Part 2 Architecture Portfolio by Andrew Wilson

ACADEMIC PORTFOLIO

ANDREW WILSON Master of Architecture (MArch) Newcastle University 06/15

CONTENTS

Theoretical Introduction

Translations Across Media

STAGE 5

Charette

Berlin Study Trip

Plan Berlin: Terminal City (or Delerious Tempelhof)

Express; Exploitation of Culture

STAGE 6

100

Charette

102

Westway Study Trip

104

Infrastructures

108

Optional Path; Linked Research

175

Construction and Management

218

GC Key: substantial

partial

minimal

GC 1.1

Theoretical Introduction

In the first semester of the Masters the opportunity arose, through

first semester, discussing the former Tempelhof airfield in Berlin,

my fragment study, and subsequent lectures and texts, to explore

and really came to life through examining the works of Bernard

the theories of intertextuality: the exchanges of materials and the

Tschumi, in particular his essay The Pleasure of Architecture, in

transplantation of forms. I have become very interested in these

which he writes:

theses, regarding the concepts of originality, and the possibility that arises to challenge the environments and situations we find

“The architecture of pleasure lies where architectural language

ourselves surrounded by simply by placing objects out of context,

breaks into a thousand pieces, where the elements of

or by re-considering the origins and themes of the environments

architecture are dismantled and its rules transgressed … Such

we find ourselves in.

architecture questions aca-demic (and popular) assumptions, disturbs acquired tastes and fond architectural memories.

Subconscious understanding through movement has therefore

Typologies, morphologies, spatial compressions, logical

become a major theme throughout both the Terminal City and

constructions - all dissolve. lnarticulated forms collide in a

Express interventions, with the re-uniting and re-understanding

staged and necessary conflict: repetition, discontinuity, quotes,

of these varied cultures a key theme, through the intertextual

cliches and neologism”.

relationships set up with facades, materials, and technologies. It was, for me, important to maintain a recognition of the urban

Through Tschumi and his works I began to define for myself

fabric, and not to get too tied into detail, and maintaining the

a way of working that suited the scenario of Berlin, and the

balance between the intricacies of the quarrying and displacement

urban realm, and that negated the need for ‘politically correct’

of neighbourhoods and the overall urban impact was a hard point

architecture. Although I strongly believe in the need for cultural

for me to tackle.

preservation and urban integrity, studying Tschumi has shown me that creating relationships between architectural elements and

The process has helped me to see how ideologically and

the peoples around them is the most desirable and pleasurable

historically strong and rich buildings are still able to fit into

architecture. Dismissing the familiar and the fond, and challenging

diverse and juxtaposed surroundings. It may be that the solution

it, reconstructing it anew without destroying it altogether. Without

must be radical. It may not be over popular with everyone, it may

a doubt, this has influenced my work above all else.

interfere with previous ideologies. But I have learnt to be bold with interventions, for I have become interested in how a new

Architectural Intertextuality is a theme little examined or written

urban fabric can envelop the ‘untouchable’ monumentality of the

about, and so I chose to develop my ideas and thinking alongside

old. How a conversation between peoples and cultures should

the studio project and into an Essay exploring Translations of

be desired above perceived cultural loss and heterogeneous

Architecture across media. By examining Jennifer Bloomer’s

societies. This theme began to really emerge for me during the

influential text “Architecture and the text: the (s)crypts of Joyce

GA 2.4; GA 2.7

Introduction

and Piranesi” I built upon what I understood as intertextuality, and became increasingly fascinated by the stories, weaving, additions, concluding that “we can never understand individually the multiple strands that are woven into every architecture, and so the en¬joyment lies in reading as an individual, and picking elements that personally delight”. Perhaps linked to this, my work is also driven strongly, although

“Tracing numerous iterations of various diagrams of interlacing systems before overlaying them onto one drawing”

I feel less so at the moment, by a sustainability agenda, however. Not necessarily in terms of environmental sustainability, despite this being a topic I have strong opinions on concerning the built environment and its responsibility. Moreover the topic of sustainable neighbourhoods and communities, places where people want to live and work, where there is a symbiosis between the residents, workers, occupants, and visitors, and a healthy community ecosystem. The explorations into the infrastructures project have really helped bring this drive to the fore, where the challenges of creating a system that answers a specific contemporary problem puzzled me at first. It was only once I returned to the ‘roots’ of my theoretical background that I began to contemplate something exciting. By understanding networks at national and local level, and learning to appreciate how even the smallest urban move, action or idea is linked inextricably to a multitude of others, by desiring to create a sustainable community, and through looking again into Tschumi, dismantling elements, challenging permanence, form and rationality in appearance. Of particular encouragement in this project, as I read further into Tschumi, was a passage in his Manhattan Transcripts, where he explains that “only the striking relationship between three levels of event, space and movement makes for the architectural experience. Yet they never attempt to transcend the contradictions between object, man and event in order to

above: Bernard Tschumi’s city

below: Tschumi’s elements,

bring them to a new synthesis: on the contrary, they aim to

diagrams from Manhattan

deconstructed, from Parc de la

maintain these contradictions in a dynamic manner, in a new

Transcripts

Vilette

relation of indifference, reciprocity or conflict”. As I understood

GA 2.4

6 this, I understood my standpoint on the thesis of questioning the disappearance of Public Good and its relationship to costdriven movement and processes. The problem, according to Tschumi, lay in the separations of object, man and event, and so the solution to the problem lay in reuniting object: parcel, man, and event: processing, in a dynamic manner, through conflict, deconstruction:reconstruction and challenging the familiar. As a method, I turned to Peter Eisenman, and his interest in the diagram, and the plan, as a method of examining the building. As he considers systems, both mechanical and human, they are drawn in two dimensions, sectionally and in plan, layering up over numerous iterations of flow, space and structure. As I read the phrase “I start with the cuts. I build from the cuts”, I knew that was what I had to do. By exploring Eisenman’s techniques, and sketching numerous iterations of various diagrams of interlacing systems before overlaying them onto one drawing I created the effect that Tschumi had been writing about, of taking the ‘normal’ for each system, or element, and taking it out of context. By then reconstructing the elements in the context of one another, in an intertextual style, and weaving one with another, a whole was recreated that took the conventional pedestrian routes, and normal postal model, and laced them into one public landscape that is at once bedded into the context yet stands out as something ‘other’ than the surrounds. I suppose this links back to the Terminal City and Essay theory of intertextuality; “behind buildings lies a web of complex intersections that demand reading, each time differently. Always, there will exist a sphere of influence upon the architect, designer, client and user, affected by a network of systems, codes, and traditions es¬tablished by previous works. The importance of the opinion and vision of the individual in ‘writing’ and ‘reading’ the building.” The Essay follows this introduction piece, as a more formal

below: Peter Eisenman’s

discussion of architectural intertextuality in practice.

diagrams of iterations

GA 2.7

Intertextuality

Translations Across Media Hogwarts as an Intertextual Architecture

Introduction “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth

and shape the ways in which we as individuals perceive and interpret the

should that mean that it is not real?”

world.

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Bloomer is arguing for a perception beyond semantics and syntax – a perception, that is, beyond the simple rules and history of language.

“Is there further research to be done on the relation between architecture

She implies that to find the true relations between the two we must

and writing, research that goes beyond the pitfalls and dead ends of

look elsewhere. She goes on, not much later, to turn to a deconstructive

the arguments made over the last twenty years that depend upon

approach as an appropriate “fit”, telling us to look towards Jacques

semantic and syntactic translations between languages and simple

Derrida: “One of his most recognised signatures, the polysemous “there is

tropic analogies? Where might be the sites of such relations, if not in

nothing outside the text” suggests this regardless of how it is construed

casual correspondence? Are the configurations significant that describe

… a close analysis of texts that at the level of material to be analysed are

the relations among language, literature, writing, drawing, building and

closed to context and at the level of the process of analysis are open to a

architecture? How might a consideration of the connections between

boundless universe of potential connectivity.” 1

theory and practice inform and be informed by these configurations?

With the introduction of Derrida’s theories of connectivity to the text, we

The relations of space and time? Those of nature and culture? If we re-

must encounter intertextuality as a concept.

construe history and historical research in terms of a suspension of belief

Intertextuality. A term implying that individual texts are inescapably

in the mutual exclusivity, or bipolarity, of these pairs of concepts, how

related to other texts and that their meanings are correspondingly

might this inform and be informed by those configurations?”

provisional and plural according to how these relations are discerned and highlighted.2

Jennifer Bloomer, Architecture and the Text The idea of “a transposition of one or more systems of signs into another, Consider Bloomer, here addressing a problem she identifies as the

accompanied by a new articulation of the enunciative and denotative

forgetfulness of relationships between writing and architecture. In such

position”.3 Many layers of ideas, influences, and situations being

a pleading tone, as to implore the reader to sit up and take notice; to see

consciously or subconsci`usly injected into a work of literature. The

in the everyday the relationships across media, across types, that affect

reader, or audience, then receive the text, with its layers of subtlety, and

GC 5.3; GA 2.4

8 through a cognitive and intelligent analysis, will interpret the objects, items or themes that they as individuals are attracted or drawn to. Specifics to which they relate, or which resonate with them, or perhaps which feel alien to them. Either way, upon a singular reading of a text, the theory argues, many different participants will describe many different outcomes. The author may not necessarily have intended such a seemingly plagiarised outcome. Intertextuality is described by Mariela Vargova in her article Dialogue, Pluralism, and Change as embodying “The notions of pluralism, openness and change”, and as carrying “The radical democratic idea that all social and public texts in society are bound in a dynamic relationship to ongoing social and political transformations”.4 Kristeva (1977, 66) understands is as “the process whereby each word (text) is an intersection of words (texts) where at least one other word (text) can be read”.5 This essay sets out to examine the potential of intertextuality upon architecture, in what might be called ‘architectural intertextuality’. Considering that behind buildings lies a web of complex intersections that demand reading, each time differently. Always, there will exist a sphere of influence upon the architect, designer, client and user, affected by a network of systems, codes, and traditions established by previous works. The importance of the opinion and vision of the individual in ‘writing’ and ‘reading’ the building. In steps, leading from physical building to textual translation, it is possible to examine the reconstruction of the Chapel of Reconciliation in Berlin, the Museum of Innocence in Istanbul, and progressing into the relationships between architecture and the text, exploring Bloomer’s plea, the essay focuses then on the intertextual translation of ideas, visions and interpretation across media through texts, into film. Taking, finally, Hogwarts Castle from the Harry Potter series as an example. Intertextual Reconciliation Once we approach architecture in an intertextual frame of mind certain buildings begin to open themselves up to examination. The concept of a dynamic relationship between the singular object with multiple individuals certainly becomes more realistic, and Bloomer’s plea for a reading of buildings as having been woven opens our eyes. Indeed, she says, “they are construed as ‘having been woven’ (the word text emerges from the past participle of the Latin textere, ‘to weave.’ A text is a woven thing).” If we are to approach architecture as a textual entity, we must treat it as woven. Both with texts and also with other architectures and influences, within the reader or interpreter, as proposed in the introduction.6 Bloomer, again: “The building is a document of something that happened. A document of great transparency, because it is the concretisation of what happened, mediated by the historian. Simultaneously it is a document of extreme opacity because of its use as a functional object over time; because of its consumption-appropriation over time – the building serves as a model for other buildings; and, the nature of this consumption being historically more appropriative than allusive, because of a difficulty in ‘reading’ it as a single document.

GC 1.1; GC 3.1; GC 5.3

Intertextuality

9 The building is almost what actually happened. It is not only a document,

Physical connections often lead in themselves to the more underlying

it is event itself.... The existence of the building is, then, textual, and

symbolic weavings. In a study on the Chapel, Sharr (2010) points out

depends upon a mental construct of space and time that is not bipolar,

that the decision by the architects of the Chapel to include a delicate,

not even dialectical.”

weak rammed earth wall would be curious were it not for the presence

of “millions of small deposits of the detonated church cast into the The Chapel of Reconciliation, designed by Rudolf Reitermann and Peter

mud”10. Physically, he continues, “The rammed earth literally sediments

Sassenroth, is a modest piece of contemporary architecture, sitting in

together countless deposits of memory into built form. Each fragment,

the re appropriated scar of the dead zone, left by the removal of the Berlin

each member of the aggregate, is an individual with its own enigmatic

wall. The church that previously sat on its site was bomb damaged in

presence. Where did it come from? What of the many stones now buried

the war, stranded on neutral ground during the stand-off, and eventually

invisibly in the substance of the wall?”11

unfortunately demolished in 1985 by GDR troops, for alleged ‘line of sight purposes’, although the official history states that “Destroying the Church

But symbolically, once we start looking as individuals at this repository

of Reconciliation was seen as a way of removing an annoying symbol and

of memory, what networks do we encounter? Are the fragments (Figure

would also be a warning to other churches in the GDR that they were not

2) to be seen as merely a re-imagining and re-forming of the old building?

invincible if they allowed free speech against the regime.”8

Could this not be done with any building? Or perhaps we could see them as the reconciled members of the old church’s scattered congregation?

In reconstruction the architects selected networks and layers of

Or, extrapolating and networking, as a symbolic representation of the

connection to describe the relationship of the new to the old. Some

re-uniting of God’s people as a church under his headship following exile?

perhaps more obvious than others. Physical and symbolic. It is important

Christians have always been regarded as outsiders. Is this a physical

at this point to emphasise the role of the church building as mostly

manifestation of the unification to come under the second coming:

symbolic in Christianity. The Bible states clearly, “In [Jesus] the whole

Ezekiel 20:34 “I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the

building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

countries where you have been scattered—with a mighty hand and an

And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which

outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath”?

God lives by his Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:21-22 NIV). In light of this, the church

Is it a parallel regarding a unification of a divided Berlin?

building is seen to be a combination of (a) the practicalities offered by shelter and (b) an interpretation of the important biblical descriptions of

Once we start intersecting in such a way it becomes possible to read

community, mercy, headship and Christ, by the individuals who built it.

practically any building through a text, by weaving and networking ideas and potentials. Although the architects did not design the rammed wall

The demolition of the Chapel of Reconciliation, then, represented

with the Exile and Second Coming in mind, by interpreting the Chapel

a symbol of powerlessness, an act of being made to feel small and

through Biblical texts it is a possible conclusion to arrive at.

insignificant. It was said at the time that “If we have faith in symbolic actions, then we know that symbols have a silent power which can make

Interpretations – 1. A Turkish Obsession

the ‘impossible’ possible.”9 So, we have established the precedent of reading an architecture through text. What then of the creation of an architecture via a text. Before moving on to a more extreme example, it is useful to examine a hybrid situation.

FIGURE 3 FIGURE 4

10 More often than not, when reading a novel, or piece of fiction, the reader

over time – the building serves as a model for other buildings; and, the

is given the task of dreaming up the context. Of imagining the characters,

nature of this consumption being historically more appropriative than

of hearing the dialogue within their own minds. The power of imagination

allusive, because of a difficulty in ‘reading’ it as a single document. The

is harnessed to create an infinite possibility of worlds; the intertextual

building is almost what actually happened. It is not only a document, it is

web is vast, and multiplies exponentially with every object and adjective

event itself ... The existence of the building is, then, textual, and depends

applied.

upon a mental construct of space and time that is not bipolar, not even dialectical.”17

It would appear perverse, therefore, to create for ones readers a database of exact objects, clothes and artefacts that the characters encountered or used. It would appear to be a means of subtracting from the reader all

Interpretations – 2. Piranesi and Hogwarts

the simple pleasures of imagining and costume, a setting, an interaction “The Campo Marzio Ichnographia is a product of [Piranesi’s] reaction [to

within a text.

the Cartesian-Newtonian universe]. The drawing represents the real and On the other hand, The Museum of Innocence is, by all means, not your

the unreal, the past and the future, a place and no place. With it, Piranesi

ordinary museum. Nor is the identically titled love story just your ordinary

shatters history and geography, time and space. The device is critical. It is

novel. Orhan Pamuk decided, firstly, to ‘relate a story with objects and

allegorical.”

real things’.12 He talks subsequently about his love for ‘small neglected museums’ and how he “bought a house, without knowing too much what

Jennifer Bloomer, Architecture and the Text

to do there, but to convert it to a museum, setting a story inside the

house. Slowly and slowly it developed. The idea of finding real objects,

Piranesi’s six plate Campo (Figure 5) is a footprint of layers of Roman

then giving them to the imaginary people, which then would later be

buildings, leaping out in familiarity, upon first glance an interpretable

exhibited in the museum. Then the love story began to develop in my

and ‘real’ place. Actually, however, it bears no resemblance to any reality,

mind…. I was collecting objects – say, an old lottery ticket – thinking that

neither contemporary nor ancient. It is a shattering of a whole Rome,

I would integrate this, make it a part of my novel. Sometimes, the novel

fed in with additive parts, elements. Derrida, in Positions, declares that

would dictate the object. I would leave the novel with ‘…’, and go, and look

‘no element can function as a sign without referring to another element

for an appropriate object. Or wait for it.”13

which itself is not simply present. This interweaving results in each “element” being constituted on the basis of the trace within it of other

The novel mentions many objects without describing them. Pamuk wrote

elements of the system’.18 Piranesi’s plan is regarded as having been

a novel, but also created a museum as he wrote (Figure 3) – from his

woven. Each fragment of plan provides the intersection to a part of time

experience of reading, description ‘killed the novel’.14 The museum ‘is not

and space; to a location.

an illustration of the novel’ and ‘neither is the novel a description of the museum’ … they are ‘separate entities, intertwined, representing the same story. You cannot enjoy the museum without reading the novel. But you can definitely enjoy the novel without knowing there even is a museum’.15 The 1000+ objects collected and curated within (Figure 4) appear to be simply ordinary household objects dating from the 1970’s. When read, however, in accordance with Orhan Pamuk’s similarly titled novel, ‘The Museum of Innocence’, the objects all begin to become alive. To inhabit the mind, to animate a space. Through the reading of the text, the objects make sense, are believable, create a story. Without the text – nothing. Just a car boot sale. The house, subsequently, becomes a readable object. Without the novel – just a series of rooms. But with the reader’s mind leading them the architecture becomes alive, gains meaning. To paraphrase Kristeva, each object is an intersection of objects where at least one other object can be read. “Real museums”, chides Pamuk (2009), “are places where Time is transformed into Space”.16 Helpfully, we can turn to Bloomer, who explains, within the context of architectural history, that the building is “a document of something that happened. A document of great transparency, because it is the concretisation of what happened, mediated by the historian. Simultaneously it is a document of extreme opacity because of its use as a functional object over time; because of its consumption-appropriation

GC 1.2; GC 3.2; GA 2.4

FIGURE 5

Intertextuality

So then, what if an architecture were to be imagined, dreamt, and crafted through text, and woven, beautifully, into the minds of millions, who draw on their experiences, imaginations and realities to each create complete individual perfections of the finality? Hogwarts. Even the word itself conjures up an image, or a description, in your mind’s eye. The interest here lies in the creation of an entire architecture from a text, from a thought, and the adaptability of such an architecture. The ability to have imagined and created a 1:24 scale model of the entire castle is due to a process of many minds, texts, ideas and weavings. JK Rowling wove Hogwarts as she wrote. Introducing new architectures, rooms, features, as she went. In a similar style to Pamak’s museum, but in reverse. Rowling never once collected architectures, or defined a place. Never did she refuse to write until she had detailed the items or places within the story. It is clear as the books progress that although the first book lays down the general organisation of the castle, Rowling takes liberties to add towers, turrets, rooms, gargoyles, descriptive detail as she progresses (Figure 6). The relationship between her mind and her castle is one always expanding, always restless. Rowling herself stated that she saw it as “a huge, rambling, quite scary-looking castle, with a jumble of towers and battlements … it isn’t a building that Muggles could build, because it is supported by magic. I haven’t drawn it, because it would be difficult for the most skilled architect to draw, owing to the fact that the staircases and the rooms keep moving. However, I

FIGURE 7

have a very vivid mental image of what it looks like”.19 So then, we have a text, from which millions of people based a mental image of a building. A building which, according to its weaver, is unbuildable by traditional means, has no drawable plan, but of which she, the author, has a vivid mental image. That does not mean, however, that all our mental pictures are wrong. There cannot, surely, be a correct Hogwarts. The weaver may create the perfect image in their minds eye, and attempt to translate it into a textual building. Something cohesive and together as a whole. And yet, something had to give. With the production of the books as a film franchise, Hogwarts had to become a reality. Somehow the intangible memories of many had to become the vision of a single person. And yet, though Rowling had such a sure idea of the appearance, she decided to hand over responsibility entirely to Stuart Craig, the production designer, who describes the moment when he “rushed out to buy the book and got on the plane”. Reading it, he felt “a slight sense of panic. I had to invent a complex world, based in reality but with magical elements. Many readers had firm images of that world already in their heads”.20 Craig’s solution was a subconsciously intertextual one. Visiting various locations around the UK that suited what he saw as the

appropriate

age and style of Hogwarts. His own woven interpretation. Craig discussed the overcoming of difficulties in an interview, stating that the books are “incredibly detailed” He went on to explain that “not just in this country, there’s a general appreciation of what English public school would be. It’s a kind of familiar concept, and then Hogwarts is supposedly 1,000 years old, and we thought what buildings exist that are that old? There are a couple of colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, and there are several cathedrals. We went to Durham and Gloucester cathedrals, and they were both keen to help.

GC 1.1; GC 1.2

FIGURE 9

12 They accepted us, and because we couldn’t build the entire world …

The appeal of the generated Hogwarts is that whilst people are able to

we needed to shoot on location. And then having done so, then those

relate, connect and satisfy themselves with real locations, tangible and

locations had to become the style of the movie that we designed, and the

believable public school castle-like architectures, they are also awed,

sets that we built subsequently. It all obviously had to feel all of a piece.

inspired and drawn by the adapted spaces attached. The seamless

We did literally take all that crumbling medieval architecture and made

transition from imagined, to text, to real, to imagined, is a herald to the

it the fabric of Hogwarts — we didn’t just build over real places, we did

power of weaving. The concept of a building of which everyone has

exaggerate. These are fantasy after all. But there was a sense that we felt

an ideal, everyone knows a piece, a snapshot. And yet it is an evolving

that if the magic grew out of something very real looking, it was in some

building. Bizarrely it exists, in fragments, scattered in real locations across

ways going to be all the more extraordinary.”21

the country and picked up, chosen, and woven into an elaborate tapestry of interpretation.

