Alexia Tiberi Pasqualoni University for the Creative Arts / Interior Architecture and Design course Portfolio Major Project - CREATIVE HUB
Thinking of redeveloping 36 Queen Street , as a way to change the character of the building and the surrounding , together with its structure and its people. A new ‘face’ in an already seen office area. A combination of 3 communities will bring the space alive. A building where to enjoy art and performance but with a new interesting feature all to discover as walking trought the spaces. People visiting go from being the visitors, the audience, to become performers themselves, moving and creating a unique ambient thanks to the way they interact with the built environment designed to be modified in time by them directly. A performing architecture for people to experience every day differently.
SITE ANALYSIS
City of London - England
City of London - Southwark
1.
The Site 36 Queen Street
36 Queen Street is located in Queen Street Area, its site is identified in the Heritage Asset but not designated in it. The area for this reason has a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions.
Southwark - Queen Str. Area
The building itself was constructed with lots of controversy concerning the area , that had a history in Fur trade. It was a post modernism building designed by Terry Farrell Partn. and it was one of the many exampes of the architect’s commercial work in the city. Unfortunately the site doesn’t have specific contribution to Queen’s Street area. It was a straight forward building in terms of plan and accomodation, clearly created to be an office building.
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The site in its Heritage context and surrounding views
Pedestrianized Areas
London Cycle Network (N36)
In my opinion even if the site has a high degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions because of its long -lasting historic association with the Fur Trade, the redeveloping should be thinking about what is the future of the city and what could become and express. The city of London infact in the years has tried to embrace modernity, and local needs , to bring comfort in peoples life , big open spaces and pedestrian areas have been created. In February 2006 a landscaping scheme for the Central Plaza area in Queen Street was completed. The area has been transformed into two large bright, open, safe and high quality public spaces. The spaces are capable of accommodating a range of different activities including public events and temporary art installations. The spaces are linked together by a new central pedestrian crossing at the junction with Cannon Street. During the past few summers the new spaces were used as locations for number of art events organised by the City of London festival and the London Architectural Biennale, some of the most important in 2006 and 2012. London Architectural biennale: Happening every 2 years around the Smithfield area but extending its reach to include a route connecting King’s Cross and The Bankside. Talks , exhibition ,walks,films screening, parties , artworks,Thames events and award ceremony will reflect the Biennale’s aim to celebrate diverse creative talent in London and to bring that talent to bear on real issues that confront the city today. Every year when the event is happening, themes are choosed to create the exhibitions and talks,to try and change the attitude of people and the building environment.
Business People
Tourists
3.
Mixing two Realities
Baring in mind all this Dynamic and Art events Happening in a short period of time during summer every 2 years, I wanted to include in the area what the Biennale is doing into perhaps a building that will be permanent dealing with performance, to contrast what the area is right now: a concentration of office buildings, that make the area with strong potential, due to geographical area and history, a very dull and dry one. With my research, and site visit, I have also seen how there is a big contrast between one part of the river and the other. Its impressive on how even if the two areas are facing the same river, and are so close they can be completely different. On one side you can see , because of the concentration of office buildings, even if pedestrianized areas are present, business people rushing walking on their own and minding their own business , not giving too much attention to the surrounding .( in this area we can find: busy streets, offices, rush and not relaxing point , people spendind their brake time in the office eating there too.) On the other side there is a bigger concentration of Art and Galleries and performance buildings in pedestrianized areas, where you can see tourists in tranquillity walking in groups all interacting with each other and with the surrounding too. Why then not mix these two realities? Having a resting point for the business people and get tourism meeting a new reality of office building in the office area, finding out about the history of the centre too . What can I do then to make the building a central point of attraction to make it important ?
COMMUNITY 01
4.
