U NI V E R SIT Y O F B AT H
ARCHITECTURE ANNUAL 2016
ARCHITECTURE ANNUAL 2016
U NI V E R SIT Y O F B AT H
Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering
ARCHITECTURE ANNUAL 2016
ACK NOW LE D GE M ENTS
Thanks must be given to a huge number of people who have contributed to the work celebrated in this yearbook, however, to list everybody would probably be longer than the book itself. Thank you to Martin and Alex, for continuing to run two incredible final year studios. Additionally, Matthew, Dom, Daniel and Toby, for preparing students for the hardship of final year. Individual project tutors, for providing a wall for the sh*t to stick to. All the teaching fellows, visiting tutors, consultants and design critics, for guiding students and their work as they all progressed. Offices around the UK and the world, who graciously accept placement students, to nurture their professional skills, and ground the whole experience in reality. Technical and support staff, who always manage to keep the building just about warm enough to work in. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, sweethearts, cousins, children, dogs, friends and neighbours! For the omnipresent support, care and consideration given to each and every student, throughout their entire degree. And of course, thanks to our beloved 6 East; for being a home-from-homes; a place to eat, sleep, work, and play; for the sights and smells; the bangs ands creaks through the night; uncomfortable floors; awkward corridors; sticky doors; and everything else an architecture student could ever wish for. Every student develops an unconditional love for 6 East, and we will sorely miss it, and everything it represents.
“Every time a student walks past a really urgent, expressive piece of architecture that belongs to his college, it can help reassure him that he does have that mind, does have that soul.� - Louis Kahn
JOHN PERRY AND BLDA ARCHITECTS ARE VERY PROUD TO SUPPORT THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE ANNUAL 2016
C O NTENTS
Introduction 13 BSc Architecture First Year
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Second Year
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Third Year
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The Basil Spence Project: ‘Pelagos’
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Individual Design Studio
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Studio 4.9 Studio 4.5 Studio 4.3 Studio 4.1 Studio 4.16 Studio 4.17 Studio 4.18 Studio 4.22 Studio 4.23 Studio 4.24 Studio 4.25
60 72 84 90 100 112 122 134 144 150 162
Master of Architecture Fifth Year
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Sustainable Cities
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Athens 180 Bilbao 188 Katovice 198 Palermo 208 Porto 218 Valencia 226
INTRO D U CTIO N
It is with a tinge of sadness that we introduce this year’s Bath Architecture Year book as many of us will soon be moving out of the Smithsons’ gloriously enigmatic building into a new extension. The promise of lightening WiFi speeds, habitable levels of thermal insulation and as Virginia Woolf would say ‘a room of my own’ for some is quite alluring. For others (including myself ) - we will miss the ‘old gal’ with all her errant corridors, sticky floors and weeping roofs. It is as though the very fabric of 6 East is infused with a patina of sheer dedication, enthusiasm, sweat and tears of all who have been part of our department over the years. This book we hope evokes some of that patina and perhaps could best be understood as a love letter to 6 East from all those involved in another frantic, tempestuous and exhilarating year. At the time of writing we all have to decide whether we are European or not. Moreover for those who have now completed their degrees at Bath there is the equally daunting assessment of - ‘where am I going’ and ‘where do I belong’? Our move to the new building is perhaps emblematic of those existential questions. For the metaphysically minded you might turn to your philosopher of choice for an answer. Equally, the prospect of regular sleep, decent food and a holiday with your sweetheart all denied to you over the past year might be the solution. For us all however I recommend turning to Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet in which he emphatically advises - ‘learn to love the questions’.
B Sc A rchi te ct ure
F I R ST Y E A R Matthew Wickens Year One at Bath is designed to be a foundation in which the students gather a broad range of experience by being asked to work in different materials for each project. We have a long tradition of team working with the civil engineering students and this starts on day one. This year that project took the form of a 6 week project to design AND build a sculpture at 1:1 which embodied the idea ‘Equilibria’ – perhaps suggestive of the balance required between the team members? Working with timber, fabric and rope meant the students were able to take this first-hand experience into Project Two.
Project Two was entitled ‘Objet Trouvé’ and the students were asked to design an exhibition stand for a specific object picked from a canon of fifty examples ranging from pre-20th Century through to contemporary examples of glassware, ceramics and plastic beakers! The exhibition stand was to be built from timber but did not need to withstand the elements as it would be inside a trade hall. Therefore ease and speed of construction and the relationship of the ‘container’ to the object contained were key concerns. From Top: Callum Gray, Marcus Wright
Y EA R ON E
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From top: Group 4 - James Anderson, Ciaran Hoban, Wui Lin Lee, Bradley Smith, Daisy Watson. Group 17 - Adriana Coca, Constantinos Gregoriou, Sin Yin Lo, Zhuo-Mong Shia, Jingwen Zhang
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From top: Isabella Traeger, Rebecca Gardner, Mio Koboyashi
From top: Markos Spyrides, Twearly Peaster, Dominic Wong
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The final, and most complex project of the year - ‘Aperture’ - was to design a 3-bed live-work house on a rectangular plot 12m x 18m around a 6m x 6m courtyard. This followed a field trip to the Ibstock brick factory at Cattybrook, near Bristol. The client brief was to be derived from an investigation of photography, and as the project title suggests to think about the relationship between the nature of the admission of light into n that of a camera. Ibstock also kindly sponsored prizes and awarded 10 students at the final crit.
Y EA R ON E
Semester Two began with Project Three called ‘Frame’. The brief was to design a small scale Tata sponsored exhibition pavilion for work from the department. This time the material palette was a steel structure with a lightweight skin. These ‘skins’ were selected at random from Cor-Ten; Stainless Steel; Copper; Zinc; Lead; Brass; Polycarbonate & ETFE. The pavilion was also to contain a meeting room, WC and small kitchenette. The frame referenced in the title of the brief was to both the work exhibited and the structure of the pavilion itself.
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SEC O N D Y E A R Dominic Taylor Year two at Bath continues to develop the students’ design methodology by expanding their repertoire of design tools and analytical skills. The students design more complex buildings and are asked to Analyse and to respond to context. A deterministic design methodology is encouraged with an emphasis on analysis of building type, programme and context and how this can ‘drive ‘the design. ‘The right thing done badly is better than the wrong thing done well’. Louis Kahn.
Exploration and development of the building design both in its abstract ‘generic’ form as well as how it can be optimised to the given site. While the emphasis is on ‘rational deterministic approach’, the students are also encouraged to start thinking about the building in a conceptual or ideological way as long as it does not compromise function. Context Analysis of context with the emphasis on how that analysis ‘generates’ the design solution. Building form, material and detail to be seen as a sensitive and considered response to the existing buildings and landscape of the given
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Pa r t i i D i a g r a m
BOAT HOUSE TOM BAND 18
SUNG YEOP LIM PROJECT 1
BOAT HOUSE
site. Considered and appropriate responses to site forces in terms of access, aspect servicing and the like. Programme or Partii diagrams are the standard architectural shorthand for the interrogation of both ideas about context and the design as it develops.
A design for a new harbour side police station. The students were given a choice of four sites, each with a different style of built context. Victorian red Brick, Classic Timber boat shed, The concrete frame M Shed and the natural stone Arnol fini arts centre.
Presentation
Project 2 - ‘Infants school.’
In the continued development of presentation skills, second year emphasises computer modelling as opposed to real modelling. By the end of second year students will be familiar with the architectural conventions of presentation and how they apply to a full range of drawing techniques.
After visiting a number of award winning schools done by Hampshire County architects the students designed a ‘Two form entry infants school’ located here on the Bath university campus. From left: Ting Leung, Thomas Band, Sung Lim, Justin Bean, George Gil
Project 1 - ‘Boathouse’.
bakerdiagrams Design Explanation
Linear Arrangement
Fenestration
Pods within Walls
Classroom - Natural Ventilation
Linear Seperation
Safety Line
Circulation
Classroom - Access to Nature
wildifegarden
Pure, strong form with circular courtyard central to concept and plan.
Circles cut in roof to mimic tree geometries and ensure adequate lighting.
Walls pushed in to create covered external learning spaces and to emphasise pure roof form.
Roof manipulated to mimic landscape; entry raised, hall raised, centre lowered to harvest rainwater.
Structure moved outside to allow for more free-form interior play spaces and to reflect the surrounding tree forms.
Datum line formed by setting in upper wall to emphasise roof.
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DEVELOPMENT
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external perspective
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THI R D Y E A R Daniel Jang Wong The 3rd Year theme is based on architectural responses to the cultural context. This year, we looked at ideas around theatre and education. Through 2 projects, students were challenged to confront the fringe, or non-conventional approaches to these aspects of culture.
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Project 1 was set in a disused London Underground Station on The Strand. Entitled ‘Urban Ghosts’, students working in groups (including civil engineers) were asked to investigate the different forms of experimental theatre, and choose one as their main programme. Building under, within and above the station, a variety of projects recalled the memory of past theatres which previously occupied the site. Experimental theatre types the students used
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included immersive theatre, visual theatre, theatre of the oppressed, and theatre of cruelty. Imaginative use was made of the existing physical infrastructure, including live rail tracks to Holborn, and 3 x 7m diameter lift shafts 24m deep underground. The resulting work was rich and expressive, promoting the critical role of adaptive re-use in architecture. Some projects boldly challenged the conservatism and commercialism of the West End street /culture. Three of the best projects, chosen by outside judges, are exhibited at the London Transport Museum’s Aldwych Re-Imagined Project, from July 2016, for a 6-month period. From Left: Group 30 - The Sublime, Group 10 - Hanging by a Strand, Group 21 - Tryptych, Group 9 - Nothing New
Each student had a choice from 4 sites, which were all adjacent to existing educational facilities. The end results were rich and eclectic in their intentions: from the creation of acoustically secured internal worlds, to open and usable green rooftop terraces; from sensitive re-interpretation of the Georgian typology, to fractured buildings + streetscapes to announce the contemporary. A wide variety of representational styles used by the students captured the differing atmospheres created. Lectures given by historians, journalists, the city architect, academics, and practitioners while we were in Dublin – all informed the students’ knowledge and analysis of the social + cultural context.
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From Left: William Ramsey, Sara Medas, Gala Urroz, Alice Loi
Y EA R T H REE
Project 2 is an individual project, set in Dublin. Our Study Trip there in November introduced the students to the idea of urban acupuncture, or application of points of care to socially and economically deprived parts of the inner city fringe. By walking across the spine of a well-known civic and cultural route, students were asked to consider what an appropriate response might be to revitalize a small run-down precinct. More importantly, we introduced the question of social responsibility as architects. The project was a satellite library for children and young adults, within a 5-minute walk from a live project, the new Dublin City Library currently being designed by Grafton Architects – a renowned Dublin practice.
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FOURTH YEAR
BAS IL S P ENC E Martin Gledhil This year’s Basil Spence group project was entitled Pelagos, meaning a sense of the deep sea and was located on the Isle of Portland. Through a programme including a museum, grandstand and pier students were asked to consider our collective relationship to that deep sea. Is the sea nothing? Are we indifferent to the horizon - the unknown beyond? In the spirit of creative exuberance all the teams developed very different responses to these questions ranging from the overtly ecological to the spectacularly iconic. In almost all cases they dispensed with the original brief (to the cold fear, surprise and delight of the tutor team) and in so doing challenged the whole notion of museum. Over and above the more esoteric ambition of the project the schemes shown use the integration of engineering and architecture as their design drivers. Arguably many buildings these days are either conceived as machines in themselves - an inert assembly of parts under the mantra of functionalism. Or at the other end of the scale a ‘spatial peacock’ resplendent in a display of sculptural chutzpah. This project in some ways encourages a reconciliation of both these positions where the proposals find their own particular order within a poetic intent.
The Basil Spence Prize: Carolyn Smith Bernard Kay James Gladman Tom Jeffery Liam Bromiley
BASIL SPENCE : ‘Pro
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‘PR O OR I S M OS’ ; PO RTL A N D W E A T H E R TOWE R
The Portlan monitors cl of Portland annually tr Coast, the w regional re national an experience sailing. Ins transforms
Liyana Abdullah / Rafaella Christodoulidi / Kristen Tan | Matt Jeffery / Tobias WoodmanFrom top: Concept Sketch, Sectional Perspective I, The Portland Weather Tower, as an international landmark functions by monitoring the sea, land and sky. The station monitors climate changes to inform the study of sea creatures, marine life, the geology and stratography of the Isle of Portland. Inhabiting various layers of program, the station functions as a daily research and education center but annually transforms into a viewing tower for local and national Sailing competitions. Located in the heart of the Jurassic Coast, the weather station acts as the catalyst of the renewal of the Isle of Portland. By networking with national and regional research scientists, funding is collected to host festivals, markets and observatory events assembling the locals, national and regional tourists. Raised grand stand boxes o er the best possible views for sailing events. As part of the experience of watching, visitors are exposed to di erent weather conditions, partially understanding the principles of sailing. Inspired by sea structures, the engineering concept falls in place with the architectural concept as the building transforms into a machine, de ned by exible spaces and multiple layers of skin.
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From top: Concept sketch, external perspectives sailing day and festival at night, sectional perspective exhibition gardens, view from Chesil beach Opposite: Weather tower collage
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ST R OL L I N G O N T H E S E A Praneet Bhullar / Alice Mellor / Connor Randall | Emily Bowyer / Ellie Marsh NAVIGATION - ECOLOGY – RECONNECTION Following our sailing expedition, we translated the motion of tacking and wayfinding into a dynamic pier. We studied seaweed whilst on site and used Biomimicry to generate the building form. The pier integrates a sound structural strategy with this form, to create ribboned paths supported by fanned trees. Celebrating the diversity of Portland’s ecology, the building gradually submerges the user into the sea both physically and psychologically. The spaces have been designed to encourage visitors to be in awe of the effect the sea can have on the structure. The rooftop park is an adaptable public realm that becomes a grandstand during events. It is anchored to the shore with root-like pathways that spread into the wider context.
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From top: Construction, model, sectional perspective, models
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CO NIU NC TIO Natalie Donat-Cattin / J.Y. Khoo / Jenni Zhou | Zoe Henderson / Clover Pan The bridge is not just a physical connection but a symbolic one: a pier extending into the infinite. Through the opening of the way to the breakwaters we aimed to recreate that lost primitive bound between man and the sea. This becomes the launching pad for humanity - seen as a modern Ulysses who navigates in the troubled water of his time - and for his insatiable desire of discovery. It is a world reigned by the waves and the wind: a land of mystic sensations where man respectful of nature becomes part of a bigger reality. The building strives to be one thing with the surrounding: a combination of a fish market, ferry pontoon and performance venue. It is a place of interaction and trade but also of contemplation of the horizon line...that line of border and conjunction! Its light structure makes it versatile and impresses upon a utopian future of limitless possibilities which look at enhancing this man-sea relationship.
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From top: Plan, external perspectives
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THE HE DGE Ban Edilbi / Marta Petchame / Brittany Trew | Sibel Feyzioglu / Jason Tang Tsz Chun / Edward Vande The design responds to the current and ever increasing climate and habitat problems that nature is facing everyday in the UK by: encouraging biodiversity in the area, minimizing the building’s carbon footprint, creating energy on site, and teaching through example. The pier reaches out to sea from the end of the Dorset Wildlife Trust car park, and kinks to the North to embrace the nature reserve. The creation of wildlife homes as well as human spaces is important in our design, to demonstrate that humans and nature can coexist. The design aims to respond by breaking boundaries between human and marine nature through education and innovation.
