MSA BA3 Studio 3.1. Atelier CPU[ai]

The climatology diagrams were produced to show the position, amount, and analysis of the weather and climate of our site. We deduced from the research and diagrams that our site and its position allowed for year long sunlight with little to no obstructions in the surrounding vicinity blocking direct sunlight. The sun path shows a clear idea of where the most sunlight would penetrate the site, with the east, south and west as the best placed areas for direct sunlight. In contrast, the lack of barriers in the area allows for strong winds throughout the year which could be a negative factor of the site. As for rain, it is clear the heaviest rainfall occurs between Oct-Dec and April being the least. These clearly informed analyses were done to showcase the best possible solution for each person in the group for their concept and design.

As for the noise diagrams, these were produced to show where most of the noise pollution would come from in accordance with our site. This can clearly be seen as Princess Road being the loudest source of noise pollution, whilst the primary school also playing a part. This shows that an adequate amount of noise cancellation techniques will be needed for our buildings for the western side of our site.

Wind Rose Diagram

Noise Pollution (Micro) Temperature Diagram

Abundant structural surcharge zones and raised embankments separating the site from cycling paths and highways to the west. Paired with HV and Distribution cables, any heavy physical footprints towards the west must be justified.

Additionally, large trees have their roots intruding on the site’s east boundaries. The footbridge’s structural footprint also encroaches towards the north.

Drainage is sloped from South to North, while any existing water mains and septic tanks are located on higher ground. The site in close proximity of overly used bike and bus routes as seen in the diagrams below.

Surrounding Bus Paths Surrounding Bike Paths

The client for our project is Amy Newton, Director of Faculty Planning and Operations at MMU.

Brooks Building is part of the MMU campus and consists of two departments: Faculty of Health and Faculty of Education. Each Faculty has more departments that are located inside the building.

To get a better understanding of the project’s proposal, the atelier organized a visit at Brooks. During our visit, the client presented us significant rooms from each department. Amy told us how throughout the years they tried to manage the spaces and she showed us how they divided the building equally in order to fit both faculties.

Diagrams showing the Departments in Brooks Building

Floor Plan Diagrams Brooks

Faculty of Education Faculty of Health

BROOKS BUILDING ANALYSIS

As mentioned by Amy, Brooks Building is not located in the MMU central campus. The building is currently placed in a residential area and has no direct connection with the other campus.

Currently MMU plans to reach zero emissions as soon as possible and the campus researched the best improvements they need to make to achieve the goal.

Brooks Building is part of the Birley energy centre and was fitted with solar photovoltaic panels in 2020. As seen in the diagram on the right side, Birley Energy Centre aims to reach carbon neutrality by 2024.

Diagrams showing current problems in Brooks Building base on the meeting with the Client.

MANIFESTO

“The Tree of Life” philosophy focuses on the connection of everything in the universe, the growth, strength, and individuality of human beings. The proposal will have the focus on connecting the community, students, and university staff members with the environment and generating a wellbeing state for all the parties involved. The wellbeing of students and community members play a key role in the programme of the concept. As defined by the UK Office for National Statistics wellbeing has 10 broad dimensions, from which my project is going to focus on the following: natural environment, personal wellbeing, and health. The aim of this project is to generate all the required resources to improve the general state of wellbeing not only for the community but also for students. It is considered that a healthy lifestyle increases the human wellbeing. Thus, the project is going to offer areas for physical exercise, physiotherapy, and consulting areas. To generate a better wellbeing for people, a focus on their mental health is needed. Therefore, the project will also include a mental health centre where people could have one to one therapy. In the same time, the exterior of the project will play a key role in the public’s life. The landscape aims not only to connect people with nature but also to connect people between themselves the same way as the “Tree of Life philosophy states.

CARBON NEUTRALITY and BIOPHILIC DESIGN

Students

Physiotherapy Specialities

WELLBEING

University Staff

Mental Health

Musculoskeletal

Orthopedics

Cardiopulmonary

Endocrinology

Sports Medicine

Geriatrics

Periatrics

Wound Care

Neurology

Anxiety

Depression

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

The density of the area is 63.7 people per hectare, with a relatively equal distribution of ages. Out of the people with legal age of working, the economic activity is divided into 64% employed, 21% unemployed and 15% retired. The difference can be seen in the education levels, with 36.8% having no qualifications in the lead, and only 17.25 with a higher education than A levels. The area has the lowest healthy life expectancy, and, in general, the health doesn’t impact the activities. The area is characterised as hard-pressed living. As also seen from the diagrams on the left side, people from the UK score quite high on anxiety and mental well-being levels.

