SITUATION New Islington is currently an area of unrest. The focal point of this societal disruption is the proposed demolition of the Ancoats’ dispensary which has lain disused for the last twenty-three years. The community at Ancoats are willing to take drastic measures to ensure the building remains on site and away from the clutches of the developer. The Memories of the Future buildings are positioned to encompass and interact with the existing dispensary. The construction mirrors programmatic concepts of palimpsest with elements of history peaking through and existing with an imagined narrative.
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...AND SO IT’S COME TO THIS
1:1250 Locational Plan: New Islington, Manchester
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WHAT A STRANGE PLACE!
I’VE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH YOU!
STRUGGLING WITH THE REALITY OF THE EVERYDAY, THE CROWDS ARRIVED IN MASS
YOU’RE SAFE NOW JEAN
EVERYTHING’S BACK TO NORMAL, JUST AS IT ALWAYS WAS
The comic strip montage shown demonstrates possible clients for memory treatment - those that have faced failures, turmoil or unfavourable conditions and how they might proceed through the primary treatment process.
composition of parts ASSESSMENT CHAMBERS: CLIENT DIAGNOSIS Trained psychologists examine potential clients and their associated histories. The correct memory treatments can then be assigned.
ANCOATS DISPENSARY: A NATURAL RUIN FOR BUMBLEBEES Bumblebees have an acute olfactory sense which is harnessed via Pavlovian techniques in an effort to locate potential clients across the city. The bumble bees will react to the associated smells of certain humans and communicate their whereabouts using their natural navigation system, the “waggle dance”. Human security will observe the co-ordinates of the dance and locate potential clients.
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OLFACTORY LIBRARY: AN EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF FLORA Scientists store and select plants with scents most suited to the individuals’ new memories following treatment. Returning clients are able to visit and renew their plants from this floral database.
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FAMILIARISATION PASSAGES: Primarily used by clients following treatment and plant collection the small passages enable users to acquaint themselves with the sensory characteristics of their plants before being released.
TREATMENT ROOMS: INVASIVE AND NON-INVASIVE THERAPIES FOR CLIENTS The haphazard arrangement of treatment spaces is designed to encourage a cross-communication of treatments and allow for a layering of users and memories
OLFACTORY LABORATORY: FLORA ENGINEERING Scientists observing above ground level in watchtowers and below ground into treatments so as to concoct an engineered plant with a scent that underpins the new memories created during the treatment process
subterraneous level
USER MOVEMENT KEY: voluntary client mandatory client scientist psychologist bumble bee
RELAXATION CENTRE: A JOURNEY OF ERASURE Following assessment, clients pass through an underground passage with intense visuals.
Diagrammatic exploded axonometric of site Not to scale [critical users’ movement paths illustrated]
DUCKWEED DEVELOPMENT: CANAL NETWORK AS A RESOURCE It is suggested that an energy plantation be developed using duckweed as a resource. The canal network will be utilised and sustainable energy development investigated within this small laboratory.
RELAXATION CENTRE: A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY After treatment, clients may stay in the underground relaxation space and emerge via an extended ramp as a metaphorical re-birth.
a transitory event
“One could not learn history from architecture anymore than one could learn it from books. Statues, inscriptions, memorial stones, the names of streets - anything that might throw light upon the past had been systematically altered” Nineteen Eighty Four, Orwell, G.
1:100 West Elevation The dispensary with scaffolding facade system, olfactory library and familiarisation passages 0M
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The mandatory and voluntary client entrances are positioned along the existing brickwork facade of the Ancoats’ dispensary. The facade is layered with a scattering of embossed glass panels suspended from a scaffolding network. The design of the facade allows the dispensary to be hidden, distorted or exposed to create an ever-changing architecture. The temporary nature of the suspended panels and the connected scaffolding enables the building to shift and change inviting people to question the perceived history of the architecture. The glass panels can be pulled across the linear scaffolding members using a component developed and modelled at a 1:1 scale [shown right]. The system creates a playful backdrop and suggestive not deterministic building perimeters. 1:1 Constructed model detail: scaffolding connections with pulley system and suspended glazing
spatial superimposition
“overlapping perspectives create multiple vanishing points, opening a condition of spatial parallax� Holl, Steven
you are here
1:200 Opened axonometric Dispensary structural superimposition
The existing Ancoats’ dispensary brickwork facade is retained and punctured in many places to allow for the different buildings and their associated activities and users to observe and acknowledge each other.
A view into the dispensary from the elevated level of the olfactory library
observation
Watch tower interior visualisation
Positioned at many intervals across the site, timber framed exposed watch-towers are situated on top of individual scaffolding structures. The watchtowers enable a variety of hidden activities to occur including the observation of the “waggle dance� [performed by the bumblebees to communicate the positioning of potential clients], the examination of memory treatments and 360 degree overhead views of Ancoats. Scaffolding on 300 x 300 mm thrust plate welded and sunk into concrete footing
1:20 Section F1-F2 Exposed timber framed watchtower on scaffolding construction with sliding glass facade
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The angled North-facing roof lights allow for a diffuse light to enter the space and ensure the users remain unseen in the shadows.
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