Craig, through design or through fault, had created the ideal intertextual world. Hogwarts became a woven masterpiece of translations. The inclusions of ecclesiastical architectures into a magical world alone should invoke discussions. The Piranesi-esque mashing of multiple

Concluding

tangible objects into a convenience of one man is no accident. Craig’s team spent weeks researching the CGI add-ons (Figure 7) to the physical

So then, the consequences of Bloomer’s observations, and the

sets, but he points out that “there was no constraint in being true to

examination of specific woven architectures. Kristeva, (1977, p207) writes

architectural detail and respecting the history and form of it”.22

that “composition instead of happening in the head of the author will happen in nature and real space, with consequently immense objective

Even so, compromises were made. The very nature of the timeline of

wealth in addition impeding underhanded appropriation necessitating the

books and films meant that “the geography and architecture of Hogwarts

risks of execution”29

sometimes didn’t fit as we went along because we couldn’t have foreseen at the start what was coming”.23 As such, Craig was having to add and

By approaching architectures with intertextuality in mind, and with a

subtract elements from his masterpiece to allow them to fit within a

knowledge of relevant texts and information, we can inform ourselves,

physical world. What the mind’s eye interprets and places when it reads a

and keep in mind the origins of things. Bloomer (1993, p71), again, says

text becomes a very different picture when translated a step further into

that “although much of the communicating mechanism operates from the

the three dimensions.

unconscious, a reading of the texts … requires associations – switching

The description Craig gives of his overall attitude towards Hogwarts

mechanisms – based upon a knowledge of the conscious, national world

is a brave summation of architectural intertextuality, as he says that

of ideas”.30

“the consequence of filming real locations was that we were obliged to incorporate the locations into the model of Hogwarts. Often real

With a closer understanding of the world around us we can read

places are disappointing. They’re not of your choosing. So, the skyline of

architectures like texts. We can understand that relationship more

Hogwarts was not as I would have wished in the early films, and I really

intensely. In the same way that if we are aware of the world in The

did care about that—I was struggling with that … As time went on and the

Museum of Innocence we are able to understand the physical museum

books required a new space that we’d never seen before, then I would grab

more freely. If we are aware of Rome, of classical architecture, we are able

that opportunity with both hands to change and improve the skyline of

to understand Piranesi’s maps more enjoyably. If we understand Hogwarts

Hogwarts”24

for what it has become through another’s interpretation, we are able to add our own mystery to the creation of the physical. To create our own

“Those locations in some ways are unsatisfactory. We went to Alnwick

additions. To free our minds, and to connect architecture to the text.

Castle, Durham Cathedral, and the real world is less than perfect;

It does not demand an unravelling of the careful weaving, or a specific

theatrically, it’s full of unnecessary information, extraneous stuff. That

knowledge as to how the weaving has taken place. But to be aware

has given Hogwarts a very complicated profile, rather untidy in the early

simply that the approach we take to reading a building like the Chapel

movies. So in the later ones we’ve had the chance to revisit and tidy up

of Reconciliation or Hogwarts can have delightful impulses upon the

and improve the profile.”

story that we discover. We can never understand individually the multiple

Often, indeed, architectures change, or disappear shamelessly:

strands that are woven into every architecture, and so the enjoyment lies

“We ended up with a profile of how Hogwarts looked, a skyline that

in reading as an individual, and picking elements that personally delight.

actually I didn’t design, and it wasn’t always satisfactory, and as all the

I began, and I end, by quoting Professor Dumbledore, who seems to be

novels got written and movies got made there were new requirements

aware of what architectural intertextuality is all about when he explains;

[for buildings]. The big tower from which Dumbledore falls wasn’t there originally, and so we were able to add that substantial piece. And in this

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth

last film the big courtyard outside doubled in size, and if you look at the

should that mean that it is not real?”31

first movie it wasn’t there at all”.

GC 1.1; GC 1.2; GA 2.4

Intertextuality

GC & GA Criteria Translations Across Media

GC 2.1 GC 2.2

GC 5.3 Understanding of the relationship between people and buildings,

Adequate knowledge of the histories and theories of

and between buildings and their environment, and the need to

architecture and the related arts, technologies and human

relate buildings and the spaces between them to human needs

sciences. Knowledge of the cultural, social and intellectual

and scale, especially the way in which buildings fit into their

histories, theories and technologies that influence the design of

local context

buildings and the influence of history and theory on the spatial, social, and technological aspects of architecture: A point met minimally, but I think I have learnt significantly about the relationship between people and buildings, Although the subject of the piece was not a tangible, real

specifically in the way people can think and approach buildings

architecture per-se, studying Hogwarts as an individual piece of

theoretically, rather than a physical sense. Context is an

architecture helped me transcend the boundaries of theories

important factor in intertextuality, and by either creating a

and histories, through examining texts, and to be able to apply

context or removing it altogether, I have learnt how we are able

the ideas to the real world. I struggled at first to understand

to see our buildings in a new light, through deconstructing them

and apply some challenging texts, and retrospectively would

and applying new parameters and uses.

have liked to have looked at more useful examples, exploring Hogwarts in greater depth theoretically, and focusing less on the chapel of reconciliation. I think, because the subject matter was new to me, and because Hogwarts is fictional, I was more

GA 2.4

comfortable describing the physical chapel.

Critical understanding of how knowledge is advanced through research to produce clear, logically argued and original written

GC 3.1 GC 3.2 Knowledge of the fine arts as an influence on the quality of architectural design. Knowledge of how the theories, practices and technologies of the arts influence architectural design, and the creative application of the fine arts and their relevance and impact on architecture:

work relating to architectural culture, theory and design:

As the main point concerning the essay, I feel I have certainly investigated a little-regarded area of research, and advanced my personal knowledge considerably. As already mentioned, although I know I could have done more to look at further examples of architectural intertextuality I am pleased with the extent of my research, and with the sources and texts drawn upon to argue the point.

By a kind of association, here the influence is of architectural design and perception upon the fine arts, although the relationship works in reverse, too. I have learnt greatly through examination of media types and their portrayal of architectures, especially through film. One of the great discoveries personally is the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;expectation of architectureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to be influenced in a certain way - to meet criteria set by media and the public. As above, I would like to have examined further examples of such architecture that derive themselves from the arts.

Furthermore, the application of the investigations into my design work has been an enjoyable and fruitful experience, and for me consists of an important part of the research itself, putting theory into practice.

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stage 5

Charette

Berlin Study Trip

Plan Berlin: Terminal City (or Delerious Tempelhof)

Express; Exploitation of Culture

Based on the whole in Berlin, Stage 5 aimed to cover the urban scale to the detail scale, whilst I was encouraged to examine historical and theoretical precedents to compliment the studies. Packed with allegory and ideological pitfalls, the projects are a playground for testing ideas and theories against a rich urban grain.

Charette 09/13 Wearable architecture for the apocalypse

As a short, collaborative introduction to the year, the Charette programme endeavours to develop inter-school and inter-year relationships, as well as providing a relaxed environment to explore creative solutions to a fun brief: “The zombie apocalypse has arrived. Small bands of survivors roam the country, each individual developing and building an exoskeleton, from waste, with a specific function from Maslows hierarchy of needs, in order to work as a team and fight for their lives: Food; Water; Security; Sleep” Within the team, I selected to explore security as a concept: what is security, and how do we expect it to be manifested in our everyday environments? Using inspiration derived from the natural world, a meerkat-style wearable watchtower was developed, similar to a giant periscope. It was deemed applicable in unsure urban situations, containing the canyons and jungles that we fail to percieve in our ‘safe’ day-today life.

IMAGE

Charette

Berlin Theory

Berlin Study Trip 10/14 Urban fabric/Building fabric

BERLIN is endlessly fascinating and surprising. It is now a city with

residents awoke to find the city partitioned into East and West

a young population bursting with creative energy and industry,

by the infamous Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer), into two competing

home to many vibrant sub-cultures and counter-cultures – and

cities: the East (part of the GDR, German Democratic Republic)

there’s nowhere like it. But it’s impossible to appreciate Berlin’s

characterised by Soviet-style reconstruction; the West (part of

distinctive spirit and curious urban fabric without appreciating the

the FRG, Federal Republic of Germany) characterised by huge US

city’s violent and contested history.

‘Marshall Plan’ investment and the symbols of big corporations.

Wherever you are in Berlin, history is always in attendance. In

Standing as a symbol of the Cold War, the wall’s ‘fall’ in 1989 was

the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the city was the

equally symbolic, pictures of parties at the Brandenburg Gate

cradle of the European Enlightenment; seen, for example, in the

beamed to television sets worldwide. A rushed reunification (seen

fine neoclassical architecture of Karl Friedrich Schinkel and his

by many East Germans as a western takeover) was accompanied

contemporaries. By the turn of the twentieth century, Berlin had

by the instigation of huge infrastructure projects – of both

become capital of the newly united Germany and the cradle of

practical and symbolic value – which almost bankrupted the new

European civilisation.

state, many of which have only recently been finished. It has also been accompanied by curiously traditional urban fabric and the

Following the bankruptcy of Germany after the First World

gradual erasure of East German architecture. The city’s cheap

War, its capital became the epicentre of the Weimar republic,

rents and vibrant culture now attract a huge diversity of people,

characterised by simultaneous political stalemate and cultural

Europe’s fashionable young creatives rubbing shoulders with

invention, attested by the architecture of Erich Mendelsohn and

‘guest worker’ communities (predominantly Turkish in origin) and

latterly the arrival of the Bauhau from Dessau. The Nazis, famously,

Cold War veterans.

envisaged the city’s reinvention as Germania, the centre of a

Contemporary Berlin – just over fifty years after the construction

thousand year reich made architectural in the granite edifices of

of the wall – bears conspicuously the traces of this uniquely

Albert Speer, while simultaneously sending the city’s million jews

troubled past. The new Berlin may be the centre of the state which

to their deaths or into exile. By 1945, 80% of the city centre had

has become Europe’s economic powerhouse but it is a curiously

been destroyed and many of its outlying districts were in ruins.

understated, self- conscious and informal capital. The legacies

Post-war Berlin, its skyline punctured by three new hills made

of its post-‘89 squat-culture remain as strong as those of its

from the rubble of its destruction, was no less troubled. As the

Enlightenment heritage and prominent memorials to Nazi crimes.

wartime allies fell-out, it was divided into administrative sectors

Questions of what Germany was, is, and will be (mirroring similar

(following the somewhat arbitrary boundaries of postal districts)

questions about Europe itself) are played-out in the buildings and

and relations between the powers became increasingly tense.

spaces of the city, where the politics of memory – who remembers what, when, where, how and for whom – are made manifest. Any

Blockaded by the Soviets, the American, French and British

new architecture inevitably implicates the past when anticipating

sectors were supplied solely by air in the remarkable Berlin

the future, but in Berlin the issues are particularly acute. There

Air Lift (Luftbrücke) of the winter of 1947 which required the

is nowhere better to study the complex issues at work in urban

hurried construction of two new airports. On 15 August 1961,

fabric.

GC 2.1

IMAGE

Berlin Study Trip

Berlin Theory

Berlin Study Trip

Background Information

Plan Berlin Terminal City (Or Delerious Tempelhof) Following closure in 2008, th three-hundred-acre former airfield and terminal complex in south central Berlin was reopened as a public park, exhibition and event space. Yet the change of use has been controversial and continues to raise questions about ownership of the site and its history, and about how the changing use of Tempelhof might exacerbate socioeconomic pressures in surrounding areas and change their characters. If these debates show up tensions between official and local claims to the site’s past and future, they also highlight the significance of recent changes in its relation to the surrounding city. Since Medieval times, Tempelhof has had a special status in the expanding city: physically isolated, yet enmeshed in national as well as local structures of power and identity. This project looks at Tempelhof in context: as part of everchanging interrelations, systems, flows and forces that constitute the city and extend beyond it, relations that are infrastructural, political, socio-cultural, environmental, historical and economic. How might we respond to a site long enclosed, secured and controlled as a portal into and out of the city, a local outpost of international airspace decisively cut off from the practices, processes and patterns of daily life in the surrounding city? This project considers what happens to a site left behind and ‘liberated’ by the processes of modernization, to its abandoned infrastructures, buildings, spaces and networks? What issues but also opportunities are opened up by the airport’s sudden ‘return’ to the locality? Such questions are particularly resonant at Tempelhof, where site and building are so loaded with historical significance – and with possibilities for eventful reuse.

GC 2.1

Plan Berlin

For anthropologist Marc Augé, airports are extreme examples of ‘non-place’, his term for contemporary spaces that disrupt the formation of stable social relations, shared histories and distinct identities. Such arguments might suggest that Tempelhof needs humanizing and reembedding into the city. But as a territory within the city and yet apart from it, Tempelhof seems special precisely because of its inhuman scale and its detachment from the everyday. With this in mind, we might see Tempelhof through a different lens: the idea of ‘heterotopia’ developed by theorist Michel Foucault. Heterotopic spaces are, he suggests, those that contain conditions and events that do not fit within normal society. By isolating those events, these sites function to maintain the stability of the established structures and institutions of everyday life outside. Airports may be seen as ‘heterotopic’ in their containment and control of travel as a moment of destabilization. Berlin’s unique development, and its ruptured past, play a significant role in the appearance of the contemporary built environment. Social, political and economic divides all come together to help explain the urban fabric and the organisation of the city. Tempelhof is an important surviving monument of Nazi architecture, both ideologically and physically. To have been challenged in my thinking about such a monumental construction has been hard to take - whilst I thought I understood the basic principles of neoclassicism, the histories and theories that surround and envelop the building have challenged my thinking and the prejudices I have about architectures I know little about.

GC 4.2

Tempelhof

This project encouraged critical exploration of the site’s separation, its difference from the city, and questionned its proposed normalization and integration into everyday life. Might the site’s detachment, its otherness, its status as city within city, as ‘heterotopia’, be a starting point for design, for questioning what the city excludes? The challenge was to analyse the diverse spaces and relationships of the terminal building and explore its very different relations to the city and to the park. Through this, strategies were developed to intensify the use of the now empty building, and rethink the areas that surround it in the northwest corner of the site.

GC 4.2

Tempelhof: Above; interior Below; Exterior

Plan Berlin

Symposium

Since Medieval times, Tempelhof has had a special status in the expanding city: physically isolated, yet enmeshed in national as well as local structures of power and identity. Narratives of oppression and freedom intertwine in histories and memories of Tempelhof and are manifest in its structures. Once property of the crusading Order of Knights Templar, Tempelhof became a major Prussian army exercise ground in the nineteenth century. Despite opening as a commercial airport in the 1920s, it has, for most years of its operation, continued to double as military base.

In 1933 the new Chancellor Adolf Hitler commissioned an imposing, spectacular airport terminal, technologically and functionally ahead of its time, designed to wow. The vast 12m-high, 50m long cantilevered roof and arcing form of Sagebielâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s terminal were designed not only to allow planes to dock undercover at each gate, but so that the Terminal City site could function as a 100,000-capacity stadium for Nazi military parades and air shows. Passengers and baggage disembarked directly from their aircraft into the 1.3km long terminal building, replete with its awesome, soaring, check-in hall.

Located in West Berlin following World War II, Tempelhof became an American Air Force base and famously was one of three airports used to maintain supplies to the Allied sectors of the city during the Soviet blockade of 1948-9. So in the history of Tempelhof, recent developments represent a radical opening up to the outside of what was previously a quasi-independent jurisdiction, a city within a city with its own heavily policed border.

GC 2.1; GC 4.2

In the week following the trip, the studio, as a group, were challenged to collate, supplement, edit and curate this general knowledge, along with the material gathered in Berlin into an installation presentation that communicated our analysis of Tempelhof. This enabled the building up of various resources as a team that would be vital for the rest of the project, and to start to test possible strategies for the site.

GC 1.1; GC 5.3

Plan Berlin

Fragment

Whilst on the trip to Berlin we had to individually seek out one fragment from Tempelhof, to study obsessively in detail. This, through rigorous processing, would serve to become an informing and driving aspect of the response, and of the integration, reuse and re-programming of Tempelhof. I became particularly interested in a certain aspect of the remodelling of the terminal building by the aforementioned Allied troops post-war. In order to reduce the monumentalism of the entrance atrium a ‘false’ concrete ceiling was inserted, dividing the space. The upper area was subsequently cannibalised for its Limestone, which was re-used to ameliorate areas of the terminal deemed more ideologically ‘useful’ and ‘appropriate’ spaces. This cannibalised atrium gives rise to the concept of a self sustaining building system, which quarries itself within the system to provide spaces considered more beneficial to the societies and communities using the system.

GC 2.1; GC 6.3

Plan Berlin

Fragment

Quarrying studies In order to better understand the tectonics and fabric of the building, and especially of the atrium from where the fragment was drawn, a series of exploded studies was undertaken to record and analyse the varied texture and layering of the fragment area. Whilst doing these drawings, the structure of the terminal really became clear, and they became an invaluable tool to help comprehend the intent and scale of the cannibalisation. The contrast of the perfect limestone veneer to the melee of the rubble infill behind stuck me as a metaphor for Tempelhof, as the building with so much to reveal, if only some of the austere and imposing facade were to be ‘quarried’ away.

Following Pages: As a tool to further understand the potential behind the fragment and theories, I experimented with cast models, breaking them into ‘elements’ and photographing the results as ‘Tempelhof X-Rays’. Again, I learnt valuable lessons in the vein of Tschumi along the lines of disassembling a building into parts and reconstituting it again whilst not being bound by historical predecent and the familiar and fond.

GC 2.3

Plan Berlin

Fragment Application

GC 2.2

Plan Berlin

Quarry Techniques

Plan Berlin

Fragment Application

1. channelingsplitting the stone from the quarry

Quarrying studies To compliment the studies of

By understanding the tools and

cannibalisation, I decided to

techniques used to compelte

investigate the methods used

the first cycle, I applied them

to construct Tempelhof in

to the second cycle, as a set of

1933. The concept of the ‘first

defined rules and parameters

quarry cycle’ as the removal

to work within - channeling,

of stone from the ground, and

planing, ripping and moving

the ‘second quarry cycle’ as the

the stone become an almost

removal of the stone from the

theatrical process.

building played strongly here, and drove the exploration.

GC 2.3

Plan Berlin

The process of drawing this set

in the design thesis, explored

of rules, and understanding the

the theories of intertextuality

potential theoretical concepts

in Architecture. The idea that in

behind my fragment were a

fact nothing is original, but in

new framework of working

fact inspired or influenced by a

for me, and really enabled me

number of outside factors.

to explore the concept to its full potential at later stages, a

This is absolutely the strongest

process supplemented by the

on my work, especially in this

Tools For Thinking essay, which,

project, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a fruitful

inspired by the themes raised

and exciting journey thus far.

GC 2.3

Group Masterplanning

Connect: Disconnect Working in groups of three, an urban masterplan was generated, composed of the essences of the fragments of the members of the group. The aim: to reconnect Tempelhof to the fractuous, heterogeneous surrounding neighbourhoods using a FORUM, composed of three programmes: Thinking/Making/Eating and three corresponding tactics: Gathering columns/Signage/Neighbourhood Quarrying

GC 5.3

Plan Berlin

â&#x20AC;&#x153;These methods led to a process of route formation and urban densification reconnecting the old airport terminal to the city by breaking up (undensification of) the mass of the building to mask its monumentalityâ&#x20AC;?

Group Masterplanning

Plan Berlin

It was through breaking the terminal down and studying the small

To have spent so much time working in a team has been invaluable

constituent parts that comprise its tectonics that I got to thinking

this semester too. The chance to learn from my peers, to have

about the way in which Tempelhof fits (or unfits) into its context,

to evaluate their techniques, to critically appraise the work

and how it currently distinctly operates as a city within a city, a

of my colleagues, and to have the same done to me has done

heterotopia, whilst simultaneously trying to present itself as a key

my confidence wonders. Humility was always something I

ingredient of Berlin as a piece of urban fabric.

struggled with in my work. To be told I should change something I had defined as correct was a pill to swallow, but through

I became interested in the relationship of the heterogeneous

encouragement and a personal detachment from my work, I have

surrounding neighbourhoods to the hetertopic terminal building,

been able to adapt myself and my conflicts of interests into a

and through groupwork began seeking a way in which to unite the

position where my work can develop for the better.

two. To connect the disconnected.

GC 1.1; GC 4.2; GC 5.3; GA 2.2

Application

Process Exploration of facade, column and departure hall treatments, relating to the quarrying techniques explored in the fragment studies, and taking into account the group masterplan of reconnection to the city through the movement of material

The process of combining the fragment theories with the group masterplan enabled me to begin to break the terminal building down into workable parts, freeing me to examine the material of parts again. Through sketching inparticular I found it helpful to begin to determine rules and tactics for treating the hall and columns

Plan Berlin

Application

Application This series of drawings in itself sums up the main theoretical approach to the treatment of the terminal via my fragment, and through the influence of intertextuality. The basic process involves the tactical removal of various matierals from the terminal atrium and hall, and the subsequent cannibalising of facades and treatments from the local neighbourhoods to act as replacement of those materials, in order to creat new community spaces. I have been challenged strongly on my understanding of heterotopia, but this task really enabled me to begin to examine where the heterotpoia of Tempelhof went wrong. To disassemble a monolithic structure piece by piece using a series of rules, and to replace it with elements of varying scales, materials, textures and styles enables the framework to be challenged and revealed from the inside out.

GC 2.1; GC 6.3

Plan Berlin

Process Reflections

It was important in this situation to maintain a recognition of the urban fabric, and not to get too tied into detail, and maintaining the balance between the intricacies of the quarrying of neighbourhoods and the overall urban impact was a hard point for me to tackle. I would love to be more thorough in selecting facade elements, restaurants, food and people, in order to create a true intertextual intervention:

â&#x20AC;&#x153;To have a sequence and to be rigorousâ&#x20AC;?