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From top: Plan, sectional perspective, boardwalk view, elevation
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P E LAGOS Jamie Irving / Rebecca Woolman / Ryan Cook | Andrea Chui / Barrie Dams / Will Turton The man with the magnifying glass-quite simply-bars the everyday world. He is a fresh eye before a new object. The building exhibition acts as a driver for the scheme, aligning iself with and orbiting around the idea of pelagic re-engagement. Through a focus upon the particulars of the sea, the visitor is offered a platform for imagination from which to rediscover the greatness of the sea. To magnify the particulars, focus is applied to three senses: sight, hearing and touch. A space to look, a space to listen and a space to feel. In considering our individual relationship with the sea, the scheme reflects upon our communal relationship with the sea; those of study, commerce and spectacle. The scheme contextualises the appropriateness of a townscape at sea. This concludes in the offering of connecting platforms focussing on study through a series of rock pools; commerce - through a market place; and spectacle - through a stage and grandstand.
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From top: Model, experiential, spectacle, communal
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RIG I DI TY | A C T IV IT Y | P R OS P E RITY Jack Schofield / Katrina Hughes / Lucy Mullins | Theresa Rose / Theo Williamson Creating an ‘island’ to celebrate the local features allows visitors to truly immerse themselves in the great geological history of the Isle of Portland alongside the active maritime and sailing lifestyle. A journey through time highlights how the coastline and geology has adapted and what the future has to offer for both humans and seabirds that are residents of the Isle. By working to create an intricate section we allowed the user to have a unique experience on each of the different levels. We split the building into our three sections. The difference between a strict choreographed narrative and the fluid spaces provided a variety of building functions and a prosperous bird sanctuary on the roof.
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From top: Aerial view, sectional perspective, roof detail
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T HE H U T, TH E LINE , TH E BO AT Andrew Kwok/ Sope Bob-Soile / Elianne Vos | Charlie Cresswell / Leticia Zhan Our response sought to explore our understanding of man’s relationship with the sea, through the concept of adventure, transition and threshold. The building manifests itself as a ‘comb’ - a series of huts linked together by a spine and connected to the sailing academy by a bridge. Inspired by the pontoons, the huts are arranged in an alternating pattern to allow the grandstand boats to dock inbetween. The program consists of training facilities for professional sailors, a gallery for visitors and a ferry terminal for the community. We aimed to use our building as a tool for social regeneration and to promote sailing as a non-elitist sport.
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From top: View from boat, internal perspectives, view from bridge
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F A MI L I E N PÅ S J Ø E N Aoife O’Donoghue / Karan Patel / Sean Counsell | David Bacchus / Moira Meng Ting Chen The scheme investigates our collective relationship with the vast resource that is the Pelagos, primarily through nutrition, recreation and energy. The proposal places a sustainable community on the water, which is connected to the multiple piers around the harbour by a ferry, to encourage social interaction between visitors, workmen and sportsmen of the sea. The scheme aimed to address the needs of all potential users and create a unique environment where contrasting personalities unite. The heart of the scheme is the ‘street’ that provides access, servicing and forms part of the structure of the buildings. It is formed of caissons that are inspired by the nearby Mulberry Harbour breakwaters. The buildings which rest against this artery are all members of the same building family and share the same structural DNA, inspired by fish racks of Scandinavian origin, but have subtle differentiating features to meet their programmatic, structural and environmental needs. It is a community that expresses a fervent enthusiasm of fishing and sailing, and in turn acts as an accessible buffer between shallow waters and the deep sea. This new cultural landmark for the harbour propagates a unique demographic of fisherman, sportsmen and visitors of the sea.
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From top: View from sea, elevation, view from footbridge, model photos
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TYKOS Will Campion / Adam Lewis / Rhiona Williams | Ali Barnard / Tom Hewlett Portland is shaped by the elemental forces of nature. Our proposal is to create an inhabited harbour wall; a monument to the sea. An immense protective structure that shields the bay from the power of the ocean. Breakwaters tend to have negative connotations as they have an adverse effecvt on the environment, altering the natural processes of the shore. This can lead to erosion and can create unsafe conditions. Through examination of the existing pitfalls of breakwaters, our project has been designed to re-engage man with the ocean and nature by taking advantage of the sedimentation which would undoubtedly occur along the shore over time, and create an innovative ecological catalyst for the eastern edge of Chesil Beach. The gentle curve of the wall gives protection on the side of the National Sailing Centre, while allowing a strong application of concrete against the fierce waves. The integral nature of a tidal site allows for a dynamic and ever changing perception of a building throughout the day. This instantly engages a participant into the friendly nature of the scheme, contradicting all the previous notoriety of these monumental, man-made monoliths. Each floor within the wall creates a unique, varied and exciting user experience to help explore different aspects of the ocean.
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From top: Water simulation, the finale, the wall, the beach
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BLUE MI ND Sam Bunn / Clara Rasines Mazo / Nefeli Malekou | Chloe Goillau / Lara Bentley A mildly meditative state characterized by calm, peacefulness, unity, and a sense of general happiness and satisfaction with life inspired by water and elements associated with water; from the color blue to the words we use to describe the sensations associated with immersion. The insatiable human curiosity of the unknown keeps drawing us back to the ocean. Humans have deep emotional ties to being in presence of the water which are driven by the instinctual and emotional responses. To help regenerate and connect the Isle of Portland we decided to create an intellectual realm that brings together scientists, artists and members of the public with a shared passion for the sea. Both the sea and the work carried out in the building become an exhibit and celebration of nature and the omnipresence of the sea. Our proposal outlines a long, linear mixed use building that provides living accommodation, work facilities and social spaces and that functions as a University of the Sea. Our key aim is to provide a new cultural node that will contribute and boost Portland’s region and existing community as well as appeal to a wider range of individuals.
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From top: Plan, sectional perspective, view from footbridge, aerial view, night view
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TH E K ITE S CAP E Chhavi Mehta / Harriette Warner / Viraja Kadaba | Seb Rhone / Krish Shah The act of kite flying offers modern man a worthwhile, relaxing and mentally satisfying endeavour. The strange attraction of the kite can be attributed, in part at least, to its paradoxical quality of providing exercise and relaxation to both body and mind. As a spectator, the task is equally as gratifying. A trip to the beach can turn into an entertaining day at a seaside kite competition - fun for all the family and the opportunity to fall in love with the seaside once again.The Kitescape celebrates the kites transition from its role in the World Wars; engages the public with the spectacle of competition kite flying in the present, as well as educating them about the future potential of kite generated energy in Portland, using the KiteGen system.
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From top: Model, view from coastal path, aerial view, view down footpath
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THE BE AC O N Bernard Kay / Carolyn Smith / James Gladman | Liam Bromiley / Tom Jeffery The Beacon is a Museum of Maritime Navigation, exhibiting not only artefacts and charts but aiming to instil in the visitor the sense of cultural change in our approach to the maritime environment. The journey is through history and method: from way nding and attunement to conquering the sea, and aims to culminate in a fuller understanding and sense of awe for this elemental environment. This is achieved through the fundamental integration of architecture, structure and environment; and demonstrated through the cohesion of idea, realisation and materiality. Surrounded by water, the building simultaneously confronts and responds to the marine environment. The building is a beacon in Portland Harbour; a carved monolith, inhabited by people, birds and littoral marine species.
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From top: Model, birds eye view, internal perspective, view of sailing event
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S ALT M ARS H – OYSTER FARM – ALGAE FACTO RY Rouming Song / David Majoe / Lang Jin | David Bedford / Akshat Gupta To design for the future, we looked into the past. To thrive in the future, we reconnected nature and man. To enjoy harmony, we give and we take. The design ethos behind our scheme is to create an exemplar piece of architecture showing how we should design for future. Linking Weymouth and Portland, we created a Saltmarsh and Oyster Farm which brings both a physical connection, a flood defence and an area of massive biodiversity. We take from nature, the oyster, giving Portland its own identity and industry. We unite each part of our scheme through one of the fundamental building blocks or life for the oyster, algae. We suspend the algae in a canopy which drapes over our scheme from the tower to the plant room. Our forest on the sea, both provides power and heat for us, and food and nutrients for the oysters.
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From top: Model, model detail sunset view, internal perspective Opposite: Model detail
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L A Y L I NE S Joanna Burleigh / Megan Cumming / James Turner | Jack Eddy / Ryan Jones A place without stories would be a place without identity. Our design process was driven by the ethnography of Portland, allowing us to understand the Islander’s intimate relationship with their heritage, the sea and each other through traditions and folklore. The theatre is a space that uncovers the stories of Portlander’s, through three themes that encompass the importance of story telling today: Ethnographics - Understanding the people of Portland and their customs. Archaeo-poetics - Romanticising about the history of the land. Archaeo-typological - Remembering the everyday of the past. The scheme follows the planning logic of ancient monumental landscapes and the transition to and from the floating theatre becomes part of the theatre experience. It is broken down into a series of nodes along a route, which leads to the crown.
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From top: Gatehouse entrance, theatre external, theatre internal, aerial view
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CO AST Melanie Rich / Alex Bull / Erin O’Sullivan | Edward Green / Hussein Khash / Cambyz Gol The proposed scheme enriches the baron stretch of land that conneccts Portland to Weymouth. Expanding the site’s boundaries to link Chesil Beach and the adjacent Fleet Lagoon to Portland Harbour has enabled the rich ecology and geology to be showcased. This is done through a series of coastal structures bound together by a boardwalk that meanders through Coast’s various facilities. The need for accommodation in the area to host PGL camps which take place throughout the year has also been addressed. These children’s camps that make use of the National Sailing Centre will also be able to take part in a host of educational and engaging activities which celebrate the nature of Portland as well as the route being open to the public.
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From top: Masterplan, external perspective, Chesil beach entrance, external perspective
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BENE A TH James Deru / Jess Phillips / Jorge Albert | James Thorneycroft / Adam Whitbread The brief demands us to explore man’s dysfunctional relationship with the sea. The days of man’s desire seem to have come to an abrupt halt. We now want to explore outer space rather than our own planet, yet the vast majority of the sea is still largely undiscovered. To answer the brief we must challenge this by renewing the quest to explore the sea and simultaneously use this as a catalyst for the renewal of Portland as a whole. We see our interaction with in three ways: Above, On and Below. ABOVE - The observation of what is happening on the water. ON - The motion and power of the waves close at hand. BELOW - The unknown element which we cannot see. The sea surrounding the Dorset coast is characterised by shipwrecks, and therefore diving is seen as the link between the three. Our scheme focuses around all aspects of diving from the theoretical stages through to indoor deep sea diving simulations, and finally to diving sites within the harbour walls and beyond. The training centre is designed for both recreational and commercial diving, and split into three parts: The tower, the arms and the grandstands. The tower housing research gathered from the sea, arms used for the diving school and the moveable grandstands for diving and sailing events.
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From top: Sectional perspective, perspective from the harbour, long section
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P RINC E ALBE RT P IER Charlie Clayton / Alexander Hewitson / Peter Madge | Illia Afifuddin / Daniel Morland The sea has always been an inspiration for creative people. Painters (Monet), Sculptors (Hepworth), and Musicians (Britten) alike have been captivated by its unique beauty. Prince Albert pier will continue this legacy by hosting spaces for artists and artisans. The typology of the working pier has been reimagined as a gallery, with the exhibition transformed into a living community where artists and artisans create, display and sell their work. The honest and simple design resulted from an integrated approach. Architecturally, the buildings wanted to be flexible and adaptable to allow for future changes and enhancements, whilst the engineering principles of thermal comfort and ease of construction were also paramount. In order to create a friendly and approachable scheme, the brief was kept as informal as possible.
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From top: Studio interior, view from the sea, view from the harbour
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NA TI O N A L S A IL IN G G R A NDSTAND Garrick Chan / Camille Filbien / Tom Grillo | Josh Yarrien / Lois Kentish
The proposal is for a National Sailing Grandstand and Media Centre in Portland Harbour, UK. The project seeks to provide the best possible spectator, media and organiser experience on sailing race day. By searching for a synthesis between precision-technology yachting and traditional English seaside culture, the proposal aims to act as a national symbol for the sport, raising its profile and transforming its image into an activity that is accessible for all. Portland Harbour’s breakwaters were an achievement of 19th century engineering, creating an enormous protected space. In its scale and form, the project aims to address the harbour as a whole, confirming and celebrating its changed identity from a naval space to a leisure space.
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From top: Flying elephant collage, axonometric view, view approahing sea plaza, internal view collage Opposite: Fat Kid collage
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ARCH I- P ELAGO Anna Tebble / Cressy Lopez / Josie Gebbie | Siyu Jiang / Yan Ying Fabia Lim An archipelago can be defined as: an extensive group of islands, or a sea or stretch of water having many islands. Archi-Pelago is an independent floating structure in Portland Harbour; a cluster of elements dock against a central promenade, and act as one in order to harness tidal energy. Docking is a very common form of human movement at sea, and so it allows visitors a strong physical engagement. Levels of permanent and temporary docking exist, though every element has a very similar industrial language to its design. Grandstand boats are tugged out to optimum positions from which spectators may closely watch the sailing. Exhibition, learning and other supporting spaces are docked more permanently. The scheme can be deconstructed and recreated at another seaside area in the future.
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From top: Boardwalk view, aerial view, sectional perspective, arrival Opposite: Poster
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SYZ YGY Rachel Testard / Kaspar Ter Glane / Shemol Rahman | Ioanna Pitti / Isimini Trian / Zhifeng Zong From the outset, we critically considered the social impact any proposal would have on the island. We challenged the scale of the proposed programme in relation to the NSA and Castletown, and decided to significantly reduce it to complement the existing context. We were interested in exploring the islands relationship to its prisons, and the potential to improve prospects and perceptions of young offenders through active community participation and restorative justice. Socio-economically, our aim was to re-engage with the sea through an active, working relationship that is not dependent on one-off events like the Olympics or World Cup. Wooden boat-building offered an inherent historical link with sailing while also allowing the opportunity to diversify the islands local economy and bring a new skills base to young Portlanders. As a land-based practice, it naturally cradles the waters edge and creates a place of transition from land to sea. Rather than a new landmark for Portland, we propose a smaller, considered intervention as an act of urban repair that amplifies the existing charm of the area and is a catalyst for further renewal.
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From top: View of central courtyard, view out to sea, scheme overview from sea
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GO ING INTO TH E D E EP Sahithya Balachandran / Alina Klukowski / Molly McGrath | Tudor Dumitrescu / Andrew McFadden / Esat Koray Physical limitations and a fear of the unknown create distance between man and the mysterious depths of the sea, yet man’s exploration of the deep perseveres. This building recreates the journey into the unfathomable: the initial moment of dipping your toe in the water, the sudden act of taking the plunge, the disorientating feeling of being submerged in the unknown and the relief of the processional ascension back to the familiarity of dry land. Each of these events is characterised through the combination of archiectural and engineering techniques, used to imaginatively create unique atmospheres. An interactive exhibition allows visitors to ‘flirt’ with the sea before entering the ‘wedge’, which itself appears to plunge into the deep. After visitors experience the atmospheric conditions of being in the deep, they transition back to land via the Moses Bridge, which in combination with the exhibition acts as a sea wall, forming a non tidal lagoon for inexperienced divers.
