CHAPTER 6: PRECEDENT STUDIES

LOCATION: Nagano Prefecture, Japan

BUILDING TYPE: Private housing

ARCHITECT: Kisho Kurokawa

CLIENT: [private]

This precedent has been designed with four capsules independently cantilevering off a central concrete shaft. Each compact capsule represents a different function for the house, with the inner core containing a circulation and living space.

The capsules are lightweight and pre-fabricated, attached to the shaft with four high-tension bolts, and designed to be assembled and deconstructed with ease and speed. Kurokawa identified the lifespan of a capsule as 25 years.

The Metabolists envisioned buildings that would adhere to the laws of nature: growing, metamorphosing and eventually dying. This building embodies this philosophy, with detachable capsules designed to be replaced at the end of their lifecycles.

This precedent has been designed to be deconstructed, giving it the ablity to sustainably adapt and respond to both mechanical deterioration, and changing social needs. This is a strategy which has inspired my design process.

The philosophy behind the capsule considered it as a mobile sanctuary, within which one could truly be free.

Inside his capsule, the inhabitant is able to ‘recover his subjectivity and independence’, protected from uniformity by ‘perfect shelter’, ‘just as an astronaut is… from solar winds and cosmic rays’

(Kurokawa, ‘Capsule Declaration’ 1977).

This has influenced my scheme, which is seeking to create housing evoking feelings of safety and independence.

LOCATION: Tourcoing, France

BUILDING TYPE: Contemporary arts studio

ARCHITECT: Bernard Tschumi Architects

CLIENT: [public] existing 1920s leisure complex: cinema ballroom dancing skating horseback riding supplemental program: exhibition spaces library sound studios cinema restaurant apartments

This scheme connects a mix of existing and new architecture with a suspended high-tech canopy roof, and a box-like facade. The ‘resolutely contemporary facade encloses the ensemble of builidngs’ in corrugated steel and curtain walls, with open sides offering the user and the passerby with views of the old and new.

Nearly all of the existing buildings were retained.

Historical tile roof buildings restored and reinforced. The new roof is constructed from steel and polycarbonate. 1920s architecture is juxtaposed with modern industrial materiality.

Exposed heating, ventilation and air conditioning ductwork suspended beneath the new roof, and above the old ones. Suspended circulation also hangs from the canopy. Spaces between the roofs are left open for installations and film projections.

The juxtaposed areas of transparency and enclosure are highly relevant to my scheme. The series of connecting circulation routes is something I would like to replicate in my own design. The canopy roof stretching over the network of spaces offers this precedent continuity. I would like my scheme to achieve the same.

LOCATION: Yorkshire, UK

BUILDING TYPE: Bridleway bridge

ENGINEER: Forest Civil Engineering

CLIENT: [public]

This bridge spans across the River Ribble in remote moorland on the Yorkshire Dales, and has been designed for horses, cyclists and walkers who take the Pennine Bridleway National Trail. Timber was the primary structural material, and stress-laminated timber was used to construct the arches. The result is relatively low-cost, and highly sustainable, as well as being scalable to my scheme.

By utilising similar materials and methods to construct connecting bridges along my highly urban site, I can contribute towards increasing public confidence in timber as a viable structural material, as well as integrating into the rest of my scheme as an environmental strategy.

MATERIALITY + SUSTAINABILITY

Plantation Timber

Recycled Steel In Small Amounts

concrete foundations kept to a minimum through the use of structural connections to transfer load the pressure treatment for the timbers uses Tanalith E used in pressure treatment for timbers: least toxic and most sustainable option

The bridge can be dismantled, and its material reused, by de-stressing the tension bars and taking apart the deck and arches, one laminate at a time. It is also possible to lift the bridge off its supports and take it apart off-site.

The site is rural, entirely vacant and greenfield, embodying all which Church Street is not. The sites are incomparably different. In this way, many of the design motivators for this precedent were not applicable to my scheme. For example, measures taken to respect the natural wildlife, and preserve existing habitats dictated construction and assembly methods. Complementing the surrounding rural land was also of paramount importance.

Though the motivations for this project are very different, I see benefit in utilising some of the same construction methods. Stress-laminated bridges are both low-cost and sustainable. This precedent has been useful in understanding the specifics of creating timber structures, and the measures that can be taken in material choices to minimise environmental impact.

My scheme will aim to transform its decaying, inner-city surroundings, rather than blending in with them. For this reason I see aesthetic relevance in this precedent.