Court Rules
Field Section LLP + Dr Asa Roast + Studio Zine
Behind houses in Shard End and Sheldon sit garage courts: clusters of lock-ups built for twelve cars, now holding one. A faded Birmingham City Council sign reads ACCESS TO GARAGES ONLY. Up-and-over doors clatter into back bedrooms. Garden gates open onto the court: some maintained, some sealed shut. These are among the most common, least considered spaces in post-war English housing – often too awkward to develop, under-maintained, but visible from every house that backs onto them.
Court Rules proposes residents collectively manage these courts under renewable licences from the council. The model builds on Temporary Play Street Orders, supported by 100+ UK local authorities, and allotment association self-management. The licence requires annual renewal and at least one collective review of the rules. Residents choose from a light kit of parts: a noticeboard, ground markings, a gate that still admits cars.
The play is in the cycle. House rules establish conditions for shared use; shared use generates its own life – an impromptu jam session, a gazebo left up for three weeks, someone else's furniture in the shared garage. Not everything fits. The rules get rewritten. One garage door reads PRIVATE; its neighbour, SHARED. Either sign could come down next season.
This is an infinite game, not a finished design. Courts are connected across the ward – comparing rules, borrowing ideas. Court 3 is on its first draft; Court 7 is on version five. §8 reads: The east wall is for Kai. Other walls may be used by arrangement.
Team
Rob Annable, Architect, Field Section LLP
Dr Justin Pickard, Infrastructure Ethnographer, Editor, Field Section LLP
Bisma Zahid, Founding Editor, Architecture Graduate, Studio Zine
Lauren McKenzie, Network Lead, Architecture Graduate, Studio Zine
Salima Benachi, Social Media Manager, Studio Zine