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From top: Model, sectional model, sea-level plan
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THRE S H OLD Cyrus Lee / Gloria Vidal | Nicholle Yong Sze Tam / Bowie Jin / Leire Saavedra The concept of designing around the sea brought these questions to mind, as we believed our building should not just be a reaction to the site and purpose of the brief, but also to the philosophical response that all group members developed. We are nature and, like a beaver makes a damn againts the water, what we do is part of nature. It is how we do it that can make a difference. When the boundary between water and land is not clear, they will closely work as one. This is where the balance relies. We will keep moving forward, understanding, enhancing our designs, since the sea is yet a level above our control.
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From top: View from harbour, entrance, section
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TH E P E O P LE ’S P IE R Alice Foreman / Nicole Langridge / Alexander Opoku | Robert Scott / Jonathan Croft Portland’s rich history and landscape deserves attention. The project proposes a transport and cultural interchange to regenerate tourism of the forgotten British coast and to re-engage with the sea. We will revel in the experience of elemental forces of sea, rain, wind and sun. The scheme is a socially driven piece of urban realm reaching out to sea, rejoicing in the journey not just the destination. The pier mediates the contrasting experience of being grounded and floating at sea, creating a transition space. We will celebrate the heritage of the site, honouring the monolithic caissons as museums and establishing a promenade of unfolding cultural events bridging land and sea animated by people, sailing and movement.
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From top: Approach, caisson exhibition, internal view, departure
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THE F A C TO RY Abigail Yeadon / Anna White / Harry Postins | Flavius Fosca / Priyen Logeswaran / Andrew Hakes Portland. A dwindling seaside relic. Once a thriving coastal town, it has a beautifully rich historic pedigree, yet today is struggling to keep afloat. There is an air of disuse, and general desertion. On top of the hill, the Young Offenders Institute looms over the town and casts a negative shadow across the young people of the local society. ‘The Factory’ introduces a strong social agenda to enhance the local community and integrate the ex-offenders back into society. By creating jobs for the ex-offenders which serve and attract the public through traditional boat-building and repairing, food production, and tourism, it is a catalyst for regeneration in the area. The ex-offenders are provided with their own accommodation pod to offer them a sense of ownership, as well as a separate, sacred haven,‘The Nest’, to soothe their potentially unstable mental state. The fundamental ethos of the scheme is to be functional whilst saving these young people from the cycle of re-offending. Therefore, the building extends as a slipway from the land to serve the boat launches and pop-up public events; the structure is as efficient as possible to provide large spans for the workshop; and the building aims to produce as little actual waste as possible. All the functions feed into each other, creating a self-sustaining building integrating structural and environmental strategies into the strong social concept. ‘The Factory’ combines nature, industry and community with people at its core.
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From top: Concept, boatyard, garden, external perspective
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M E M O RIAL TO TH E S EA Ayesha Puri / Bana Hammad / Carina Remes | Marcus Read / Rebecca Pickering The scheme is a memorial to the sea and to the sailors who lost their lives at sea. It seeks to make the visitors understand the struggles faced at sea, by experiencing, in a sense, the idea of submergence. This journey does not necessarily have a specific conclusion which each visitor is forced to reach, but rather just the feeling of being taken away from the ordinary, immersed in a different reality where one can feel the oppression of the sea, and eventually come out into a space that makes them question, contemplate, appreciate and create their own sense of what they have been through. We wanted the memorial to begin with the submergence of the visitor; both physically and psychologically, by taking them through a sunken bridge into the water into a dark space to emulate the same feelings that the sailors felt while being pulled by the current. This is followed by the subsequent emergence (through the exhibition spaces) into a more open, tranquil space: the viewing platform, from which one can get a view of open limitless waters of Chesil beach where most of the shipwrecks took place, and where most lives were lost.
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From top: Internal perspective, internal perspective, view to tower, view from sea
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PE L A G OS Laura Fairchild / Dan Lu | Daniel Kirwan / Adam Bukowski-Kruszyna Pelagos: The Greek for sea or the deep. Through our project, we wanted to design a landmark building, extending into the water, allowing the visitor to leave the land and engage with the sea. The structure of the building is expressed through the architecture, allowing the structure to become the key driver for the form and layout of the building. There is a strong contrast within the building of enclosure and exposure from the tower on land to the grandstand out in the sea. The building consists of exhibition spaces inhabiting the tower structure, with learning spaces, offices and an auditorium below, the bridge extending out into the sea with a grandstand space and bar at the end.
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From top: sketch perspective, grandstand, view from road, view to grandstand, sketch perspective
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TH E BARGE Aoife Morris / Sinead Fahey / Winn Lim | Ming Soo / Chanchuprasad Mohan Portland Harbour is a site bursting with activity in need of a flexible Grandstand for its array of events. Our response is to repurpose existing barges, inkeeping with the industrial nature of the site, that become a moveable floating chain, reconfiguring their arrangement for different events with differing proximities to the land. Each barge has an individual identity - the Exhibition Barge, the Theatre Barge and the Botanical Barge. Central, open-air, green areas in each barge are community spaces surrounded by the extended structure of the Grandstand, framing the sky. These spaces promote a hub of activity within each barge, supported by their individual programs, making this a unique destination point for Portland and Weymouth.
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From top: Model, grandstand, botanical barge, 3 barges
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FOURTH YEAR
IND IVID U AL P ROJECT Martin Gledhil In this part of our year book you will find the culmination of the fourth year students’ work. These projects are in set in the Wye valley in and around Chepstow. This enchanting context perhaps embodies a number of modern dilemmas to which the students were asked to respond within an overall theme of ‘Borders’. Firstly the condition of a post industrial ‘shadow’ town that relies on its bigger neighbours for its existence. Secondly a setting within a dramatic and picturesque landscape (in the sense that Burke would describe it) that demotes the land to either a backdrop for human play or as an apology to the city. And finally in Tintern, the ruins of a belief system where many a modern mind has unwittingly usurped any sense of the metaphysical with a neoliberal sensibility where only the measurable exists. So.... what do we do? Well, in each project we hope that you will see both an innately personal response to the lofty issues above and indeed other challenges such as migration, but moreover a commitment to architecture that is ‘about something’. This sense of narrative spans the social, the political, the psychological and the philosophical but most importantly it represents a voice that at the same time is individual and collective - a call to care about architecture. Indeed the eclectic nature of the studio culture might best be captured by the imperative that ‘ I do not care what you do as long as you Care what you do’. Here then are the results of seventy eight voices, twenty weeks of toil (many without sleep), enumerable hugs and as many visits to ‘the crying chair’ ( yes boys cry too), but most especially a Bobbly Dazzler year group that care as much about one another as they do about their work.
Ken Smithies prize: William Campion BSA prize: Kristen Tan BSA Commendation: Alina Kluckowski Occulus Prize: Shankar Mall DKA Computer Graphics prize: Luke Gordon Hays Prize: to be announced at graduation
STUD IO 4.1 Andrew Kwok Anna Tebble Brittany Trew Cressy Lopez Elianne Vos Josephine Gebbie Marta Petchame Guerrero Sope Bob-Soile Samuel Bunn
AR C HI V E O F T H E P IC T U R ES Q U E Andrew Kwok The Picturesque, derived from the French term Pittoresque, was a British movement popularised by William Gilpin after his excursion along the river Wye in late 18th century. Initially started as an aesthetic ideal of viewing the landscape in pictorial principles, its theory would further expand to the fields of architecture, philosophy and sociology through the debates of numerous theorists, including Edmund Burke, Uvedale Price and John Ruskin. The Picturesque questions our understandings of aesthetic taste, fuels our interests in the vernacular, and explains our fascinations or even our obsessions with ruins and decay. Yet such significant movement that greatly contributed to British Romanticism is rarely celebrated in the Wye Valley nowadays. Its original meaning and values are often misapprehended and become rather trivial in today’s society. The proposal therefore is to design an archive in housing various paintings, documents and materials relating to the Picturesque movement towards the end of 18th century, and to explore its ideology through the understanding of the context, the experience of the journey and the representation of the architecture.
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From top: view of the atrium, view of the reading room, axonometric view of the scheme
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U RBAN C RAFT Anna Tebble Urban Craft is a building scheme that provides workshops and accommodation for students learning building crafts. The project revives an underused piece of land in the centre of Chepstow, and aims to achieve both a craft revival and an urban revival. My investigation of site and brief has resulted in an expressive architectural intervention. The process of craft is exhibited in an immersive public realm.
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From top: street perspective, overall views, sectional perspective
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A RE WI L D IN G C E N T R E Brittany Trew The Rewilding Centre introduces a new progressive conservation method which discourages speciesism, and promotes compassion towards our living planet. Rewilding is simply allowing the landscapes around us to be in their natural state, without human management or domestication. The concept aims to reintroduce native species that have been lost to hunting or discrimination, therefore rebalancing the state of the ecosystem using up-to-date ecological theories regarding keystone species and the trophic cascade. The UK has lost almost all of its wild land, and any countryside left is decimated by sheep grazing, grouse estates or woodland management. Wyncliff wood represents a rare pocket of the UK which has been largely untouched by human interference, and the design of the centre uses the woodland as its base on which to rewild the desolate farmland surrounding it. The centre follows the core objectives of rewilding: to integrate the replanting of flora and the re-balancing of species with social responsibility and re-connection with nature. Thus the design compromises of visitor engagement buildings, ecological research spaces, a wildlife rehabilitation centre and a hub where rewilding charities such as Rewilding Britain, and Trees for Life can work together as a cooperative in order to create a stronger movement.
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From top: sectional perspectives, external view
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FLO RA Cressy Lopez Flora refers to a collection of plants from a given place. The scheme utilises the name to stand for a programme which accommodates the gathering of vulnerable women, nuns and flowers. Design of spaces ensure variety; form and arrangement of buildings are a response to the requirement for safety and changing levels of permeability. The landscaping creates a series of natural boundaries to protect the buildings sensitively. The scheme also seeks to activate the riverside walk, with the forest boundary constructing a natural edge which the public can utilise. The proposed project looks to re-address the typology of a refuge, rape crisis centre. The programme is addressed to specifically cater for the emotional and physical healing of women. The shelter will be run by the Carmelite nuns, whose simple and cloistered existence will help re-iterate the core values of life. A key issue to be addressed is gender stereotypes; the use of flower farming as a major part of the therapy will tackle this issue, investigating the feminine connection to nature. The cyclic process of flower farming will highlight the transient and fragile nature of human existence, helping women understand that all difficult things eventually pass.
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From top: view from the road, concept images
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NA TUR E ’S G N OSIS Elianne Vos This Project for the design of an Institute for Natural Technology seeks to explore the theme of Borders through the connection and the boundaries between the human world and the natural world. As humanity looks for solutions to our global environmental, economical and social crises in this century, we turn to new innovative research and technology to progress us into an ecological age. The intent for this project takes another look at how nature can inform us and inspire us through its form and function, creating an architecture that is a true response to the landscape. A building that provides a place for thinking, togetherness or solitude and ultimately a place that inspires creativity.
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From top: internal view of the cafe, internal view of the library, sectional perspective through the labs, sectional perspective through the scheme.
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STO RIE S IN STO NE Josephine Gebbie Storytelling is one of our oldest art forms, it brings words and worlds to life, stimulates the imagination and builds a sense of community between tellers and listeners. Historical stories, legends and contemporary stories all represent a richness of oral patterns of telling and are the expression of the collective unconscious. The emphasis of traditional storytelling is as much on the telling as the story itself. True storytelling is told not in print nor through technology but from person to person allowing for greater flexibility, empathy and emotional involvement. The town center of Chepstow has a deep sense of community; a five-minute walk down the high street becomes an hour through stopping and chatting with one’s neighbours. The project aims to create a space that encourages the tradition of storytelling and enhances it. The re-purposing of Chepstow Castle into a Storytelling Centre would continue to fulfill a lasting cultural need as a civic space open to all. Through reshaping the courses of both the literal and spatial narrative through the Castle the users would be able to experience a building that embodies multiple stories.
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From top: sketches showing old and new, view inside the ruin, overall aerial view of the scheme in the castle
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THE WAL E S C E N T R E FO R A UTI S M Marta Petchame Guerrero My architectural proposal is a Centre for Autism, aimed at children aged 8 to 15 years old. It accommodates 20 children and 14 staff members.It is a place where autistic kids in Monmouthshire feel safe and accepted, where they can come to relax and be themselves, and escape from daily struggles to a place where they don’t feel left out. It brings a sense of community and unity to the town, a sense of sharing and helping others. The building provides spaces where kids can learn new skills, become more confident and improve their everyday lives. It aims to be integrated into the environment, an oasis of peace and calm in the middle of the woods and field. Autism has the power to teach us to experience architecture through learning, about human condition, and how to use its ‘differences’ and distinct approach to life as an advantage. Architects have the capacity to translate the positive aspects and characteristics of this disorder into their designs, consequently creating an improved, healthier architecture. Autistic needs should be taken more into account when designing buildings not only regarding comfort and adaptability, but also because individuals with autism are part of our society, and we can influence their everyday lives and have the capacity to help them gain more independence simply by altering their environment.
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From top: view of the bedroom terraces, section, entrance external perspective
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CH E P STOW TOW N H ALL BEYO ND TH E STREET, TH E S P E ECH Sope Bob-Soile This project is an enquiry into the representational role of architecture in the re-enchantment of the local government by exploring the reciprocal relationships between the civic and the civil, the individual with the collective, and the everyday with the ceremonial. The scheme manifests itself in threefold. Firstly, the essence of the town hall- governance, celebration and information –is expressed spatially. Then these elements are honoured with civic gathering spaces - a communal garden, an urban park and a town square. Finally, the forum is then integrated permeably into the city’s urban fabric through a street colonnade, an internal street and pocket parks. The scheme aims to celebrate the town hall as a gathering place that engages people, fosters communal relations and restores a sense of ownership.
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From top: street colonnade, debate sectional perspective, street elevation
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economic stability. Generating income from the castle and Wye valley beauty to draw in retail, while losing any remaining industry to the larger cities of Bristol and Newport. I feel a successful scheme should carefully balance its approach to reinstating industry to the once great town, providing an initial footing for its revival, and re-establishing its name within the area.
RE-E N C HA N T IN G THE BR E W Samuel Bunn The magic and delight associated to the artisan craft of brewing has been diluted and lost over the last hundred years. What has become of beer? In a modern world where there exists an ever increasing number of ways to distract and amuse us as a population, a primal gathering around a communal drink has remained the staple activity of the masses. Acting as the pausing place between geological locations and social hierarchy, the pub has forever stood as the traditional living room of the town. Providing a place for stories to be shared and social agreement to be achieved through the blending of interaction with locals and foreign travelers moving through. Chepstow is a town that relies on its connections to its past for its economic stability. Generating income from the castle and Wye valley beauty to draw in retail, while losing any remaining industry to the larger cities of Bristol and Newport.I feel a successful scheme should carefully balance its approach to reinstating industry to the once great town, providing an initial footing for its revival, and re-establishing its name within the area. From top: sketch, overall external perspective Opposite page: exploded isometric
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Hopline Public Walk
Growing Beside The Bridge
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STUD IO 4.3 Alice Mellor Aoife O’Donoghue Ayesha Puri Bana Hammad Carina Remes Connor Randall Karan Patel Praneet Bhullar Sean Counsell
BR ID G ING B O R D E R S HOUS I NG FO R R E F UG E E S AND A CO M MU N IT Y C E NT R E FOR C H E P STOW Alice Mellor In September 2015 the Government announced that the UK will resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years under the ‘Syrian Vulnerable Person Relocation Scheme,’ which provides five years humanitarian protection status and a twelve month support plan. The proposal of a ‘halfway house’ in Chepstow will provide a place for vulnerable refugees to live for their first twelve months before being housed in a more permanent location within Monmouthshire.The project is a gateway to their new lives in Wales, and will aid their transition into the wider community. It will be a continued ‘home’ point for the residents even after having left. Positioned in a currently unloved site in the heart of two new housing developments, the project also provides much needed amenities for the increasing population of Chepstow, creating a place for everyone. The project seeks to weave the individual into the community and break the perceived borders between seemingly contrasting groups of people, thus creating a true community in which everyone is brought together to celebrate their diversity.
