Protohome was a self-build housing project and art installation which was temporarily sited and open to the public at Upper Steenbergs in the Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne, from May-August 2016. It was initiated by Heslop in collaboration with Crisis, the national charity for single homelessness, xsite architecture and TILT Workshop.

Working alongside an architect and a joiner, a group of individuals who have experienced homelessness developed a timber-frame model of self-build housing which is specifically designed for untrained self-builders. The aim was not to create a full housing model with services, but a ‘shell’ structure that offers a vision of how this model could be developed into working housing in the future. The ‘house’ hosted a programme of events and exhibitions examining the collaborative design-build process and wider issues to do with housing and homelessness in an austerity context and participatory alternatives.

The building has now been gifted to the Ouseburn Farm and is being used as a workshop and classroom.

Find out more on the project website: www.protohome.org.uk and see the project publication here.