Unit 6

CARBON Counselling

Isaie Bloch, Jakub Klaska

Following this years common theme “towards 0% carbon and 100% people” we will investigate the institution which sole purpose is to represent its citizens as well as its societal visions, in the most multicultural yet potentially most detached part of Europe, London UK. The growing complexity and intricacy of our civilization fuelled by digitalisation and automation presents new challenges to the way town halls and city halls should run. Should these governmental institutions solely cater as administrative representation of their citizens and as such become obsolete? Or could these operate as a novel mechanisms for communication between and with its citizens? We believe that architects should investigate the implications of fully automated administration on such institutions and as such re-investigate what other roles governmental buildings should provide to its citizens.

Artful construction as role model for the city and beyond. Architects cannot change the behaviour of existing users, clients nor laws. But we can provide an architecture which enables those changes to take place. We will aim to prove that architecture and its construction process has a fundamental impact on the city and its inhabitants. This ultimate belief will fuel our design thinking and propositions. Our spatial explorations will account for diversity of human characters and their needs, represented through novel well crafted city or council halls, which ultimately are architectural representations of us all. Catering for complex problem solving, creativity, critical thinking and decision making. Much like the past two years we will look into timber construction as the material for the future. Our design process will take a deep interest in the art of construction and direct application of learnt principles back into design. Such approach leads to full authorship at the deepest level and gives us total control over the architectural proposition. This opens a great opportunity to contribute to more sustainable futures both politically, environmentally, socially and economically. Out of a believe that public buildings founded by our common efforts should be the vehicle for the technological shift towards more sustainable forms of construction and operation. We will investigate how a town hall, a key communication device, can be transformed in order to fulfil environmental, societal and architectural ambitions. The commitment to low carbon construction we see as investment into applied research, a non-ideological evidence-based design process that has the potential to uncover new leveraging methods of construction able to deliver the yet unseen architectures.

The artful construction and learning process We will aim to prove that architecture can affect the learning process at the deepest level. This ultimate belief will fuel our investigation on educational typologies. Our spatial explorations will account for diversity of human characters and the inherent curiosity human beings possess. Catering for complex problem solving, emotional intelligence, creativity, critical thinking, judgement and decision making over STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) oriented learning. Much like the learning process we will aim to comprehend, learn and author the art of construction. More specifically looking into timber construction and its by-products. Our design process will take a deep interest in the art of construction and direct application of learnt principles back into design. Such approach leads to full authorship at the deepest level and gives us total control over the architectural proposition. This opens a great opportunity to contribute to more sustainable futures both politically, environmentally, socially and economically. In order to develop architecture of considered expression we will employ design strategies that synthetize the inner logics of how to deal with material and construction processes as to produce comprehensive architectural propositions.

Students:

Y5: Joshua Anderson, Melis Cetin, Alexandra Jones, Hsien Jing Lee, Diana Rupinska, Habib Sahel, Sanjay Venkata Krishnan

Y4: Meet Gehi, Surabh Sanjay Jadhav, Ramisa Mahmud, Sribalaji Murugavel, Mohammed Patel, Pranav Karan Prasanth, Rackel Metrona Afat, Rafaa Abubaker Mohamed Elfatih, Harmandeep Kaur Sanghera, Shreyans Sanjay, Foyez Uddin

Unit in general:

Unit 6 argues for an architectural ontology based on sharpening the tension between architecture and its parts. Investigating the production of space trough geometrical studies. Increased computational capabilities are able to push our understanding of architecture as a relationship of objects into an unexpected new domain of previously unachievable spatial complexity, materiality, structure and aesthetics as to create informed and well crafted space.

The first workshop of the second term, will investigate in more depth the relationship between the assembly hall and a chosen alternative primary function. In order to achieve this we will work from the interior outwards trough 1 single eye level perspective.

The proposed design for the assembly hall must clearly depict the relationship between the assembly hall and the chosen alternative primary function whilst using a clear structural principle as a primary driver for the form. As such the interior can not be a singular autonomous space. The design must clearly retain qualities from the initial structural case study given in the beginning of the academic year or have a clear relationship with the current preliminary massing model. In order to purge the essential design ambitions and strategies. Students are not allowed to add any fittings nor furniture at this stage. This in order to focus solely on structure, material, use and atmosphere via tectonic engagement.

This initial exercise will simultaniously increase both modelling skills, spatial skills and design skills.

Student work by: 1, 4, 13 Habib Sahel; 2, 3, 9 Joshua Anderson; 5 Mohammed Patel; 6 Harmandeep Kaur Sanghera; 8 Hsien Jing Lee; 12 Diana Rupinska.

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Our sites this year will be distributed across London`s most vital green grid junctions and key public nodes as to further develop London`s public services and green commuting network. These are situated in the boroughs of Hackney and Hackney wick. As such the novel typologies will not only aid the citizens in a capital with over 3 million inhabitants born outside of the UK, but it will simultaneously aid the Mayor of London to accomplish well crafted architecture which critically assesses the “London Environment Strategy”.

Student work by: 7 Rafaa Abubaker Mohamed Elfatih proposes to design the city hall as an extension of your livingroom by providing a series of amenities for children and parents. 10 Alexandra Jones provides the boaters in London with a Canal and River Trust town hall which includes workshop spaces and swapshops.

11 Joshua Anderson proposes a series of differentiated physically connected spaces in order to disconnect the dependency on online forums for discussion. This new model of ‘Town Hall’ enables government transparency, spaces for change, partisan political education and both public and private venues for dialogue. 14 Sanjay Venkata Krishnans` technical chunk displays complex formal development whilst keeping all timber structural elements planar. 15-16 Melis Cetin provides two overlapping thick waffle slabs with elevated gardens in order to provide a porous city hall with integrated learning center.

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