Studio RBA

Part 1 Architectural Assistant

Studio RBA is a four-year-old practice, based in the Royal Albert Dock in Liverpool. Founded in 2017 and headed by Directors Adam Morgan Jack Johnson The practice has already firmly established itself in the city and has a strong mix of experience and youthful enthusiasm and a perfect balance of creative flair and technical know-how.

During my time in the practice, I have worked on a variety of projects, primarily in the residential sector, up to RIBA stage 3. Projects that I have been a part in include listed buildings, church conversions, barn conversions, affordable housing and small scale stadium design.

My time at in practice has been incredibly exciting and my knowledge of the industry has grown massively thanks to the team at Studio RBA. By being surrounded by talented, encouraging and helpful colleagues, I have been galvanized to work hard and push my capabilities.

Grade II Listed Town Hall conversion

Hanley Town Hall is was a hugely exciting project for me to take part in, where my role as Architectural Assistant saw me work closely with the Project Architect to help uncover the potential of the space. I was tasked with planning out the apartment spaces and circulation across the floors, as building up a series of elevation drawings.

Working on this project has furthered my understanding of the complexities of re- imagining listed buildings, and have gave me an enhanced appreciation of beautiful historic buildings full of character such as this. I really enjoyed this project and deciphering how to best utilise existing walls to create well considered spaces.. I would love the opportunity to contribute to a project like this again in the future.

Church Conversion to Apart-Hotel

2D Drawings, 3D Modelling & Diagram Production

Being fascinated and inspired by church design for a number of years, this project was an opportunity to work on a beautiful building that is no longer fit for purpose, yet remains a significant building in the community of Handbridge. Our proposal sees the building converted into an Apart-Hotel in an idyllic setting, just a short walk from Chester centre.

To maximise the space, the team decided it best to insert an additional floor, which resulted in some design challenges. My role included redesigning the window arrangement, incorporating a detail which would allow for the floor to divide up the openings. Modern windows with glazing bars, complementary to the original church windows. Ground floor window sills were dropped to allow for new critall style doors which will service the proposed commercial kitchen space to the rear.

My role also seen me produce a series of elevations using survey information as well as building up a section and producing 3D diagrams to demonstrate the mezzanine apartment spaces in the hotel to be included in the panning document..

Grade D Football Ground

3D Modelling

This project was an invited competition from the Chairman of the football club, to produce a FA Grade D football ground that would future proof the club for many seasons to come.

As an Architectural Assistant, my role in this project was to develop the 3D model in conjunction with the changing demands of the project. The design required a flexible approach where a mixture of seating and safe standing, allowing for an expansion in capacity, which would allow for more fans as the club grows.

As a sports fan from Liverpool, I relished the opportunity to take part in this project. As an aspiring Architect, it was hugely benefitial to me to be a part of the team where I developed my understanding of the range of considerations required for stadia design.

Barn Conversion to Luxury Homes

2D Internal Layout

A barn conversion project in Bickerstaff that rescues a dilapidated farm building, and proposes a small community of high end barn style homes. In this project, my involvement was to internally plan the configuration of the homes, working within the existing fabric of the site.

This project was really fun to be a part of, where during my time on the project, I developed my knowledge of local authority planning, and working within the restrictions to meet client requirements., as well as further developing my understanding of spatial planning and residential layouts in luxury schemes.

Affordable Housing

New Build & Conversion Residential Schemes

3D Modelling & 2D Drawings and Internal Layout

During my time at Studio RBA I have worked on a number of affordable housing schemes, primarily in north England, in Durham, Mansfield and Wigan.

Being interested in the residential sector, I have massively enjoyed my time working on the affordable housing projects in the office.

Designing homes to meet National Described Space Standards was a new experience that I found very interesting and I have furthered my understanding of space in a residential setting.

Across all of these projects, I also developed 3D models to create

CGIs and produced elevation drawings, which accompanied the planning application documents.

One of the projects included a pub conversion which was on the site of the development. For this I produced a pack of drawings including plans, elevations and enablement drawings, to submit the scheme for planning.

At StudioRBA I have learned that affordable housing shouldn’t mean low quality. By designing well considered spaces to NDSS and providing plenty of open green space, good schemes such as these can promote positive well-being for residents.

Grade II Listed Conversion to Residential 2D Drawings

A beautiful church building that was no longer fit for purpose, yet remains a significant building in the community where our proposal sees the building converted into part residential and part serviced apartment.

study of the new windows.

Stanley Road

We divided up the vast volume of the church into three floors, where the ground floor is dedicated to studio apartments, and the first and second floor is for the serviced apartments.

My role as Architectural Assistant meant that I was working closely with Architect Director, and produce a pack of drawings to issue to the client for a planning proposal. Drawings included sections, elevation and a detailed

The windows were one of the biggest design challenges in this project as the new floors had to span across the window. To overcome this issue, we decided to replace the non-feature windows with new glazing on the inside of the stonework detailing, with the new floor level sitting behind coloured glazing. By doing this, the appearance of the elevations remain largely unchanged.

The large feature stained glass windows on the west and east elevations are retained and unchanged, which was crucial to the design.