Community 01
Tourist + Business People
In a way then I need to change the flow of people from somewhere to somewhere else , that becomes a performance on its own. Using this Information About my site I decided which my community are going to be. My 01 community , a local one, is gonna be tourists and business people: that are people already interacting with the area. The building will attract both of them but in different ways, the aim at the end though is the one to mix these two sub-communities to interact and meet each other with the community 02 , being no more distinctive in a space that slows people down from their normal lives. The building will attracts these 2 different communities in a separate way at the beginning. For the business people, the aim is to create a space where they can relax, and stray away from the daily routine they are immersed and in where they can find peace. On the other hand , tourist will be able to find in what is the office area a completely dynamic space , different from all the surrouding context and appreciate the area in a very unique way. Both supporting the Community 02 with fundings in the bar on the Ground Floor.
COMMUNITY 02
5.
Community 02
New Performers
Community 02 is going to be the community of the new performers expressing their ideas and art into the building , they will need to rend the spaces available and to do so they will need firstly to work durign busy hours for their clients (community 01) . in this way they will be able to advertise their work to their future audience( community 01) and after to perform in predifined areas of the building. The building itself will be supporting the creationg of outstanding new performers and the professional development of artists. It will provide the dramaturgical support for artist making new work , as well as providing development spaces and technical facilities. 36 Queen Street becomes a creative environment where performance practices collide leading to innovative new form. Interacting with the building and with the audience.
Common Areas
Private Spaces for Community 02 Private Spaces for Community 01
6.
Concept Diagrams
In thinking how to approach the building I had in mind I had to mix all these aspects together: Business VS Art Private VS Public Static VS Motion I started then designing in my mind a possible way of combining different things together in one big space. I wanted to constantly remind the dual personality of the brutal and dryness of what is the area with an invitation to perform. I came up with this concept diagram to help me see how all these things needed to be included. I needed private and public space both for my community 01 and community 02. Some of those I wanted to be exposed to public even if Semi private. Moreover, I had to include a way to unify motion with the static of the building so layering different floors interconnecting with each other could have been the way to work.
POSSIBLE CIRCULATION IN THE BUILDING
OPEN SPACES INTERCONNECTING WITH VOIDS
PRIVATE - ENCLOSED SPACES PUBLIC - SEMIEXPOSEED SPACES
7. Studio
Showers Quiet room
Cafe Performing
Event Stage
The idea is to conduct the person into the buuilding from public space into more private ones all around the building.Permitting cross programming into all 3 floors.
Zoning Diagrams
I decided then to Concentrate my attention to 3 floors only to be able to work with them as they are one big space . I wanted the Ground Floor to be the main floor to attract business people as they are the ones with less time to spend, and so the access needed to be direct for them . In a way though the floors would have been connected to the lower Basements trough a big void so other programmes would have been visible from above. I then would use the 2 Basements to contain the spaces for programmes relating to the performers and tourists, as well as business man of course , invited to discover the buidling too. Creating a mix of Public and Private spaces , to be seen from all the floors, open to public eyes from the streets too.
8.
Movement Analysis and first Diagrams
After having an idea on where the programmes are going to be allocated and on which floor I had to start designing. I so started analysing movement itself. Chronophotography has been used from scientist and artist as Edward Muybridge and Etienne Jules-Marey, to study the motion and in motion of people in time. From these analysing we can get some kind of DIAGRAMS which i wanted to be reflected into the design of the building. More over human movement can create geometrical shapes . As the coreographer William forsythe shows in the photograph on the left . On the top is an analysis of the video Ghostcatching , from the animator/film director Norman McLaren,I used to analyse in deep movement and start my own diagrams. I was interested in showing how Rigidity can contain Dynamism if only seing thing differently and use the shapes we create .
9.
From Concept To Model
I started then from my analysis and diagrams to build different kind of models which I could have then used to create my own code in designing the building. Always starting from rigid straigh lines to create more dynamic and motion based shapes . Repetition was the way to achieve movement. I so created different kind of models with Wires interconnecting with each other and card folded ones . I was quite impressed into the repetiiton of lines which because of their interconnection were giving a sense of 3dimensional space and movement. I decided then to apply this kind of language straight into the building as it was a “body� in need of being connected with its own vertices to give birth to a dynamic movement and exciting space for the communities to interact with.