Plan Berlin

Plans

Plan Berlin

Model

Plan Berlin

Section

Output Reflections Despite the volume and quality of final work, with which I am

I am aware that through mypursuit of a design process driven bby

happy overall, there are a number of key drawings which I feel

perhaps more social issues, I have used tectonics and theory

are missing. I would like to have produced an inhabited section

as the focus of a project. I fell like this adds to my progress and

through an area of the quarried facades to demonstrate the user-

to my learning as I have incorporated in all projects a complete

orientated nature of the project, and the manners in which it aims

understanding and grasp of the proposal from the urban scale

to return the heterotopia to the neighbourhoods and people that

to the personal scale, from the integration of theory to the

surround it and partake in its presence every day. I would also

integration of materiality.

think that the processes undertakern could perhaps have been more user-led at times, as I feel I concentrated heavily on the technical and tectonic elements of the project, maybe sidetracked by the fragment and intertextuality

GC 5.1; GA 2.1

Plan Berlin

CONNECT - LONG SITE SECTION SCALE 1:200

Images

Plan Berlin

Buildings, I have learnt, should fit in not only physically, but

I am pleased to have eventually come up with a highly individual

also ideologically. This does not mean they should conform to

process of ‘casting facades’ in order to represent variations in

everyone’s thinking, but that there should be an underlying idea

surroundings, and as a sign to point to neighbourhoods. The

of what contextual relationships would best benefit the society

opportunity to develop a project with complexity and depth to its

roundabouts. The concept behind the group masterplan that

manifesto, where a design decision can be justifed by the weight of

developed was for each neighbourhood to take the ‘product’ it was

research, reading, speculations and context behind it is a new one

seen to be best at, and to share it unconditionally in a Forum with

to me. I have enjoyed the process of incubating a design that only

the other neighbours.

flourished in the final week, but yet seemed to easily emerge from within the terminal’s structure and rhythm.

The process has helped me to see how such an ideologically and historically strong and rich building is still able to fit into diverse and juxtaposed surroundings. It may be that the solution must be radical. It may not be over popular with everyone, it may interfere with previous ideologies. But I have learnt to be bold with interventions.

GC 1.1; GC 1.3; GA 2.7

Criteria

GC & GA Criteria Terminal City

GC 1.1

GC 2.3

Prepare and present building design projects of diverse scale,

The application of appropriate theoretical concepts to studio

complexity and type in a variety of contexts, using a range of

design projects, demonstrating a reflective and critical approach:

media, and in response to a brief: The opportunity arose to explore the theories of intertextuality, There is, presented in Terminal City, a design project on a huge

the exchanges of materials and the transplantation of forms.

scale; something that has daunted me somewhat, having never

I have become very interested in these theses, regarding the

even considered designing on such an urban level, let alone

concepts of originality, and the possibility that arises to challenge

whilst intervening in an existing building. The project presented

the environments and situations we find ourselves surrounded by

itself externally as complex, and dealing with the vast airport

simply by placing objects out of context.

terminal at Tempelhof at first left me missing the wood for the trees, so to speak.

Subconscious understanding through movement thus became

Once I had managed to get to grips with the concept and theory

a major theme throughout the terminal intervention, with the

of a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;city within an cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, and with the help of the symposium

re-uniting and re-understanding of these varied cultures a key

activity, however, I began to gain a richer understanding of how

theme, through the intertextual relationships set up with facades,

Tempelhof as a building worked, and how it related in itself to

materials and cuisine.

both the bounding field and the neighbourhoods surrounding it.

GC 2.1

GC4.2

The cultural, social and intellectual histories, theories and

The influence of the design and development of cities, past and

technologies that influence the design of buildings

present on the contemporary built environment

That a building played host to so many important and vital events,

Neighbourhoods cropped up as villages around certain specific

in such a variety of spectrums, from nazi prison camps to airlift

centres of local interest, such as churches (kreuzberg) military

freedom, none of which it was originally intended for, have taught

purposes (neukolln) and aviation (schoenberg). The inward looking

me to treat research more respectfully. I previously found it easy

nature of these communities, and the specialised natures they

to make my decisions based on personal feelings and site analysis,

offered mean Tempelhof, in the middle, acts as a barrier preventing

but to have learnt to read a building through its physical and

any future integration and conversations between these cultures.

non-physical evolution over time is a theme I hope to pursue and explore further, as it is of great interest to me.

The research I have done into these histories has had an important effect on my work and my manifesto. The significance of understanding design and development of areas surrounding contemporary built environments had previously passed me by, but I have, I feel, honed the skill of reading the city and looking beyond the styles and forms.

Plan Berlin

GC 5.3 The way in which buildings fit into their local context

GA 2.1 Ability to generate complex design proposals showing understanding of current architectural issues, originality in the

GC 6.3 The potential impact of building projects on existing and proposed communities

application of subject knowledge and, where appropriate, to test new hypotheses and speculations I was concerned, upon commencing the masters course, that my theoretical ideas would not be up to the required level, that I would not be developing enough depth in my projects. I’m glad to

I have become interested this semester in how a new urban fabric can envelop the ‘untouchable’ monumentality of the old. How a conversation between peoples and cultures should be desired above cultural loss and heterogeneous societies. There is no sure way of telling the ‘impact’ that such conceptual

have been able to prove myself wrong. I think I’ve gradually grown in confidence over the semester. The selection and evolution of a strong fragment have helped me, doubtless, and the readings undertaken in parallel with the project have informed the hypotheses and directions I took my thinking in.

projects may have upon communities, but I have felt challenged in having to come up with my own manifestos, by discovering theories, utilising new techniques, and challenging building types, forms and functions. I have been pushed beyond my comfort zone in having to develop a highly conceptual strategy which has been informed by what began as a single fragment. A priority in this area is to further my understanding of ideological contexts. Of an ever developing relationship between peoples

GA 2.2

and their built surroundings. No one theory can stand forever. The manner in which people adapt, change, and recycle such impositions fascinates me, and has driven me on through this project.

Ability to evaluate and apply a comprehensive range of visual, oral and written media to test, analyse, critically appraise and explain design proposals The sustained and varied pressure applied to representational techniques has challenged my methods of describing and explaining my designs. The combinations of hand sketching, casting, modeling, and CAD all further encouraged me to explore more through new techniques and ideas. I found the challenge hard at first - the opportunity to design, compile and curate our own symposium exhibition to describe Tempelhof was testing, and rightly there were negatives and positives. But most importantly it gave me the confidence to test infographics, curating, video editing and representational media.

Intro

Unbuilt Berlin Towards a New Expressionism

The ‘real world’ is something we often hear about: it is claimed

The unbuilt, whether proposed or demolished, can be a potent

as the place of rational decisions, of weighty problems and of

reminder of another reality: a past very different from our own,

efficient solutions. This ‘real’ world is important in architecture, to

an unrealised future, a utopia we can no longer imagine. For

a world of regulations, gravity, risk and calculation. But what about

architects, unbuilt buildings are apparitions of other systems,

architecture beyond the real?

styles, standards and priorities, other ways of seeing, other ways of understanding space and materials. Nostalgia is always

By looking at the unbuilt as a way to think about building, this

a temptation when tackling the unbuilt; more productively, it

project considers how the ‘unreal’ – as well as the surreal and the

confronts us with the instability and particularity of our own

hyperreal – is always present amongst the fabric of our ‘real’ cities.

‘reality’, helping us to understand it critically, prompting us to reconsider how different it might be.

From Piranesi’s Carceri, to Tatlin’s tower, from Terragni’s Danteum to the monumental proposals of Étienne-Louis Boullée, unbuilt

As explored previously in the essay on Intertextuality, I know that

projects continue to have a significant effect on architects’ work,

architects draw inspiration from others, however much they might

on the spaces we can imagine. Long-demolished projects, like the

try to pretend otherwise - that all ‘new’ ideas emerge through the

Euston Arch in London or the Stadtschloß in Berlin continue to

culture and environment in which we work.

haunt their sites, inescapable in any attempt to redevelop them; on our high streets, as in theme parks, architectural ghosts are

This project presented a ‘ghost’ building, with the challenge of

called forth to produce a ‘hyperreality’. The ghosts of unbuilt

exploring the world in which it was produced and the one that it

buildings are influential in shaping cities, but also our experience

stands for, re-imagining its material qualities, and, through this,

of them.

proposing some form of critical reincarnation.

GC 2.2; GC 5.3

Unbuilt Berlin

Brief

Towards a New Expressionism: an Exploitation of Culture

Expressionism imagines a new future.

Berlin – the preeminent centre of metropolitan culture in Europe, plays host to some of Expressionisms’ vanguards. Artists,

Expressionism takes the forms of the past and proposes a rapid,

architects, filmmakers, actors, operate within the city to transform

material advancement to counter a bleak, dark and dehumanizing

parts of aesthetic and architectural culture towards a visioning of

world of remorseless industrialization and urbanization.

a future world. Industry and technology push a concomitant rise in the potentials of material culture, and forms – the complexity

Expressionism presupposes that the Dark and the Light live

of which had rarely been seen in the industrial city before – begin,

together.

along with the lone traffic-light on Potsdamer Platz, to subtly shift the culture of the Hauptstadt.

Expressionism proposes that aesthetic forms taken for granted

However some ideas never left the drawing board, and others –

need not be. That the urban environment is both cataclysmic and

realized in a moment of fiscal extravagance – left the womb of

open to revolution. That ways of living and the spaces of the past

the architect, only to have their demise hastened by the forces of

are up for renegotiation.

fascism across the continent. This is the legacy we are left with - a city spread with ghosts of a future imagined in fragments.

Expressionism sets forth a world view. A place of material, structural and technological ingenuity. A ghost is presented, with stories of dreams fleetingly lived, In the immediate aftermath of the First World War, and the

or realities momentarily grasped. It comes complete with its

German Revolution of 1918 the established political classes are

own raison d’etre – its own purpose in the world which can be

in a constant state of reorganization and radically competing

discerned from its spatial, structural, and programmatic intent.

ideologies are starting to exercise their muscle across Europe. Engaging with the Ghost, and responding on its (imagined or real) site in a way that reacts to the content of the Ghost’s architectural Expressionism reacts.

and tectonic narrative will contain its own story, and its own

It forms alternatives.

rationale. The uncovering of these is vital, and leads to a proposal

It proposes new mechanisms for ways of living, ways of building,

that reacts to the programme of the Ghost, re-inhabits the site and

ways of painting, sculpting, dressing, acting. It is Europe’s avant

context, and responds in a way that makes a provocation to the

garde.

past and a statement of intent to the future.

GC 2.1; GC 3.1

Unbuilt Berlin

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Expressionism is Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s avant-garde. A provocation to the past and a statement of intent to the futureâ&#x20AC;?

I had to think hard about the ghost, and what it represented in the grand scheme of Berlin and Potsdamer Platz inparticular. The changed scale of the project, looking more at the micro than the macro, and the change of approach - more hands on, material, and involved - have been added challenges. Although the overall scale may be similar, the shift in thinking from urban scale to 1:10 detail has been challenging, as has the shift in site, and ideology.

GC 1.1

Exploration

Potsdamer Platz; 1929 Site of the Ghost As the burgeoning metropolitan culture of Berlin swells in popularity, it is only natural that a hotspot should emerge. At the most prestigious and important intersection in Berlin Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first traffic light is unveiled. Cafe and nightlife culture swiftly follow, bringing boutique stores, and becoming home to the bourgeois elite, high societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finest thinkers, and fine design and architecture. The site, for me, presents itself as an exciting opportunity to explore this culture, and to live the life of these groundbreaking cultural and technological centres. Potsdamer Platz was more than a zone for fine dining - it became the place to be seen. The place to have a business. The place to shop.

Unbuilt Berlin

The Cafe Josty sits on the site - the ultimate cafe to the avant garde, the successful, and to Berlinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most eminent and elite thinkers. It became widely regarded as the birthplace of Expressionism itself, and of the New Objectivity. Grand affluent architecture, shading trees, bustling trams, and high culture all collide. The intellectual and the high-tech, in a bourgeois setting Being able to investiage the Cafe Josty, and the ideology, people and architecture behind it, I have been able to better understand the principles of Expressionism much better how the thinkers would have seen the technology emerging around them, the efficiency of the new metropolis of Berlin, and contrasting it with the architecture and built environment surrounding them, which, although extravagant, must have seemed old fashioned, and already out of date,

GC 2.2; GC 5.3

Exploration

The Haus am Josty Designed by Anton Erwin Gutkind in the midst of a skyscraper

Aesthetically the Haus am Josty can be seen as a large, brash,

boom, it was proposed as part of a competition to re-plan and

obvious building, curved to exaggerate the streamlining fashion of

re-design Potsdamer Platz in order to increase its efficiency as a

the day. A statement of intent on the site of the old Platz.

major traffic intersection.

The physical shape contrasts strongly with the existing Weimar

it would have been one of Berlinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first skyscrapers, and would have

period architecture, and in scale it leaves no sympathy.

appeared as monstrously out of place on the suave Platz. The groundbreaking, towering, steel and glass further alienate Of particular interest to me was the significance of the Haus

the historic Platz, and would have clashed strongly with

being proposed as a direct replacement for the Cafe Josty.

Schinkelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gatehouses across the road.

Expressionism subduing its beginnings. Exploiting its beginnings.

It involved experimentation into new material technologies, and the structural potentials they hold,

Unbuilt Berlin

Upon analysis, The Haus am Josty delivers a number of elements that contribute to its impact The Shock of the New The Commercialisation of Public Art and Architecture Cantilevers, and Structures of Luxur Opaqueness and Transparency in Materials The Association of Height and View with Power and Wealth

Levels of Power

Commercialism&

Combinations

Communication Strips of commercialism. The

The decorated shed - A process

vertical invasionof public art

Atop - the ‘elite’ new - a pleasantly shocking experience

and architecture in a further

First and foremost a structure;

expression of power and

Cladding and signage are

communication.

added to declare its purpose.

Below - the ordinary ‘new’ - a

It engages conveniently and

breathtakingstructure and

quickly with a mass audience

material treatment

Counteracts the intellectual agendas of the extinct Cafe Josty, with an interesting play on the role of efficient, high tech materials in a consumer society

GC 1.2

of weightnessness

Merz Method

An analysis of the Ghost was undertaken in accordance with

I decided upon an examination

Kurt Schwittersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Merz method;

of the relationship between

Using found materials to

structure and facade treatment

convey a thought process and

using contemporary, out of

theme, applying the analysis

place materials, combined with

already undertaken of the

a response to the removal of

ghost.

existing cultures. The result - stark, shocking, radical, and juxtaposed.

To the right, a key catalyst image, created in response to the ghost, describes the imposition upon the Platz of a new aesthetic, and the beginning of the end for the cutural environment that had become so important. Cafe Josty is seen behind the imposing, imprisoning structure of the Haus am Josty

Engaging with the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ghostâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; building through different mediums enabled me to get a grip on the potential physicality of an unknown building, by reimagining the materiality, tectonics and spaces. I have found it a really useful technique inthis instance, under time pressure, to both remodel the ghosts structure and physicality through scavenged materials and also to conside its place theoretically and intellectually through drawing, representing the ghost and its predecessor.

At first I was sceptical of the tasks, but as the project has progressed I have come to see more and more the intentions and usefulness behind them. As a critical tool I definitely think I need to use my drawing skills more then just through simple sketching - an emotive. well thought through drawing has the potential to be able to become an inspirational image for the duration of a project!

GA 2.2; GA 3.2; GA 3.3

Unbuilt Berlin

Exploration

Potsdamer Platz; 2014 Site of the Ghost The Platz is full of modern highrises, following the fall of the Berlin wall. Packed with offices, banks, shopping malls and hotels, it is more popular with visitors, and with international corporations than with the local population and suave culture of old. It therefore leaves itself feeling isolated - a steel and glass island within historic Berlin. The area of the old Platz generally remains, but the urban grain is vastly different, and the Cafe Josty is replaced by a busy highway.

The site today; a symbol of recovery for Berlin

Potsdamer Platz; 2016 Re-Site of the Ghost Amongst the high rises emerges a complex based upon and around the Cafe Josty, created through the themes of intertextuality, and the weaving of buildings and space. A real challenge for me in this project has been the context, both historically and physically, that helps to create a space, and so I turned to the lessons learned about context in the Tempelhof project to help me out - decontextualising and recontextualising in order to challenge heteropia and lack of sense of place.

Unbuilt Berlin

Exploration

Kollhoff Tower:

BahnTower:

Steel frame tower with brick rainscreen cladding.

Steel frame tower with innovative glass rainscreen

Contains high-end law and finance offices, such as

cladding.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

DeutschBahn company (DB)

Home

the

head

offices

the

Unbuilt Berlin

Sony Centre:

VoxStrasse Buildings:

Steel frame and rainscreen cladding, contains the

Slightly uninteresting rainscreen cladding facade, containing the Neurologischen Praxis, a large

Filmhaus, an impressive museum dedicated to the

Neurology research clinic

history of film in Germany

Potsdamer Platz - 2014 Image shows all four buildings surrounding the site. The canyon-like void between is the site, and as such provides its own conditions, restrictions and constraints. I have found the site itself a very challenging aspect of the project, and undertook a great amount of study both historically and contemporally. I managed to learn a lot about place, though, and the relationships between what was and what is - the raison dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;etre for the current buildings.

GC 5.3

Brief Writing

Five â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Fliesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; As a result of my investigations into Potsdamer Platz, I discovered five culturally rich and important spaces from Potsdamer Platz including, and similar to in ideals, the Cafe Josty. The spaces spoke to me of the glories of a decadent time gone by, where opulance was attained at any cost, to create places to be seen, to be spotted. I started to wonder, again, in the same vein as the previous project, about intertextuality, contextuality and displacement - how have these spaces affected the current Platz? If reintroduced could they affect the current Platz? How would they do that? How would they relate to the current Platz? I began to draw strongly upon the themes from the first project, but with more of an emphasis on materiality and structure, to answer these questions.

Cafe Josty

Haus Vaterland

GC 7.1

Voxhaus

Bierhaus Siechen

Weinhaus Rheingold

Unbuilt Berlin

Theory

Fly Theory - Intertextuality Revisited The spaces, then, having been saved, and moved, as places to be seen, are appropriated, stolen and ‘trapped’ in a series of ‘cocoons’ and ‘webs’ by the Platz’s new commercial multinational giants in their glitzy shiny towers. These ‘cocoons’ act as life-support machines, or incubators, designed to sustain the cultural capital of the flies as long as possible, creating trophy spaces for the businesses and their clients to showcase and interact with the public. Through the re-examination of the themes of intertextuality, I decided that the previous programmes of the spaces should define their relationship to their captors, and hence their new locations and new programmes within the project. Intertextuality considers that behind buildings lies a web of complex intersections that demand reading, each time differently. That there exists a sphere of influence affected by a network of systems, codes, and traditions established by previous works. It emphasises the importance of the opinion and vision of the individual in ‘writing’ and ‘reading’ the building. So, once we approach architecture in an intertextual frame of mind buildings begin to open themselves up to examination. The concept of a dynamic relationship between the singular object with multiple individuals certainly becomes more realistic, and thus Jennifer Bloomer’s plea for a reading of buildings as having been woven opens our eyes. I therefore approached the appropriated cultural ‘fly’ spaces deliberately as woven, intertextual objects, assuming, as per Bloomer, that “the building is a document of something that happened. A document of great transparency, because it is the concretisation of what happened, mediated by the historian. Simultaneously it is a document of extreme opacity because of its use as a functional object over time; because of its consumptionappropriation over time – the building serves as a model for other buildings; and, the nature of this consumption being historically more appropriative than allusive, because of a difficulty in ‘reading’ it as a single document.” Critically, I saw the flies as more than just the original uses intended by their architects, users and clients... and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of re-imagining them, as documents and artefacts. I don’t think I would change anything about this initial approach, due to the possibilities it gave me to explore the programmatic and experiential qualities of the spaces, and the chance it gave me to put my interest in intertextuality into further practice.

GC 2.1; GC 7.1; GA 2.7

GC 8.1; GC 8.2

Unbuilt Berlin

Structure

GC 8.2

Unbuilt Berlin

Lobbies of context buildings

Linking lobbies laterally creates framework

+ 22m + 28m

+ 13m + 32m

+ 18m

Exit heights related to interior uses

ORGANISATION

The diagrams above, and on the following pages, demonstrate the locating of the flies on the site, between the existing buildings. By re-reading the programmes of the flies, it is possible to marry them to an existing company, to re-imagine their usefulness, and to go beyond the initial intended programme and to intertextualise the original within a weaving on site.

GA 2.3

+ 32m

Structure

1. Lobbies of context buildings identified 2. Linking lobbies laterally defines a framework 3. Framework defines optimum cocoon locations 4. Vertical circulation and structure defined by site parameters

Unbuilt Berlin

Sony

Sony Neuro

PwC

Neuro

PwC

Haus Vaterland

Voxhaus

Coney island style entertainment

Mass communication & innovative technology

PwC’s Casino/Advice Haus Vaterland Coney Island style entertainment

PwC’s Casino/Advice Haus Vaterland

Bierhau

Sony’s public demonstration expo Voxhaus

Allegorical prod

Neurological ret

Mass communication & innovative technology

Sony’s public demonstration expo Voxhaus

Coney island style entertainment

Mass communication & innovative technology

PwC’s Casino/Advice

Sony’s public demonstration expo

CONT

This series of drawings combines the contextual buildings and their companies, the flies, and the organisational network to define a logical order, location and programme for each space

Structure

DBDB

Neuro Neuro

us Voxhaus

nnovative cation & innovative technologytechnology

onstration blic demonstration expo expo

PwC PwC

Bierhaus Siechen

Cafe Josty

Allegorical product of commerce

Birthplace of expressionism

Neurological retail therepy centre BierhausBierhaus Siechen Siechen

Library for a new expressionism Cafe Josty Cafe Josty

AllegoricalAllegorical product ofproduct commerce of commerce

BirthplaceBirthplace of expressionism of expressionism

Neurological Neurological retail therapy retailcentre therapy centre

Library for Library a newfor expressionism a new expressionism

CONTEXT CONTEXT

Weinhaus We R

Technical Technic atmosp

DBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s control DBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sroom control for ro s

Unbuilt Berlin

The process of placing flies on site, and marrying them to function and corporation,

took lots of drawing, and redrawing over iterations of sites. I really learned from it as a process, of the importance of considering the context of the site, and how that affects the size, shape and volumes. Although often frustrating as a task, the ultimate reward in recognising each fly as a place and destination taught me a valuable lesson in contextual

Weinhaus Rheingold

skills, and the further

Technical atmospheric control

application of weaving ones

DBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s control room for u-bahn station and offices Weinhaus Rheingold Technical atmospheric control

DBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s control room for station and building

GC 1.1; GC 1.3; GC 5.3; GC 7.2

buildings into site, rather than simply placing out of context.