Application Site

No Limits ABC CIC Boxing Gym

A voluntary project that was hugely significant to the community sees the relocation of No Limits boxing gym to a new site in Dingle, just a short distance from their original home.

The design of the building ties with the existing changing rooms that serve the neighbouring football pitches. The pitched roof is repeated in the new building, with ribbon windows wrapping around the top of the walls.

10 heavy bags, strength and conditioning equipment and boxing ring make up the internal space and are uninterrupted by any structural elements.

My role in this project was to help produce a pre-application document, as well as 3D modelling, producing internal visuals and an exploded isometric diagram to support the pre-application.

This project was hugely rewarding to be a part of and I am excited to see how members of the gym and to respond to their new home.

Grade II Listed Conversion to Residential District

3D Modelling, 2D Internal Layout and Elevation Drawings

Spode Pottery District was a masterplanning project in the Grade II listed site of Spode Factory. The site comprised of a multitude of factory buildings, ranging from 2 storeys to 5 storeys and ranged in quality.

It’s listed status meant that the team carefully had to carefully interrogate the site and carve out new routes - framed views towards the Spode Tower, a former chimney of the engine room make up a key internal avenue through the site.

The scheme promotes a healthy lifestyle, with all amenities within walking distance, green spaces between buildings providing opportunities for recreation for the residents of the area, as well as office space, gym facilities and artist studios all proposed on site.

The elevation shown is an example of one of the dilapidated brick factory buildings within the site are modernised with new thin aluminium frame windows and standing seam roof extends the building vertically, all while remaining respectful of the building’s original form and character.

CGI Commissions

StudioRBA were approached by another Architecture practice to produce a series of CGI images for their residential housing scheme to accompany their marketing brochure.

My time on this project was really fun and I progressed my abliltiy regarding CGI image production. I was tasked with selecting the already modelled house types and place them in their designated spots using the site plan provided by the design Architects. I really enjoyed setting the scene of the community that was created and invisioning how the spaces would be used by the homeowners.

Another aspect I enjoyed was delving into materiality and texture of each of the surfaces in the image. I have made monumental improvements during my time at StudioRBA regarding realistic CGI image production, learning closely from CGI expert Architects.

In future projects I will utilise and incorporate eveyrthing that I have learned during my time working on CGI commissopns like this one and use the skills to produce realsitic images for my own projects, which will push my projects further.

Mason Street Gallery

BA Architecture CDP Project 06.

The Frohlich Archive was an exciting project brief due to its variety of demands. I broke down the brief into these three parts and listed the qualities that the spaces demanded: social spaces, gallery space and archive. Mason Street Gallery aims to exploit the eccentric personality of Fanchon Frohlich and the esoteric beauty of her paintings.

The design draws inspiration from the characteristics of Fanchon’s house in Aigburth, where overgrown gardens and sky-painted ceilings exhibit her love of plants and nature. The site sits on the former home of philanthropist

Joseph Williamson, a fascinating individual renowned for constructing extensive underground tunnels beneath the streets of Edge Hill.

The approach was to create a modernist and minimalist building that complies with a typical museum typology, providing a sense of stature to secure importance in the community. Symmetry throughout the scheme creates simple spaces that are calming to occupy. The building is complex through its simplicity and allows for the artwork to take centre stage.

The massing of the project is informed by its context, not exceeding the tallest neighbouring residential buildings. Showing the entrance facade being set back from pavement level, the entrance is intising annd clear in the streetscape. A coutyard punched towards the rear of the massing creates a disconnect between public and private spaces.

The modularity and imperfections of the handmade concrete tiles provides an exciting backdrop to the collonade walkway. Solid oak flooring in the social spaces (bar and cafe) and the courtyard informalises thresholds between spaces. Dark blue aluminium trim around door frames, balustrades, and other material changes give a high quality finish. Plants such as the Areca Palm are used throughout the design, which references Fanchon Frohlich’s house, where her love of plants is apparent. Gravel in the sculpture courtyard will retain the rainfall from above, with the aluminium trim will defining the edge of the gravelled area.

The Mason Street facade is made up of structural concrete elements and large glass, with a thin aluminium trim. The concrete tiles also feature in this facade, that guard the excavated remains of Joseph WIlliamson’s basement.

Flood Relief Centre

BA Architecture Third Year

The brief was to design a building in a flood-prone area in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire. The facility provides a base for ‘Slow The Flow’ charity, working to advance the education of the public in Natural Flood Management, Sustainable Drainage Systems and other renewable methods of managing the environment. Early development of the massing and form of the building sees a curved facade mirroring the neighbouring nursery, and height not exceeding its context. The initial concept was to step the roofline to reduce the impact on the streetscape and cantilever over the canal to provide a vantage point with a dramatic vista along the canal bursts its banks.

By leading visitors through a series of compressed and decompressed spaces, the journey maximises drama through tension and relief. Even the contrast of the stark, dark cladding from the New Road entrance aimed to set a harsh contrast to the surroundings. Upon entering the building, there is another relief when the space is grand, open and well lit, with views across the park.

The project’s materiality also aims to reduce the cause of flooding by incorporating water retaining materials to reduce rainwater runoff, the critical cause of flooding in the area. Gravel, green walls and intensive green roofs can reduce rainwater runoff by up to 80%.