About this Event
Giles Smith and Hana Loftus
Common Treasures
Wednesday 10 June 2026, 6.30pm - 8.30pm
The Commons Community Kitchen & Café at The Minories, 74 High Street, Colchester, CO1 1UE
Giles Smith, founding partner of the architecture and design collective Assemble, Winner of the 2015 Turner Prize, will be discussing the Common Treasures project and accompanying books with writer, designer, and Essex-based planner Hana Loftus. An anthology that offers a credible and compelling vision of what life in a rural future might look like.
Tickets: £10 / £8 concessions (students, under 27s and unwaged)
Common Treasures is a project which explores the challenges faced by rural communities by bringing together people with a broad range of different skills and experiences who are committed to a form of rural development that prioritises communities over profit, promotes sustainable agriculture and land stewardship, and combines lasting economic impact with ecological and social values.
Find out more about the Common Treasures project at commontreasures.org.
Giles Smith
Giles Smith is an architect, writer and educator. He is a founding partner of the award-winning architecture practice Assemble, where his work focuses on socially-oriented projects at scales that range from furniture and events to complex buildings and masterplanning.
Hana Loftus
Hana Loftus is a planner, designer and writer based in Essex. She co-directs HAT Projects, an architecture and planning practice based in Colchester, and as a writer has been published in Apollo, Icon and widely in the architecture and planning press. Hana contributed an essay to Volume 2 of Common Futures.
Photo of Giles Smith © Hannah Thual
Photo of Hana Loftus © Polly Alderton
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Commons Community Kitchen & Café at The Minories, 74 High Street, Colchester, United Kingdom
GBP 8.00 to GBP 10.00