Structure

Public and private circulation strategies - another level of complexity in re-interpreting the flies and the ghost through intertextual methods - reimagining the original circulation patterns and challenging the public/private spaces involved.

GC 1.1

Unbuilt Berlin

Structure and Technical

From the inception of the

I think I could perhaps push

concept idea for the project,

my knowledge and exploration

involving cocoons, elevation

further, and further challenge

and decontextualising,

the very notions of my thesis

structure was a key

in respect to the limits of

consideration. These early

structure and material. The

sketches, and the following

following through of a strategy

diagrams and details, indicate

from macro to micro scale was

the thinking behind the

also challenging, and definitely

integration of this factor

something for me to work on,

into the project, and how

and improve on.

itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attempted along the key themes

GC 1.2; GA 2.3

Structure

STRUCTURE GC 8.2

GC 1.2

Unbuilt Berlin

Structure

Integrating all the different strands of the entire project whilst attempting to maintain the key initial themes was definitely a challenge for me. Whilst I am happier with some aspects than with others, the structural aspect is one that I think has been most enjoyable and rewarding in taking it from research to integration. I went through many different strategies and explorations to end up in the position that I have, and learnt a great deal about emerging material technologies, especially about carbon fibre, and the potential applications it offers. However, I decided the approach undertaken was the most practical solution to the problem at hand, and the most likely to be employed by the corporations in the event of the thesis being reality.

GA 2.3

GC 5.1; GC 9.1

Unbuilt Berlin

HVAC

Servicing strategies were

serviced. I would have liked to

one of the integrated areas

have found a precedent where

I feel I would have liked to

a similar system is employed,

have investigated more, and

as I felt perhaps a little out of

resolved in more detail. Whilst

my depth whilst trying to detail

I am aware that I have the solid

and integrate it.

basis for a strategy, and the concept of parasitic servicing is

This being said, I have learnt

plausible in this occasion, I feel

valuable lessons, through the

like I have not gone into enough

integration of the servicing

depth to show how the strategy

within the structure, and

would work on site, or how

through meetings and advisory

each individual â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;flyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; would be

sessions with professionals

GC 9.1; GC 9.2

Unbuilt Berlin

1. Existing Buildings - HVAC systems analysed for unused capacity 2. Services - Parasitically used and delivered via walkway bridges 3. Control Centre - Regulation, control and monitoring of flies 4. Services - Transported within structure of walkways and lift cores 5. Flies - Carefully regulated

SERVICING

GC 9.2

Programme

+32m: DEUTSCHE BAHN’S CONTROL ROOM - Atmospheric & Enviromental control for building - Control for Potsdamer Platz S-Bahn and U-Bahn - Public interaction and learning

+28m: DEUTSCHE BAHN’S & PwC’S CREATIVITY LIBRARY - Building’s private interaction space - Library for a new Expressionism - Research into cultural exploitation

+18m: SONY’S PUBLIC DEMONSTRATION EXPO - Research into mass communication through technology - Public showroom & demonstration booths - Private testing & broadcast booths +22m: NEUROLOGICAL RETAIL THERAPY CENTRE - Manipulated retail therapy through nerves - Research spaces & advice - Direct public link to Neurology centre

+13m: PwC’S CASINO AND FINANCIAL ADVICE - Public gambling floor - financial irresponsibilty - Investment and advice rooms - Private link to PwC offices

EXPLODED ISOMETRIC not to scale

Describing a building through an axonometric drawing was a new skill for me to learn in this project, and one I decided to take on myself, as I felt it the best way to tell the tale of the complex levels and circulation, rather than the conventional approach of a plan and section. I am really happy with the outcomes, and feel I have learnt a valuable future skill through this - the main axo I think definitely does its job as a central descriptive drawing.

GC 1.1; GA 2.2

Unbuilt Berlin

Programme

GC 1.1

Unbuilt Berlin

Detail

The following is a series of descriptive detail drawings, showing structure, material and servicing

Brickwork - to be rebuilt around new strut

Primary structure of Kolhoff tower

Insulated bolted connection to existing

Structural steel strut to support flies and cocoons. Size varies according to loading

JUNCTION OF STRUT TO KOLHOFF TOWER SCALE 1:20

Clip system for mesh

Steel mesh finish to floor and under handrails

450mm structural steel truss

Visible services void within truss

STUDY OF STRUCTURAL WALKWAY SCALE 1:20

GC 8.1; GC 8.3; GA 2.3

Structural steel strut to support roof truss.

Steel mesh floor finish

450x150mm steel truss structure

80mm insulation faced with weather resistive barrier Hollow core bricks fixed with rebar and tied back to steel frame

JUNCTION OF WALKWAY TO KOLHOFF TOWER SCALE 1:10

Cocoon structure behind Fly wall buildup

HVAC unit(s)

Ductwork broken through Fly wall, sealed and channeled down through walkway structure

Services run visibly under walkway mesh floor

Fly floor buildup

EXAMPLE SERVICES DETAIL AT CONTROL ROOM SCALE 1:20

GC 9.2; GC 9.3

Unbuilt Berlin

Atmosphere

PwC’S CASINO AND ADVICE CENTRE

A challenge for me, for

re-imagining their uses and

- by combining sketchup and

this project, was to convey

environments.

stock images, I feel I have

atmosphere and environment,

It took much experimentation

managed to express the

as a part of the requirements.

with representational

interior environments I would

This was particularly difficult,

techniques to take me out

have liked to.

I found, due to the fact that

of my comfort zone and try

I was reusing the ‘flies’, and

photomontages as a method

SONY’S TECHNOLOGY EXPO

GA 2.7

Unbuilt Berlin

DEUTSCHEBAHNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CONTROL CENTRE

Regardless of this, I do feel

in the nature of the project,

like the project lacked overall

as existing spaces with new

montages undertaken can

in a sense of atmosphere

functions, trapped in high tech

appear a little flat and bland on

and experience, and I would

cocoons!

occasion, and, being critical,

have liked to have taken more

I can appreciate that the

NEUROLOGICAL RETAIL THERAPY CENTRE

would love to do a better job!

time to explore the potential that I feel remains unlocked

GC 9.1

Criteria

GC & GA Criteria Express

GC 1.1 Prepare and present building design projects of diverse scale,

GC 5.3 The way in which buildings fit into their local context:

complexity and type in a variety of contexts, using a range of media, and in response to a brief: This project, for me, became all about the local context. Both contemporary and historial. The ways in which the Ghost building Partaking in a project in the same city, but with a very different

responded to and clashed with context, the ways in which it

brief, agenda and aim, has allowed me to challenge my

eradicated context, the way in which the contemporary context

preconceptions, ideas and standpoints. I had to think hard about

defined the programme, organisation, structure, and circulation

the ghost, and what it represented in the grand scheme of Berlin

of my building. Much of my time, effort, investigation and learning

and Potsdamer Platz inparticular. The changed scale of the

from this project has been in regards to context, and how it plays

project, looking more at the micro than the macro, and the change

such a vital role in influencing the built environment.

of approach - more hands on, material, and involved - have been added challenges.

To have designed a building based almost entirely around context has been very helpful, and to slowly and painstakingly learn how to design so carefully around context has been very useful.

GC 1.2 Understand the constructional and structural systems, the environmental strategies and the regulatory requirements that apply to the design and construction of a comprehensive design project:

GC 7.1 The need to critically review precedents relevant to the function, organisation and technological strategy of design proposals:

Since the very nature was for this to be a project focused on material, detail and technical richness, in relation to a context and

Throughout the project, I have constantly needed to refer to detail,

a given theme, the fulfilment of this point is well covered. I have

structure and organisational precedents, in order to inform and develop

challenged myself with non-standard details, methods, strategies

my understanding of how to form strategies and organise public and

and construction.

private relationships. I should, perhaps, have been more critical.

GC 2.2 The influence of history and theory on the spatial, social, and technological aspects of architecture:

The ideology of the Haus am Josty’s imposition upon Potsdamer Platz, and the material and structural ‘wow’ factor that it brought, were key drivers in my realisation and understanding of a Haus am Josty for the current day. Understanding expressionism’s influence upon the architect, and the thoughts, processes and dreams which that involved were all key to the re-interpretation of theory and strategy implementation.

Unbuilt Berlin

GC 8.1

GA 2.2

The investigation, critical appraisal and selection of alternative

Ability to evaluate and apply a comprehensive range of visual, oral

structural, constructional and material systems relevant to

and written media to test, analyse, critically appraise and explain

architectural design.

design proposals:

GC 8.2 The analysis of the Ghost, a key part of the project, which formed Strategies for building construction, and ability to integrate knowl-

the basis for the entire thesis and strategy, was formed around

edge of structural principles and construction techniques:

analysing images, texts, context and history. The critical analysis of the programme, structure, ideology and context directly led me onto the formation of all my ideas, and provided a point to return

Again, with such a structurally, materially and detail-rich project,

to throughout the project.

this criteria was unavoidable. I have, for a large part, developed and investigated bespoke details, specific to the thesis and context of my own project. This involved a large amount of critical investigation of current techniques, and adaptation of the norms in order to be able to achieve my own needs. There is certainly room for improvement in this area, and further material and structural investigations will give me greater depth and knowledge.

GA 2.3 Ability to evaluate materials, processes and techniques that apply to complex architectural designs and building construction, and to integrate these into practicable design proposals:

Throughout the evolution of this design, there have been many experiments, processes, and investigations of material, structure

GC 9.1

and precedents. While not neccessarily leading onto anything visibily integrated, these apparent â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;failuresâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; have been part of a wider evaluation of technique and materials that have driven a

Principles associated with designing optimum visual, thermal and

core theme and idea behind my design. My ability to investigate,

acoustic environments.

sift, distill, utilise and then discard many complex processes,

GC 9.2 Strategies for building services, and ability to integrate these in a design project.

and integrate the outcomes into a final proposal has been vastly improved throughout the range of scales I have had to tackle, I could definitely learn how to process information a lot faster, and to be more bold in my investigations, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m happy with how the application has always trickled back down in the returning link to the Haus am Josty and my proposed practicable design.

Through investigating the programme, structure and details for this project, I had to associate with the requirements of the space, and the various atmospheric needs for users, and for the ambience. There is still scope for work - I think especially acoustially and visually - but I am happy with the development of my thinking throughout this project.

100

Stage 6

101

stage 6

Charette

102

Westway Study Trip

104

Design Thesis; Infrastructures; â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Public Convenienceâ&#x20AC;?

108

Optional Path; Linked Research

175

Construction and Management

218

Covering a wide range of challenging theories and hands on practicality, with practical professional studies in the mix too, Stage 6 aimed to complete and build on the experience gained previously. From being challenged to argue my own thesis, to building a permanent structure with a client, it has it all!

102

Charette 09/14 Drink the Bar Dry

As a short, collaborative introduction to the year, the Charette programme endeavours to develop inter-school and inter-year relationships, as well as providing a relaxed environment to explore creative solutions to a fun brief: Drink the Bar dry was responsible for organising the end-of-week refreshments in an exciting and thoughtful manner. In the spirit of sustainability, we immediately decided to use paper cups, ordering 20,000, that have been re-used throughout the year in the departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coffee bar. To make the installation more interactive and provoking, I studied the work of Tara Donovan, who uses paper cups in her art. As a group we came up with the concept representing the publicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perception of Newcastleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s architecture as a 3-D bar graph, venturing into the city and interacting with the population I learnt valuable teamworking skills as one of the two final year students responsible for organising and rallying the younger years, and enjoyed the time pressure the project exerted - I have definitely learnt from last year, and my organisational and decision making skills have benefitted hugely.

GC 3.2

103

Charette

Infrastructures Theory

104

a40 Westway Study Trip 10/14 Concrete Island and Infrastructure Systems

As a precursor to the Infrastructures thesis project it was

Before making the trip, I studied background texts to give both an

neccessary to visit the A40 in West London, where the project

insight into the urban realm to be encountered and the theoretical

was to be sited. With a preferred infrastructure in mind, and with a

ideas around infrastructures and their territories - infrastructures

strong focus on systems, networks and layering, the trip was made

often seem to create a very specific sense of ‘place’, or a unique

with an open mind yet a narrow slant on a specific subject, looking

landscape, which could perhaps be set up to be challenged.

for opportunities, problems and questions that could be tested in the studio.

Studying Ballard’s novel ‘Concrete island’ really set the tone for me, putting me in the mindset of the concrete monstrositiy the a40

As an infrastructure the Postal Service has always struck me

was painted as, and setting my imagination alight with the strong

as fascinating, due to its mainly parasitic nature, and almost

themes touched upon in the book. Most strongly , i think, the

forgotten place in society. It is all too often in the news for the

concept of lonliness protrayed in the book - the idea that the scale,

wrong reasons, yet rarely noticed in the day-to-day beyond the

nature and very being of infrastructures can often terrify us, and

red vans and the notes through the door apologising, insincerely

leave us feeling very alienated from the built environment. From

for ‘missing you’. There seemed to be many opportunities and

the off, then, i was determined to interrogate this preconception.

questions in this system. Further reading, via ‘Edgelands’ and ‘London Orbital’, only served The A40 also became of interest to me in light of the postal

to reinforce this conviction, as they described in my mind the

service, as it began life as the main trading route between London

desolate leftover spaces - passed through, negotiated, unnamed

and Wales, and by its nature defined settlements along its length,

and unacknowledge spaces, familiar yet ignored.

as trading posts such as Uxbridge sprung up to serve the road. The rhythms and tempo that the road created in everyday life began to intrugue me.

On the trip, it began to become clear exactly how many varied infrastructures were actually tied together into one huge tabgled

The Westway itself is a 3.5-mile long elevated dual carriageway

system of modern life - the car park that you pay for using your

section of the A40, running from Paddington to North Kensington.

mobile phone network which connects to the internet, or the bin

The road was constructed between 1964 and 1970 to relieve

lorries which run from biodiesel generated by foodwaste collected

congestion, and opened in July 1970. As a road, it courted with

by electric vehicles. The list seemed inexhaustible. I really has my

controversy when constructed, and by reading the infrastructural

eyes opened over the course of two short days, and was motivated

biopic ‘Leadville’ I became obsessed with the social responsibility

to challenge both the environment that infrastructures operate in

and cost of infrastructure - many houses were demolished and

and create, and the social responsibility they create as an effect

people evicted in order to create the road. I began to grow again in

of their being. Infrastructures cater to a direct need, yet create by

social conscience, remembering the words of Tschumi, describing

their very nature a social side effect which if well-managed can be

the problem as the “separations of object, man and event”.

of equal if not greater benefit.

GC 2.2; GC 4.1; GC 4.2; GC5.3

105

IMAGE

A40 Study Trip

Photographs

106

107

A40 Study Trip

Intro and Theory

108

Infrastructures A Public Convenience Infrastructures can be defined as ‘modifications we make to the landscape to facilitate human interactions/activities with a certain regularity and frequency’, and Paul Edwards argues that to be modern is to live within and by means of infrastructures, inhabiting the intersections of macro, meso and micro scales of time, space and social organisation. The word infrastructure originally referred to fixed facilities such as air bases, but today has become a slippery term, referring to essentially any important, widely shared, human constructed resource. The US commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection explains that ‘by infrastructure we mean a network of independent, mostly privately owned, man-made systems and processes that function collaboratively and synergisticcally to produce and distribute a continuous flow of essential good and services.

This project looks at question driven explorations of infrastructure, and examines the extent to which they are largely responsible for the sense of stability of life in the developed world - the feeling that things work, and will go on working, without the need for thought or action on the part of the users. By means of thorough research and interrogation into these everchanging interrelations, systems, flows and forces that constitute the city and extend beyond it, problems are identified, and questions posed as to how to solve the problems.

GC 2.1; GC 5.2

109

Infrastructures

Themes of the project thus centered around Public Good, and Modernity. Throughout history, transportation and production systems depended on human and animal power, yet many modern infrastructures create amplifications beyond what nature can achieve, giving us huge sense of empowerment. Through examining Force, Time, Social Organisation, Scale, Symbiosis and Systems the project looked critically at society and its approach to infrastructure, asking if man and technology can be reunited from their separation.

Through undertaking key readings before and during the project, especially Paul Edwards’ ‘Infrastructure and Modernity’, I feel I progressed my understanding of how cities and socieities are shaped by the forces of technology, how the condition of modernity and convenience was born. I had previously only imagined Infrastructures on the scale of the city, whereas I quickly learnt that they operate on a variety of scales and times, and in fact many are not tangible brutal objects, but can be delicate symbiotic networks. Learning the role of people and society in infrastructure was important for me, too, as I learnt that organisations with socially-communicated background knowledge, general acceptance and reliance, combined with near universal accessibility are required for a system to be defined as an infrastructure.

GC 2.1; GA 2.7

Postal Intro

110

The Postal Service

Throughout history, major shifts in how we move goods from place to place have led to new opportunities for economic growth and generally made consumers’ lives easier. From steam ships to the railroads, from the postal service to delivery services like FedEx and DHL, speed has reshaped society not only with greater convenience but also by making more goods accessible to more people Transport, then, is the Postal Service’s most important aspect, and the logistical movement of good around the country. As it piggybacks parasitically onto other modes of transport, using road, rail, air and sea to provide its services it fulfils that criteria of Modernity, with Royal Mail inparticular becoming so familiar in life so as to vanish into the background. Through its history the UK Post Office, as a publically owned service, was responsible for creating rhythms and tempos in time and society, along roads, and dictating settlements. Time was set by the arrival of the Post Coach, and even now the old coach roads are transformed into motorways to carry the new generation of mail.

As an infrastructure, Post Offices provide an essential Public Good, widely regarded as a community asset. Yet their presence is on the wane. There is a desire to commune, to gather, to centralise within eg a high street, or village centre. We argue strongly against the decline of the high street. We say ‘what a shame that village pub closed down’. But in fact we are simply no more than armchair activists. A previous generation might have showed that they care. They might have made a conscious effort to change things. But while we demand the return of local retailers, pubs, and markets, when push comes to shove we simply jump in our car, and drive, conveniently, quickly, and cheaply, to the nearest large supermarket. Our basic needs and wants may never go away, but we are prone, leaving ourselves helpless to the ravages of capitalism and commercialisation. Yet it is easy to overlook the private nature of the Postal Service, and to focus soley on the Post Office and Royal Mail. Couriers such as Whistl, UPS, DHL and Hermes, amongst others, are edging more and more into the market, capitalising on online shopping and increased parcel capacity in the market, destroying the public assest offered by the Post Office and disrupting the vital rhythms it set up.

GC 2.1; GC6.3

111

Infrastructures

Postal Intro

112

Holyhead

Chester

Rhythm As an examination of the postal service and its influence by and on time and scale, these maps describe some of the original coaching routes from London. The graphs to the right tell the story of each leg of the journey in terms of length, and start to give the postal service its spatial-temporal history - small villages that

GC 4.1; GC 4.2

113

Liverpool

Carmarthen

were conveniently placed in time were given a spatial priviledge, and grew fast due to the overnight business of coaching. The Carmarthen route is taken directly along the route of the A40, through Uxbridge, and sparked my interest in the transport associations around Post

GC 1.1; GC 4.1; GC 4.2

Infrastructures

Groupwork

114

A40 Initial Group Research Following the A40 site visit we met as a group in order to map our interests on a single scale, noting the places weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been, and the intersections of infrastructures that we found most intriguing. As a lesson in learning of the urban scale of infrastructures I found it extremely useful, and I wish I had reflected more on the experiences Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d had in London. My contribution to the group drawing (below) was minimal, and I got stuck with representation techniques - drawing systems and networks beyond showing them as a series of circles was a challenge to me, and not one I think I overcame very successfully. I wish I had made more of the opportunity to explore mapping techniques at this stage. I do however feel I learnt hugely in terms of the overlaps in infrastructures. As a group we explored defence, post, electricity, data, trade and rail hubs, and previous to the group exercise, even despite the trip itself, I would have struggled to connect these entities. Perhaps in an imaginary sense I found it possible to consider how things related, but once a map was drawn showing overlaps in physical space, I really found my eyes opened to the invisible nature of what we take for granted around us every day. I found this phenomenon coming back once again to Tschumi, and the consideration surrounding the separation of object, man and event. Further group research, overleaf, explored the demographics of the A40, marrying the infrastructures investigated into the urban scale and social fabric of the city, exploring the reasons that cities are shaped in the manner they are.

115

Crime

Income

Population Density

Infrastructures

Postal Explorations

Infrastructures

117

Primer Explorations In order to prepare for the upcoming Primer event, I undertook a series of mapping exercises recording the implementation of the Postal Services along the A40 corridor. This took the form of 2D mapping, and I think I could have done much more to explore the potential mapping techniques available, rather than scrolling through maps and recording simply the physical locations of things. The spatial and temporal aspects are certainly under-represented, which I think is a shame, for an infrastructure depending so much on the relationship of time to its events - the regualrity of postmen, the daily collection of letters and the subsequent flow of goods around the A40 would have been things I would like to have mapped more thoroughly. The below image is my favourite, and, I think, the most successful of my researching. It indicates, and strongly relates to, the seven chosen areas for the primer model, and shows the happenings of postal activites at each site. At such a scale it is hard to read, but I called out an area where I also tried to indicate the routes taken by people on their routes to their nearest post offices, as I started to imply a scalar human dimension to the impersonal size of the operation.

