Oliver Martin 2020 Portfolio
BA(Hons) Architecture Liverpool School of Art and Design
About me I’m 25 yrs. old and have completed my BA in Architecture. Throughout my studies I have shown a great interest in the fundamentals of spatial design, and end user requirements, tailoring my designs for the prospective clients. I also have a keen interest in the psychology of architecture and the impact on society. I love to travel whenever I get the opportunity, as it offers me a fantastic opportunity to immerse myself in a new culture and is often a tremendous learning experience.
Contents BA Year 3 Semester 2: Comprehensive Design Project
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BA Year 3 Semester 1: Weather or Not
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BA Year 2 Semester 2: Experimental Project
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BA Year 2 Semester 1: Urban Design Project
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BA Year 1 Semester 2: A Place for Crafting
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BA Year 1 Semester 1: Archifilm
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Curriculum Vitae
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The Archetypal Flood Comprehensive Design Project
The objective of this project was to provide a performing arts university building for Liverpool John Moores Universty. An essay based on Jungian psychology and the relationship between, theatre, art and architecture. The Jungian archetype has been utilised in the formation of the building concept incorporating ‘The Great Flood’ archetype and the maritime relationship this story has to the context and the environmental relevance of this story today. The building offers five types of key performative spaces: Conventional Theatre, black box, open air atrium space, framed glazed space & outdoor upper floor theatre.
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The Archetypal Flood Comprehensive Design Project
The university is split into two parts, the main theatre building and the educational building. The proportions for both buildings vary based on the individual room requirements. The educational building requires a sequence of double height spaces, on the ground floor the dance rooms and the third floor for the classrooms and lecture theatres. The double height space is a requirement for the dance rooms for practical reasons, however for the classrooms and lecture theatres the addition of the room height is to aid in the natural light with north facing windows on the roof. The rooms are laid in an archetypal hierarchy from the basement to the top floor.
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The Archetypal Flood Comprehensive Design Project
A significant environmental consideration to the design proposal was the busy street adjacent to the site, and the theatre spaces acoustic isolation was a necessary factor to consider. The building form and orientation has been designed to use the educational building as an acoustic buffer to protect the more centrally located spaces. The wind direction has been incorporated to use passive cross ventilation for both heating and cooling. The heat from spaces in the south of the building is pulled through the building through thermal convection due to the cool spaces in the north. Solar panels have been optimally located on the sloped theatre roof.
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The Archetypal Flood Comprehensive Design Project
The steel structure for entails H-columns and I-beams. The framing has been chosen for multiple reasons, firstly it aligns with the maritime theme, and a practical choice for a university building due to the quick construction time and therefore the quicker students can attend the university. Additionally, the high precision reduces the likelihood of delays and reduced wasted material. Moreover, this structural strategy enables for further building expansion in the future if demand exceeds the current spatial requirements. Finally, steel is a practical solution for inner city work due to the reduction in congestion during construction.
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The Archetypal Flood Comprehensive Design Project
The facade is composed of recycled copper panels, offering a depth of predetermined character, and a resilient metal surface which is likened to the ship theme. Furthermore, the change of colour from orange or brown shades to a green shades, further reflects the maritime theme and the building changes to become increasingly symbolic of the potential great flood which would affect Liverpool and greatly at the area of the site which is the basin area of Liverpool city centre. Acoustic isolation, soundproofing and acoustic treatment were key considerations in the developments of walls, floors and ceilings throughout the theatre building.
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The Archetypal Flood Comprehensive Design Project
The educational building has been designed such as to align the building form and proportions with the surrounding context. The lack of glazing on the east of the site facade is due the busy road and the acoustic implications on the building, therefore the internal spatial design benefits from the quality lighting captured in the atrium. The strong horizontal emphasis of the site has been achieved to correspond with the project theme and maximise the amount of space on site, with the building entrance recessed from the main road. An extruded stair well on the north east of the building offers addition depth and a functionalist approach.
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The Archetypal Flood Comprehensive Design Project
The atrium space is a key feature of the building proving quality light for the internal spaces and maintaining a pleasant acoustic environment for study or performance. Gangways to connect the opposite sides together, both glazed and made from hardwood, for the different aesthetic effects. Yellow columns to offer the space a sense of vibrancy and impact the student’s attitude to an optimistic and clearer outlook towards study. These are psychological qualities the colour induces and yellow has a direct association with the sun which is necessary for the support of life on the planet, an ethos of working with nature rather than against it.
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Reconnecting the Root Weather or Not
The objective of this project was to create a learning environment for young adults and children via direct connection with nature. The site is located in Hebden Bridge an area succumbed to extensive flooding in recent years. The locals have admirably worked together to adopt sustainable strategies to reduce flood risks in the future. The scheme devised was to create a zero-carbon building while highlighting the nature in and around the site. The buildings predominant material is water reed thatch, and the broader aim was to introduce thatching materials into the surrounding lands as a building repair strategy or alternate building style.