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From top: sectional perspective, external views of the houses
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CU LTU RE W ITH OUT BORDE RS : T H E PONT C ENT RE Aoife O’Donoghue Today’s society and communities are changing-physically, culturally and socially. With change comes uncertainty, acceptance and integration- how is this sequence achieved in small communities such as Chepstow? Stemming from my personal background and experience of living in different countries as well as the challenges of change, acceptance and integration within communities- I decided to design a community cultural centre. The Pont Centre is located in the Welsh town, Chepstow, with the ethos ‘Accepting change, retaining Identity’. The centre celebrates the different components of culture from food, arts, humanities and local customs. Each month, a different theme will be presented within the facilities of the centre-allowing the locals to learn of different cultures. The sense of retaining Chepstow’s identity will be captured from the architectural form and materiality, as well as the practice of the local clubs, traditions and festivals within the centre. The town will be revitalised while it’s identity is retained.
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From top: entrance reception visual, approach visual, external perspective
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I S O RR OPI A Ayesha Puri An Ashram is traditionally a Hindu monastic abode that is typically located away from human habitation and offers a secure environment for individual growth. It is started by a Guru - a spiritual leader that seeks to impart his knowledge to others. Its reach extends to people of all religions who want to learn about themselves through the pursuit of spiritual principles. The project seeks to address the problem in today’s world - the power of ego and greed over intellect and spirituality. It aims to restore the balance between the mind and the body by refocusing each individuals attention from materialistic notions to more spiritual pursuits. It does this through its routinely meditative and yogic practices, imparting of the Guru’s teachings, lack of technology, simplicity of food and clothing and most importantly - prayer. Each part of the ashram is designed to hold a specific stage of the routine and aims to enhance the experience within it through its spatial fenestration. Through its design - it tries to revive the power of the old church by creating a new route leading to it.
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From top: tectonic exploded isometric, view of the refectory, view of the yoga platform, overall front view
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RE H AB I LIT ATIO N CEN T RE FOR YOUNG OFFENDERS Bana Hammad This project aims to shed light on the failure of the current penal system, which is proven by the high re-offending rates after release. It is an honest attempt to propose new forms of rehabilitation that are targeted specifically for male young offenders. The proposed model acknowledges the importance of restorative justice, and tries to deal with not only the offender himself, but also the victim and the community in which the offender came from and will return to. Set in a woodland site around an existing ruin, the architectural typology is a monastic one, comprised of a mixture of spaces celebrating both the individual and the communal.
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From top: overall aerial view, sectional perspective through reading room, approach to the cloister, section through library, cloister, and therapy space.
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AL I G N ING T H E T R I N ITY CHE PSTOW H O L I STI C C E N TRE AND S P I R ITU A L TOW E R Carina Remes Nowadays, sports and holistic therapies are being enclosed in windowless boxes, disconnecting people from the nature and from each other. This centre is inviting people to look at these activities in a different way and to practise them where they were intended from the beginning of times: in the nature. It is meant to teach people about health, nutrition and how to properly align their mind, body and spirit. The new centre includes different holistic therapies, a health bar and shop, as well as an event space where massage and nutrition classes are held. A spiritual tower that includes Reiki and Yoga classes is situated closer to the river and forest, enabling people to fully relax and engage with the nature, offering magnificent views over the river at the upper and most spiritual level. The lower level is a preparation, stretching and information space before starting the Piercefild Walk journey, important part of the building’s programme. The aim of this project is to bring the people of Chepstow together, through exercise, therapy and well-being. It is a place of recreation and rehabilitation, for people of all ages. Everybody should feel welcome and accepted. If gyms and sport centres are becoming dominated by young adults, this project is aiming to do the complete opposite: people with disabilities, the elderly or even tourists should be able to feel like they are part of the community and not left out.
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From top: bridge end, yoga room, health shop, external perspective
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I NTO TH E WI LD Connor Randall A settlement encouraging immersion into the surrounding wilderness through outdoor activities In today’s human-centric environment, the idea of wilderness is something that has been lost. The basis for the project came from a desire to experience and reconnect with nature in a very communal way.The Wye Valley is an area that is well known for its natural beauty and outdoor pursuits, providing the opportunity to create a settlement within that allows people to experience a more primal level of interaction with the surrounding area, moving beyond this idea of simply seeing nature through a camera. Such a settlement harks back to the idea of the palaeolithic man, who did not recognise the idea of ‘the wild’ with its modern connotations as they saw it as part of their life and ingrained into their daily routines. The settlement allows an immersion into the surrounding landscape where you can reconnect with nature but also with yourself through outdoor activities, particularly climbing and kayaking.
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From top: climbing wall visual, external visual, sectional perspective
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T H E S KY C E N TR E Karan Patel To all living beings, the Earth consists of the land and the sky. The horizon defines the border between the positive and negative or the inhabited and the uninhabited, but it is an intangible point that will forever remain out of reach. We have an extensive knowledge of the sky and what lies beyond from thousands of years of observations, but we now lack a connection to the sky in our daily lives. The exhibits will teach visitors and students about: our relationship with the sky and its impact on culture and society; how to observe the sky; and how current research and observation of the sky is being developed into technologies that can improve our lives now and in the future. The Sky Centre is also home to a planetarium, telescope and Skyspace installation, which will support the exhibits and provide a means for visitors to take the knowledge they have gained and put it into practice making observations of the sky. As a whole the Sky Centre will reconnect us to the sky and enable us to appreciate the marvels of the sky and what lies beyond.
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From top: telescope tower, view from the landscape, reflecting pool
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C H E P STOW E X C H ANGE Praneet Bhullar The railway station is a temporal, transitional space inwhich the commuter is contained for a short period of time, before continuing their journey. As they complete this transition from one place to another, their activity is limited and they are most likely reviewing the day’s previous events. Chepstow Exchange is a creative concept that combines culture, commerce and conscience. The arts centre and open market act as an injection of hope, transforming the existing, marginalised railway station into a new cultural hub for the community.
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From top: partii diagrams made using railway tickets, unwrapped elevation, kinked sectional perspctive
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T H E BA TT LE Sean Counsell The number of service personnel diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder rose by nearly a fifth last year, amid concern about the enduring psychological toll of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. The veterans’ mental health charity “Combat Stress” believe the substantial increase in PTSD cases is a “matter of concern”, and has produced an unprecedented surge in demand for military mental health treatment. The proposal investigates how architecture can facilitate places of trauma rehabilitation. Sited on the ridge of the castle’s Dell Valley, the scheme focuses on naval branches of the Armed Forces due to the town’s failures of boat manufacture during the World Wars. The scheme is formed of three parts reflecting the differing psychological ambiances that are found in places of mental rehabilitation. The professional therapy rooms lie within a tower that concludes the journey of the town’s 13th century Port Wall. A public-private house takes ownership of open plan living spaces to create a sense of solidarity and communal well being. The final piece is a rotated bar of private accommodation units, adjacent to a wildly planted secret garden.
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From top: sectional isometric of the room, approach to the tower, therapy room. Opposite page: overall aerial view of the scheme
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STUD IO 4.6 Will Campion Natalie Donat-Cattin Clara Rasines Mazo
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OUR ORC H AR D Will Campion In 2050 the world’s population will reach almost 10 billion people requiring a 69% increase in calorie production, but traditional agriculture’s exponential engulfing of the World’s resources is both destroying the environment and insufficient to sustain our species. The solution: The Flat-Pack Farm. A symbiosis of rural and urban, that stacks the sublime beauty of tending the countryside into a vertical commmunity in the sky. The contained system feeds off of the Sun and biological waste from Chepstow to power both the aeroponic systems and the Wye Valley. The component construction is a prototypical concept that allows the building to adapt and be deployed into any environment in a deminishing world.
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From top: External view from the castle, external view from gardens
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R ITU A L S A N D R UIN S Natalie Donat-Cattin “We’re going to meet a lot of lonely people in the next week and the next month and the next year. And when they ask us what we’re doing, you can say, we’re remembering.” At a macro level in our society there is a issue with the rituals surrounding death and ruins. Therefore the building aims to re-interrogate the funerary rite as well as the relationship with ruins. The crematorium-library presents itself as a series of solids, which “fill the voids” of Tintern Abbey. They maintain a distance from the ruins, but at the same time interact with them creating a dialogue. The buildings become ornaments of the abbey as well as opposing themselves to it. A main ramp acts as a connection in between all the solids, creating a strong visual division between the places of motion and places of stay.
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From top: View down the nave, view from the river, external view, approach to site
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T H E GARDEN OF R UINS Clara Rasines Mazo Tintern Cello School The aim of this project is to create an environment with the sufficient facilities for the higher education of the cello. The scheme is based around the three fundamentals of making, practicing and performing. The school is a concerto of pitched-roof structures concentrated on the NE corner of Tintern Abbey. The Concert Hall is the only element that is located outside the boundary wall. Buildings and landscape are designed together to enhance the spaces and their fuction and to create beautiful supporting environments. The Ruins and the Wall play a major part on the design and they have been respected and celebrated throughout the different buildings in different, carefully considered ways.
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From top: Exploded diagram of scheme, external view, elevation, practice room internal view, long section
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STUD IO 4.9 Garrick Chan Camille Filbien Rachel Testard Luke Gordon Tom Grillo Jian Yong Khoo
TOWN H OU S E Garrick Chan This project is a theoretical investigation as well as a design exercise. It involves looking into the idea of house as a more flexible concept, a boundary within which people seek shelter and enables social interactions. Such concept leads to the idea of house as a scalable object, which is explored and expressed by treating a city as a house and occupying the town centre, the living room so to speak, with a town house, a civic piece that also functions as a scaled up house. This project also explores the meaning of house in two folds, as an inhabitable autonomous object as well as a collection of rooms. Urban impact of architecture and the application of Adolf Loos’ Raumplan in modern public architecture is also investigated in the process. There is no going to if there isn’t coming from. No there if there is no here. The shrinkage of employment in Chepstow rings the alarm of the historic town turning into a satellite town with the inhabitants gradually working away from Chepstow. This project is a civic building, both as a building that reintroduce the idea of civic pride into settlement as well as providing a cutting edge to the competitiveness of the town against other similar size settlements. Architecture comes from the desire to settle, the opportunity to meet. A house is an object, an object that reflects the owner’s identity, past and present. A house is a joyous place to meet, a collection of spaces awaiting exploration. This project is a town house, and I tried to challenge the idea of civic and residential building. A house is a shelter; a collection of houses a city, a collection of cities a nation. This project is here, this is going from.
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From top: Building section, external view from cafe square, external view from main plaza Opposite: Winning entry for ICIA Photography Competition
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T H E A G O R A OF CU LTU R E M A K IN G Camille Filbien
“Challenge what is there, reactivate it, make it part of the current, but allow it to cause friction to resist. The moment we let go of the sentimental values, but holistically assess what is there, and have it fight for its place in the here and now, we can re-endow the old with contemporary architectural agency.“ (Florian Idenburg) The proposal engages with the ruins of a historical monument in Wales, Chepstow castle, aiming to heighten the awareness of the found conditions while binding the new and old together in an act of mutual dependency. The richness of the site awoke an eagerness to understand the cultural depth embedded in the architectural fabric and a desire to grasp its uniqueness. The project strives to reactivate a place today numbed in lifeless display, disconnected from the civic/social present and the effect of time. The proposal is for Chepstow castle to respond, once again, to today’s social and political climate by inhabiting within its walls a place for the making, study, teaching and exhibition of culture.
From top: Aerial view of scheme, internal view, isonometric external view
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AXONOMETRIC PROJECTION aerial view
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TH E P LAYH OUS E Rachel Testard “I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.” (Peter Brook) Theatre begins and ends with people’s desire to communicate ideas to each other. The architectural intent is to offer a creative framework for the art, an entirely democratic space, encouraging each individual to interact with the building as he pleases. The Playhouse therefore unfolds into an enfilade of performing space all interlinked into one, where foyer, stairs, rehearsal rooms and outdoor areas can become platforms for acting.
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From top: Aerial view of scheme, sectional perspective, external view
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H O M O F AB E R Luke Gordon The story of Chepstow’s adaptation to change is portrayed through its collage of materials spliced between quaint cottages, historic mills and dramatic monoliths. The conservation policies of CADW, (the Welsh Government’s historic environment service) sees historical buildings as “heritage assets” to be preserved with an “anxious care” typically of Ruskin’s influence. This design project questions the sometimes stifling platform upon which Wales’ conservation policies rest and proposes extracting an alternative approach with a Ruskinian touch, to allow Chepstow’s historic buildings to flow with their users’ changing needs. This project investigates the role of an architectural intervention to act as stimuli for the regeneration of Piercefield House, a long neglected manor designed by Sir John Soane. The facility’s workshops for alternative conservation, restoration and training through the creative use of timber will see form demoted and supplanted by narrative, use and material to allow Chepstow’s historic buildings to be “re-appropriated” for modern life. The scheme proposes a series of tectonic strategies that utilise honest, locally sourced materials to create an architecture that revitalises existing fabric, compliments landscape and has a valued agenda within the community.
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From top: Internal view of workshop, 1:50 tectonic model, internal view of accommodation, view of southern approach
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C OM M E RC IAL B UIL DING C H E P STOW Tom Grillo Project for the former site of National Shipyard No.1
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From top: External space with existing stone mill, town elevation, site axonometric, office interior, view from commercial street
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DI S R U PT ; A C TI V A T E Jian Yong Khoo
The three-piece intervention seeks to engage with the ruin - Chepstow Castle - with an emphasis on amplifying its found condition - this in turn allowed for the development of three different strategies - each specifically dealing with the creative re-use of the found space. 1. Of New Permanence - The central intervention is an ‘island’ building steering clear of the existing castle walls - which serves to directly engage and animate the spaces which it borders. 2. Of Spatial Rejuvenation - The intervention within the former Gloriette seeks to take ownership of the space, building up on the ruined castle walls, thus borrowing from the loadbearing capacity of the metre thick castle walls. 3. Of Found Elements - The final intervention focuses specifically on the south crumbling wall - using the existing concrete beams located between the walls to reinstate the elevated walkway as well as introducing a new space below, giving visitors a new experience of the castle’s architecture.
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From top: External spaces, sectional perspective Opposite: Winning entry for new artwork in university library
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STUDIO 4 .16 Ryan Cook Jorge Albert Megan Cumming Jamie Irving Viraja Kadaba Chhavi Mehta James Turner Harriette Warner Rebecca Woolman
A H OU S E FO R C H E P STOW Ryan Cook
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If the wall defines the spaces we live and work in, it is the hole in the wall that makes these spaces inhabitable. At an urban and spatial scale, the scheme concerns itself with the primary definition of a singular space and its subsequent disruption, in order to accentuate the crossing of borders and denote a gateway point or threshold. The brief purposes itself with readdressing the perception of offenders within our communities and the necessities and possibilities for detention within our towns, so as to meaningfully address accountability to locale; a form of rehabilitation through social domesticity.