GC 4.1; GC 4.2

Following pages: 1. Private Postal Warehouses 2. Royal Mail Sorting Centres 3. Postboxes 4. 1 Mile Post Office Radius 5. Closed Post Offices 6. Post Office catchment cells

Postal Explorations

118

GC 4.1; GC 4.2

119

GC 4.1; GC 4.2

Infrastructures

Primer

120

The Primer Model As a method of communicating the various systems we witnessed on the trip for the Primer exercise we decided as a group upon a 3 dimensional abstracted representation of the A40, illustrated through each of our chosen infrastructures. In a similar way to the group drawings, we did this by diagramming and mapping, in models, existing processes and systems, and added to these diagrams as way of representing where the systems could start to connect up with potential new systems and processes. From the group drawings we identified seven locations of intersecting interests and processes, and chose to model these at a variety of scales in indivudual ways. By exploring the different scales, I helped to further develop my understanding of the systems that I had begun looking at, and was determined to use the model as a tool to further my thinking. The total area of the model represented the A40 corridor, with the A40 shown in its length along this. Each box then represents an area, at no particular scale, into which each member of the group modelled their systems at their chosen scales. This provided a challenging mix of media and materials at any number of scales, overlapping and interacting at different levels. As we worked individually to fit our infrastuctures onto the frame work model of the group there were inevitably places where more than one person wanted to represent themselves. But by allowing clases to exist and take place i think we have shown well where the vital intersections might occur in reality, and have highlighted potential exciting situations to consider at an urban scale. As a group I think we could have better portrayed movement and time better in the model - a sense of flux or change, and the idea that way infrastructures are currently being used is not necessarily what they were designed for. This is definitely something I would try and challenge if there was a second opportunity to make the model.

GC 2.3; GC 3.3

121

Primer Photos

Infrastructures

122

Primer Photos

123

Infrastructures

Manifesto Following the Primer exercise the focus moved more explicitly

a framework to work to, and as a set of rules it set up the next

onto individual work and explorations, with the intention of

stage. I decided to create a manifesto from my themes, declaring

referring back to the vital initial group work that had been

my standpoint on infrastructure. By picking the seven main key

undertaken. I found myself overwhelmed with ideas, potential and

words that I felt impacted on the Postal Service inparticular, I

quesitons regarding infrastructure, and, at this stage, I must admit,

tried to sum up the work and theories from the explorations so far.

I felt a little lost. I decided to make a list of the key themes that

Following is an extract from the Manifesto

I had learnt so far, and that I felt represented infrastructures. In

The next three pages explore groups of three manifesto themes,

doing this, I was able to clarify in my mind’s eye exactly how I felt

and generate architectural and programmatic responses to the

about infrastructures, and which issues I felt were most pertinent

collective.

to me, and would influence the views and aspirations I held about the project. I found this an excellent exercise, in terms of creating

Privatisation/Deregulation/Commercialisation

Communities

Infrastructure is best built under public guidance and

Community is not being destroyed, it is evolving and changing.

accountability, but Privatisation is necessary, in instances, to

Because we no longer do much of our shopping in our

allow Infrastructure to reach its full potential – it’s a part of natural

neighbourhoods, we therefore do less of our socialising within our

evolution and change under a capitalist system. The Royal Mail

neighbourhoods, and know our neighbours less well than before.

can be seen as having grown standardised pre-privatisation, and,

However, on the other hand, human needs still lead people to want

now deregulated, is subsequently able to generate more profit and

a place to commune, to share, to meet, to transact. Whilst a lot of

challenge private industry competition to provide the best service

towns were, and still are, under huge pressure and with signs of

at the best price to the industry. The consumer will suffer from

sustained neglect now showing, those basic human needs have

reduced quality of service and increased efficiencies in the system

not and never will go away.

due to a lack of public accountability.

The urge to cling to the past is understandable, but dangerous.

The market is being rapidly overcome by private companies

If we indulge in it too much, we may fail to make the best of the

building on the groundwork of the Royal Mail and Post Office, and

present. A compromise is needed - while we demand the return

exploiting the explosion of popularity in online shopping.

of local retailers, pubs, and markets, when push comes to shove we simply jump in our car, and drive, conveniently, quickly, and cheaply, to the nearest large supermarket.

Network/Layering

Spatial/Temporal Relations

The Postal Service relies upon and requires layers of other

Within the Postal Service there is a hierarchy of scales within

infrastructure to operate. It is, and has been, in many ways

time and space. The problems within the system occur at the

parasitic or co-dependant in nature. It operates as a network of

interchanges of these scales.

individual entities and points, interconnected in time and space as

The delivery of post has often been a problem area – the methods

a functional system by supporting networks of infrastructure.

and means of doing so in the most efficient and humane way are

There is a huge reliance upon these supporting networks, and

contentious. Postmen should not walk a long way with heavy bags,

there should be a move towards a more independent infrastructure

yet whilst vans are easily manoeuvred around delivery offices, they

– whilst the main service that the Postal Service is performing has

often have to illegally park to enable delivery. The variations in

essentially always remained the same, the ancillary services, and

scale from place to place, and the change in the rhythm of time,

subsequent supporting infrastructures delivering these services

produce these issues.

have often changed.

The historical relations should be taken into note, also. The Postal

It is inevitable that a further infrastructural change will occur soon

Service has, and will, progressively fluctuate between spatial

to support, enhance and streamline the network, and potentially

scales that are dependent on temporal rhythms.

remove some redundant layers.

GC 4.2; GC 5.1; GC 6.3; GA 2.4

Manifesto

124

Delivery Drone Base Proposal #1 Delivery Drone Base Privatisation/Communities/Boundaries

privatisation/communities/boundaries Exploring Amazonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drone delivery technology, which has limited range, and the implication of privatisation

Drone range 6 minutes

National train distribution network

Automated sorting office. Large drone delivery network to outposts

Distribution and delivery outposts old post offices

Community cloud data storage. Heat converted to power for drones and community

Door to door delivery and pickup organised via text messages

GC 1.1; GC 5.1

Infrastructures

125

Mail Surveillance

Proposal #2 Mail Surveillance Privatisation/Public Good/Security A criticism of reports over the interception of mail, and the private sector’s profit driven schemes

privatisation/public good/security

£0. 55 .55

£0

Universal service & post office radius

Cameras and x-ray

Information data store

Mail opening station

Information sales centre

Distribution and delivery

Advertising - sales to fund universal service

GC 1.1; GC 2.3; GC 5.1

1 mile

Manifesto

126

Proposal #1 Community Postal Hub Spatial-Temporal/Interchange/Communities

Community Postal Hub

Reuniting the broken trio of object, man and event. Revealing process and rebuilding communities

spatial-temporal/interchange/communities

Scales of time and space revealed and challenged

Knowledge and good interchange

Open, accessible distribution

Open, accessible post offices

Rail in/out

GC 1.1; GC 5.1

Infrastructures

127

Network/System graphs government

In order to best analyse my key findings and themes, I used graph program technology to create flow diagrams of interlinking systems. Shown here is my personal systems graph, linking my key themes in a proportion of importance. The larger boxes dictate the

community

most connectivity as themes within the project, and the smaller are more peripheral. As themes, these really helped to shape my thinking further along in the project, and looking retrospectively was an immensely useful tool. At the time, I discarded the graphs as irrelevant, since they seemes to me to be rather superfluous

high street

and randomly generated. Themes of distribution, transport, community, vans, hubs, data and online shopping have emerged here, and looking back critically I

post office

have found that as a distillation from my post-primer confusion this was a very useful exercise that I should have paid more attention to!

distribution

transport

road

post vans

hubs

data centre

data

drones

finance

internet shopping

Development

128

Design DevelopmentViability Theoretically, as I developed my concepts and key themes, I became more and more interested in the decline of the traditional postal model, in its disassembling and gradual disappearance, and in light of the rise of Amazon, and more profit and cost-driven private couriering. I think that the traditional delivery/distribution model is under threat, and becoming problematic, as parcel volumes rise, driven by internet shopping. As such, I invested some time in researching the history of the UK Postal Service, from its inception in 1100 to current day, hoping to spot trends that I could expoit and use in a project. The culmination of the research is shown in the accompanying graph, and backed up my initial observations of closing post offices and the prevalence of internet shopping The red line dictates post delivered by the Royal Mail, and the purple line the parcels delivered by profit minded private couriers, which really exponentially increases and takes off around 1990, at the dawn of the internet age.

My project hereafter is focused on that theme, on the problems lying around and behind the exponential increase in parcel volume and logistics companies, such as parcel delivery and the loss of the sense of place, and the communities associated with traditional post offices With the exponential increase in parcel volume and logistics companies, however, also lies an opportunity for competing couriers to piggyback on spare capacity in existing public transport networks to carry their parcels, either alongside the passengers or at times of non-use - renting space in empty trains, buses, vans, cars and boats.

GC 2.1; GC 2.2

129

Infrastructures

Development

130

Design Development - A Site By interrogating the key criteria for my thesis question, I drew up a list of requirements for a site, including the following: High Street - A collection of businesses and people, preferably including a recently closed post office, and lacking cohesiveness Communities - A variety of peoples, with different needs and requirements, needing a gathering, or social place. Footfall/flow - A movement of people through or past the site, allowing interactions and constant business Transport Infrastructure - The Postal Service is closely linked to logistics and the movement of goods, through a multitude of mediums.

After adding all these ingredients up, and applying the rules to a selection of sites, I decided upon Westbourne Park as a site to test the thesis arguments. Spanning a number of transport infrastructures, the site currently holds a bus depot, adding a further ingredient into the mix, and bridges a rift between two communities, where a constant footfall is provided. The presence of an underground station and canalside footpath on site also add the requirement for a constant flow of people, and there is a high street nearby to the north. Over leaf is an aerial photo of the site, shing the urban and infrastructural grain, and the pages after give Site Parti diagrams, explaining the site selection and strategies for thesis attack

GC 5.3; GC 7.2

131

Infrastructures

Development

132

1. the infrastructure

2. the link

great western road bridges the infrastructures

canal, road, rail, underground

As the only point bridging all

Providing the first and most

the infrastructures for some

vital step on the site - the transportation networks, both public and private - Westbourne Park provides Mainline Rail, Underground, Canal, Westway and High Street

distance, the Great Western Road meets the criteria of community and footfall - a bottleneck of a road, it is congested and unpleasant for the thousands of pedestrians who must traverse it daily.

It is by these means that the companies deliver parcels to site, either on public transport, or via private vans and trucks.

It also links the dichotomous communities North and South of the Site,

canal

a40 westway

great western mainline

underground

1. the infrastructures canal, road, rail, underground

1. the infrastructure canal, road, rail, underground

GC5.1; GC 6.3 2. the link

2. the link

great western road bridges the infrastructures

Infrastructures

133

3. the people

4. the parti

Flowing north to south and

Using the vital Great Western

east to west across the site,

Road as a spine, the parti

the desire lines of users and

suggests employing the flows

communities strongly shaped

of people along the link, and

the final proposals, and were a

plugging into the spine at each

key criteria in choosing the site.

transport infrastructure.

desire lines and routes across the infrastructures

plugging in and collecting along route

GC5.1; GC 6.3 3. the people

3. the people

desire lines and routes across the infrastructures

desire lines and routes across the infrastuctures

4. the parti

plugging in and collecting along the route

plugging in and collecting along route

Development

134

Design Development Unsuccessful yet important steps trying to employ the parti to

For me this was an important lesson in making statements

create a challenging public multimodal hub, or public logistics

and standpoints early in a project and using them as guiding

centre, at a concentration of the various public infrastructures,

influences later on. Had I taken a step back at this point, I would

bridging a rift in a community, that utilises underused/existing

have recognised my drifting from my principles.

capacity in existing modes of transit and provides a day-to-day gathering place for people to conveniently collect their online

I did enjoy the freedom, however, at this point, of designing quick,

orders.

simple spaces designed to incorporate interactions between man, object, and event. The addition of the drones enhanced that

At this stage, upon reflection, I focused too much on the future

design aspect for me as I sketched proposals, driving an open plan

of parcel delivery, rather than the present. I got attracted and

and section, in the manner of Eisenman, reiterating over and over.

sidetracked by drones and drone technology. Whilst this was undoubtably important in my development, I think I was pushed for

I have been driven by sustainable communities throughout my

time at the end of the project as a result. I could have been more

MArch, and as the themes of this project developed I have seen

rigorous in sticking to the group and individual themes developed

an opportunity to make this an infrastructure for good, revealing

in the primer and manifesto to stay more on track.

the processes and events to the public, and creating spaces of interaction rather than introversion. A new Public Good.

GC 1.1; GC 1.3; GC 5.3; GC 6.3

135

GA 2.2

Infrastructures

Development

136

example 6F plan [+27m] scale 1:500

2F plan [+9m] scale 1:500

1F plan [+5m] scaleinitial 1:500

plans

137

Infrastructures

My development in considering Drones is particularly obvious in this selection of development drawings, where I looked into flight restrictions and developed a series of partis to prescribe some rationale to the regulations.

GC 3.1; GC 3.3; GC 4.3

Development

138

Final Enquiries I have got plenty of feedback from my development work, the main being that the focus was too much on the drone, and the whimsical aspect of the delivery, while actually, realistically, this technology would not be relevant for years still. Instead, it was suggested, the hub could become something that mutates over time, to reflect the nature of the industry. I think it could adapt, funded by different companies that use it, remaining always as the ‘community hub’ but changing its postal nature to adapt to the companies, goods and technologies using it. A drone tower, I think, is a relevant proposal, but should be added to the development in, say, 10 years time. I was also advised to consider how processes might shape the building - rather than describing a shed and filling it with mechanisms, I decided that conveyors, drones, buses, and sorting technology would be a valid way to reconnect the object and event, and then to subsequently feed them back to man, in the manner suggested by Tschumi As I reflected on the feedback from my development work, I began to re-draw my parti, and to develop a stronger intellectual framework to work my project around, which follows: Acting as a gathering point for both people and mail, the hub describes the different processes involved through different tectonic languages, aiming to explain and reveal the currently secretive parcel sorting, and to intertwine the logistics within the public realm, challenging questions of permanence and transparency. In order to reflect and challenge the nature of the industry the project proposes a series of elements, or bolt-ons, providing varied degrees of added value, designed to reflect the nature of each element. This is expressed in varying degrees through tectonics, material and life-span. The concrete ‘bridge’, for example, is the first element on site, with integrated services, providing the long-term link and gathering between communities - the real need, and the most important service provided by the old Post Office system. Following that come a number of less and less permanant trusses, sheds, structures and conveniences, each in turn reflecting the position its function occupies within society and industry. What follows is the final drawings, and culmination of the research and processes

GC 2.1; GC 2.2; GC 5.1

Infrastructures

139

00:00

empty buses; deliveries

rush hours

18:00

06:00

rush hours key sorting times

empty buses; deliveries

12:00

Routes: 28 31 111 120

to wandsworth to white city to heathrow to northolt

Footfall

140

the tabernacle

notting hill childcare westbourne studios

notting hill prep school

portobello medical centre st mary of the angels school local pubs and bistros local boutiques

yoga school

everyday southern movements

GC 5.1; GC 5.3

141

Infrastructures

jubilee sports centre all stars boxing gym queen elizabeth II school local shops school of journalism

paddington academy paddington arts centre medical centre

everyday northern movements

GC 5.1; GC 5.3

Final Site

142

143

GC 5.3

Infrastructures

Plans

144

1. The Public Convenience 2. Bus Station Plug-in 3. Bridge & Truss Conveyor

Site Plan Site Plan (+4500mm) Showing context and zoning Scale 1:1000 due north

GC 1.1; GC 2.3; GA 2.1

Infrastructures

145

1. 1.

1. Canalside Cafes/Restaurants/Retail 2. Plant Room 3. Retail Unit 4. Passenger Terminal 5. Mail Arrival Area within Bus Terminal

Road Level Plan Road Level Plan (+0mm) Showing canalside, plant room, bus station and mail drop Scale 1:300 due north

GC 1.1; GC 2.3; GA 2.1

Plans

146

Section A-A

Section B-B

4. 5.

7. Section C-C

1. Cafes/Restaurants 2. Retail Unit 3. Collection/Locker Area with Public Services 4. Sorting Area 5. Conveyor Plant Room 6. Passenger Terminal & Waiting/Tickets 7. Mail Conveyor Arrival within Bus Terminal 8. Conveyor within Truss 9. North/South Walkway Bridge

Bridge Level Plan

Conveyor and Bridge Level Plan (+4500mm) Showing conveyor, bus station, sorting points and public plaza Scale 1:300 due north

GC 1.1; GC 2.3; GA 2.1

Infrastructures

147

1. Staff Breakout 2. Offices and Kitchen 3. Accomodation for Staff

Accomodation Level Plan (+7500mm) Showing office, breakout, staff accomodation Scale 1:300 due north

Accomodation Level Plan

Axo Partis The following series of drawings show and explain the decisions behind the material and structural strategies, which relied in the main upon the questions posed around the themes of permanence, change, convenience, added value and bolt-ons. Creating architecture of varied permanences and implied aesthetics was important, especially to describe the separation between people and process, and to highlight the overlaps and interactions between the two â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;worldsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. As explained in the following pages, the parti for the building became the determining factor for the materials, and the systems and flows began to create shape and form which determined a certain structural strategy

GC 1.1

Strategy

148

convenience

bridge

convenience

bridge

100+ Years: the Bridge As the most â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;permanentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; element on site, the bridge fulfils a longstanding need and demand for people to cross from one side of the site to another. This basic need demands a structure able to withstand the timescales involved, and yet one able to adapt and flex a little to the uses and needs changing around it.

GC1.2; GC 1.3; GC 5.1; GC 8.1; GC 8.2; GC 8.3

149

50+ Years: the Truss As the second most â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;permanentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; feature of the complex, the truss, or steel frame, bears the job of identifying with and containing the postal processes. As parcel volumes grow, the truss may expand, or adapt itself to the changing conditions. Or may even be removed altogether should the need arise.

GC 1.1; GC1.2; GC 8.1; GC 8.2; GC 8.3

Infrastructures

Strategy

150

30+ Years: Convenience As the gathering point of the project, the conveniences at either end of the bridge and truss are key interaction spaces, described by the flows of people and the spatial requirements of the parcel systems. Below the deck lies a canalside world of retail, bars and restaurants, and above, the convenience of coffee stops and newsagents.

GC 1.1; GC1.2; GC 1.3; GC 5.1; GC 8.1; GC 8.2; GC 8.3

151

20+ Years: Sorting/Drone Although the current proposal involoves collection via lockers, projecting forward, this structure may soon become usurped by the advent of drone delivery technology. As such, a drone delivery base may be constructed on this area, to the height of 30m+, but utilising the same principles of steel, glazing and mesh, and employing an identical conveyor and sorting system

GC 1.1; GC1.2; GC 8.1; GC 8.2; GC 8.3

Infrastructures

Strategy

152

Precast concrete roof atop steel frame

Precast concrete mezzanine level and insitu stairwell

Glazing and mesh support

Steel frame and plant room

exploded axo showing levels of structure within sorting area

153

exploded axo showing potential to expand to drone tower and evolution of deliveries

GC 1.1; GC1.2; GC 8.1; GC 8.2; GC 8.3

Infrastructures

Strategy

154

Showing b

10-30+ Years: Sheds The bus shed is described dichotomically, due to its unusual nature in providing both the passengers and the parcels. True to the language of the building, the passenger half of the structure demands concrete and permanence, and the process half is described by steel, trusses and mesh.

GC 1.1; GC1.2; GC 1.3; GC 5.3; GC 8.1; GC 8.2; GC 9.1; GA 2.1

155

5-10 Years: Civic Canopy The civic canopy is the final gesture in the project lifespans. Acting as a large, sheltering roof for the otherwise exposed convenience, it consists of a sawtooth profile roof structure, with PV panels, generating electricity which is used to power the conveyor belts and sorting area, as well as the parcel lockers themselves.

GC 1.3; GC 5.3; GC 8.1; GC 8.2; GC9.1; GC 9.2; GC 9.3; GA 2.1

Infrastructures

Vignettes - Parcel

156

1. arrival and unloading

2. truss conveyor

157

3. sorting

4. deposited and collected

GC 2.3

Infrastructures

Vignettes - Passenger

158

1. arrival and disembarkation

2. parcel vista

GC 5.1; GC 9.1

159

3. walkway glimpses

4. collection and convenience

Infrastructures

Section

160

Learning I have challenged my understanding of representation techniques during this project, and am pleased with the way in which I have come out of my comfort zone. However, I also think that I should have been pushing myself more to find ways of representing my project in terms of its temporal qualities, and the ways in which it changes and adapts over time. This building is supposedly a dynamic, living, changing entity, which rarely stands still in a single point in time - rather, additions are suggested, removed, added, and built, and people come and go over the hours of the day. It is a 24 hour facility, and as such I think I know I should have attempted to represent it as one. I am not sure what format these drawings could have taken, but I think my main problem in not achieving them was time pressure - I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think I managed my time very well towards the end of the project, and as such compromised some of the more interesting and explorative aspects of the building. The drawings I have done feel a little â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;safeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to me, because although plans were essential to describe the building and its processes, I seem to have decided that they were sufficient in themselves to describe the whole scheme. The diagrams of systems, and axonometric partis, were good ways of expanding my thinking, as methods of developing a building that I had never previously undertaken. I would like to think that studying Eisenman was a great help in understanding this decoding method

Section C-C

Showing bridge, conveyor, passenger Scale 1:100

GA 2.7

r terminal and office

161

Infrastructures

Technology

162

Subsequent Tech Focus Inevitably with a postal and logistic based project the focus shifts to the technology and mechanisms involved around the movement of parcels and goods. This therefore becomes the main focus of any technical investigations, as the successful integration of these systems into the thesis dicates any further decision making. Conveyors, machinery and radii of vehicles and equipment have strongly driven the design of my project. Investigations into the practices, processes and techniques used by delivery companies, logistics companies and tansport hubs also became of paramount inportance to the project as it evolved. Themes around large span roofs, trusses, concrete structures and a sense of the temporary vs the permanent became key. Alongside these key issues I undertook investigations into drone technology as a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;last mileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; technology, and into environmental systems and methods for the project, involving solar panels, sunlight paths and landscaping to create a good public space.

163

Infrastructures

Incoming goods are transferred from trucks, buses, boats,

At this process stage, the items are prepared for placement on

cars or trains to the depot. Unloading itself is usually a manual

the main sorter. The main tasks are singulation, orientation, and

process supported by different types of conveyors for fast,

spacing of the items. Irrespective of the sorter technology (cross

efficient, and ergonomic work. In many cases, this process step

belt, tilt tray, shoe sorter), items must be precisely positioned

also implies a transfer of risk for the goods from one service

on the sorter with defined spacing and often with a given

provider to another. Such a transfer of risk requires an inbound

orientation. High accuracy at this stage is a prerequisite for

scan with manual and/or automatic identification systems

maximum read rates and helps to avoid incorrect deliveries.

