Minns, Cameron

Cameron Minns 2022 Portfolio

About me Hi, i’m Cameron Minns, I am 22 years old and originally from Hull but currently living in Liverpool, where I am completing my Masters degree. At the moment I am looking for a Part 2 Architectural Assistant job. When I am not working on my degree, I enjoy travelling around the world to widen my architectural and cultural knowledge. I am totally comitted and fully motivated to becoming a successful qualified architect in the future and this is the top priority and motivation in my life.

Contents MArch Year 2 Semester 1: Group Urban Design

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MArch Year 2 Semester 2: Thesis Project

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MArch Year 2 Semester 1: Live Project

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MArch Year 1 Semester 1: Group Urban Design

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MArch Year 1 Semester 1: Individual Urban Design

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MArch Year 1 Semester 2: Housing Project

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MArch Year 2 Semester 1: Group Urban Design Project Emerging Sea 2050

Loss of history and decreasing population has lead to segregated spaces and lack of activity around the docks. There is the potential to stitch these together through biodiversity and urban transport to connect Birkenhead back to the Wirral and Liverpool. The recent decline suggests a divide between the two sides and a lack of harmony across the Mersey. Through this development, Birkenhead can stand to foster its own identity while fitting into a larger context alongside Liverpool. One of the biggest notable changes to our site was the introduction of the waterways. These waterways follow the footprints of the existing roads and at first stick to the grid structure of the town but as you follow the waterways west they become less strict and more organic as they become less linked to the rigid form of the town and more linked to fluid green spaces and parks. The waterways have been introduced as seen to prevent flooding in a flood risk area due to rising sea levels.

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MArch Year 2 Semester 2: Thesis Project Birkenhead Opera This thesis focusses on the creation followed by the divergence of two performance spaces that serve and link to the surrounding area developed as part of the urban masterplan. It seeks to serve the local community by setting the stage not only for performances but for human interaction. The building also demands attention, acting as a landmark for the area to bring people into the site as well as attract people from afar. The area prior to the masterplan consisted of mostly industrial areas, which now have been replaced for waterfront housing, cafés, restaurants, offices and more. My project along with these other buildings help this area evolve from one of deprivation and lack of desire, to an animated, cultural and desirable area.

My Project aims to explore the form and spatial qualities of performance spaces and how these may differ to present conflicting attitudes of formality. Thus creating contrasting types of performance spaces that serve the various moods and needs of the community. Performance spaces are all about movement, whether that may be sound, light or the movement of the performers. Ergo the buildings form is regular and formal until it is broken up by the more fluid forms of the performance spaces, these forms are oval and less regular in shape so the form expresses the activities that take place in them.

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MArch Year 2 Semester 1: Live Project St Lukes Bombed Out Church

This project was the first project I have undertaken with a real client. The brief was for our group to design the gardens for St Lukes Bombed Out Church. The proposal aims to convert the previously unused green space into functional, educational, and meaningful public space. The proposal focuses on the memorial garden, vegetable garden and children’s play area in detail whilst briefly looking at the feasibility of new toilet blocks. Within the function of the design, it was important that the designs of the grounds complimented the church and reflected its history, but also followed the requirements of the client and what they envisioned for the spaces. The idea of serving the community is already a subject that is heavily considered within the church and its activities so that was also one of the main design considerations. Our design is most likely not going to be finalised, but the aim of the design propoal was to instead encourage the idea of the development of the site. The client was really interested in the possibilities of how these spaces could look and serve the community so that is what we intended to supply.

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MArch Year 1 Semester 1: Group Urban Design Reconnect and Revitalize The site for the urban design project was an area east of the city centre of Liverpool, the area mostly consisted of residential buildings including terraced housing and apartments but with a small amount of retail along the front. The major aim of the project was to connect the retail spaces with the residential as there was a major divide and access problems due to the change in land level between the spaces.

Another key aspect was to emphasize the connection between these spaces by creating a key route and including nodes along this route for activity.

Public Transport

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Routes

Nodes

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Entirely residential zone with sparsely laid out recreational areas and roads dominating over pedstrian movement

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Entirely commercial zone along sefton street with retail units laid out without cohesion and dominated by car parks for car dealerships.

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MArch Year 1 Semester 1: Individual Urban Design Plaza for the People The aim for the individual design project was to focus on a certain area from the group project so I decided to focus upon the main square as it was a vital part of the project, an important node aswell as a large public space that had lots of potential for development.

As the surrounding area has a myriad of different buildings the square acts as a place for people to gather and engage in social and cultural exchange. There are a number of different areas associated with different experiences and these spaces are on different levels, adding new dimensions to the square, suggesting a certain playfulness to the space. The main spaces include a sunken garden and an amphitheatre space that serves for multiple uses. The amphitheatre space can be used for the dance school situated in the sunken area for performances, the space also can be used for movies as the wall of the dance school can be transformed into a projector screen for movies. The space also has an area where water jets shoot water into the air which can be incorporated for dances or just used for fun or to just sit, relax and enjoy by the general public.

Park Space Development

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Ampitheatre Development

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MArch Year 1 Semester 2: Housing Project Mill Street Housing

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The brief discusses the idea of biodiversity and its incorporation to architecture. It States that “In the UK, 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930’s with a corresponding impact upon bee, insect and bird populations. Yet, some of the best environments for insects and birds are provided by domestic gardens where the range of plants can support a large and varied wildlife population.” In my project I create green spaces enclosed within the building area aswell as having greenery that is part of the building such as plants that climbs up the building aswell as plants that are grown on the terraces and roof that all encourage wildlife. The site is located south of the city centre of Liverpool in an area known as the dingle. The site is surrounded by back to back housing in the form of terraced housing, that I have adapted to a courtyard typology. The slope of site allows for access to car parking on the main square side of the site. One key aim of this project was that every housing unit has access to outdoor space as that is something that is not available in the city in many cases.

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A number of different ideas were used to follow through with the main focus of the project (increasing biodiversity) one of these were the inclusion of houses for bats birds and owls that were built into the circulation towers of the building as seen on the page to the left.

This focus was further emphasized through the careful selection of trees, flowers, bushes and climbers to certain types that encouraged wildlife to feed and live in the area.

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