I.D.R.
Integrated Design Report
Andrew Clapham
I.D.R.
Integrated Design Report
Andrew Clapham Leeds School of Architecture 2014
Contents
Report 1: Design and Technology A Personal Position
p3
The Design Studio Context The Design Thesis
p5 p7
Technical and Thechnological Questions Further Development
p11
p15
Report 2: Management and Law Planning Issue
p19
Development Appraisal Scenario
p25
Procurement and Risk
p29
Architectural Practice
p31
Professional Reflection Bibliography Curriculum Vitae
p35 p39 p41
Report 1: Design and Technology
Mau’s theory: ‘From the world of design, to the design of the world.
A Personal Position
The world of architecture has gradually become a limited spectrum of work. A high percentage of architect ‘s are used by clients to create the buildings they require to generate the highest amount of profit from the land they own and the resources they have. Dan Hill describes this as a ‘build and sell, hit and run model of development and construction’ (Hyde, 2013, p. 9). During the 19th century and through to now, capitalism has increasingly become the norm and contributes to developing countries maximisation of income. I personally see this as an ethically incorrect way of working as a professional. Over the last decade; the UK building industry has witnessed crises. Firstly the credit crunch, where I was first made redundant from Brewster Bye Architects and secondly from the change in government, which due the budget cuts in construction led to my second redundancy in only 6 years of working in the industry. All the above is what led me to consider what architects should be offering in the future. Architects poses an array of talents, and their knowledge should be put to better use simply drawing up plans and delivering applications for their clients. Architects should be more selective with their work, only designing what is required and offering more diverse products like consultation and other design work.
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The Design Studio Context
CITYzen Agency Logo
CITYzen Agency was created by Simon Warren and Craig Scott to let students who are interested in ‘the other way of doing architecture’ (Awan, Till, Schneider, 2011) to let them understand how to make more resilient communities The studio looks at being ‘agents’ of the city, generating a way of becoming ‘agents’ for the people and understanding how being an ‘agent’ can inform change on small scales within communities, while making statements, as an architect, that can inform larger issues on a more global scale. Using a polemic approach to generate a thorough and accurate understanding of an area, informs the student about local problems and needs of a community. For example problems such as, deprivation or a high percentage of people whose educational qualifications are lower than the national average. This information then can be translated into creating projects that the area requires to make a positive change to the local community, instead of building something that maybe inefficient or have a negative impact on the evolution of the community. Working in this way can creates resilient communities that are in-sync and ultimately able to adaptive when required. This approach to design has helped me with my personal proposition because it follows very similar principles. For example, the approach includes concise research into the lives of communities and individuals around a site, which then should inform what type of project/building/product is best suited for the area.
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The Design Thesis
The surrounding areas of the River Mersey have dwindled due to the decline of the shipping industry relocating to cheaper and more relevant areas. Consequently, deprivation has struck in areas within both Liverpool and some parts of the Wirral; taking them well above the UK average. The thesis intends on creating an intervention to help with the deprivation problem of these areas. Liverpool alone has 5 of the top 10 deprived areas in the UK, making it dubbed the most deprived city. Using my studios approach to design I was able to map out, with the Power of 10 system, the most deprived areas around the River Mersey and find 4 areas to look at; 3 x 10kmsq around Anfield, 1 x 10kmsq around Speke, 4 x 10kmsq around Garston and 6 x 10kmsq around Birkenhead and Wallasey. Looking further into these locations I found that Birkenhead and Wallasey held the most potential. Therefore, my thesis focuses on discovering and understanding why these areas are so deprived. Like Liverpool, Birkenhead was a huge importer of goods from overseas. This industry peaked around the 1950s. Since then the industry has declined, leaving the area with a smaller population, destroying the industry leading to economic difficulties. The once busy docks now have a number of unused warehouses and empty land with no activity. In 2010 Peel Holdings were given permission to go ahead with a ÂŁ4.5 billion scheme to regenerate part of the docks over a 30 year period. This was to create 27,000 new permanent jobs and promise to regenerate the area. Another problem which is causing the high deprivation rate is the lower than average number of people
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employed. Researching the reasons for this flagged up that the area around the docks has a high number of residents over the age of 16 that currently have no qualifications. Although the schools in the area have seen an increase in levels of graduates with 5 GCSE’s, there is still a large number people who were educated before the changes underwent that still have no qualifications. It is difficult for these to compete with those who have achieved 5 GCSE grades within the job market. The Skills and Employment Survey in 2013 showed that the amount of jobs for people with no qualification had reached an all-time low. Even with Wirral Waters promising to regenerate the area and provide the jobs that the area needs, historically, these developments have done little to help the community. Only across the water, Liverpool has had a £1,923 million investmment into the city, £970 million from Liverpool One (their main shopping centre now) and £2,037 million from John Lennon Airport. However, this has not been invested into the deprived population; as it is still one of the 5 most deprived areas in the UK. My project is to build a scheme that can facilitate the employment to Wirral Waters. An educational facility, that changes as the needs of Wirral Waters change. Then we can achieve something that Canary Wharf is still struggling to do with Tower Hamlets.