Section C-C

which can be combined with volume and weight measurement.

GC 1.1; GC 8.1; GC 9.1

Technology

164

4. 5.

Examples of parcel scanning machines, which determine the

Identification of codes is one of the most challenging tasks. The

weight and size of a package as it enters into the sorting system.

ability is needed to handle varying package sizes, shapes, and

Typically two such machines will work in tandem to ensure no

materials. This means that the number and complexity of the

mistakes are made, and one will scan addresses to inform the

parameters to be considered in the identification process are on

computers where to send the parcel once it enters the ssytem

the rise.

This dramatically reduces complexity as well as operation and

Cameras and lasers are used to identify destinations of

maintenance costs.

packages and relay them to the main sorting computer, along with the location of the package in the system.

Infrastructures

165

4. 5.

The sorter supplies the identified items to the appropriate

After the sorter has ejected the individual items to the correct

chutes. The identification systems are positioned at infeed

outbound chutes, slides, bags, or totes, the subsequent loading

zones or directly at the main sorters.

process that involves a higher degree of manual work must be managed and prioritized.

Here there is a sorter to determine the north-south parcel distribution, and another to determine the distribution into the

The items are trnasported on trolleys or by hand, and either

varied sized chutes on the secondary conveyor.

stored on shelving in the facility or deposited into the lockers

GC 1.1; GC 8.1; GC 9.1

Long Section

166

Tech Thoughts In Postal Systems parcel movement is achieved mainly through conveyor systems, which are becoming increasingly computer automated and complex. The system required for my project is a relatively straightforward one, but due to the multiple phases of sorting and processing, the space planning and organisation of space required a thorough knowledge of the systems. I enjoyed using the mechanisms

167

of the post office to define space, and letting them flow through the space. Again, had I left more time, I would have liked to visited a sorting office proper, and examined the machinery for myself, perhaps talking to the workers and users of the equipment. Although relatively simple in theory, conveyors as an organisational system become complex, and despite thorough research the actual inner workings of the sorting equipment baffles me.

Infrastructures

Materially, also, despite getting the building resolved, I would like to have been able to detail more of the structure and tectonic joints more carefully in order to describe the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intentions.

168

Long Perspectiv

drainage gutter

services along bridge

walkway lighting, signage and services

drainage gutter

1:50 axo s

through bridge and su

169

ve Section A-A

sections

upporting structure

prefabricated concrete bridge deck

roadway lighting, signage and associated services

Criteria Reflections

170

Theoretical Reflections Infrastructures can be defined as ‘modifications we make to the landscape to facilitate human interactions/activities with a certain regularity and frequency’... The project began with the above definition of Infrastructures, and challenged me, by means of thorough research and interrogation into ever-changing interrelations, systems, flows and forces that constitute the city and extend beyond it to identify problems and ask questions, about how to solve the problems. My understanding of Infrastructures has massively changed - I now recognise that they comprise the essential fabric of human place, operating not as separate singular insulated entities but as a massive combined interrelated network of processes and sytems, each reliant on the next, offering helping hands and facilitating not only human progress, but actual human life as we know it itself. Particularly important to me during th course of the project was to bear in mind my theoretical background, and interest in the quotes of Bernard Tschumi that I discussed in the opening chapter - dismissing the familiar and the fond, and challenging the normal.

“The architecture of pleasure lies where architectural language breaks into a thousand pieces, where the elements of architecture are dismantled and its rules transgressed - Such architecture questions academic (and popular) assumptions, disturbs acquired tastes and fond architectural memories. Typologies, morphologies, spatial compressions, logical constructions - all dissolve. lnarticulated forms collide in a staged and necessary conflict: repetition, discontinuity, quotes, cliches and neologism”.

GA 2.1; GA 2.2; GA 2.7

Infrastructures

171

Intertextuality began to take a slight backseat, I think, throughout this project, due to the increasing influences of Tschumi and Eisenman, and their relevance to the infrastructures brief and themes. especially the topic of sustainable neighbourhoods and communities, which began to gain importance quite fast. Creating a place where people wanted stay, work and gather, where there was a symbiosis between the residents, workers, occupants, and visitors - a healthy community ecosystem. Intertextuality gained its way into my thinking when I understood networks at national and local level, and learnt to appreciate how even the smallest urban move, action or idea is linked inextricably to a multitude of others, by desiring to create a sustainable community, dismantling elements, challenging permanence, form and rationality in appearance.

As mentioned in the introduction, of particular encouragement in this project was that passage in Tschumiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Manhattan Transcripts, where he discusses the merits of transcending the contradictions between object, man and event, by using tools of event, space and movement. My attempt, through Tschumi and Intertextuality, was to reunite the man and the machine, the process and the bystander, through both accidental co-incidences and through using architecture to force flows of different systems to clash with one another. The epitome of this discussion came right at the end of the project, with the drawing on this page - a fellow student, on a site adjacent to mine, and I joined forces, to symbolically hold hands across the canal, to show the connections between our infrastructures. The symbiosis. The need to interact and interdepend. For his Taxi Drivers and my parcels and bus passengers to come together inextricably.

172

173

Linked Research Live Projects and Architectural Pedagogy in Education

Introduction Linked Research was introduced as a chance to bridge the gap between education and practice. To acquire competence, to learn to negotiate, design, budget, and work with a team. I elected to undertake the Live Projects Linked Research for just this reason. For me, the chance to gain useful professional and construction competence and skills was an essential component within my education, which had thus far been studio based, and felt very insulated and safe. I very much enjoy any opportunity to get hands-on, to talk to people, and to enjoy the satisfaction of solving problems. It was in this spirit that I approached Linked Research â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not knowing which projects would be thrown up, but knowing that there was something vital missing in architectural education which this path would offer me. A variety of projects were propsed in the initial meeting, offering a range of collaboration, inter-discipline, design, conceptual, construction and management opportunities. I think the wide range of projects offered and undertaken really challeneged my perception of both Live Projects and Architectural Education as a whole. Whilst I was previously merely interested in hands on construction, I have subsequently come to believe in it as a useful, if not essential, component of the education process that every student should have to go through, comprehend, and analyse, whatever the actual physical outcome.

GC 6.1

Linked Research

Pica Pica

174

Project #1 Vamos Festival - PicaPica Stall

We were working with a client who curates a large South American themed party week which takes place in numerous locations around the country. For the 2014 festival they wanted to test a pop up cooking stall that could serve specialist food to customers whilst allowing disassembly to transport the structure to other venue locations in the UK. Our client had an events planning and artistic background. As well has having a strong artistic opinion they worked closely with artists commissioning works for their festivals. This meant our ideas were heavily influenced by the client and their own aspirations for aesthetics and design much more predominantly than a client wanting all the creative input from us as the Architect. The final output of this creative collaboration was to give the festival goers a taster of authentic South American food presented in a memorable and creative manner, with an authentic looking structure a key part of ‘branding’.. The creative atmosphere was exciting from the first meeting until the completion of the stall. We began by proposing three key ideas, all very different in style. The client saw the project from our approach and we felt very comfortable discussing both parties’ ideas and expectations. It sped up decisions so the project moved on swiftly and the design evolved and changed only when necessary. The overall aesthetic and its modular design was quite complex for a small pop up booth but it was clear the complexity of the details allowed this structure to increase its lifespan and durability. The client and the research groups strong and decisive relationship was the key factor in allowing the completion of the work for its festival deadline, this deadline was very strict and enabled us to assess how we work most efficiently as a team. The client also benefited from this collaboration as they were given a custom designed, eye catching design which was subsidised by the university. We only ran into issues due to this one off custom, client driven design, and this was the detailing. We gained a lot of experience detailing the food stall, although we may have over engineered the flat pack design we gained valuable experience which would benefit our work later on in Kielder.

GC7.3

175

Blackboard Menu

Linked Research

Painted Ply Finish Downlight Detail

Internal Ply Finish Reclaimed Cladding

Feature Counter

Sprayed Logo

150x25cm Floor Joist

Final Design 3D Visual

The group understood the clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marriage of art, entertainment

The project moved on swiftly and the design evolved and changed,

and passion for the South American way of life. We felt the pop up

and as mentioned in the following essay, this proved the greatest

food stall added to the festival, as a more tangible and soid feature

learning challenge to us as a team.

amongst the music and culture. The aesthetic appearance of the design helped embed this experience as a positive memory which

Working as a group was a vital part of the module as a whole,

would hopefully bring the client back for another taste in the

and especially such a short sharp project, too. We elected not

future.

to have an overall leader or manager, instead delegating roles amongst ourselves. My leadership skills, and yet ability to work

The output - A semi concrete engagement where outcomes were

independantly, both grew hugely. I think however that as a group

a temporary pop up food stall which provided a framework for

we could have stood up to the client a bit more, and made firm

future iterations of the experiment, working at a challenging 1:1

decisions.

scale, enabling us as a group to put detail design into practice, and to engage at a tectonic level with materials, in terms of handling,

As a first project working with a client we were pushed into

weight, touch and organisation.

learning diplomatic skills quite fast, and a lot of lessons were taken away to be implemented in following projects!

GA 2.3; GA 2.6

Pica Pica

176

Select the base piece, and locate on flat, stable ground. The longer ends of projecting timber indicate the front of the unit, and the shorter are the back.

1 Side and back pieces are unfolded, carefully, and the correct locations for either piece are located - the side with the door is set to the right of the stand as you look at the back wall.

2 Side/back pieces are slotted carefully into place, from above, and the hinged sides set at 90 degrees

3 Bolt the two back pieces together at the base, and secure the base unit to the back pieces. A hammer may be required.

Flatpack construction instructions for the client. Creating concise and clear instructions taught me valuable lessons in representation, as someone else has to erect the stall, placing great responsibility on us as designers

GC 8.1; GC 8.2; GC 8.3

Linked Research

177

Identify the two halves of the roof, and bolt together on the underside. Apply waterproofing as required.

(a)

Bolt the two back pieces together internally, and place the now secured roof piece in place, ensuring the long uprights at (a) slot into the gap, and that the bolts drop into the holes in the side pieces

nb: roof may also be placed on the stand in separate halves and secured once in place, if preferred

6 Place a bolt through the join at the roof and the long uprights . Put the cooking unit in the stand, and take the final piece, the front, and make sure of its orientation

7 Place bolts into the front through the base, secure to the side pieces using the gate bolts, and tighten ALL wingnuts on ALL bolts.

GC 8.1; GC 8.2; GC 8.3; GA 2.3

Pica Pica

178

179

As Designers in Education, how important is it to be Creatively Adaptable, and how Flexible should we be prepared to be?

The case for flexibility in designing a Live Build project: Learning from PicaPica

“A live project comprises the negotiation of a brief, timescale, budget and product between an educational institution and an external collaborator for their mutual benefit” Anderson and Priest (2012), Architecture Live Projects 1 The above definition is widely accepted within Architectural education and practice for the creation of the ‘Live Project’. However, what are not defined solidly are the outcomes, or the ‘benefit’ mentioned. One can assume the client will benefit from a product, the institution from the publicity, and the persons from the institution from education, professional and technical competence, and community engagement. It is also widely accepted that Live Projects ‘exist in complex, unpredictable spaces where skills of negotiation, fleetness of foot, resourcefulness, time management, and ability to deliver within (changing) constraints to a range of audiences are at stake and of value.’2 In the case of the Vamos! festival and its director, Nik, the idea of an unpredictable space delivered within changing constraints to a range of audiences really came to the fore. Building flexibility postcompletion is often a required and desired element of the project, and re-designing and adapting a building during its construction is something to be avoided and eliminated. But sometimes, it appears, that is unavoidable. When we were given the initial brief to the Vamos! festival food booth during a meeting with the client, it appeared to be a gentle introduction into the world of live projects: small, durable and basic, whilst offering some relatively challenging restraints. However, the project quickly turned into a lesson on how to deal with a client who is strong minded but indecisive. A strange mix, you might think. Live builds are generally mainly driven, beyond the ‘definition’, by a number of factors: funding, client requirements, end users requirements, general function(s), site location and constraints, and required footprint. These factors are seen to be set out at the commencement of a project –traditionally students or professionals will sit down with clients, users, or other professionals, and discuss a brief, and following that, a design will be drawn up through mediation. Gaining professional competence is seen as an essential component to the contemporary model of Live Projects.

GC 5.1

Linked Research

Essay on Education

180

Vamos: an Exception

This has led us, as a team, to look beyond our frustration, and consider the surprising value in designing and constructing a live

But, here, on this build, only basic needs were outlined initially,

build project as you go along, as opposed to the linear method of

before we began designing. The client had some very strong

defining the outcomes, functions and programme and just simply

desires, but very few actual decisions surrounding the above key

building it.

decisions. For example, the team were given the following list of requirements at the first meeting, for initial designs:

What does this mean, as a Live Project? In this sense, I feel, the project situates within, but towards the periphery of, what would

1. The booth will be a portable structure, long wheelbase transit

be traditionally realised as a ‘Live Project’ within the realm of

van sized

Architectural Education. Rachel Sara, writing for The Centre for Education in the Built Environment, produced the following

2. But possibly modular, or extendable, and simple to erect 3. It should be waterproof, or sheltered

comprehensive definition of a live project: “The live project is defined here as a type of design project that is distinct from a typical studio project in its engagement of real

4. Storage should be incorporated

clients or users, in real-time settings. Students are taken out of the studio setting, and repositioned in the ‘real-world’. This external

5 .In appearance, uncluttered/visually clean, but a raw, possibly

involvement tends to result in students producing something that

timber, Latin American feel

is of value to the client/user group, which might range from ideas, feasibility reports, or research, to a completed design scheme, a

6. An electric cooker is going to be used

construction or other intervention. The project is typically worked out in collaboration with the external collaborators, rather

7. There is the possibility of lighting/music within the project

than being imposed by the design studio tutor. As a result, the process is more dialogic and inclusive than traditional studio

8. Six weeks until desired first deployment

projects, allowing and embracing alternative voices in the studio environment…. Students learn to manage their time and the

The real nature and essence of the booth was defined as having to

project in a real-world setting, which also introduces a contingent

be ‘flat packable’ (pop-up) into the dimensions of a long wheelbase

element to the work, whereby unexpected and unpredictable

transit van. The reason for this was because it was to be non-

occurrences influence and affect the work as it progresses.”3

site specific, able to slot into any given environment. Interior or

(Rachel Sara, Live Project Good Practice)

exterior, dry or wet, hard standing or soft standing. And with this concept came many accompanying factors, some of which will be

Every live Project, then, should include some semblance of

discussed later in the document.

contingency, or unexpectedness. But I think in the case of the Vamos booth, there was something more. There was a nature to

After the initial meetings, spread over 2 of the valuable 6 weeks,

the project, led by the client, which meant every element became

where 4 designs were whittled down to one final rough design,

unpredictable, and in turn every element became flexible, and

we already knew we had more on our plate than we first thought.

adaptable. After those initial meetings we realised we’d forever be

As time began to run out, the key for us was to get the client to

on the back foot if we didn’t approach the project in the correct

make decisions based on the criteria given initially, regarding size,

way. We consulted the client on every design move we did, and

portability, material and interior function, in order for us to provide

always made sure there were two ways of doing the same thing.

the mutual benefits.

Every joint was screwed, so as to be un-doable, every module connection bolted. The client would only seemingly express an opinion once a physical representation was in front of them.

Live projects and flexibility in construction:

And, as if to make matters more complicated, the client was not to be the actual end user. The chef, and his assistants, had their own

Fortunately, from the beginning, we had adopted a position

requirements, too, which the client was not clued into. We were

of adaptability. The nature of the structure requested, in its

constantly on our toes.

modular flat pack form, lent itself to the whims and vagaries of

From there, with the deadline in sight, we began construction

an indecisive client. We were able to adapt each module in turn.

on the structural shell of the booth with many of the client’s key

Every piece was bespoke in itself anyway, and was being made in a

design decisions still being made as we went along. The proposed

process driven way.

cooker changed, from electric to gas, immediately posing a huge problem concerning fire risks within the timber structure, so a

GC 6.2; GC 6.3

181

Linked Research

steel splash back was hurriedly purchased, and a special cooking

of a single piece of wood, looking for detail; turns the wood over

unit constructed to slot into one previously unoccupied side

and over, pondering how the pattern on the surface might reflect

of the structure, drastically reducing the usable floor area. The

the structure hidden underneath; decides that the grain can be

locations, sizes, and volume of shelving was debated, mulled

brought out if he or she uses a metal solvent rather than standard

over, and changed frequently. A built-in sink and bin were mooted

wood varnish. To deploy these capabilities the brain needs to

immediately after the section they were wanted in was finished.

process visual, aural, tactile and language-symbol information

The key counter-top proved contentious. Blackboards were

simultaneously.”4

designed, and redesigned. And upon completion, it was discovered that the wrong sized van had been quoted by the client, meaning

Sheffield University, which has somewhat of a reputation for

the carefully designed flat pack modules would not all fit into one

the depth and integration of its Live Projects, has gone so far

transit van. Two weeks after completion, and following the first

as to produce a handbook for live projects, drawing on “rich

use, the client decided that the critical waterproof roof would

and substantial material to demonstrate the scope, quality and

need cutting into half, to allow the whole booth to be transported

impact of Live Projects to students, staff and clients who will be

at once.

involved in future projects”5 . I would argue that it is to a degree ironic to produce an academic handbook outlining the ‘rules

All this, though, led to a degree of technical competence being

of engagement’ for live projects, which are by their very nature

built up that probably otherwise would not have been achieved.

unpredictable, unique and therefore exciting. The handbook feels

Having to learn to build as we went along, buying extra materials

stale, rigid, and potentially could have the effect of narrowing

as and when we needed them, having to learn how best to make

the creative minds of the students, reducing them to writing

each component, learning how heavy and cumbersome materials

the relevant reports, minutes, asking the ‘correct questions’ and

really are. We learnt how practical our ideas really were, testing

producing a perfectly smooth and flawless live project. From my

them against the clients wishes and indecisiveness, our own ideas,

experience working on the Vamos! booth I have learnt that the

and our own skill sets and knowledge. We learnt what to do, should

magic and intrigue of the Live Project lies in the unknown and

a client turn around and demand his roof be cut into half.

the unpredictable. The handbook can only tell you the basics to

Sennett, writing about craftsmen, sums up the essence of being

carpentry; it cannot inform your intuition on approaching a unique

adaptable on a live build, whilst describing carpentry as the

situation.

process whereby “the carpenter establishes the peculiar grain

GC 6.1; GC 6.2; GC 6.3

Essay on Education

182

Live projects and flexibility in site and operation: Alongside the flexibility of an indecisive client was the question of a site-less, portable product, something capable of adapting to the clients surroundings and needs. It was not only to be flexible in terms of its use, but also in terms of its site. Now, Nik and Vamos! were not alone in requesting a pop up pavilion, nor in requesting an adaptable product, which they could equip to suit any situation they needed it in. Rather, here, for us, the challenge lay in designing a product which covered both of those bases: a pop up pavilion that is able to adapt to any of its situations. For example, the challenge arose of integrating the facilitation of access to power, for lighting and cooking, but this was set against the possibility of erecting the booth in a space where power was not readily available, necessitating the need for gas cooking facilities, and the designed safety features needed for this to be possible. Live projects, then, in architectural education, often set out to be deliberately defined in terms of a place, since architectural education emphasises the importance of context, site, and the locality. Design studio projects are given site parameters, we are taught to design within the given context, and to carefully consider the types of people we imagine will use, visit and interact with our projects. Creating our own fictional contexts specific to a location. Architectural education had not taught us what we discovered to be the much more challenging prospect of designing a small timber booth which would be appropriate for any site, all peoples, and any client needs.

Schon, in one of his more influential works, offers a suggestion of the studio’s problem: “In the architectural studio, the inherent paradox in learning design places the student in a predicament. He is expected to plunge into designing, trying from the very outset to do what he does not yet know how to do, in order to get the sort of experience that will help him learn what designing means. He cannot make an informed choice to take this plunge because he does not yet grasp its essential meanings, and his instructors cannot convey these to him until he has had the requisite experience. Thus he must jump in without knowing – indeed, in order to discover – what he needs to learn.”6 In the context of the Vamos! booth - according to Schon - the jump in to design, into the unknown of the unique situation we had found ourselves in, was an essential tool in learning design. Doing what we did not previously know how to do, and doing it physically as a live project rather than a traditional studio project, helped gain the valuable experience that helped us to understand what designing means.

GC6.1

“It was not only to be flexible in terms of its use, but also in terms of its site.”