Community Members

MAGGIES LEEDS CENTRE - HEATHERWICK STUDIO

The health care centre is a charity that provides free practical and emotional support for people with cancer. It is located within the campus of St. Kame’s University Hospital in Leeds. The centre is designed as a group of three large scale planters build on a sloped site that each encloses a counselling room.

The natural ventilation inside the building has been achieved through careful consideration of the building’s form and orientation. Maggie’s Leeds Centre rooftop garden designed by Balston Agus is inspired by Yorkshire woodlands and features native English species and plants. Currently the health centre has 23000 bulbs and 17000 plants on site and invites all visitors to participate in their care.

First Floor Plan showing the connection between each part of the building with the common area

Roof Top Floor Plan showing the level difference and the various vegetation placed on the green rooftop

Building Section showing level difference and vegetation placement throughout the building

Milstein hall features a unique hybrid truss system of 1200 tones of steel to support two dramatic cantilevers and provides studio spaces for Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. The hall is enclosed by floor-to-ceiling glass and a green roof with 41 skylights, and it cantilevers almost 15 meters over University Avenue. The exposed hybrid trusses were designed to balance structural efficiency at the cantilevers and maintain open circulation within the open plan.

Axonometric view of roof function

CRITICAL DESIGN APPROACH

Inspired from the philosophy of the “Tree of Life” my initial ideas of the building’s structure and figure resemble tree figures. The ideas were also inspired from Maggie’s Leeds Centre.

The first representations show The first representations depict my take from the (insert type of column) and how I would integrate the column design in the environment

The second set of drawings aim to show the evolution of a particular construction inspired from the columns. In this design I divided the column into 6 segments, each segment representing a different building floor. The core of the structure in this design would play as the circulation of the building and each floor would have a different function such as: physiotherapy rooms, study areas, staff areas, 1 to 1 consulting spaces.

The third iteration depicts a larger structure with two floors aiming to accommodate a sport centre. The last drawing shows the connection between the sport centre building proposal and the multifunctional building from the second set of drawings

CRITICAL DESIGN APPROACH

GENERAL CONSULTING

THERAPY SPACES

PHYSIOTHERAPY

NATURE

GENERAL HEALTH CENTRE PHYSICAL EXERCISE CENTRE

STAFF AREA

TOILETS

SPORT CENTRE

AQUATIC CENTRE

COMMON SPACES

Students Staff

Community Members Wellbeing

Third iteration of space distribution in axonometric view

General Consulting Common Space Sport Centre

Physiotherapy Changing Rooms Toilets Individual Therapy Study Areas

Possible structure forms of each department Connecting the departments and spaces and having the common areas as the center of the building

Individual Therapy

General Consulting Changing Rooms Physiotherapy

CRITICAL DESIGN APPROACH

Iterations of space allocation focusing on the circulation throughout the building and how each department is connected with the common area.

The programme of the buildings aims to connect each area from the concept through the central part of the design. As seen in the plan diagrams on the right side of the page, the floors of each department are connected between themselves. Most of the ground floor offer a similar programme aiming to provide an initial interaction between the private and public users of the building.

The elevation diagrams depict how each department from any side of the building is connected through the common space. Therefore, achieving the philosophy of “Tree of Life” by linking everything with the central element of the building, where the interior garden is.

West Elevation Space Distribution Diagram South Elevation Space Distribution Diagram

MASTERPLANNING

Creating a green space that connects the community, the MMU campus and the Birley energy centre

The concept aims to connect the community, MMU campus and Brooks Building departments

Generating more safe paths to access the site

LANDSCAPE PLAN PROPOSAL

Initial proposal of the site landscape strategy placed on top of the physical model.

GROUND FLOOR ITTERATIONS

Series of space distribution diagrams focusing on each department from the concept design

GROUND FLOOR GA PLAN

6. Individual Speech Therapy

8. Staff Changing Rooms

9. Storage Spaces

1.

2.

3.

3.

4.

5.

6.

6.

4.

7.

8.

8.

9.

7.

8.

8.

9.

4.

FIRST FLOOR ITTERATIONS

Series of space distribution diagrams focusing on each department from the concept design

FIRST FLOOR GA PLAN

BUILDING REGULATIONS MEANS OF ESCAPE AND FIRE EXITS

Testing at 1:200 scale the position of exits throughout the building in order to corespond with the policies on maximum distance tfrom any point of the building to the first exit.

STRUCTURE ANALYSIS

Inspired from the Milstein Hall structure, the concept has a similar layout with the upper floor cantilevered on both sides of the building, the ground floor made of concrete walls and the first floor fully glazed with a steel structure and multiple steel columns to offer support for the roof.

