclasses
- lectures
- open days
- programmes for school pupils
- programmes for university students
- chamber events and public gatherings
THE STAGE
Central Hall
The place where inner work becomes visible:
with basic lighting, sound, and a Cavendish grand piano.
Central Hall
The place where inner work becomes visible:
- concerts
- exhibitions
- lectures
- readings
- literary evenings
- chamber performances
- meetings with partners and cultural figures
with basic lighting, sound, and a Cavendish grand piano.
THE SAPIENS GARDEN
is a long-horizon cultural project bringing together architecture, craft, landscape, nature, sound, memory,
and education.
At its core are:
- a 42-metre timber lighthouse built using timber-frame methods
- a garden in which each tree is linked to a figure who shaped the history of culture, science, and thought
- a space of memory, learning, and the transmission of cultural experience
The Laboratory is the early living urban form of the larger project. It allows the world of THE SAPIENS GARDEN to be seen not as a distant concept, but as a real environment already beginning to work through craft, culture, and participation.
SOCIAL PROGRAMME
The Living Workshop, Breath & Flower, is not only one of the core strands within THE SAPIENS LAB, but also a space of supported work and participation. It is intended for adult participants aged 18 and above who need additional support: neurodivergent people, people with disabilities, and those experiencing social uncertainty who wish to return to action through clear, practical work.
Work takes place in small groups under the guidance of a master. Participants carry out concrete tasks: making bouquets, preparing orders, packing them, and delivering them across the city. What matters here is not participation alone, but a completed cycle of action and a visible result. This kind of work offers something that is often missing: a sense of being needed, responsibility for one’s own part of the process, the feeling of completion, and a place within the life of the city.
The social programme is connected to a real working process and does not exist apart from it. It brings together the cultural environment with labour, rhythm, dignity, and the possibility of gradually entering more stable forms of work.
CONTACTS
Alex Skarshelg
Cultural Architect & Master Craftsman
Founder and Project Lead, THE SAPIENS GARDEN
Email: alexskarshelg@gmail.com
Alex Skarshelg
Cultural Architect & Master Craftsman
Founder and Project Lead, THE SAPIENS GARDEN
Email: alexskarshelg@gmail.com