Linked Research

183

Conclusion: Reflection “The case is not ‘in the book.’ If she is to deal with it competently,

Such a small project, smaller even than any studio project we’d

she must do so by a kind of improvisation, inventing and testing in

ever done, and between seven of us; yet by throwing a dithering

the situation strategies of her own devising … these indeterminate

client into the mix a greater challenge was posed than I think

zones of practice – uncertainty, uniqueness, and value conflict

the toughest studio brief could have done. Having to swallow

– escape the canons of technical rationality… it is just these

your personal pride, listen to an indecisive client, reject your own

indeterminate zones of practice, however, that practitioners

proposals, and surrender hours of your own personal time to a

and critical observers of the professions have come to see with

project was eventually far more valuable as an education than a

increasing clarity over the past decades as central to professional

mere crit, and far harder, too.

practice.” For me, the best summation of attitudes towards Live Projects are

(Donald Schon, Educating the Reflective Practitioner)7

as things which “occupy the borderlands between the simulacra It is not possible, of course, to aim for unpredictability in

which architectural education favours – the speculative project,

construction such as this in every educational live project, and

supported by lecture and seminar based exercises, and the trial by

nor are they desirable qualities to discover after starting the

fire of professional practice.” 9

undertaking of one, but there is a case to be made here for the

In the defence of the flexible and adaptable project, it seems the

element of surprise, and the unknown, as important learning

perfect task to undertake to make the most of this statement:

tools. This was to prove our first Live Project as a group, and

A trial by fire, using construction-based adaptation, without the

although perhaps disappointing and frustrating at the time,

possible negative implications; and a release from the speculation

we learnt a great many useful tactics and tools for the projects

of creating one’s own context.

to follow. We learnt to build resilient arguments against some of the client’s wishes; we learnt what materials, fixtures and

“A trial by fire, using constructionbased adaptation, without the possible negative implications; and a release from the speculation of creating one’s own context.”

fittings would provide greatest adaptability; we learnt how to manage time efficiently on a build; we learnt where to source tools, workshop space, materials and fixtures; and we learnt to expect the unexpected in our future projects. By testing our own situation strategies against an ever changing design, context and requirement, we negotiated the essential indeterminate zones of practice that Schon outlined, going beyond the dryness of the Sheffield handbook, and technical rationality. Architectural Education, for us, so far, had been challenging, but predictable, insofar as we received a design project brief, met our tutors, altered our designs accordingly, and presented an ‘end product’. But of course, that is not the end product. We realised, I think, after those initial few weeks of Live Project, just how comfortable our Architectural Education had been. We held our first meetings, met our first clients, had our first fallings out, compromised, and built our first structural frames. The challenges were immense, described again by Schon as a situation where “the design student knows that she needs to look for something but does not know what that something is. She seeks to learn it, moreover, in the sense of coming to know it in action. Yet, at the beginning, she can neither do it nor recognise it when she sees it.”8

Anderson, J. and Priest, C. quoted in Architecture Live Projects: Pedagogy into Practice (Routledge 2014) p.xix 2

Morrow, R. quoted in Architecture Live Projects: Pedagogy into Practice (Routledge 2014) p.xxi

Sara, R. Live project good practice: A guide for the implementation of live projects. CEBE Briefing Guide Series, 8. (2006) p.1 https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/BriefingGuide_08.pdf 4

Sennett, R. Labours of Love http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/feb/02/featuresreviews. guardianreview14 accessed 17/01/15 5

http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.304156!/file/Live_Projects_Handbook_Med_Single.pdf accessed 10/01/15 p.4 6

Schon, D. Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions. (Jossey-Bass Inc, San Francisco; 1987) p.93 7

Ibid p.5-7

Schon, D. Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions. (Jossey-Bass Inc, San Francisco; 1987) p.82 9

Harriss, H. and Widder, L. quoted in Architecture Live Projects: Pedagogy into Practice (Routledge 2014) p.1

GC 5.3; GA 2.7

Pica Pica

The photos accompanying this article show the range of sites the booth had been used in even in the short eleven month period since completion.

184

185

Linked Research

Creating A Context

186

Project #2 Creating a Context - Krakow

The CREATING A CONTEXT Erasmus Intensive Programme (IP)

They represent a meeting of minds which can be defined as a

Krakow 2014 brought together postgraduate Fine Art and Architect

mish-mash - history, the want to look back, mixes with a forward

students from Newcastle University, Akademie der Bildenden

thinking approach, modern institutions live side by side with

Künste München, Politecnico Milano, Gerrit Rietveld Academie

ancient ones, such as the catholic church. The initial hesitation

Amsterdam, Glasgow School of Arts, Université Catholique de

in opening up is followed, after contact is made, by a warm,

Louvain Bruxelles and the Kunstakademie Münster to collaborate

enveloping embrace.

on new innovative artworks and spatial solutions. There are differences for which the people have fought, hard Using the concept of an international ‘biennale’, the curriculum

earned differences. But also ones which were thrust upon them

emulated a ‘real’ professional context. The students, working in

and towards which they can feel powerless to react. What those

small cross-disciplinary and trans-national groups were invited to

differences are is not transparent at all times. After having played

respond to a specific site, or location. This practice led approach

the game of beliefs and boundaries between ourselves, we

was embedded in a theoretical framework that enabled a critical

decided we’d like to ask the people of Krakow “What do you stand

discussion and understanding of European art and architecture

for? What do you support?”

production and exhibition practice. The chance was offered for project based learning, which facilitated creative solutions, in a

Following our research, the group decided to work with the

real, new and unfamiliar environment for all.

ephemeral medium of performance and create a daily event which can be carried forward by the residents of Krakow. A

The IP itself focused on key issues that are impossible to address

performance can be an act of defiance, hard to trace, not

within a customary academic context and involved a number of

necessarily documented, an ephemeral gesture, one streaming

challenges with regard to art and architecture production and

from the unconscious, even; uninhibited self expression, hard to

dissemination in an international context. The collaboration with

be surveilled or restricted, not needing any material other than the

contemporary art gallery Bunkier Sztuki and the city of Krakow

body - the physical body turned political body, acting out what it

provided opportunities for creative, entrepreneurial relationships

could not carve into stone at the time.

and allow the students to become part of a European network of emerging creative professionals.

Our artwork proposes different ways in which support can be suggested through performance in relation to the institutions of Krakow. The acted form can be created by the interpretation

Having been split into groups of 7 students, we were encouraged

of each group of performers in relation to the space they are

to collectively pool our various skills and to select site(s), develop

assigned. Performers can also suggest locations they would like to

ideas, and produce a completed professional proposal for a

support, with the aim of triggering a discussion about how, who,

temporary artwork.

why, is supporting the institutions in Krakow and subsequently engaging people in becoming part of an event.

It proved difficult at first to agree on our differences as a group, and so negotiating differences we supported one singular

The city is punctuated by monumental structures, not adding

framework, which we were planning on referring back to every

yet another object into public space, choosing instead to allow

time we felt that differences got in the way of making. We sat at

residents and also artists of Krakow to become part of a month

the same table, and signed. Our signatures acted in support of an

long artwork

idea – that of “the group”. The way in which architecture encourages art was a real eye We found out support is a constant negotiation between needs,

opener to me - by creating physical manifestations of institutions

wants, existing structures and the ones which we imagine can be

the architects of Krakow enabled an intangible performance

built. That creation doesn’t need to be driven by consent - it can

artwork to take place, describing a relationship between the two.

also thrive in dissent, or better said, be built up by differences. What emerged from our dividing experience was the reality of the fact that we all believe in something, or someone. And so do the people who form Polish society.

GC 3.1; GC 3.2; GC 3.3; GC 4.2; GA 2.2

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Creating A Context

188

189

Linked Research

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191

Project #3 Kielder Campsite - Warm Room

Introduction This project was the largest and most detailed work our group undertook. Our intention was to create a warm room for star gazers at Kielder Camp Site. We would run this project as a full design and build scheme alongside Peter Sharpe, a specialist who has been working with Newcastle University in recent years. We initially proposed three design options as a group, each using different methods to construct the warm room. The client chose their preferred method of construction and design which we then developed with specialist engineers and architects with relevant experience to submit a final design. This design was submitted for planning and the highly detailed construction method was set out. The best way of delivering the building was determined to be off site prefabrication, of which as much as possible would be delivered and erected in Kielder over the space of a week. The client was Kielder Camp Site owner Steven Webb but the funding was coming from the council and the Kielder Trust. This meant members of the forestry commission and the local council were ever present and involved in the key decisions made. The end users of the warm room were to be the visitors of the campsite, and most importantly the amateur astronomers that make the journey to the region. We made sure that the astronomers were getting exactly what they wanted by asking them a series of questions. The most prominent benefit for our research group was the opportunity to design and build a building from start to finish, including planning, detailing and hands on construction of the prefabricated design. This all-encompassing project allowed us to gain experience unlike any other architectural projects available to us.

GC 1.1; GC 5.1

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The realism and legacy of our star gazing pavilion didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t only benefit the research group. As this project was the first construction project many members of the group would see from inception to completion, each member of the team was dedicated to giving the client the best possible end results. The fixated and attentive manner in which the project was approached meant the end result was a well-engineered, elegant structure that delivered the clients practical and aesthetical needs, whilst delivering an enjoyable experience to the end users. The local community received a well-designed and detailed warm room funded by the council and Newcastle University that they could use when the campsite was open. The main benefit was to the visitors of the camp site who would be given a warm room in very harsh conditions. The design was done so as to educate the users not only in astronomy but in simple timber prefabricated construction whilst fitting in with its natural surroundings. The amateur astronomers who spend the night star gazing would usually sit outdoors in very cold clear weather to view the wonders of the night sky. Our structure allowed them to take shelter and rest and make the viewing experience more comfortable and memorable.

The output â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A concrete engagement, for a permanent structure with a long term impact on the client, local community and visiting users for years to come. Designing and building a 1:1 building, set out in the brief to be long-lasting, the group was able to put the previous experience gained in the PicaPica stall project into full practice. Further experience was gained in the use and approach to materials and detailing, particuarly timber construction, but the most valuable lessons were learnt in practical professional skills, such as teamwork, organisation, project management and working within professional codes.

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Linked Research

1. The Site Visit In order to recieve the brief, and to meet the client, Steve, the group undertook a visit to the campsite in Kielder, highlighted in the aerial view bottom left. Once on site, we were given the initial brief for the warm room, and the site was pointed out to us, indicated to the right.

this being our first Live Project with a permanant physical site we were underprepared, and learnt a valuable lesson on day 1 in being equipped. We were able to accurately measure the dimensions of the site, through setting out and triangulation, but neglected to think that there may be elevation changes in the allocated land. The meeting itself with the client was fruitful, as we asked

The site in Kielder is unique â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the long corridor of land sandwiched between rows of tall trees which funnel the wind towards the east with views facing down the valley and when we first met the client on site, we realised what an important structure we would be

pertinent questions regarding programme and aesthetics, getting useful site information regarding acces, work areas and weather. It was a good lesson in developing a brief, and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think that as a group we could have done much more to get a thorough and

creating.

detailed list of requirements from the client. Not often did we find

We had come prepared, we thought, with equipment to measure

and client meet I think it went ver ywell, with the exception of the

ourselves emailing for follow up questions, and as a first site visit

the site initially for some concept and initial designs. However,

elevation measurements.

GC 5.3; GC 7.2;

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194

2. Initial Design As a team of seven, we decided that an invaluable educational tool would be for us to split into three groups, each of which presented a design to the client and to the other major stakeholders. We werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sure what the effect of this method would be, but pleasingly it provoked much debate, conversation and competition from the outset of the design stage, both within the group and also with the client and consultants.

I personally have learnt not to become too precious about my work, as depsite being a member of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;winningâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; group, the design proposed has been adapted and changed by the client and the rest of the team. My professional skills have been enhanced, too, as the presentation of the design to the parties involoved meant dealing in an apropriate manner, ensuring the proposal was buildable and practical, and answering questions regarding costings and brief. In hindsight, the feedback from tutors and client was that the design could have been better costed, and this is certainly a lesson we all took away into the next stage of the project. top - precedent interior image above - presenting design to the stakeholders below - initial concept plans overleaf - initial constructional axonometric

GC 7.3; GC 9.1

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The design presented to the client drew heavily upon the experience the group gained in the previous Vamos project, and bore in mind the short timescale and projected weather conditions on site by looking at a prefabricated approach. The proposal suggested panels and structure be made in the university, and quickly erected in site within a week to provide a weatherproof structure within.

GC 1.1; GC 7.3; GC 9.1

Linked Research

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196

3. Detailed Design Once the preferred conceptual approach was chosen the group

In a live project, new tasks arise such as working with a client,

reconvened into its original 7, since it was clear that working

engineers, supervisors, financial benefactors and advisors.

individually would be inefficient. Instead we designated tasks

However; unlike a traditional, theoretical studio design project a

between ourselves, based on individual skill sets, experience and

significant proportion of time needs to be spent keeping these

interest and worked on these tasks in small groups, careful to

stakeholders up to date on progress, changes in design, budget

incorporate collaborative thinking.

and sending and resending revisions of drawings.

The concept of delegation and sharing the workload is something

I was interested in developing the concept of prefabrication that

that we as architecture students are not exposed to often

was emerging from the module, and so volunteered myself to

enough, and In my opinion it is vital to teach social skills including

advance the drawings of the modules that would be constructed,

teamwork, empathy and decision making, whilst refining any

as well as taking on the responsibility of much of the detailing,

skills of assertiveness and leadership. As architects, we will all

with a colleague, I found the experience of being able to bounce

be required to take on responsibility, so projects like this are a

ideas off someone else very rewarding, and although often

fantastic opportunity to develop this skill.

frustrating and time consuming, the best results were certainly achieved. In drawing up the prefab modules, i found it key to bear

It is important to realise that every person involved with the

in mind that someone else would be reading and interpreting

project has strengths and weaknesses in different areas. This

the drawings, and that it woulc be of key importance to make

project has encouraged me not only to build on my strengths, but

sure each component was clearly labelled, identified, and would

improve on my weaknesses. It is not always possible to choose the

adapt to the design. it proved a challenging method of designing a

role, or the task that you desire, however being part of a team is

building structure, as any small changes by other teams within the

carrying out your task to the greatest of your abilities, for the good

group meant I had to be flexible and gracious.

of the whole project. Sometimes this is not enjoyable or familiar work but for me but it is these tasks that have taught me the most and provided an opportunity to explore new fields.

Wall panels constructed of 75mm x 22mm rough sawn timber fixed to 11mm OSB3 on exterior and lined with 9mm birch ply grade BB on interior. Filled with 75mm earthwool insulation.

GC 9.1

197

Siberian Larch 150mmx25mm cladding on 25x38mm battens and counterbattens at 600mm centres Douglas Fir rib structure. [75mmx200mm section] Knauf Earthwool 75mm dritherm cavity insulation. [or similar] Vapour control layer C16 grade treated structural timber floor joists [47mmx150mm section] Tyvek Supro waterproof breathable membrane Buzon screw pedestals DPH4 [75mm-120mm; max load 1000kg/buzon] - secured to rib structure and foundation slab Slope away from site comprised of Type 1 to assist drainage Concrete slab cast atop foundation Type 1 piled around Buzon feet to minimise water ingress under building and hide pads 450x450x450mm pad foundation. 1 part cement : 6 parts ballast C20 strength pad (See foundation plan for layout)

Siberian Larch 150mmx25mm cladding on 25x38mm battens and counterbattens at 600mm centres

C16 grade untreated rough sawn structural timber bracing [47mmx150mm section] Waterproof rubberised membrane to cover entire roof construction

Knauf Earthwool 75mm dritherm cavity insulation. [or similar]

Douglas Fir rib structure C16 Structural Timber [75mmx200mm section]

Vapour control layer

Tyvek Supro waterproof breathable membrane

GC 9.1

Linked Research

Kielder Warm Room

198

Structural Ribs @ centre spacings

right - detailed electrical below - panel prefab below right - structural axo

0mm centres at vertical ntal sections

Plan 75 x 200mm C16 grade douglas fir posts

Elevation- top of panel 37.5mm panel overlap at structural post 75 x 22mm rough sawn timber stud wall 75 x 22mm rough sawn timber stud wall 12mm OSB panels

PRIMARY STRUCT AXONOMETRIC

Nailing pattern wall panels

KIELDER CAMPSIT NEWCASTLE UNIV ARCHITECTURE D

Elevation- bottom of panel

KIELDER CAMPSITE WARM ROOM NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT KIELDER CAMP 29/11/2014 KIELDER CAMP

GC 9.3

08/12/2014 1:20 @ A3

Drawing No. 12

Linked Research

199

4. Planning A key stage of the design was the submission for planning, a

Description, design and context

process none of us had ever experienced first hand as designers

The Kielder campsite ‘warm space’ is designed to accommodate

in both education and practice. As such, key criteria were met

participants of star gazing activities to wait for favourable star

in terms of learning to take a building to planning, through

observation conditions whilst staying at Kielder Campsite. The

using regulations, standards and requirements. As a group we

space allows people to take shelter from the weather in addition

sat together to write our design and access statement, and in

to charging their laptop, set up equipment etc. The design concept

doing this we noted any gaps in the detailed design process, and

is based on the integration of the building within the landscape.

highlighted key moments to address or concentrate on when on

Minimising mass and maintaining a vernacular shape whilst

site, or during construction. The planning process was probably

including contemporary details are key.

the most important piece of learning I have undertake throughout the year, as it is a key piece of professionalism that an architect

Access

should be able to undertake in practice, and one that is not taught

The site will be levelled to allow an equal floor plate and critically,

practically in schools. Despite all the lectures and exams, the best

level access from the car park to the main entrance. The current site

experience i could have hoped for in terms of bureaucracy and law

will be excavated down at the car park side by 300mm and raised at

came in a practical situation.

the adjacent side by 300mm to accommodate the building on the currently sloping site. The entrance and all doors will be wheelchair accessible and conform to building codes as stated in Part M of the building regulations. Access to the site will remain as existing and no additions will be made to access from the public highway. Layout and size/ scale Do not scale from this drawing.

The total area of the site is 70sqm. The total building footprint is Use only figured dimensions.

All dimensions to be checked on site.

35sqm, roughly half of which constitutes the ‘warm space’ with a Any errors or omissions must be reported to the architect.

section of the footprint covered and shelter but not heated, which is intended to function as a cooking space. The rough dimension of the building is 10m x 3.5m. The roof is a mono-pitch and at its apex will be approximately 3.5m in height from FFL and at the lower level, 2.3m. Materials The building will be clad all over, walls and roof, with Larch wood. The internal structure will be Douglas fir timber with an internal finish of plywood board. The floor in the unheated space will be decking consisting of non-slip treated timber. The foundations will be concrete. Type 1 gravel will be used to cover the excavated site under and around the building to aid in drainage and site maintenance. Materials have been chosen for durability but also to minimise Do no t sc ale eo fro m th nly figu is d red dim raw ens ing dim . An ion ens y s ion to rep erro s. be to orted rs o c he c the r o ked mis arc hite sio on ns site ct. mu . st b e

impacts on the environment both in production, construction and

All

waste.

Scale Bar

5000

500

5000

GC 4.1; GC 4.3; GC 10.3; GA 2.5; GA 2.7 10000

100

1000

PROPOSED LOCATION PLAN 1:500 @ A3 10000

Kielder Warm Room

200

5. Groundworks A significant focus of the Live Build module is hands on materiality, learning how to construct using through tactile methods, and getting to grips with the processes and nuances involved in construction. I have long been fascinated with construction, and the forces behind a building project, and remain frustrated with architectural education in general for the little opportunity granted to students to actually translate a drawn design into something tangible and useful. The first step of construction on this project was to prepare groundworks, and to dig, mix and pour foundations, something that yet again none of us had any experience in. in the short period of two days I went from zero experience to knowing how to handle a cement mixer, knowing the correct concerete mix for foundations, and in setting out the foundations on the ground, reading from the plans. It appears, however, that we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t learn from the mistakes whilst surveying the site, and had to make estimations on the important 45 degree angle in the building using crude maths. For such a steep learning curve, and in awful weather for concrete curing we were more than delighted with the work, and how we managed to learn on the job so quickly.

Linked Research

201 CAR PARK

W/C BLOCK

PEG SPRA TAKEN AS

GROUND STEP AT T TAPER GE EAST EDG PEG SPRAYED WHITE SHOULD BE TAKEN AS GROUND LEVEL “0”. ALL LEVELS HEREIN SHOULD SITE BOUNDARY BE MEASURED FROM THIS POINT.

ALL OTHER GROUND WITHIN SITE BOUNDARY SHOULD BE CUT BACK 200MM THEN REPLACED WITH 200MM TYPE 1.

UNDARY

SITE BOUNDARY

SITE BO

ELECTRIC CONDUIT RISES TO SURFACE (-350MM) AT THIS POINT. READY TO BE ROPE PULLED THROUGH AT A LATER DATE.

BU ILD

THIS SHADED AREA TO BE CUT/FILLED TO A FLAT LEVEL. WITHIN BUILDING FOOTPRINT BOUNDARY, GROUND SHOULD BE TAKEN TO 550MM BELOW GROUND LEVEL “0”, THEN RE-FILLED WITH 200MM TYPE 1 GRAVEL TO LEAVE FLAT SURFACE AT 350MM BELOW “0” LEVEL.

G IN Y AR ND

RIN

P OT

SITE GRO

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SITE BOUNDARY

PLAY AREA

tio

n - un d o fo lai rete b c la n g s co vin m pa 50m 4 t mm x s 50 m lla x 4 50m nt:ba 4 m e x m 0m 45 0mm :6 ce 45 io 1 t ra

KIELDER NEWCAS ARCHITEC

KIELDER

re 25/11/20 ctu l ru esta St d1:50 at A b NORTH ORIENTATION Pe Ri Fir uzon s n la 4 B d o fo ug lai rete t Do DPH b c la n ra mm to g s co pe 00 ed vin m se x 2 e fix pa 50m See m d 4 t. m ra s mm x 75 6 g 00 m alla C1 x 6 00m nt:b 6 m e x m 0m e ion 90 0mm :6 c p sit po n 90 tio 1 ild u g ra bu din sitio lad r po 3D lc na terio r x te Ex B E OS

ati

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Kielder Warm Room

6. Prefabrication Based on previous live project experience, prefabrication seemed the most practical way to go in order for this project to get off the ground quickly. The weather conditions on site at the time of year construction was to take place made sure of this. As explained in the management essay that follows, budget constraints meant that the bulk of materials needed to be ordered within a tight timescale, and as such meant that quick and careful planning and management was needed to ensure the correct materials were in place to commence prefabrication in an efficient order. I found my organisational skills being strongly tested in this phase, trying to organise the panel drawings I had been undertaking, whilst learning how to handle new tools such as a nail gun and electic plane. Storage of the panels also proved a hurdle to overcome, as construction space off-site was severely limited, KEy skills learned and developed in this phase involved financial budget management and key organisational and logisticai skills.

202

203

GC 1.2

Linked Research

Kielder Warm Room

204

7. On Site As the main intensive period of construction, this became a steep learning curve in both buidling site management and in learning on site. Despite all the prefab and the intensive planning beforehand, many small snags had to be sorted on site, and again, this was a good lesson to learn, and certainly one I can take away into professional life and the remainder of my education. I am really pleased with how the prefabricated panels and structure slotted together so easily, and definitely wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t change anything about how I went about that task. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m pleased that I stood up and put myself forward to undertake the drawings, and then to oversee the construction of the panels themselves, although I was extremely nervous on site as they began to be laid out! Matching the floorplates to the foundation pads was also a nervous moment, as we set out the building footprint, but after a while of jiggling, and some quick foundation adjustment, the building was set to fly up. Constructing the project also meant I had to learn to use new tools and techniques fairly fast, and for me this was an exciting experience, and one making a 1:1 scale building on a site as opposed to a 1:100 model in a workshop brought me new challenges and new personal goals. As a group we again had to be organised and well managed in our resource management, and to work out logistically how to move materials to site, what tools and fixings would be required, and how to schedule the project on site. For me, one of the most challenging aspect of this was the project scheduling, and I definitely think we learnt a great deal about realistic construction times compared to our estimates. Since we only had a week available initially, we scheduled most of the construction to take place within that time, knowing that realistically it would take much longer to complete. In retrospect, I would like to have prepared a more genuine timetable, in order to challenge our thinking and our expectations on construction times. Added to the above considerations was the more complicated matter of personnel management. We were borrowing the services of a number of other university students to help out on site, and this meant briefing them on safety, explaining the project, organising the construction group into various teams, and training them on tools and techniques. This proved the most demanding yet rewarding task of the week, since I actually learnt a lot about what was going on myself whilst explaining to others, and even had to teahc myself new techniques in order to pass them on. The sense of responsibility for others safety was huge, and made me pay good attention to site, and to health and safety measures which we had to consider.

