Meet the Makers – Sarah Perry

Sarah is an architect who, until very recently, worked at Stride Treglown. She created the initial drawings and 3D model for Sinking House as well as handling the planning applications.

Hi Sarah, can you tell me about your role in the project?

So I was involved from the beginning. Originally, I was creating the 3D model of the house design and then doing the drawings and the applications and various bits. Towards the end, I actually said goodbye to Stride Treglown but I was keen to continue working on the project and see the installation through to the end.

What motivated you to continue with the project?

It’s such a unique project with a really important message. When talking to people about the installation initially, it became clear that many didn’t even know what COP26 was. We have a climate emergency and it’s really important that people understand there are events like COP26 happening. I hope the installation creates some awareness.

What have the challenges been?

Where do you start? It’s like one step forward, one step back. We’d progress in one area, for instance our Environmental Agency application, and then we’d find we’ve got difficulties finding somebody to install it in the river. So there’s been a lot of backward and forward.

Have you worked on anything like this before?

No, this is probably the most unique project I’ve worked on and the most community involved project. Originally, it started out with quite a small group of people. It was Stride Treglown and Format and that’s kind of exponentially grown. Now, when you look at the display board, we’ve got a whole list of people that have contributed and a lot of people have put their time in for free, myself included. It just makes it feel really worthwhile.

How do you think the Bath public will respond to the installation?

In the same way the public responds to anything, I guess. Some people will like it, some people won’t, some people won’t understand it. Hopefully, it’ll be positive overall. If nothing else, it should raise awareness of the climate emergency and get people thinking – that’s the main thing.

What are your takeaways from the project?

For me personally, this project has made me realise that I want to focus more on sustainability within architecture going forward.