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VIA AN I M A Jorge Albert Via Anima is born from a reaction to the decay of modern religion,and the break of the relationship between physic and psychic; nature and religion, which lies so deeply at the root of the origin of religion. In its reevaluation and reestablishment of religion through nature, Via Anima materialises as a Centre for Comparative Religion, funded by the Alister Hardy Trust, an organisation at the forefront of objective research into religion and spirituality. Facilitiating both education and research for students and staff, as well as gathering and discussion including the public also, the architecture grows from a central public pathway connecting the Tintern Abbey ruins with Offa’s Dyke Path; a gateway to the Wye Valley’s wildlife. The scheme splits itself about this path into spaces of contemplation, including research, living and seminar cells, a library and archive, which line an inhabited wall, as well as spaces of gathering, crowned by a forum lying at the heart of the scheme. Procession between both elements is emphasised, and facilitated through a central link structure, giving uninterrupted views between the Wye landscape up the hill, and Tintern Abbey across the river; the link between religion and nature is constant.
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From top: Internal view of forum, view from the bridge, external view
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A N U C L E A R B A C K G A R DE N Megan Cumming As outlined by the Treasury in the 2015 Autumn statement, the UK government has decided to invest heavily in Small Modular Reactors as part of securing a reliable low carbon energy future. Together with renewables, nuclear is considered by the government to play a significant role in the future energy mix. Currently being considered for use at data centres and corporate campuses, small nuclear reactors are suited to provide reliable, off grid electricity to a community as part of a decentralised network. My choice of brief was driven by research into the very current and controversial issue surrounding renewables, nuclear and sustainability. From it, emerges the design task of bringing nuclear power closer to our homes. These smaller reactors with a reduced amount of radioactive material reduces risk allowing them to be brought closer to communities to improve the output efficiency. Although the level of realism is restricted by current public resistance, my proposed scheme for a small nuclear power station aims to challenge how we feel about nuclear power in our back garden. Alongside a district heating system for Chepstow, the waste heat from the reactor can be used across the site in green houses and walled gardens. The power station itself is a fortified courtyard organised around the reactor that is housed below ground. Designing the power station as an element within a larger framework of landscape infrastructure increases public accessibility, generating a green facade that feeds off the reactor.
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From top: Sectional perspective, internal view, external view, view from railway
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ENE RGY AND P LACE Jamie Irving “A perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence; a sense of the timeless as well as the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together.� (T.S. Eliot) Energy and Place stems from a critique into the public perceptions of energy generation and use within the urban environment. Through the analysis of industrial typologies, one can begin to establish a thematic pluralism between the monumental and the everyday. These awkward meetings synonymous with the industrial vernacular can result in powerful, and often difficult, relationships with the existing cultural and physical place. Unlike existing industrial typologies of gasometers and water towers, electricity’s intangible nature causes it to be perceived as an infinite entity. However, through an urban siting and formal presence, the scheme has the capacity to build a communal responsibility and tangibility to energy. Thus, the project seeks to engage a community with energy generation, storage and use through form, pattern and the agglomeration of civic and energy orientated programme. It intends to generate an emotive architecture for energy and place within the urban environment, tackling energy generation and use within the urban environment, tackling the common condition of the industrial non-place.
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From top: Town hall space, train station concourse, public square approach
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SAN A T A N A SA M ST H A Viraja Kadaba Crossing Cultural Borders In order to have a harmonious community the process of integration rather than assimilation needs to take place. Identity (like culture and community) may not be a fixed concept - it is constantly mutating in response to the social, political and economic contexts in which it operates. It is personal and internal, yet at the same time functions in public spaces and in negotiation with others to draw boundaries, build communities and form social bonds. The Eternal Institution Hinduism - the oldest living culture in the world - or the Vedic culture, is not merely a religion. It is a spiritual path and way of life. Sanatana Samstha is the name that encapsulates and embodies the purpose of this sacred institution set within Chepstow - An institution of eternal Hindu teachings that improve daily life. This Hindu College and Hindu Cave Temple promotes the learning of the ancient Vedic scriptures to those students who wish to benefit from this higher education. They may study and live alongside the learned priests. This institution can help serve the RE community in nearby schools; focus on its student well-being and demonstrate how spiritual values - as highlighted by Hinduism’s traditions, rich culture and accommodating nature - make a positive contribution to contemporary life in Britain through education. It is a place welcome to all who wish to enjoy the celebration of diversity and culture through the means of prayer, devotional song, music, drama, art, dance and yoga - ultimately a sanctuary of spiritual enlightenment.
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From top: Exploded axonometric of college, long detail section, site approach by boat
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ROS H INI - S C HOOL FOR TH E V IS U ALLY IM P AIRE D Chhavi Mehta In a technological world people are inclined to favour sight as a driving design concept and architecture is increasingly becoming a visual art. My project is an attempt to bring the dormant senses of touch and sound into the foreground of spatial perception and give architecture its experiential richness back . Visually impaired persons are usually more observant of the environment because they have to take in more cues to process the information as compared to a visually abled person. Thus allowing for deeper interrogation into spatial perception through design. Primary idea concept consists of using the river as a reference and as an audible guide for orientation and navigation. The students use the continuous curved wall to navigate their way through the building. The roof is designed such that the light at the top of the room is sharp and as it goes down the structure it softens as it scatters along each curve. For younger children the lighting is quite soft, it helps them keep calm and the source of light is almost hidden which helps them concentrate. This is done by letting the light scatter along more curves. But as they grow older they learn to adapt to sharper quality of light and to normal building conditions. They slowly gain more self discipline and hence the sources of light slowly reveal themselves to the students. Thus the roof form simplifies and the light scatters just once before reaching the bottom of the classroom.
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From top: Model image of scheme, long section, external view
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A UTO - PH I L I A James Turner The Classic Car Restoration Centre seeks to redefine common perceptions of the car and evoke a new epoch of social engagement within museums. Commercial and community workshops provide active engagement that aim to integrate the public and encourage the rediscovery of a passion for driving. Cars are often considered to be mundane commodities that only function as a method of transport. They are partly culpable for the detriment of the environment and the ephemeral boundaries that segregate our context. This Centre encourages one to ignore prejudice, reject preconceptions and engage in a passion for cars, one that promotes enjoyment of them as sculptural art. Set within the historic Piercefield Estate, the project envelopes an existing fabric and focuses on reinvigorating the Chepstow edgelands, reengaging with the local community. The idea addresses the current museum issues by focusing on the breakdown of space around the objects displayed. A series of smaller, more intimate and relatable spaces area created, homogenised by a distinguished roof form.
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From top: Internal view, view of approach, aerial view
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S E E D TO ST RUC TU RE Harriette Warner As the tale of the three little pigs suggests the world does not wholly believe that straw is a viable building product. There is a distinct material prejudice which this project sought to overcome; educating people about the overwhelming benefits of building with natural materials, specialising in ones which can be grown - hemp, straw and hazel. The complete cycle from“Seed to Structure� is present on the 23 acre site to engage and teach people about the origins of these natural building materials. Hemp, wheat and hazel coppice form the hemp-lime, straw bales and hazel pins from which the building is constructed. The centre is a satelite of CAT (The Centre for Alternative Technology). It upholds their ethos by; INSPIRING less eco-consciously minded people through subliminal learning, INFORMING those who would like to learn how to design and build with natural materials, and ENABLING those who wish to build by providing the necessary training and resources. The exhibition, gift shop and restaurant showcase these materials. The lecture hall and classrooms facilitate teaching for school groups and Architects, while the workshop provides space to prefabricate elements for natural building projects elsewhere in the UK.
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From top: Wall construction detail, sectional perspective, external views
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CHE PSTOW G L A SS WO R KS Rebecca Woolman I decided to undertake an exploration of glass because I find the material endlessly beautiful. Glass is commonplace in today’s society and its full potential overlooked. I hoped to bring to attention and to life the ephemeral effects of a material that can be so much more than transparent. In order to pay homage to glass the building became a glass craft centre so that the material can be witnessed being made, being displayed and being used as an architectural material. Therefore the workshops sit at the heart of the building surrounded by exhibition and then the building facade so as to build layer upon layer of glass. The Chepstow Glass Works is stitched in to the High Street of Chepstow, designed to be wandered through and around all the while opening your eyes to glass.
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From top: Bank street view, long section, shop and corridor interior, high street view
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STUDIO 4 .17 Adam Lewis Alexander Bull Erin O ‘Sullivan Jessican Philllips James Deru Melanie Rich Rhiona Williams
TI KKU N O L A M Adam Lewis
The project is centred around a residential trip, as part of secondary education to help reduce religious intolerance and promote equality and a celebration of faith. Religious and non religious people should no longer have to be con ned to stereotypes or social conventions and we should learn to celebrate an individual for whatever they choose to be. The architecture allows a variety of spaces for learning, discussion and exploration, as well as personal re ection. In order to help maintain social harmony in our pluralistic society, we must redevelop taught religious education to fully represent diversity and modern perspectives. The current National Curriculum syllabus teaches outdated beliefs and a limited variety of views, which could be seen to perpetuate an ill-informed and intolerant society. By taking religious education out of the classroom and into a neutral and tranquil space, it allows students to explore, re ect and discuss equally and freely with each other. Learning about religion from those who practice the religion themselves, allows for a true re ection of ideologies and modern perspectives. These ‘jewels’ in the forest provide spaces for individuals to freely integrate with one another and will create a lasting and powerful memory.
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Right: Aerial Overview of site within Forest. Below (cw from top-right): Exterior of Education Building, Perspective of Cabin Accommodation, Section of Educational Building
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P R OSTH ETI C S RE H ABI LIT ATIO N C ENT RE Alexander Bull
The implications of technology on healthcare are increasing at an exponential rate. Modern day prosthetics are redefining the prospects of amputees. The building encourages the independent rehabilitation of its users through the provision of multiple circulation routes. The building provides users with choice; lift, stairs or ramp. Users can choose the circulation route best suited to their current stage of prosthesis use. The scheme is conceived as a linear building which winds down the slope to create private areas at the bottom of the slope, as such the building presents a modest street frontage appropriate to its context.
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Left: Tectonic Section. Below (cw from top-right): Cafe Terrace, Long Section, Approach to Entrance, Tectonic Sections
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T H E A RTI ST’ S A E RI E Erin O’Sullivan The Artist’s Aerie aims to re-engage with the Wye Valley’s rich history of the visual arts and act as a celebration of the Picturesque and of the area’s dramatic and beautiful landscape. The building provides a community for artists which incorporates a variety of studios and residences and an exhibition and social space for all members of the public as well as the artists to enjoy. An external route binds the variety of spaces together and provides a journey through the landscape of the site. The scheme will be a creative hub in which artists can live and work and the local community can enjoy. The building will provide a variety of experiences relating to the site’s diverse conditions; enclosed environments embedded into the land, open roof terraces with uninterrupted views out, vertical elements breaking through the trees and bridges leading into the trees. The building programme can be categorised into artist studios, artist-inresidence apartments, studio apartments for visiting artists, service spaces and the Aerie, a public social space situated at the highest point. The artist studios and artist-in-residence apartments are divided into four separate building elements which relate to four different art mediums. The workspaces accommodate a clay sculpture workshop, a wood sculpture workshop, photography studios and painting studios.
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Cw from top: External View, Clay Sculpture workshop, View of Tintern from Exhibition Gallery, Photography Studio, External view across River Wye
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H I RE A TH CENT RE Jessica Phillips I have decided to design a ‘Home’ specialising in care for people with dementia. It will be connected to a support and teaching centre for patients, carers and the community. The centre would have similarities to the characteristics of Maggie’s Centres designed to provide relaxed support and care for people suffering or affected by cancer. The centre will be designed to breakdown the border between one’s own home and the nursing home, which people inevitably will have to move to. This is an attempt to alleviate as much of the pain and distress to the patient and their carer that would usually be associated with such a transition. The key factor to acknowledge at first is the strong connection between the person with dementia and their carer-especially if their full-time carer is their relative. The relationship is incredibly delicate and almost co-dependent and should be treated with the up-most respect and care. The centre itself would provide support to both the carer and their relative with dementia, understanding that although they are both affected by the disease but the end result is very different. The support will help the eventual separation and transition to the home to be as easy as possible as I mentioned previously. Their previous carer will have the opportunity to visit their patient/relative as much as they want and even stay over at the centre to ease the possibility of separation anxiety. By enabling the previous carer to see that their relative is in good hands and understand how exactly they will be looked after will help them a great deal with accepting that the move was for the best. Finally the centre will provide grief support for those who have lost a relative and provide opportunities for them to share their experiences with others. This will give them the opportunity if they desire to do so, to remain part of the ‘Hireath’ centre and maybe even to become teachers in the centre. The building in its entirety will provide support to all affected by the disease in all stages.
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Ccw from top: View from Street, Iso of key element of scheme, Tectonic Iso, Community Garden linking to Church, View from Street
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C O NN E C T & E X P R E SS James Deru Despite the increasing in uence of social media, which allows us to connect with people from across the world, loneliness is a growing issue, particularly amognst younger people. It has been described as an epidemic in the UK, with The Mental Health Foundation reporting almost 60% of young adults up the age of 34 feel isolated or disconnected often or all the time.
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Right: Bedroom view Below (ccw): View of Accomodation Wing, Overview of scheme, View of living space Opposite: Conceptual collage
Despite the increasing influence of social media, which allows us to connect with people from across the world, loneliness is a growing issue, particularly amognst younger people. It has been described as an epidemic in the UK, with The Mental Health Foundation reporting almost 60% of young adults up the age of 34 feel isolated or disconnected often or all the time. Set in the Picturesque Piercfield Park, North of Chepstow, the aim of this scheme will be to offer young people, aged 18-24, the opportunity to step away from the hectic and pressurised modern society for a 6 month placement to rediscover (or perhaps discover) meaningful and intimate human connection, using theatre as the primary method of therapy. Incidental spaces, where CBT therapy can occur informally, are key to the scheme and aim to emulate the casual atmosphere of a Maggie’s Centre, whislt the theatre offers a more formal audience-actor relationship where residents can express themselves through drama.
ConneCt & express Despite the increasing influence of social media, which allows us to connect with people from across the world, loneliness is a growing issue, particularly amognst younger people. It has been described as an epidemic in the UK, with The Mental Health Foundation reporting almost 60% of young adults up the age of 34 feel isolated or disconnected often or all the time. Set in the Picturesque Piercfield Park, North of Chepstow, the aim of this scheme will be to offer young people, aged 18-24, the opportunity to step away from the hectic and pressurised modern society for a 6 month placement to rediscover (or perhaps discover) meaningful and intimate human connection, using theatre as the primary method of therapy. Incidental spaces, where CBT therapy can occur informally, are key to the scheme and aim to emulate the casual atmosphere of a Maggie’s Centre, whislt the theatre offers a more formal audience-actor relationship where residents can express themselves through drama.