The simplistic space altered with interventions makes it be an interactive one, with shadows and shapes to be experienced.
10.
Concept translation into building design
As mentioned before I wanted the building to be designed as a body in movement. Not only as a design statement, but also as a translation of its internal purpose: a Performing Architecture, where the diving line between performers and audience may become blurred . Where there is a point in where the communities are completely mixed the one with the other , and audience becomes performer. Performing Architecture is used as a method to echoe contemporary fluxes and logistics. Getting back to the space itself, I have been looking into different performing stages around the site as The Lobby in the Royal Festival Hall and the hayward Gallery ( the Purcell ) . Both spaces have used to approach the interior with a simplistic ( in terms of Shape) architecture. Maybe a s a way to leave freedom of expression without being limited from form and shapes of the space. On the other hand architecture - with its structure/light/shape- has an important role in creating an athmosphere , and a different experience . Architecture as a space of mobility - where people are directly participating into the design of the building.
GROUND FLOOR
Silence / Quiet room
VOID Bar / Cafe Lobby Sun Study 8:00 am - 16:00 pm
UPPER BASEMENT Exhibition Space
Studio/ Theatre / Performing stage
Main Area
LOWER BASEMENT
Dark Room
Studio for performers
After having tested the building, and found a good interrelationship between my vertices , and their unification to create a dynamic space, I started allocating the spaces as in different zones, not be seen as separate identities, but just to clarify their exhistance into the building. I wanted as much as possible to be exposed to the natural sunlight that would create interesting shadows and would have direct people into the building . I decided to use metal cables/ wires to create this design as they can be light and thin as very strong at the same time. They would have been perfect for having a dense patters and divide private to public with a possibility to leave some space for interaction , and visibility. They would have been exposed to the outside too, to generate visceral resposes from people in the outside welcome to enter and experience the building.
SECONDARY ENTRANCE
BAR
QUIET ROOM
VOID
Sun into the building trought void
MAIN ENTRANCE TO SPACE MAIN ENTRANCE TO BUILDING
Ground Floor scale 1:100
EXHIBITION SPACE
SANITARY PUBLIC
CHANGING ROOM PERF. MAIN SPACE
Sun into the building trought void
Upper Basement scale 1:100
STUDIO/THEATRE SPACE
STUDIO FOR PERFORMERS
DARK ROOM
Basement scale 1:100
1. Detail of Wire connecting to ceiling 2. Wall and Flooring of dance studio a.Glass b.Vynil composit c.Wood panels d.High density foam e.Wires 3.Detail of sitting stairs with led light 4.Detail of wires to wall/beam and to floor/wall
SECTION C-C scale 1:100
1:1 MODEL DETAILS
1:5 DETAIL
PRECEDENTS
White Felt
CUT to see interior
QUIET ROOM
Oak Veneer
The quiet room for business people in the Ground Floor , a place where to relax , illuminated with dim light and covered by soft and natural materials as felt and oak veneer.
DARK ROOM The Dark room as a space of new experience both for performers and audience. The dark space and the raw materiality of the walls and the exposed ceiling with big stage lights, reminds of an unused factory where feelings are created and amplified from the new work produced by the artists.
EXHIBITION SPACE The exhibition space area, where performers interact directly with their audience. and where audience become part of the performing itself.
OUTSIDE ELEVATION
DEATIL 1:5 LED LIGHT IN STAIRS
STUDIO / PERFORMING THEATRE - STAGE (TOP) In the performing stage during the events, led lights are illuminating the stage from the bottom of the stairs where people are sitting enjoying the performance. With their movement and depending on the number of audience the shadows change and the experience with them. Its a way to make people interact with the exhibition , becoming integrated part of it.
VOIDS IN THE FLOOR (BOTTOM)
PRECEDENTS
Voids in the floor are to interconnect different floors and spaces into the building. In this example from Ground Floor the Studio can be seen, just small glance for visitors to be intrigued by the space willing to explore it.