£1,923m
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Investment into the city of the top 10 most deprived areas in England
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£970m
£2,037m
Investment into the city from Liverpool 1
Econmic benefit from airport
£325.00
EU funding per head
Liverpool Skyline from Birkenhead Docks
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Technical and Tecnological Questions
Single Module for the Education Centre.
As the proposition is to help with the employability of the area, I feel it is important that the building of the education centre is open to people with skills already mastered those old industries. As the area has a rich history in the building of large ships for military and companies around the world, the building would be designed using materials that can be used in both construction methods. A lot of the skills needed to build a ship can be translated into the construction of a building. These skills include the obvious ones in Iron workers welding, erecting heavy metal structures using columns, beams, bolts and brackets. But also the less obvious ones like carpentry, pipefitters, electricians, sheet metal workers and crane operators. In the design of the educational centre, the materials, construction type and erection of the building have to be thought out carefully so the training and the construction can be concluded within an appropriate time-scale applicable for this type of building. For example, one of the ways I have implemented to achieve this is by using a modular grid construction made from stainless steel. The stainless steel beams and columns can be lifted into place by a crane and then (much like the skeleton of a ship) bolted and welded together. The Camell Laird shipyard has shrunk with the lack of building in the area, but still takes broken ships into its dry docks and fixes them. As the company has shrunk in the shipping industry; they have started
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Weld 8
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Structure
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Process of construction.
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Designed
Constructed
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10m Sq Kit.
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1. Steel column with prefabricated holes for the floor beams 2. Brackets which are fixed tot he column by welding. 3. Pad foundation. 4. Beam bolted to the column through the brackets. 5. Bolts. 6. Bracing
7. Protective barrier to help stop heavy objects in the buildi glazed facade. 8. Aluminium glass frame.
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9. Bracket for facade frame.
10. Glass. 1. Steel column with prefabricated holes for the floor beams
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11. Steel facade frame. 2. Brackets which are fixed tot he column by welding. 12. Brackets for facade. 3. Pad foundation. 13. Facade. Corrugated metal from old shipping containers. 4. Beam bolted to the column through the brackets. 14. L shaped bracket. 5. Bolts.
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6. Bracing
7. Protective barrier to help stop heavy objects in the buildi glazed facade. 8. Aluminium glass frame. 9. Bracket for facade frame. 10. Glass. 11. Steel facade frame. 12. Brackets for facade. 13. Facade. Corrugated metal from old shipping containers. 14. L shaped bracket.
Kit of Parts for the Education Centre
prefabricating large structures. Concluding that parts of the building that can be built in a prefabricated environment will be, this will further help reduce employment in the future. With the educational centre having the ability to evolve reflecting the changes occurring in Wirral Water, it was important to make the building changeable too. I have created this by using the grid layout of the building. The structure of each module has many repetitive parts within, so as to make it very adaptive. Meaning that parts can be reused or stored within the building for future use if required, thus making the structure very sustainable.
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Further Development
With the college changing as the needs of Wirral Waters evolves the need for constant design will be required. This can be passed onto the college itself, as it will have the facilities not only to keep the construction evolving, but to keep establishing new live projects that the students can be educated in. This will keep the materials and techniques up to date and will allow the implementation of new technologies into the design of the modules. Eventually the needs of Wirral Waters will be met and the scheme fully completed. This will then render the need for the college to be used as its facilitator. I see it becoming the new college in Birkenhead that uses the newest technologies and teaches the wider region. This expansion of applicants means that the college can evolve to meet the needs of the region as a whole, instead of just Wirral Waters. This keeps the college at the mercy to teach what is required for the sustainment of the area.
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Report 2: Management and Law
Planning Issues
The chosen site is one of many vacant brown field plots that surround the docks. Previously the site had rows of terrace housing which have now been demolished and left it over grown with shrubbery and grass. The site is currently vacant, but was previously used for housing. This could cause problems with planning permission. I feel that constructing a building on the site would catalyst the area into regeneration. This would then be seen as an opportunity by the planners to create a link to Wirral Waters and lift a declining community. There are specific conditions associated with the approval of Wirral Water, one condition being that the locals are employed within the scheme. If this condition is met, the educational centre would have the backing of the Wirral Waters design team because the centre would create wider opportunities for the unemployed to gain greater skills. With the council conditions on Wirral Waters I feel it would be difficult for them to not see the benefits of this project. The surrounding architecture consists of medium sized warehousing, converted out buildings from the old industries on the dock and probably the biggest commercial building being used on the docks: the chemical storage factory. The scaling of these buildings should cause no problems with the educational centre and has been taken
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Wirral Waters: Sky City
into account while being designed. There will be two train lines running parallel one on the north eastern edge of my site and the other on the south western edge. The line running along the south western edge of the site should cause no real planning concerns, but opening up the old docks railway for the deliveries to the site could cause problems as it would have effects on the highways surrounding the docks. I feel the benefits of reopening the railway line out way the problems it may cause to highways, as it reduces the amount of goods traffic entering Birkenhead by road.