1. Timber Beams

2. Concrete on metal deck

3. Steel Column

4. Insulation

5. Concrete Wall

6. Glazing

7. Concrete Pier Structure Section

1.

2.

3.

2.

5.

6.

Exploded Perspective of Building’s Structure

Fire Stairs Location

Building Perspective Diagram

NINE BRIDGES COUNTRY CLUB - SHIGERU BAN ARCHITECTS

The building is formed of three areas: the main clubhouse for the regular members, a VIP members area and accommodation for VIP members. The regular members’ clubhouse building is formed of a hexagonal grid shell roof structure that encompasses the whole building. The atrium space is formed of laminated timber columns which form a hexagonal grid and an envelope of clear glass. All of the timber elements of the structure were prefabricated before and assembled on site.

Process of Structure development in digital model

COLUMN DESIGN ITERATIONS

The main element of the building is the column which is placed in the heart of the design. Inspired from the buildings’ structure at Maggies Leeds Centre and from the structural columns from Nine Bridges Country Club I designed various column models. The final proposal of the column aims to connect all the parts of the building and similar with the Shigeru Ban’s column design for Nine Bridges Country Club is made of laminated timber prefabricated curved beams. Each design is drawn at the scale of 1:200.

First Iteration

North Elevation of Column Proposal

Second Iteration

Third Iteration

Plan View of Column Proposal

Sectioned Axonometric View of Column Proposal

MATERIALITY and ZERO CARBON STRATEGY

The project aims to have a sustainable and zero carbon impact on the site and the community. To reach these goals careful consideration not only of materials must be taken, but also of construction methods.

Axonometric exploded section at 1:200 showing buildings’ materials

Timber Beams

Reusing Materials from Previous Building

Stainless Steel Columns

Glazing

The building currently placed on the site does not fit the requirements of the brief thus by demolishing it will result in the reuse of some materials in the new proposal: the metal frames, timber frames, windows, and the current furniture.

By reusing the materials from the previous building the energy consumption will be reduced.

Building Strategy

In order to lower the carbon footprint during the building construction, the proposal will have most of the structure elements prefabricated.

Having most of the structure prefabricated and directly transported to the site will lead to fewer fuel consumption.

Material Decision

To reach zero carbon careful consideration of materials must be made. Therefore, using sustainable materials with low carbon emission result in reaching the goal.

Concrete Laminated Timber Stainless Steel

Sustainable benefits:

- Carbon uptake

- Design for disassembly

- Circular economy

- Passive cooling using thermal mass

- Balancing the energy grid

Sustainable benefits:

- Carbon storage

- Fire resistance

- Seismic durability

- Thermal insulation

- Prefabrication

Sustainable benefits:

- Eco-friendly material

- High resistance to extreme weather conditions

- Durability

- Repurposing

- Energy efficiency

Furniture

Glazing/Windows

Bricks

Steel Frame

Timber Frame

Curved Timber Beams

In order to reach carbon neutrality a series of environmental strategies were required to be applied while designing the building. To lower the noise pollution created by the heavy traffic from Princess Road and from the nearby primary school, trees were planted on the West and East side of the building. Also the trees on the west side help in reducing the wind power coming from SW as seen in the WindRose diagram. The concept is designed to have natural lightning and ventilation to lower the carbon emissions.

Ventilation Lightning

DD Section

Sectioned Diagram showing the natural ventilation inside the building

WindRose Diagram on Site Plan

Ground Floor Diagram showing the natural lightning and ventilation

First Floor Diagram showing the natural lightning and ventilation

EAST AND WEST ELEVATION

West Elevation

East Elevation

Sectioned Axonometric View of Column in Relation with the Building

East and West building elevations drawn at the scale of 1:200 and showing the relationship between each building’s façade.

South Elevation

Initial Column Design

South Elevation

Column Design Proposal

Column Design Proposal

Plan View of Column Proposal

South elevation drawn at the scale of 1:200 depicting the connection between the column and the building façades.

BB1

BB2

AA1

AA2

BB1 Section

BB2 Secton

AA2 Section

Plan showing the sectioned area

1. Structural enhancement

- Resolving the structure of the building

- Column positions on the ground floor

- Keeping the central column as the main structural element for the interior garden

2. Materiality for zero carbon futures

- Additional research into materials

- Sustainable strategies

- Connection between each material

REFLECTIONS

3. Column and visual identity

- Improve the programme of the building

- Further development of the central column design

- Integrating more greenery inside the building

4. Column’s roof optimization

- Water harvesting

- Shading strategy to lower the natural lightning gains

5. Environmental strategies

- Strategies that lower the building’s impact on the environment

- Developing the landscape design

APPENDIX