Conceived by George King Architects, Maxilla Gardens is a transformative community project beneath the Westway flyover in North Kensington, designed to create an inclusive, biodiverse green sanctuary for local residents. Led by Grow to Know with support from the Westway Trust, the project brings new life to a onceoverlooked space by integrating environmental care, with innovative structural design.

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Structural Ingenuity

Although scaffold poles and boards are a common components within the construction industry, they are typically used as temporary structure for access platforms.  The desire for this project was to demonstrate structural reuse and explore the safe limits of the material within a completely different setting. components with standard load tables, the pavilion’s form pushed beyond typical published limits.

Designed as a composite timber and scaffold structure, Tisserin Engineers identified and utilised residual strength within the materials, drawing on  3D modelling, hand calculations and life scale testing to validate structural performance.

With several cantilevers integral to its doubleswirl geometry, the structure underwent close load testing at Steve Wylie’s fabrication yard. Sandbag tests measured pole deflection along their length, confirming the roof’s capacity to support the planned green roof loading. The raking slender scaffold columns act as clusters, giving the pavilion an inherently selfstabilising character. Architectural features—such as gabion seating—were strategically utilise to minimise the need for lateral bracing.  

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Collaboration at its Core

Maxilla Gardens is the result of seamless collaboration between architect, engineer and fabricator.

The team shared Rhino models throughout the design and fabrication stages, enabling precise coordination and efficient material settingout. This teamwork ensured the pavilion remained faithful to its conceptual intent while achieving practical buildability and safety.