GC 8.1; GA 2.6

205

Linked Research

On Site - Day #1

The floorplates layed out, and quick remedial works to the

Learning how to use new methods of construction, the Buzon feet

foundations - learning fast on site that tolerance is key

and the rib structure

Site organisation, being rational and thorough with materials,

Day 1 progress - I definitely learnt that project planning and

personnel and tools

management is a key skill, as we fell behind schedule

GC 8.2

Kielder Warm Room

206

On Site - Day #2

Learning to use new tools, such as the nail gun, quickly and safely

Joint construction at a 1:1 scale proved challenging, due to the

was a key part of life on site.

tolerances involved. I would like to have had more practice and experience in this area inparticular, as structure was important

I was trained on scaffold erection and maintenance, and on the

Day 2 progress - the scaffold in action, as we fell further behind on

correct use of PPE, and the responsibility gave me confidence

the schedule, but saw the prefabrication coming good.

on site, and I think improved my inter-personal skills and site competancy

GC 1.2; GC 8.1; GC 8.3

207

Linked Research

On Site - Day #3

Having overseen the drawing and cosntruction of the

Subcontracting elements such as glazing provided extra

prefabricated panels, I was pleased with the results on site!

timetabling and financial pressures for the team, as we hurried to install the correct panels. I am pleased with the way we managed the budget and time for thie element inparticular.

The weather, as expected, proved to be a problem. The

The angle joint which the building hinges round had to be made

prefabrication method and construction timetable ensured the

bespoke, in freezing temperatures, on the scaffold. Needless to

roof was on and protecting the interior. The construction method

say, this was something we felt we would definitely do differently

and order are definitely one of the most successful factors of the

next time round, and we decided a model woudl have been helpful.

project.

GC 5.2

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On Site - Day #4

The weather, again, playing its part, and taking an hour out of

Logistical organisation involved arranging transport for materials

schedule as snow was cleared.

and personnel.

A key skill we all learned on site was the wiring of the building, and

Day 4 progress, and the roof finally on. Having learnt the

the layout and drawing techniques involved. Adding services to a

construction techniques now, the rest of the structure and

building greatly increased its complexity, and meant dealing with

envelope went up quickly as we learnt from our mistakes and

another subcontractor, the electrician

applied our new skills, gelling as a team.

GC 9.3

209

Linked Research

On Site - Day #5

Learning skills such as laying decking. I particularly enjoyed this,

Liasing with the client, Steve Webb. As a group, we felt the lessons

as it is a precise job, and required problem solving for cutting

learnt in the Vamos build were invaluable in learning how to

angles and notches.

approach a client successfully.

Cladding battens, which we spent valuable time painstakingly

Waterproofing the roof with a rubber membrane. Seeing first

treating and painting black, as a last minute detail change to hide

hand the materials that I normally just draw on a computer, and

them behind the cladding, Again, retrospectively, this could have

handling them myself has really enabled me to imagine more

been done before going to site, had we thought more carefully

carefully what I detail in my projects.

about detailing.

GC 1.2; GC 1.3

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On Site - Day #6

The treated and painted battens and counterbattens, ready to take the cladding. These elements were thought of and detailed into the design, but when we got to site the battens had to be cut and fitted to each specific location.

Tyvek membrane, again, aloowing us to get hands on with the

Managing a team of students from the university proved as fruitful

important features of construction, and to appreciate their

as it did challenging, but did wonders for my understanding of

integration into buildings first hand.

our building, for the processes to be undertaken, and for my interpersonal and leadership skills

211

Linked Research

On Site - Day #7

Given the opportunity to learn and practice more artisanal

Cutting and fitting insulation proved more uncomofortable and

skills, I jumped at the chance. Fitting out and hanging the door

hazardous than weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d imagined, especially in a confined space.

involved precisely cutting and chiseling out the hinges and lock mechanism.

Starting to clad the building in Siberian Larch. The cladding weighed more, and was harder to handle than Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d imagined, and the initial setting out and fixing proved hard. A lot of lessons were learnt for the rest of the cladding to go ahead smoothly

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On Site - Finalising

Cladding the building, taking note of the clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s requirements for quality in finishes. The majority of decisions regarding the cladding were taken on site, such as the horizontal highlight areas around windows and doors - I think this was the right approach, as it allowed more careful and responsive detailing.

Products such as vapourproof membranes were another practical

The cladding nears completion - finishing off the details around

detailing material that we had little or no experience of in reality,

openings and the roof angle took much longer than planned,

and was another opoprtunity to discover the shortcomings and

and we really didntâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t manage or plan our time well in this regard

limitations involved for builders.

- definitely a lesson learnt to plan ahead and not charge in headstrong!

213

GC 5.2

Linked Research

Conclusion

214

Conclusions from Kielder and Linked Research As an alternative route through architectural education the linked

Elements such as planning will also prove to be transferrable skills,

research module taught me valuable skills that I would otherwise

with consultations, compromise and co-operation all colliding

not have learnt in the traditional design studio. in fact, personally

to produce the opportunity of conceptualising, designing and

speaking it has taught me more valuable lessons than I could

realising a piece of architecture, focussing the mind on every detail

have hoped to have learnt in a studio or a classroom. To have been

to avoid issues further down the line.

priviledged enough to be given the opportunity to take on, first hand, a number of live builds, and to learn and develop the things I

Alternative pedagogies such as the Kielder live build project will

have, has been priceless.

encourage greater respect for usersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs and aspirations; develop empathy and co-operation among students and raise awareness of the variety of skills needed in professional situations.

Whilst the traditional design studio focuses on showcasing individual creativity, and discovering ones originality, regulated by RIBA and ARB criteria, the linked research module has shown

For me, this claim is true as I have found the learning process of

me that by engaging with wider contemporary issues, learning is

live build to be broader, richer and a steeper learning curve than

achieved through collaboration, teamwork and interacting with

the individual studio. Regular meetings and consultations have

various stakeholders.

allowed for collaborative designing to take place. I have developed my listening and team skills, learnt new trades and techniques, and

As a stepping stone from architectural education to architectural

learnt the importance of being able to translate a conceptual idea

practice I see these skills as vitally important, and the direct

into a built piece of architecture, ticking all the boxes aong the way

material engagement offered another dimension to the projects

from concept to design, planning to budget, site management to

alongside the practical skills on offer.

logistics, and teamwork to individual achievement. The following essay was a submission as part of the Construction and Management module, and touches on key practical themes relating to Kielder and the RIBA Plan of Work.

GC 1.3; GC 5.2

215

Linked Research

Stage 1 Report

216

Architecture & Construction: Process & Management

Stage 1 Report

Business Case and Site

Budget

The project begins with an opportunity through a long-term

The client has set out an agenda primarily for practicality in

returning client, Steve Webb, of Kielder ltd, who manage a plot

materials, but simultaneously for quality within the simplicity.

of land owned by the Forestry Commission in the campsite in

Detailed design will play a large part in the design, to deliver a

the village of Kielder, Northumberland, where large gatherings of

practical, high quality timber construction with a small budget.

stargazers are increasingly common, due to the recently granted Dark Sky status, especially in the cold, dark, unpredictable

The project budget will be available from a different party to the

winter months. However, when the weather is inappropriate for

client, and will be sourced through the Kielder Trust.

stargazing, there is no warm place for the community to gather

Funding currently available is £5000excVAT - DEFRA Grant to the

and shelter.

Kielder Trust, to be processed by 31st December, and £4000incVAT - potentially available to be released at a later stage from Kielder

After initial meetings, and set against the client’s business case,

Trust, with University top-up to meet any overspend

a structure is proposed that will have multiple functions, mainly

The project will be designed with the £5000 budget in mind, but

as a warm social space for the stargazers or astronomers to

will have the potential to upgrade in material and finishes quality

shelter from the elements, but doubling up as a social common

at the announcement of the £4000 addition. A design review will

space for everyday campers. This will incorporate a sheltered

have to be set in to the program at that point, to allow for changes

campsite cooking area, and charging points for electronic devices.

to structure, lead-in, contractors, supplier, and design. Careful

The client has also stated strong wishes to open views to the

budgeting will be required, as the Kielder trust, who will be buying

southeast/east, to orientate the building north-south and to

the materials, can claim back the VAT, so the actual value available

provide level access to the sloping site.

is £6000 (i.e. £5000+£1000 VAT@20%). The supplier will be paid the

The client has stated strong wishes to open views to the

total, and the VAT then claimed back.

southeast/east, to orientate the building north-south and to provide level access to the sloping site.

Due to the nature of the public funding, three separate quotes

Given by the landowner and clients jointly, is fixed, and has

must be obtained and recorded for any labour and materials to be

multiple constraints, or elements guiding design, such as a bridge

bought.

leading to site with a 5ton limit, a strong prevailing wind, a narrow

The funding type and budget also provide constraints for the

field of view, limiting visual access to the sky, and a slope of

building programme, requiring it to be relatively short, and intense

gradient approximately 1:14.

in nature. To this end, and to keep costs low, the design team will also undertake the role of contractor and construction, keeping to the project programme, and overseen by the CDMC.

GC 4.1; GC 6.3; GC 10.1

217

Process and Management

Selected Key Actions, to proceed to Stage 4 Cost information and project budget aligned (Stage 3) Due to the potential of additional funding in February, there must be a window in which the new funding can be integrated into the cost information. If this is the case, it should also then lead to reviews in areas of Design Construction Strategy, Project Programme, Technical Design and Project Strategies Input from other professionals (All Stages) In-house Structural Engineer needs to check and review drawings and design during stage 2 and 3, to enable planning to go ahead as quickly as possible with no committees, and to allow technical design to progress smoothly into Stage 4. External Structural Engineer will be needed from the landowner, to sign off the risk associated with the structure. They will need to be involved often within stage 2, being sent information packages, and then signing off the drawings at the end of stage 3.

Project Team

The CDMC ¬will need to inform the client of the necessary site

A 7-person design project team has been allocated, with project roles within team to be split according to technical expertise, including an in-house QS. The design team has a separate Structural and Engineering Consultant in-house to check drawings and to give feedback and recommendations The representative from the Kielder Trust, Peter Sharpe, as acting CDMC, is to undertake regular risk assessments and site visits to ensure safety, and co-ordinate the efforts between design team, client, funding and engineers The land itself is a part of a larger portfolio owned by the Forestry Commission, who are represented in this project by James Simpson, a Civil Engineer, and the CDMC has recommended the subcontraction of a Structural Engineer from the landowner to undertake a structural assessment, sign off drawings and take the risk. The Forestry Commission will also be subcontracted to undertake

constraints, and co-ordinate and enable understandings between the landowner, client and design team. They will most certainly control the distribution of information and documents. Statutory approvals (Stage 1 and Stage 3) Planning Permission required at stage 3, but the requirements will be checked at stages 0/1 against the clients brief and business case. Building Regulations approved documents will be complied with, after checking with building control for exemption Health and Safety documentation will be submitted by the client, design team and landowner, and compiled by the CDMC into a cohesive site strategy. Conservation Areas will have to be checked, due to the rural nature, for wildlife status. The site is in the vicinity of Northumberland National Park, so clarification of the exact boundaries is needed, and consideration of National Park policy will be required until the Planning Authorities or landowner report back.

any groundwork needed on their site to enable construction. Submit planning to Northumberland County Council. Requires a Flood Risk Assessment to be undertaken. Depending on the eventual footprint and specification of the structure, building control may not be needed.

Office resources Management Team/People – no extras needed. Design team of 7, including QS Software/hardware – no extras needed. Vectorworks/CAD and Sketchup, PCs and printers Office - no extra office space needed Fees – none charged

GC 4.3; GC 6.1; GC 11.1; GC 11.2; GC 11.3; GA 2.5

Gantt Chart

218

Kielder Warm Room Project Plan

ACTIVITY

PERIODS Week Date

Work Stage 1 Develop Quality Objectives Consideration of Common Standards Agree Schedule of Services Contractural Tree Review Site Information Develop Project Outcomes Sustainability Aspirations Feasibility Studies Review Project Programme Pre-Planning Application Discussions Initial Project Brief Develop Project Budget Project Roles Table Agree Design Responsibility Matrix

Work Stage 2 Prepare Concept Design Cost Information Design Programme Project Strategies Final Project Brief Prepare Structural Design Consider Construction Strategy Develop Health and Safety Strategy Review Project Programme Review Procurement Strategies Prepare Operational Strategies Prepare Handover Strategies

Work Stage 3 Develop Structural Design Design Programme Update Change Control Procedures Project Strategies Review Health and Safety Strategy Review Procurement Strategy Project Programme Review Planning Application Update Cost Information Review of Budget and Funding Design Construction Strategy Review

Work Stage 4 Prepare Technical Design Information Exchanges Review Design Programme Structural and Services Information Update Risk Assessment Update Project Execution Plan Review Construction Strategy

Process and Management

219

Time alloted

1 08.12.14

Reserve/review time

Christmas Break

15.12.14 22.12.14 29.12.14 05.01.15 12.01.15 19.01.15 26.01.15 02.02.15 09.02.15 16.02.15 23.02.15 02.03.15 09.03.15

Project Risks

220

Stage 1 Report Commentary

Potential Project Risks 1. Cost Risk

Thus far, the Plan for Part A to date has worked out almost without

Cost is a large risk in the context of this project, due mainly to the

a problem. The business case has not changed, and nor has the

tight, uncompromising budget. It is important to be made aware of

project team. However, because the design team are now planning

the risks of budget through grant funding. £5000 has already been

to take the project on as a loss making self-build scheme, there

definitely secured from DEFRA, with the condition that it is spent

have been a couple of additions to the professionals required to

in a correct and approved fashion within the terms of the grant.

liaise with directly, most notably a qualified electrician.

A further £4000 is now potentially available, should it be needed,

In terms of budget, the potential additional £4000 funding

through Kielder Trust, and is highly recommended to be taken up.

became available, as expected, and the cost information had to be

The release of the funding relies on a detailed cost plan, showing

updated, which led subsequently to the reviews in construction

estimates for each stage of the project, and so this information is

strategy, programme and technical strategies. A more detailed

of high priority to deliver.

cost plan is now required to fully release this funding, outlining

The main cost risk lies in any project overspends. It is important to

the key actions to manage the project budget, which should be

be aware of the Kielder Trust’s accepted responsibility to fundraise

delivered in stages.

– the project could be compromised if for some reason they do not

After applying for planning, permission was granted, and as hoped,

release the full funding, and so subsequently alternative sources

the project is to be building control exempt, and complies with all

of funding may need to be found, either directly by the Trust, as it

local building legislation, saving the client a large proportion of the

has a responsibility to the client, or through liaison with the client.

budget.

As this is the case, a review of Design Construction Strategy,

The office resources have thus far been adequate. However, as

Project Programme, Technical Design and Project Strategies will

explained later, a small capital investment will now be needed by

be undertaken, and a more detailed cost plan will be drawn up, to

the design team in order to enable the self-build to go ahead, and

include the following considerations:

this was not accounted for in the original key actions.

Action should be taken to assign and release the budget in a series of phases, to allow ordering of the most important/ expensive materials first, such as structural timber, to enable work on site to commence. In this instance, the cost risk aligns strongly with the time risk, and it is advisable to set a cost priority schedule for the build, given the fine margins and low budget. In order to reduce the pressure on the budget, it has been agreed between parties that the design team will be responsible for undertaking, constructing and delivering the project themselves. However, it is recommended to have scheduled in the transportation of the workforce, materials and any associated resources to site – owing to the remote location, travel costs could be relatively large in such a project, and it is especially worth bearing in mind the potential costs relating to specialist contractors’ delivery, such as glazing. In terms of the organisation of resources, the practice has already accumulated a large number of tools and resources that are appropriate for the job, but will need to purchase and invest further in new technologies, training, and power tools to undertake the project. Some cost from the budget has already been set aside for this eventuality, however there is no need to budget for fees, as the practice sees this as a good opportunity to work in a new project area, gaining experience and getting their name out there. Cost contingency will be factored in, despite the low budget, at around 10%, due to the many unknowns in the project for the design team surrounding other project risks, such as time and

The weather, a serious risk to

weather.

any construction projects in Kielder

GC 6.1; GC 10.1; GC 10.2; GA 2.7

221

Process and Management

2. Time Risk

3. Quality

It is understood that completion is preferred for a specific event,

Initially it was noted that the client had set out an agenda

by which time the building would ideally be finished. In order to

primarily for practicality in materials, but simultaneously for

achieve this there are some significant risks associated with the

quality within the simplicity, to deliver a practical, high quality

tight timescale, most notably due to the cost of achieving the

timber construction with a small budget.

project in a short timescale. Although the cost plan, construction strategies, technical strategies and revised project programme

Whilst quality in itself is not necessarily a risk, it is one of the key

attempt to allow the project to proceed in the smoothest and

components of the project, and is integral to its success as a piece

most logical manner possible, the tight timeframe leaves little

of architecture. There are a number of risks that could lead to the

space to manoeuvre should an issue arise regarding either budget

compromise of the build quality.

or construction. The client should be aware that the target

Time constraints, again, could lead to a build which is of a lower

completion date may not be achieved in the eventuality of a delay.

quality than perhaps is desired. To this end, having considered the available options relating to the previous point, within the revised

Delays to the project may be caused by a number of reasons, the

project programme and construction strategy the design team

main issue being a site specific one of weather. Kielder is a remote

have placed an emphasis on material quality over complicated

site, and notorious for the harsh winter conditions, including low

details, in order to retain the impression of a quality build whilst

temperatures and high snowfall. Subsequently, due to the time

reducing the risk of over-running the schedule. Below are a

of year that the project has been requested to be undertaken,

selection of such options:

there may be a large amount of snow lying on the ground. Severe weather could prevent personnel from accessing the site,

The glazing will have to be of a certain quality specification

prevent delivery of key materials, and hinder certain construction

(double glazed 6mm toughened glass), in order to meet

techniques required on site.

regulations, despite building control not applying, due to the

The project programme will set out a strategy to minimise these

proposed size. To alter the glazing sizes or proportions would

risks – storage space has been organised through the Trust,

significantly compromise the harmony of the building, however,

and as much of the already ordered material as possible will be

and with quality in mind, it is recommended to look to save the

delivered to the storage in stages pre-construction according to

required £250 elsewhere,

the programme as soon as it is available, reducing the reliance

A preference was indicated for larch timber cladding, due to

on tight scheduling. Furthermore, in order to maximise the time

the aesthetic achieved over time. The first sample seen was

on site, it is hoped that the construction team will be able to be

cheaper, and locally sourced, yet was not of desirable quality, and

accommodated close to the site, removing the otherwise required

so a decision has been reached to specify Siberian larch, for its

three hours per day of travel time, allowing it to be spent on

superior appearance and quality of finish despite the cost being

construction instead, and removing the risk of site inaccessibility

almost double. The consequences of this decision will have a

in bad weather.

knock on effect throughout, but the release of the surplus £4000 should see the cost covered. An option will be written into the cost

Despite the best efforts of the design team to minimise the need

plan and project programme to revert to the affordable cladding

for involvement of other professionals in the project to keep the

should funding issues arise subsequently.

costs down, inevitably a certain specialist input is necessary. The Trust have secured the services of an electrician, without charge,

Kielder’s weather plays a large part, again, in the question of

who is willing to undertake the important electrical work within

quality. Firstly, because of the potential weather conditions on site,

the building. However, he is not able to fully commit himself to fit

the design team note the importance of ensuring the quality of the

to the project programme and timetable, so it should be noted that

build itself, as certain materials may not perform to their optimum.

the project may not be able to progress beyond two key stages if

It is especially noted within the project programme that pouring

he is unavailable at certain moments, namely the internal wiring

concrete foundations is risky in certain conditions, and so a period

layout stage and the surface fitting and finishes. The design

of time has been set aside as contingency within the programme

team will also make all appropriate efforts to get the relevant

for this.

drawings and information conveyed following any amendments to the construction or technical strategies. If this is a risk that is not worth undertaking, funding should be sought to secure the guaranteed services of an alternative professional.

GC 6.2; GC 11.1; GC 11.3

Project Risks

222

The unpredictable nature of the weather also demands the swift erection of the basic envelope, to protect the construction within, and to allow swift progress both inside and outside. To this end, the construction strategy has been set out such that the primary structure and basic prefabricated supporting wall and roof units are in place within three days. In a similar vein, relating to the weather, is the importance of good quality as a final finish. The build has to be as airtight and weatherproof as possible, to give maximum habitation and comfort. The team have endeavoured, within the construction strategy, to reduce the number of potential snagging points through careful and simple joint details. However, it should be noted at this point that a further point relating to quality arises. The client, as previously mentioned, has accepted and is aware that the design team have scheduled to undertake the work themselves, in order to reduce the cost risks. However, it is important to note the potential impact on build quality â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all due care and attention will be taken to ensure as good a job as possible is achieved, and it has been agreed through the Trust for an independent external inspector to conduct regular visits to the site to ensure regulations, quality control, and build schedule are being met.

In conclusion, Quality, Time and Cost often march hand in hand, and so it is vitally important therefore to be aware of the impact of one of these factors upon the other. The project appears to be balanced delicately within a vicious circle. To save time, quality

Quality, in both materials and

details are waived in favour of quality materials, yet quality

detailing, was important for the

materials add to the cost of a project on a pressured budget.

client

GA 2.7

223

Process and Management

224

225

226