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epstow, le, aged tic and ent to ntimate method of n occur ate the e theatre where
Set in the Picturesque Pierc eld Park, North of Chepstow, the aim of this scheme will be to o er young people, aged 18-24, the opportunity to step away from the hectic and pressurised modern society for a 6 month placement to rediscover (or perhaps discover) meaningful and intimate human connection, using theatre as the primary method of therapy. Incidental spaces, where CBT therapy can occur informally, are key to the scheme and aim to emulate the casual atmosphere C nneC t &whislt e xthe pr e s so ers a more formal audience-actor of aoMaggie’s Centre, theatre relationship where residents can express themselves through drama.
bove Middle: Section through theatre, view of living space, view of bedroom. Above bottom: Overall View
Above Top: View of the accomodation wing. Above Middle: Section through theatre, view of living space, view of bedroom. Above bottom: Overall View
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ALAN ’S H OU S E Melanie Rich Visual impairment can affect any of us when we least expect it. Some face blindness from birth, others develop conditions throughout life. From personal experience it can be one of the most frustrating and challenging changes to one’s life. Through the use of architectural techniques, I wanted to produce an engaging building, which will provide support and education to the recently visually impaired, their families and friends. The facility will host visually impaired visitors and their families for up to a week at a time. Throughout this stay they will gain skills, increase independence and meet people in the same situation, providing a social infrastructure to enable the visually impaired community to thrive.
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Right: Ground Floor Plan Below (cw from top-left): Section through a House, Entrance to Room, External approach to main entrance
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DE SIGN ING K N OW LED GE : C OLLEGE OF HOLISTI C S CIENC E Rhiona Williams
‘An educational institution which reintroduces the importance of spiritual wisdom in to the parameters of scienti c learning.’ The project researches the parallels between science and spirituality and the impact this has on modern society and education. By investigating the role of educational insitiutions and the impact of landmarks within a community the scheme is designed to draw visitors to Chepstow and encourage social exchanges of learning between students, professors and the public, both surrounding residences and passers-by. “The in uence of modern physics goes beyond technology. It extends to the realm of thought and culture where it has led to a deep revision in our conception of the universe and of our relation to it.’ - Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics
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Left: Aerial View Below (cw from top-left): Sectional Perspective, Refrectory, Meditation & Yoga Studio, External View from South
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STUDIO 4 .18 Alina Klukowski Bernard Kay Carolyn Smith Laura Fairchild James Gladman Dan Lu Molly McGrath Sahithya Balachandran
L I N E S O N T H E L A NDSC A P E LIN E S I N TH E L A N DSC A P E LIN E S O F T H E L A N DSC A P E Alina Klukowski This project sees the coming together of two themes: the railway, and walking. A 3km stretch of the dismantled Wye Valley Railway is used as the location for a range of facilities and accommodation for walkers. Using the idea of ‘palimpsest’ - something that has been reused or altered, but still bears signs of its original form - these interventions are arranged with the typology of railway stations in mind, with a ‘grand terminal’ perched between an existing bridge abutment and old railway tunnel, and smaller ‘country halts’ spread out along the line, at key points of interest. In keeping with the self-sufficiency and independence that many walkers seek, the scheme aims to only provide what is absolutely necessary, and does so without mains gas, electricity or water; instead making use of the forest streams and wood fires. There exists a social ‘roundhouse’ for gathering, a place to cook and prepare food, a place to wash and dry both themselves and their kit and alternative forms of sleeping accommodation: a communal bunkhouse, and isolated cabins hidden away in the trees. The building is principally designed according to ‘prospect-refuge theory’ and provides the two basic requirements of any site for settlement - refuge and prospect - to varying degrees, in both plan and section. For instance, the bunkhouse seeks refuge by nestling into the hillside, whilst the roundhouse protrudes through the screen of trees along the riverside to make itself seen on the approach and improve the prospect from the building itself.
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Right: Below (cw from top-left): Approach over footbridge, Model Elevation, Ground Floor Plan, 1:50 Models: Ground Floor Plan,/Tintern Tunnel Shelter,/Waterfalls Shelter/Black Morgan’s Viaduct Shelter/Cutting Shelter/Embankment Shelter/ Cliffside Shelter,
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DE M EN TI A V ILLAGE Bernard Kay As people grow old they become less independent due to physical, physiological and mental changes which create disabilities. Most of us would wish to spend our old age in familiar surroundings and therefore remain living in our own home, but dependency level will, possibly at some stage render this impractical. Dementia Village is a place where patients feel protected both physically and mentally. It respect the patients’ dignity through flexibility, where the architecture works around the end-users instead of imposing them to an alien environment. The village consists of 3 households and a Maggie’s Centre. The households accommodate 8 residents each, residents are free to wander around the village, visiting other households or the Maggie’s Centre; at the same time they can stay in their own household if they wish to. The purpose of the Maggie’s Centre is to increases the awareness of the disease, provide information for carers and public while doubling up as a day care centre for three to five days in a week.
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Left: Isometric overview of Dementia Village Below (cw from top-left): Communal courtyard, Maggie’s Centre lounge, room section
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BEH IN D T H E F A C E Carolyn Smith The project is an exploration of boundaries: the psychological, the cultural and the physical. The proposal is a psychological research and art therapy centre in Chepstow for people with facial dis gurement; exploring identity, ugliness and the uncanny in the modern consciousness. Chepstow is the birthplace of the picturesque art movement; the project is a reaction to this formulated and idealistic form of beauty which still grips the contemporary British consciousness. The programme features: an exploration of ugliness, the uncanny and identity through an exhibition of sculptural and mixed media artwork; an opportunity for those with a significant visible di erence to experience the everyday within a Maggie’s centre; the provision of traditional and art therapy services for those in need; a residential retreat for short term, high intensity visits.
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Right: Context Model Below (cw from top-left): View from the Dell, long section, 1:200 model, internal view in rooms
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A H OM E FROM H OM E Laura Fairchild The brief of this project is a care home to be used by people with Alzheimer’s disease, with additional services for people from the wider community. The building is designed to be domestic in scale and non institutional in design. A hair salon, public cafe and activity room will be open to the general public to increase awareness of the disease and create a more lively and integrated building. The architecture of the building benefits those with Alzheimer’s through the design of the circulation to create wandering paths in a continuous loop around the central courtyard, whilst maximising natural light into the bedrooms.
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Left: View into bedroom Below: Conceptual drawings, section through cafe and salon, section through courtyard
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FOR E ST S C H OOL James Gladman Designed for the Forestry Commission of England, The Forest School will provide a facility for student education in Woodland Management, primarily supporting an established two year graduate development programme currently run by the organisation. The centre has three main agendas, beginning with the acknowledgement of the United Kingdom’s recent increase in wood pellet consumption, a newly emerging biomass fuel. Demonstrating the bene ts of combining localised forestry management and small scale production of wood pellets, the school will become a localised distribution facility for the Wye Valley area. It will also act as a catalyst in the restoration, and future conservation, of the Wye Valley’s woodland and associated industries, through improved and increased management. At a micro level the school will educate both residents, and visitors to the site in effective and sustainable woodland management techniques and demonstrate the social, commercial and environmental bene ts of such. Through this experience it is hoped that their understanding of, relationship with, and consciousness of, the woodland environment and its future potential will be improved.
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Right: Overview of scheme in forest Below (cw from top-left): External perspective, internal perspective, tectonic isometrics
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CH E P STOW FOOD HUB Dan Lu This scheme re-establishes Chepstow’s proud historic status as a market town, which has been slowly dwindling over the years. In relating back to Chepstow’s historic roots it simultaneously addresses the issues surrounding our current, unsustainable food distribution system by establishing intensive farming solutions using modern technology our our advantage in a sustainable manner. The building plants itself in the centre of Chepstow, where the town was rst born, placing food at its heart, where it rightfully belongs. The site becomes a platform to vocalise and educate us in a way that also invigorates the all too quiet town centre with engaging community activities that surround food growing and preparation, bring people together through one of the most basic human necessities.
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Left: Long section Below (cw from top-left): scheme in context, view from High Street, sectional model, view from Beaufort Square
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A L INE BE T W E E N MA N A ND N A TUR E Molly McGrath This proposal explores the role of nature in man’s modern world: a triangle of the spiritual, ecological and industrial. The scheme strikes out from the bank of the Severn, channelling water along the 250m long concrete tray, inhabited by local plants naturally ltering the water. The nal stage of the water’s journey along the scheme is a swimming pool. A viewing tower, communal refectory and series of accommodation pods inhabit the wall on a temporary basis much like the plants and wildlife that live in the water. The concrete wall acts as a datum for the dramatic contours of the site, for the rise and fall of the tides as well as a datum for the progression of time. The furthermost part of the wall is inhabited by tidal turbines connecting the meandering lines of the river with the angualr lines of manmade power overhead; a display of mutuality between man and nature.
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Right: Concept model Below: Approach from shore, view from sea, model overview of scheme
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T ERRE AM OUR Sahithya Balachandran
The proposal seeks to explore the boundary between physic and psychic, and in extension the relationship between mental well being and physical activities. The greatest therapeutic results have been achieved with outdoor activities, particularly gardening and animal assisted healing. It is proven that these methods are much more effective in children and young teens. The scheme is a specialist learning centre for children with learning and behavioural difficulties, offering both traditional and unconventional therapy methods. The scheme unites both the animal and the human environments via a traditional courtyard. The space aims to increase social interaction, thereby increasing the con dence of children, developing their skills and enabling independence as they grow older.
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From top: approach, external view of the surrounding landscape, courtyard
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STUDIO 4 .2 2 Alexander Opoku Alice Foreman Ban Edilbi Joanna Burleigh Kristen Tan Nicole Langridge Nur Liyana Binti Abdullah Rafaella Christodoulidi
C O M P OS IN G AR C HIT E C TUR E Alexander Opoku This project is a personal investigation into the fusion of musical composition with architectural design. Using artistic principles of rhythm, texture, tone, harmony etc. I have attempted to create a design, that articulates these ideas the same way a piece of music does. This comes to life in the liminal space within my scheme by animating the immaterial; Light , Colour and Sound are all subtlely articulated within the design to express the playful characteristics of jazz music. People moving between buildings become like notes in a musical stave; the combinations of the aforementioned architectural elements create different harmonies of sculpted space, epitomised in the musical elevation; in sequence they form a composition that literally and metaphorically expresses the characteristics of musical composition.
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From top: internal perspective, street elevations
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ADVE NTU RE BAS E Alice Foreman The Adventure Base in Chepstow is aimed at children who find themselves excluded at school for academic or social reasons. Walking and discovering the Wye Valley will help to re-engage the children. The aim is to encourage the children, who struggle with learning difficulties, in multiple areas outside of the classroom. Walking and the experience of nature will The range of activities will give the children confidence in new skills - providing hope, challenges and opportunities. The aim is to create a belief that the children’s difficulties can produce something positive. act as a psychological aid.
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From top: internal perspective, view of the firepit, overall external view
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T AK IN G A W A L L FOR A WA L K Ban Edilbi Nature has always been the source of human existence, where mankind was never just a dweller, but a transformer. Writers and artists are romantics; romantics often exhibit an emotional response to nature, rather than scientific or economic. Nature triggers emotions and gives them a sense of delight and joy. In the late 18th, early 19th century, the Wye Valley was a miniature scenic extravaganza for the middle class that couldn’t afford to travel. One of the stops that attracted artists and writers’ attention were the ruins of Tintern Abbey; a cistercian abbey that was once inhabited with monks. Ruins represent the surrender of art to nature, and perfectly epitomize nature taking over from man. The scheme sits on the existing boundary wall of Tintern Abbey and acts as a retreat; a place for artists and writers to escape from the chaotic city life into a serene and intimate surrounding where they can work closely with other artists and writers to form a small community. It allows individual to connect with other individuals to form a community, and aspires to reinforce the lost connection between man and nature, while also attempting to revive the area by reconnecting with history and the picturesque movement. The idea can be summed up using three design moves; extending the existing Abbey wall to contain the site and create a courtyard, creating a route through the scheme that mimics the wall, and uniting the different elements through a roof that responds to the internal spaces.
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From top: partii diagram, overall isometric with the abbey
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M AIRW E N HOU S E TH E FI RST W E LS H FE M ALE P RI SON Joanna Burleigh Mairwen House is an investigation into the manifestation of the first female Welsh prison. It re-examines the place of the prison wall and the creation of a human domain inter- connected with the natural world, to alleviate the impact of mental stagnation from the passing of time during imprisonment. The open prison sits in the Wye Valley, marking the transition between forest and community. The programme of restorative justice aims to reimburse the community, as the inmates upkeep the surrounding woodlands. This restitution provides rehabilitation and qualifications for the inmates, where they find communion with the natural domain as they forage, grow, cook and serve the fruits of their labour in the restaurant sitting in the ruins of St. Mary’s Chapel. Here, the community, staff and inmates unite around a modern table of communion to share a meal, with the aim of breaking the social stigmas attached to the image of the invisible incarcerated woman.
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From top: the wall in the landscape, a modern community, long section (from forest to table)
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CHE PSTOW FOODH A L L SITO PIA Kristen Tan The project looks at how food is a tool for place making, using it as a medium to bring people together and challenging the social separation of the “other”. Chepstow is a market town without a market, thus there is an opportunity to reinstate Chepstow’s identity and the “heart” of the town. The architecture aims to be one that breaks down physical manifestations of social barriers, challenging the concept of transparency and complete separation, aiming for an architecture of intimate immensity; engaging not only on the human scale but also the collective. Thus questioning the social mask of dining in restaurants and raising one’s awareness that they are part of a bigger picture of humanity and nature. A program of markets, exhibition, communal cooking, teaching kitchens and function room layer to produce a community center based around food. The scheme is also a catalyst for the urban realm with the market breathing life into Bank and Beaufort Square and the growing program greening the carpark as well as the links between it and the town centre.
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From top: logo, internal perspective, external perspective
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H OUS E FOR RAC H E L Nicole Langridge The scheme is an emotive and sculptural response to place, context and human nature. Key ideas are that of solidity, the creation of space and the impact of buildings and materiality on the human condition. The brief is a house, studio and gallery complex for the artist Rachel Whiteread. Currently, the artist has a residence in London but has a more isolated space in Wales - this scheme is an interpretation of what that space could be. The House, sculpture and drawing studio with modest public gallery will be an intervention in the cliff-face. The scheme is primarily a concrete core with a stair that never turns back on itself using the cliff as mould. It rises out of the cliff surface becoming monolithic and a connecting tissue to the tensions of verticality, privacy and solidity. The house reaches out of the cliff-top at once part of the village and also of a more dream world.
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From top: core section, external visual, elevation
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WY E V AL L E Y SC H OOL FOR CHIL DR E N W IT H AUTISM Nur Liyana Binti Abdullah The project proposes a primary school for 40 children on the autism spectrum. The built environment can be highly confusing to those on the spectrum. As such, a large part of the agenda with regards to designing for young people with autism has to do with ensuring the children are within boundaries which are familiar. At its best a building can provide security and comfort, but at its worst could reflect confinement. The aim of the project is to find the balance between something that is outward oriented and engages with the world beyond the classroom whilst at the same time ensuring the children feel safe and secure. Generous and open work / play spaces are incorporated so as to allow their movements to be observed but without feeling like they are under close surveillance every minute. Spaces within which the children can be autonomous with safe levels of unobtrusive monitoring. Teaching gardens and classrooms that open up towards the wooded Dell also allow a greater connection with nature, acknowledging the profound love for nature shared by nearly every person living with autism.