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Reconnecting the Root Weather or Not
The thatching approach dictated the shape and scale of the building, and offers a similar characteristic to the local tress, placing the style with the natural environment. Two cantilever balconies bring the children directly to the power of the river, which acoustic presence is overwhelming. The style was modelled somewhat on post modernism, a style that offered conflicting views to the status quo, and this notion was replicated here, due to the necessary changes that are required in response the local, national and global attitude to the environment. This building aims to facilitate the teaching that humanity and nature are synergistic.
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Reconnecting the Root Weather or Not
A thatched roof and wooden frame were a simplified approach, as the project was aimed to allow the locals to be a part of the construction process, a building that brings the people closer and offers a different building design which may be adopted in the future. The buildings design allows for it to be washed away during damaging floods while having no negative environmental implications as the building is fully biodegradable. The building is symbolic of our impermanence on the planet and how architecture tends to lean towards our permanence and stability, this building offers a counter position to this philosophy.
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64mm sq image
64mm sq image
64mm sq image
64mm sq image
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Printing Studio & Archive Experimental Project
The project objective was the design of a pop art archive with an on-site printing studio. The concept is based on functionalism through Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto as the primary inspiration. The sequential flow through the building and strategic placement of windows and routes of movement is key to understanding this design. The utilisation of columns and light to create different frames for the artwork when moving through spaces was an additional component to the design. Locating the printing studio below ground created the necessary noise isolation required for the centrally located reading room and art spaces.
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Printing Studio & Archive Experimental Project
The heavy brick facade resonates with the industrious surroundings, however offering a darker tone, to separate the older and more visually neglected buildings from this new proposal. Concrete floors and extruded facade contribute towards a thermal mass strategy combined with the additional sky lights which offer daylight into the reading room and printing educational room. The ascending stair on the east elevation is an abstract depiction of the flow through the current and upcoming spaces and notably inspired by Aalto’s experimental house. The building allows a central public pathway so to not disrupt a current walking route.
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Botanic Gardens Re-development Urban Design Project
The aim of the project was to re-develop the land occupied by a multi-storey car park in the city centre of Liverpool. Historical research indicated the land was previously occupied by a highly renowned botanic garden during the height of the British Empire, however the gardens were re-located to Wavertree due to severe pollution. The project aims to reintroduce the gardens as part of the building fabric. The gardens offer an opportunity of education and meets the demand for bringing nature back into cities. A large open space at the foot of the gardens offers a flexible approach allowing for events and markets which add to the culture of Liverpool.
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Botanic Gardens Re-development Urban Design Project
The second objective of the project was to develop a specific area of the site. The area chosen was at a crucial crossing point between the adjacent and opposite street creating a strong edge from which the development sprung. The development consists predominantly of a garden space, for relaxation and an escape from the busy city life. The addition of a bar, shop, and library for plants also are on the periphery of the site, creating an enclosed private space for the garden. The garden is also partially extruded from the edge further elaborating the essential part nature has to offer in life and the necessity in urban life.
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Artisan Cake Bakery A Place for Crafting
The objective of the essay was to select a craft and produce an essay that would lay the foundation for the design concept. The craft chosen was the art and history of cake baking. The essay concluded the origin of cake baking is China, and the connection of Liverpool and the Chinese has fostered into a positive relationship. The project facilitates a dwelling for the cake baker and the proposal offers a combination of Victorian and Chinese architecture married into one style. The structural design is largely based on the Chinese style with the use of natural joints. A dramatic centrally located stair as a focal point is based on the typical Victorian house.
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Artisan Cake Bakery A Place for Crafting
The building facade is largely attributed to the Victorian style in combination with the glazed front which is a requirement for cake bakeries. The bay window shape was incorporated as the predominant shape for the walls offering different views of the garden below. The garden below is based on the Chinese moon garden in combination with the Chinese courtyard space, offering a pleasant environment off street level for customers to enjoy their cakes. A large sculpture of Commander Wu is located on a plinth at the front of the garden, as he has become a deity of cakes and is celebrated in parts of China today.
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A Shrine to Lord Lever Hulme Archifilm
The first project of my academic studies was to create a sacred space. I chose the project in my home village of Port Sunlight, and designed a shrine to Lord Lever Hulme, the man who designed the village based on the garden city movement, and the founder of Unilever. The shrine is located at a place where he gave speeches to his villages, and the materiality of stone implicates his permanent impact on the culture of the village. The water offers both the purity of a sacred place and is geologically appropriate as the village was a marshland for many years and this area was prone to flooding.
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