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Development Appraisal Scenario
Site
The site is owned by the council, which set about the buying of housing to create new investment in the area after the population fell, which coincided with the decline in the docks during the late 20th century. With the development becoming closely tied with ut sO
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the Wirral Waters scheme, Peel holding would buy the land off the council to become part of their regeneration plan. Peel Holding already own Birkenhead docks so this would mean buying a piece of land which sits on the southern edge of the eastern dock; touching the boundary of the land they have already purchased. After taking ownership of the land, Peel Holdings would then become the developers of the educational centre and would be taken into the overall strategy for Wirral Waters. As mentioned the construction of this educational centre will meet their requirement to help the community produce higher skilled workers. Also, the risk of the investment is outweighed by the employment of graduates which is a requirement of the Wirral Waters scheme.
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With the development being perused by Wirral Waters owners, there is potential to showcase this as a precedent for how other large scale developments can achieve a well balanced community with the old and the merging.
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Procurement and Risk
The process of the education centre construction will need to be thoroughly devised from concept to completion. The contractor would have to be aptly qualified and suited this type of construction. It will have to be made clear to the contractor that they will be required at an early stage and a contract designed to suit this will have to be drawn up. The reason they need to be brought in at an early stage is to help design the parts and ensure the modular building is a simple building to construct. This would require the contractor and designer to have a good rapport. A series of interviews and conversations to find the right contractor would be the best way to filter out the contractors the designer feels is best suited. The simpler the building the easier it will be to pass on the instructions to future contractors. The building is designed in a way to allow the cross over skill of ship builders that live within the boundary of the Birkenhead and Wallasy area. These workers are used to the risks of construction on a Dock, however, on a building site there are ever changing dangers and risks that differ from that of a Dry Dock. Although the materials used would be the same, the application would be different. The workers would have to be trained on how to use the materials specifically. The workers will need constant monitoring by a person that is capable to ensure the safety levels and quality are achieved and maintained.
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Architectural Practice
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‘The New Architects Atlas’ by Martti Kalliala and Hans Park.
Due to the importance in selling this idea to Wirral Waters it will be ideal to have a practice that actively involves the community. It is also important for the practice to have both planners, Wirral Waters, the community, Cammell Laird and the chosen contractors to be key members in the design decisions from an early stage in development. The new RIBA Plan of Work helps in this way because it opens up the conversations between the groups at an earlier stage, increasing the input of the other members of the construction team. This not only will help with the restraints the companies or communities have, but also help them understand further what is expected of them too. The Community and Wirral Waters play a role with the design and development of the educational centre. The practice would need to be able to keep these two parties informed of the progress at all times and most
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importantly be able to listen when they have concerns. The adaption of the educational centre depends on the speed at which Wirral Waters is being built. It is difficult to keep to a ridged time table and as we know from the last ten years the construction industry can change very quickly. It is important that Wirral Waters have a rapport with the practice so that the communication between the two parties is clear when it comes to changes in the schedule.
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Professional Reflection
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With my views on architecture being quite clear it is my intention to take these principles into practice and use them to generate architecture that has been thought about and has a real significance to the area where it is being situated. I enjoy the interaction with communities and listening to their opinions on what their area requires. This will be a very important aspect within my designs throughout my career. I feel strongly in creating architecture that is informs other professional’s about the way we should be designing and influencing others, maybe, to change from the capitalisation of design. In my research for the dissertation I found a quote from Bruce Mau which read; ‘from the world of design, to the design of the world’ (Hyde, 2013, p, 30). This I found to be the best description of my ethical stance on architecture. I feel that the bubble of design that we are enclosed in at the moment needs to change. Design is not about making anything, it is about creating a design that positively impacts on the world surrounding it. I understand that this might be difficult and that there are not many architects around that think in this way, but to gain my Part 3 I would ultimately like to be working for one of these practices. I understand there may be times where the practice has to gain work and the lines of ethics becomes grey, but the way the world works at the moment is one that determines how businesses makes money. Even though this might be the case I would hope that a practice with the same ethical stance as I- would only take on the projects that fit within a certain criteria they have set as a company manifesto. One personal goal of mine is to travel the world and gain work in different cultures. I want to be able to
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use these different communities to inform me about how others design. I feel the best way to gain knowledge is to go out and experience it. I know Frank Lloyd Wright used his passion for Japanese art to travel there during his early career and bring that experience into the way he worked and designed throughout his career. He said ‘Japan was the gateway to the great East of which I had been Dreaming since I had seen my first Japanese Prints’ (Lloyd Wright 1943, 214).
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Bibliog raphy
Hyde, R. (2013) Future Practice: Conversations From The Edge of Architecture. New York: Routledge. Mau, B. (2004) Massive Change: And The Institute Without Boundaries. London: Phaidon Press Limited. L Wright, F. (1943) Peel Holdings (2009) Wirral Waters Strategic Regeneration
Framework.
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Curricu lum Vitae
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Andrew Clapham Leeds School of Architecture 2014