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From top: entrance visual, internal perspective, external perspective
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UNW IN DI NG TH E TH RE A D Rafaella Christodoulidi The project represents a Multiple-Sclerosis center, a unique alternative healthcare typology, addressing the border between the society and the chronically sick. MS is a neurological disorder affecting patients mentally and physically. A linear route of special moments, welcomes all patients and the society and aims to maximise; the visitors’ engagement with nature, their co-ordination, and integration with the community. Situated in an urban context, next to the Castle and on the crossover between the Wye Valley and Offa Dyke’s walking trails, the design is shaped by the gardens, the river and the ground. The center offers maximum seclusion and integration through: communal activities, a public hydrotherapy zone and a private residential / therapy zone. A ‘home’ of mental and physical support aids patients to overcome the illness’s hardships and rediscover their lost sense of belonging.
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From top: hydrotherapy zone perspective, hydrotherapy zone circulation, external view with the castle
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STUDIO 4 .2 3 Katrina Hughes Jack Schofield Lucy Mullins
A DO P TIO N S UP P O RT C E N T RE Katrina Hughes If being a parent is a big job, then being an adoptive parent is an even bigger job. An adopted child’s early experiences may have resulted in deficiencies that can mean they struggle with relationships and day-to-day life. New adoptive family units are inevitably fragile at first and will need training and support. This project aims to tackle the difficulties faced by adoptive families in order to give a child in care and their adoptive family the best possible future. The Adoption Support Centre will provide a safe and inspiring environment to educate people about adoption, match adoptive parents and children and provide them with needs led professional support as well as a supportive community of adoptive families to allow a child who can’t be brought up with their birth family to thrive in a permanent home.
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From top: Exploded model, overview, garden perspective, link perspective, internal perspective
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OTIU M Jack Schofield Otium, a Latin abstract term, has a variety of meanings, including leisure time in which a person can enjoy eating, playing, resting and contemplation Working a busy schedule alongside a hectic lifestyle can fast become over powering in many people. My scheme offers a retreat for professionals keeping their minds occupied to offer release and recovery away from their normal environment.In light of this I have researched existing retreats and facilities involved and areas in which they exist. I have found that many retreats are in secluded areas with direct links to nature and the country side, and are usually very self sufficient.Thus I have chosen my site and accommodation schedule to reflect this research and allow the individual to maximize the respite whilst using the facility. The main concepts of the scheme deal with the border between a busy lifestyle and finding respite. As well as this the architecture deals with the more literal border between the busy forest and the regimented landscape beyond.
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From top: Parti, sectional perspective, approach, front view
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CHE PSTOW C H I C E N TR E Lucy Mullins
Based upon the philosophical principles underlying Chinese Martial Arts, Chepstow Chi Centre is a place where visitors can disconnect from work and enhance their well-being levels. Situated in the centre of Chepstow, the building consists of three parts: spaces for training, health and the community. The building is a courtyard scheme which both encourages social engagement and provides treatment for mental health. There is a greenhouse as part of the scheme and this, as well as the courtyard, provides herbs that will be used or taught about in the treatment rooms and classrooms. At the heart of the scheme is the main training room (Kwoon), which directly faces Chepstow Castle. The Kwoon is a brick mass with a surrounding timber wrap, offering different environments to train in. Internally, the brick mass is broken down by a timber structure sitting within the brickwork to create a more atmospheric central training space. Training will also take place in the courtyard and on the Tai Chi platform, which overlooks the River Wye. From top: Kwoon exploded isometric, external perspective, Kwoon perspective
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Opposite: Chinese martial arts
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STUD IO 4.24 Sinead Fahey Lang Jin Gloria Vidal Amian David Majoe Harry Postins Ruoming Song Jung Hin Cyrus Lee Abigail Yeadon Anna White
H OU S E O F M I R R O R S Sinead Fahey Architecture is a multi-sensory experience, yet when designed it is often dominated by sight with little thought of its aural architecture. Today there is no longer any interest in producing rooms with differentiated acoustical effects, they often all sound alike. Yet the ordinary human being still enjoys variety, including variety of sound. The brief set was to design an Experimental Sound Centre. A project that aims to create spaces with a range of different aural environments where people can explore their relationship with the acoustics, materials and forms found in the architecture. The hope is that people will use the architecture to evolve the music designed on site.
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From top: Pod cluster section, front window perspective, auditorium perspective
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C H E P STOW B OT ANICAL GAR DE N Lang Jin In a historical and political sense, Chepstow has long been recognised as a borderland, but it has also been recognised as a borderland of nature. However, human activity has also unintendedly destroyed the original delicate habitats of some special plant species. Although the landscape in this area has always been valued and maintained, the nature has not been protected. The Cheptow Botanical Garden will provide conservation for delicate, endangered natural species, re-establish a link between people and nature, and introduce people to walk within the natural history. By giving the land back to nature, the botanical garden will regenerate the cultural landscape, which would be used as a great opportunity to increase public awareness about the natural and cultural history of the Wye Valley, creating an identity for the region.
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From top: Masterplan, sectional perspective, external perspective
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T H E P I ANO F A CTORY Gloria Vidal Amian The Piano Factory is a place that celebrates all aspects and uses of a piano. From the roughness of the making, through the personal and humble practice and the overwhelming exposition to the true and personal performance, this building exposes and brings people to the many layers of the piano. All these elements must work as an ensemble for them to be successful. This is done through the community of Chepstow and close areas, merging the spaces through piano makers, teachers, students, buyers, sellers and audience. The last component of The Piano Factory, the Ribbon, is the topographical, programmatic and metaphorical connection between all other areas, the element through which community moves. The series of copper fins, inspired on musical rhythms and the piano strings, create a liminal space that invites people through, moves them around and links all stages and uses of the beautiful instrument in which this building evolves around, the piano.
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From top: Model, entrance, auditorium section
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BR IDGE ON TH E RI VER WYE David Majoe The project takes two conflicting states of being in the River Wye and the landscape which feeds from the river. This project aims to bring together man and nature. To bridge the gap between us and water and raise an awareness to how we affect our environment and try to resolve some of the issues we have created. Manifesting itself into a line of landscape in the sky, connecting two once very isolated walking routes with a hatchery for salmon. Held in the air on A�Frame supports the bridge becomes inhabitable with lightweight box structures slotted into the vierendeel truss system.
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From top: Model, long elevation, view to bridge
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WE L L HE L LO, N U - 01 Harry Postins A new method of living. The scheme centres around a reduction in private space in each apartment, communal allotments, flexible living space, and free roam of the public around the gardens. This permeability is crucial to provide a remuneration for the existing community, promoting the social cohesion many new housing schemes lack. The project is not only utopic in conception and aspiration, but in physical manifestation also. It is critical to not only infer through words and diagrams, but through appearance also. There is a much deeper, less-conscious implication, one that resonates through atmosphere. From top: Ground floor, first floor, external perspectives
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Opposite: Axonometrics
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NU-01
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CHE PSTOW FOOD H U B Ruoming Song The modern food industry has given us the ultimate efficiency and convenience, however, at the same time, it has disconnected us from food itself, causing tremendous waste in the entire food chain. The food hub aims to cultivate people’s consciousness of food and to bring back our visceral relationship with food with an alternative model of food industry. By reducing the distance traveled and storage needed by food, a closed-loop cycle will be formed linking waste back to food production; by making the connection between farmers, retailers and consumers, a community will be constructed effectively; and by cultivating this community in its understanding of food, a self-sustainable modern society will be achieved. The Food Hub is planned as the heart of Chepstow, with paths leading to it like arteries carrying in the town’s lifeblood. The structure of the building is expressed as to respond to the rich industrial history of the site and to reflect the spirit of the building in its celebration of transparency in food production.
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From top: View from Chepstow lowline, market hall section, exploded isometric
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T H E P EOP LE ’S GALLE RY Jung Hin Cyrus Lee The subject and purpose of Art has changed throughout history. In many ways, the gallery has evolved alongside Art itself. The People’s Gallery is the next step forward. The concept of a public gallery has always been a place of gathering for people and art. The space is celebrated equally by both sides. This notion is being slowly broken down in the contemporary gallery. The use of space devoids the viewer from any context and leaves them only to face the artwork, making it akin to an object of worship. The People’s Gallery inverses this notion and creates a social context for people to gather, where art serves the people. It proposes the idea that the gallery is to serve the people primarily, art secondarily. The gallery breaks down the isolated, sacrosanct white walls of the contemporary gallery to a democratic artistic space relatable to the everyday.
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From top: Internal perspective, sectional perspective, external perspective
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T H E S KY L I N E Abigail Yeadon
The Skyline is a centre to facilitate both the physical and psychological journey to the sky. Being held between earth and sky holds a magical calmness and a greater respect for the world and it’s power. The adrenaline junkie sport of skydiving carries a deeper meaning than just danger and excitement. We don’t jump for the rush, we jump because we love to fly. Falling through the sky in complete harmony with the wind has altered my perspective on the world, both physically and psychologically. It’s not often you get to fulfil man’s oldest dream to experience the nearest thing to bird flight and have this overview on the world. Flying allows you to see the world in a different way, altering our perceptions of the familiar. The act of flying requires you to break through psychological and emotional barriers; fear, excitement and control to realise the beauty and peaceful contemplative aspects of flying. Being off the ground seems unnatural and dangerous, but if you fully accept natures power and embrace it, it can work to your advantage to reach new levels of reflection. When brought out of your comfort zone and when suspended in the air it is necessary to maintain a state of calm. You must realise that you cannot muscle your way through the power of the earth, you have to surrender and breathe, both of which are spiritually profound. Flight holds a different value for each individual, with every person taking something different from it. This is the same with architecture and art, everyone having their own personal response and reaction to a building or space.
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From top: sectional perspective, external perspective
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T H E VOICE B OX Anna White The Voice Box is a cultural hub for performance, rehearsal, recording and meeting for Chepstow and its strong singing community. The voice is of particular importance in Wales, traditionally considered as ‘the land of song’, and Chepstow is in need of a permanent venue for its numerous choral groups. The Voice Box is split into three buildings, allowing visitors to meander through the whole site, creating a festival atmosphere and reconnecting to the forgotten riverside and the monumental castle. An undulating copper roof-come-canopy folds over the whole scheme to tie it all together and bring it down to a more human scale. The main auditorium is a protected ‘egg in a box’ articulated internally as a timber-clad central element and externally as a pop-out copper box. Its unique glazed back wall provides a fantastic backdrop of the castle in all performances, connecting the voice, the landscape, the people and the town.
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From top: Diagrams, external perspectives, sectional perspective
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STUDIO 4 .2 5 Charlie Clayton Alexander Hewitson Peter Madge Aoife Morris Shemol Rahman Kaspar Ter Glane
T H E HA IMA Z Charlie Clayton Inspired by emergency relief housing in the north of France, and self-build methods of building, the scheme aims to provide short term accomodation for asylum seekers entering the UK. The dream is for 1% of the population living in the camps in Calais to be brought into British society every year through this scheme. The project provides place for asylum seekers to live, learn and work whilst they undergo the process of acheiving refugee status. A ring of self-built temporary accomodation is clustered around a bigger, better, new village Hall for Chepstow. The Architecture of the scheme is simple and understated, derived from a philosophy of community involvement which can empower indivuals without costing the earth.
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From top: House exploded axonometric, scheme, street perspective, square perspective
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DIGN IT Y + DOM ESTI CIT Y Alexander Hewitson By exploring the familiar, domestic language of Street, House, Garden, this project aims to create a dignified environment for the care of people living with dementia. A street invites informal interaction between residents and the community; a house gives the residents an individual space; and a garden, extending through to the River Wye, allows engagement in meaningful activity, as well as being a place of retreat. The architecture celebrates the domestic: gabled roofs and masonry walls reference the archetypical house. Small moments of wonder can be found within the ordinary - architecture need not be extravagant to be expressive.
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From top: Door handle, activity room, garden, riverside elevation, castle view
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A S C O R E I N T H E L A NDSC A P E Peter Madge This proposal for a music therapy clinic is a response to the increasing need to promote better mental wellbeing in today’s society; where one in four people suffer from mental health issues. The intent of the scheme is to realise the potential of sound in healing; to design a building that integrates human sound (anthrophony) with the composition of nature (biophony and geophony). The proposal offers a variety of spaces, each providing a unique musical experience whereby clients can receive mental nurturing through sound - either through the practice of music therapy or the act of making music or listening.
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From top: site plan, reflection space, sectional perspective, north elevation
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C A N O L F A N I A ITH A DI WYLLIANT CYM RAEG Aoife Morris This Welsh Language Cultural Centre in Chepstow is symbolically located overlooking the border between Wales and England and alongside Wales’ first English Castle. A welcome into Wales; this is an inclusive place for different nations and cultures to interact but where Wales and the Welsh language is celebrated, taught and used. This is a place where the language is explored and experienced primarily through performance, allowing the language to be heard and appreciated. The perception of something ‘Celtic’ often refers to transformation and metamorphosis; of a sense of balance, rhythm and motion. These qualities are seen in the mythology of the Celts, the interlacing geometries and weaving patterns they created and also in the language they spoke. Celtic culture is represented architecturally with the weaving roof and weaving geometric spaces creating an open courtyard where green spaces extend into the site from the Castle. The Library, as the focus of the scheme, rises as a glowing ‘Gem’ above the canopy roof, visually celebrating the wealth of the holistic Welsh experience inside. The circular walls of books within completely surround and encompass the visitor with the Welsh language supported by the performance space at its heart.
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From top: Exploded axonometric, library section, view from river, view from castle
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C O R DO BA N T H OUG H TS Shemol Rahman
Given the ongoing Refugee Crisis and a seemingly growing global suspicion towards Muslims, the aim of this project was to explore the presence of Islam in Europe. By first re-framing the idea of “refugee-burden” to one of economic and social “opportunity”, the proposal investigates concepts of Identity, Integration and Cultural Exchange. Can one marginlised community, Chepstow’s elderly, support and be supported by another marginalised group, the Syrian refugees? Can a building offering a place of worship for one, offer a social space for the other, and cosequently foster social interaction and the building of community? Can the establishment of a mosque offer an opportunity for urban repair and a benefit to the wider community? Can a mosque be designed to outlast its immediate function and outlast the Syrian refugees, providing a long term asset for Chepstow? By acknowledging Europe’s Islamic heritage in Iberia* and the Balkans, the proposed intervention aims to reconcile vernacular and “Islamic” typologies, using motifs and devices common to both to echo the historical and contemporary, sacred and profane, East and West.
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From top: Conceptual development, courtyard view, view from High Street, roof garden, view of building along Port Wall
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1. Qibla
2. Contextural Wall
3. Elevating the Sacred
4. Coursing / Massing
5.1 Arches and Apertures
5.2. Congregational Route
5.1 Activated Square
6. Landscape!
GRE EN BANKS Kaspar Ter Glane The founding intent of the project is to design a therapeutic environment focusing on anxiety and depression. Inspired by the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the key design philosophy is biophilic: it assumes that we feel most content in those natural environments in which we evolved over millions of years. The Wye Valley was the birthplace of British tourism and of the picturesque movement. It is therefore one of the first places in history where people came to be in nature for its own sake. This coincided with the Industrial Revolution, the first time in history when many people in the UK found themselves cut off from nature. The brief is to design a retreat focusing on the benefits of walking in nature. The site has been chosen for being prominent in its character as a gateway to the Wye valley, achieving a balance between public accessibility and connection to the Wye Valley walk and notable landmarks. It has been clinically proven that regular exercise can be as effective in treating mild to moderate depression as anti-depressants. But what if you are struggling to get out of bed let alone do strenuous exercise? Maybe a short walk...
