The Rave Revolution explores an alternative to the trajectory of London’s rave culture by proposing a different development process that gives the rave community an element of control in the development of the city.

 

Subcultural movements (rave included) have always found refuge in forgotten about or unwanted areas of the city, free of flashy or modern design, and outside the immediate gaze of authority. Given the exponential rate of redevelopment and gentrification happening in London today, the 'luxury' of disused space is becoming increasingly hard to come by. My question then becomes, is it possible for these types of venues to exist within developed space? Is it possible for this culture to be designed into our cities?

 

Exploration is developed via propositions on a scale of extremes: the pragmatic marrying of rave culture with industrial locations, the (perhaps ludicrous) insertion of rave culture into the residential tower block, a more ‘realistic’ integration of night clubs into new town centres and a more radical shifting of roles; rave culture as developers themselves. Like most things, the answer isn't so obvious, but by exploring each of these propositions the project aims to find a solution somewhere between them all.