The Floating Church / Denizen Works

The Diocese of London has realised its vision for the St Columba East London community, with Genesis: a new, wide-beam canal boat crowned with an innovative pop-up roof, designed by London-based architects Denizen Works. The barge, commissioned as a mobile assembly space, is moored on the River Lee Navigation alongside Here East at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, where it will remain for three to five years before reaching other canalside communities. Developed in close collaboration with Turks Shipyard and naval architect Tony Tucker, Genesis is conceived as a modern-day mission, developing links with growing communities living around the canal in East London over the next 25 years.