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From top: Kitchen, studio, corridor
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NA S A L N A V IG A T IO N A N D THE S M E L L S O F 6 E A ST Olly Ridgley We all have smells that we associate with a particular time or place. The stenchfilled maze of 6 East is a treasure trove of bizarre nostril nectar. It is rumoured that there are even some fourth years who can find their way through its winding corridors using only their nose. What follows is a comprehensive breakdown of these smells, in the hopes of passing on this sacred olfactory knowledge, so that others might be able to learn the art of nasal navigation. Upon entering 6E, we are immediately greeted by the familiar and friendly smells of old carpet and stale air. The old carpet contains a unique blend of years’ worth of trodden in debris: food, gum, strange liquids, hair having been ripped out pre-crit, tears, sweat, blood, puss, the lot really. The stagnant air is what gives 6E its unique atmosphere and climate, and mostly entirely due to the fact that no one ever opens the windows (very few people actually know how). Following the carpet pong to the concrete stairs, the air is somewhat colder, giving us the false sense that the quality of said air is higher. This is not the case. The illusion is soon shattered upon the realisation that there is a lingering smell accompanying this seemingly fresh air. Wafting up from below, a faint earthy smell from the soil labs, mixing with the dry, sawdusty air of the wood workshop, to create one of the most organic smells on campus (second only to freshly manured flower beds). This smell grows stronger the closer we get to the bottom of the stair case, culminating in a stench that transports us to the lumberyards of North America. Moving upwards to the level three studios, we again appreciate the pseudo-fresh air, until our fantasies are brutally excreted upon by the most pungent pong of all 6E: the Year Four studios. Once the door to this floor is opened, the airlock is broken. Like a hole in the hull of a massive interstellar spaceship, the oxygen of the stairwell is sucked into an eternal stinky void. This experience can only be described as overwhelming, and frankly dangerous to the nasally unprepared. The smell is so powerful, it pervades the entire floor A smell that defies both explanation and description. We can only hazard a guess as to the cause of such a smell. Perhaps we have sinned and angered a god or two. More likely is that a small mammal died there long ago. Whatever may be the cause, the difficulty of describing this mysterious pong remains. It s a terrible, unholy smell. A smell of dread and impending deadlines, inciting panic into the hearts and minds of all those passing through this whiffy land. It is the smell of sleep deprivation and drying printing ink. The smell of skepticism and Sketchup, It is the smell of Architecture.
Full article featured in Issue 4 of Paperspace, the Bath Architecture student magazine
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YE A R F I V E Toby Lewis The brief is for a School of Fashion and Technology and the project site is by the river, north of Pulteney Bridge in Bath. The aims of the studio have been: 1. To encourage each student to explore and develop their own design processes through a series of structured exercises. 2. To develop designs that address a range of scales from urban design and landscape to detail and material. The students have undertaken:
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• a ‘live’ threshold installation, building a group design • a manifesto on ‘beauty’ in image and text • an observing and recording exercise focused on the site • a placemaking mapping of the city from skyline to skyline • a concept workshop on ‘asking, looking, playing and making’ • a Rhino and Grasshopper CAD modelling workshop • precedent studies of landscape, building, concrete and timber
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• a ‘muff on a huff puff’ game of architectural consequences • a concrete detail with a fabric formed concrete workshop • or a timber detail with a visit to Hooke Park in Dorset • a landscape design exercise for the project site • a group urban design in Lyon for the confluence region • a building environment workshop • a series of book reports on current approaches to architecture They have also been encouraged to design with models and to present their ideas through sketches or unfinished work. These combined have required the students to work very quickly and productively, to change gear from what some of them have been used to, to ‘jump in and splash around’ as Dennis Lasdun put it. From Left: Marialena Byrou; La Tourette Visit; Emma Hugh; Xenia Strohmeyer; Threshold instalation - Fraser Wallis, Zoe Watson, Lotti Backshall, Julie Escoffier; Frederica Bond; Lyon confluence Masterplans; Fraser Wallis; Lydia Hair
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YEAR SIX
S U STAINABLE CITIES Alex Wright During the first part of the final year of the Master of Architecture programme students carry our urban design projects in groups in a European city of their choice. In 2015-16 the cities studied were: Athens, Bilbao, Katowice, Palermo, Porto and Valencia. Each group carries out desk-top studies before undertaking their site visit, during which they carry out further research and analysis of their chosen locale within the city. The students then return to Bath where they explore transformative urban design proposals for their locale, based on the principles of low carbon urbanism. The final part of the semester is dedicated to individual work during which students prepare a design brief for a building within their locale. The second half of the year is spent entirely on the students’ individual design projects. Studio work is supported by architectural tutors and specialist consultants whose aim is to help students develop and resolve the final academic project of their architectural education. The project provides the opportunity for every student to employ the full range of knowledge and expertise they have gained in the course of the architectural education. Each student is encouraged to pursue their own agenda for the project and to use the opportunity it provides as a spring board into their professional careers.
RIBA Prize: Mike Lewis RIBA Commendation: Akshara Pulpa E3 Environmental Prize: Luke Mcnab Macregor Smith Landscape Prize: Sophie Beagles BDP Urban Design Prize: to be announced at graduation
AT H E N S Youseok Cho Chewy Kim Nathan Gilbert Carl Doroshenko-Nuttall
Our agenda was to plant a seed for the future growth of the city, aiming to transform the centre into a healthy heart, using this as an example and catalyst for the sustainable growth of the city. Through several key interventions focused predominantly on the urban realm we aimed to rediscover the sense of civic pride within the city, providing the city with a future identity for both the residents and the tourists to enjoy. The key principle was the provision of inhabitable public space, providing shelter from the harsh climate and also provisions for social activities. Athens has been dominated by the car during the last century so we proposed to transform the city into a walkable city, with several bold and key interventions along the main streets within the city centre. These streets provided key axes from the heart of the city out towards 7 nodes which were placed on a green link on the periphery of the centre. This green link would help overcome the current ring road barrier, reconnecting the historic heart of Athens to its vast Metropolitan area.
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To combat the issues that the city is currently facing, and to allow its healthy development, a model of sustainable growth was required. Conceptually, we approached this growth in much the same way as the life cycle of a tree, Initially a small intervention is made, planting the seed. This intervention is then maintained and nurtured, watering the tree, until it matures. Once matured the intervention will be able to give back to the city, just as the tree disperses more seeds, enabling the continual growth of the city. Due to the economic climate of Greece, and the dense urban grain of the city, we felt that such an approach, efficient interventions that will grow and develop over time, eventually giving
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back much more to the city than was invested, was the correct approach for the city. The green arteries connect the nucleus of the centre, through the nodes and link, and onto the green spaces, facilitating the reconnection of the centre back to the city. The arteries also feature interventions into the urban grain, prototype projects, serving as an example of how the many derelict and decaying sites within the city can be regenerated.
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MO C A A Youseok Cho M.O.C.A.A is located in area of Metaxourgeio in Athens, the heart of Greece . M.O.C.A.A is the core of the seventh green link of the ‘Planting The Seed for Future Athens’ Masterplan, which connects the city centre and the Plato’s Academy.
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M.O.C.A.A will significantly enhance the existing artistic characteristics of Metaxourgeio by promoting contemporary art as one of the city’s landmarks. The museum celebrates rich of historical characteristics of the area in form of contemporary architectural language. The best representation of this is the Silk roof and the Void gallery. The museum tries to inspire visitors’ through works of art and the building itself. The latter is delivered through series of crafted spaces located inside and outside of the museum with coherent agenda. The existing site consists of two blocks of derelict buildings which are plan to be demolished to provide site for the museum. After the demolition, hidden subterranean spaces are revealed where all the galleries are located just like the ruins of the ancient Greece. I call this ‘Modern Ruin’. The museum has four floors, two below ground and two above. Each floor is given one group of programmes. Ground level is a public floor with museum lobby, cafe, shop, and workshop. Fist floor is a private floor with residential artists’ studio and administration office. All the galleries are placed on the b1 floor and at the roof top. Plant and art storages are located on the b2 level.
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S ACRE D W AY TO ELE U S IS Chewy Kim An Urban Burial Crisis: Overcrowding in major urban centres in Greece, especially in municipalities of Athens, has consequently led to a lack of space for traditional long-term burial by inhumation. Due to strong opposition from the Orthodox Church and a complex legal system, Greece remains the only mainland country in the EU without cremation facilities. A Symbol of Hope: The cemetery aims to provide a vital public service by providing cremation and a form of natural burial known as ‘Capsula Mundi’. Capsula Mundi is an alternative way of burial where the body of the deceased is placed into an egg shaped bio-degradeable pod in a fetal position. The pod will then be buried as a seed in the earth. A tree chosen in life by the deceased will then be planted on top of it and serve as a memorial for the departed whilst growing from the high nutrients of the body as it decomposes. It is envisioned that these trees will grow into vibrant woodlands creating a ‘Sacred Forest’.
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A Journey: The process in which the visitor journeys through the building is fundamental to the design of the cemetery. Like small streams of water, the intention is for the families and friends of the deceased to flow through the building and eventually into the new Memorial Park.
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A PR OM E N A D E PE RFO RMA N C E Nathan Gilbert
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The Athens Performing Arts Centre aims to provide a focus for Monastiraki Square to encourage social activity and interaction. The project embraces the sense of community and appreciation of the everyday Athenian within the ancient Greek Tragedies , encouraging the rather fragile and disconnected civitas of Athens to interact and appreciate each other in an attempt to rediscover the great sense of democracy and civic pride from which the Ancient city was founded. This project also aims to challenge and breakdown the traditional thresholds and barriers within the theatre typology, connecting the city with the audience.
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BI L BAO Dennis Nguyen Elvis Lagaj Ed Roberston Bobbie Madjarova Matt Wilson
Du Irla Zubi - ‘The Island Bridge’ Context and Premise Bilbao is a city renowned for its successful reinvention. Its transformation from an Industrial port following the economic depression of the 1970’s has undoubtedly secured its economic future through the tourism and global trade. However within our masterplan we question the disconnection between the 21st century global city and the Basque citizens and their culture. The Masterplan is entitled ‘Du Irla Zubi’, which means ‘The Island Bridge’ in Basque and seeks to outline a pivotal stage in the evolution of the ‘Greater Bilbao’ Estuary. Located around the Island of Zorrotzaurre, our intention is to seek a more sustainable, local and culturally rich way of integrating Bilbao’s heritage into the 21st Century. The key areas our masterplan identified, analysed and proposed solutions for are: • • • • •
Under-representation of the Basque culture in the city Over-reliance on tourism Segregation between Bilbao and the wider Estuary Youth Exodus to cities with more diverse job prospects Marginalisation of Enterprise to fringe areas
Connections with ‘Greater Bilbao’ The Masterplan extends existing transport infrastructure wih new tram and road links, with a continuation of the public realm and green spaces along the Bilbao waterfront and a reconcilliation of the canal and river.
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An Estuary University and Enterprise quarter Integral to the Estuary wide development strategy is the provision of higher education, meeting the demands of new sustainable economic growth in wider
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reaching areas of the estuary on a demand based course system. Living Community around Basque Culture A new residential quarter derived from the existing building typology of Bilbao will enliven the island. The proposal instigates the removal of derelict warehouses and the integration of a mixed use community, creating civic spaces and urban Landscape in a celebration and display of Basque culture.
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MU N I C I PAL IT Y O F B IL B A O I NITI ATI V E O F H E A LT H A N D LEIS U RE Dennis Nguyen The Oasis is not just a health community centre but an initiative, a philosophy, a holistic approach to health issues in city, where preventive actions are taken by building a self-help community. Unlike sterilised hospitals and clinics, it is a meeting place for all generations, where people participate in exercises, social clubs, growing greens and eating healthy as well as seeking community support and professional health advices.
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New building and existing build fabric are fused to form the complete image of re-envisioned locale city block, having both Basque culture and industrial character. Within the block, the seed for a new healthy community of Zorrozaurre island masterplan, city of Bilbao, is sowed.
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Historically Bilbao has led the economic prosperity of the Basque region and now commands a position as a thriving city on the global tourism stage. However, despite its economic and geographical position within the Basque region, the Basque Culture itself is underrepresented in this urban environment. Recognising the physical absence of this need, the Basque Forum is a place where the very essence of the culture can play out. The design fuses the Basque Affinity with the landscape and the site’s redundant nature, within a narrative of ‘The post Industrial Picturesque’. The Grid plays a strong role within this narative is a ubiquitous development plan, a triumph of idealism over reality. While dividing the city into regular plots it also presents the opportunity for infinite controlled continuation. The column grid extends beyond the water where on the waterfront, mature Alpine pines {Pinus Halpensis} are planted on this grid, integrating native Basque Flora into the plan, controlled as natural architectural elements of column and canopy The design comprises a new public plaza; a formal urban scale piece of public realm and a composition of individual buildings, formed of a language of cloister and courtyard to create the open space forum, where external spaces are used for the programmatic function of events in equal importance to the interior.
TH E BAS Q U E FO RU M Ed Roberston Historically Bilbao has led the economic prosperity of the Basque region and now commands a position as a thriving city on the global tourism stage. However, despite its economic and geographical position within the Basque region, the Basque Culture itself is underrepresented in this urban environment. Recognising the physical absence of this need, the Basque Forum is a place where the very essence of the culture can play out. The design fuses the Basque Affinity with the landscape and the site’s redundant nature, within a narrative of ‘The post Industrial Picturesque’. The Grid plays a strong role within this narative is a ubiquitous development plan, a triumph of idealism over reality. While dividing the city into regular plots it also presents the opportunity for infinite controlled continuation. The column grid extends beyond the water where on the waterfront, mature Alpine pines {Pinus Halpensis} are planted on this grid, integrating native Basque Flora into the plan, controlled as natural architectural elements of column and canopy
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The design comprises a new public plaza; a formal urban scale piece of public realm and a composition of individual buildings, formed of a language of cloister and courtyard to create the open space forum, where external spaces are used for the programmatic function of events in equal importance to the interior.
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THE S C H O O L O F MA RI NE E N G IN E E R IN G Matt Wilson Bilbao’s heritage has long been a product of its environment, from its founding in 1300s the River Nervion gave Bilbao the role of Spain’s International gateway to the world and was quickly recognised as Spain’s international trading city. From the 1800’s the city became a powerhouse in steel production and trade. From the industrial boom, the city expanded and became a vital part of the Spanish Economy. Since the industrial decline the city has reinvented itself, sacrificially cutting ties with its industrial heritage and rebranding its city centre as a global icon. Through superficial tourist attractions the city has temporarily found a new economy outside of its industrial heritage to support itself. This global image acts as a mask, a new identity forcing the industrial heritage to the back of the citizen’s minds.
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This School of Marine Engineering comes with the prerogative to challenge tourism as Bilbao’s 21st century identity and provide a facility which is a catalyst in the creation of a Basque centric Zorrotzaurre masterplan. The school provides a mixed use facility combining productive elements of local industries, with the cities School of Marine Engineering University course. The agenda works with that of the masterplan which looks to bolster the dwindling Basque Identity and address that the cities productive heritage is too strong and proud for it to be masked over by a global identity.
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BILBAO RES EARCH C ENTRE FO R RENE W ABLE ENE RGY Bobbie Madjarova The Research Institute for Renewable Energies aims to further establish the city of Bilbao as an international centre for energy and sustainability. The centre houses labs that specialise in the research into solar and solar-thermal, wind, hydro, marine and biomass renewable energies. It promotes the use of renewables through an exhibition space, on-site solar and solar-thermal installations, use of the adjacent river’s latent temperature and rainwater harvesting.
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As part of the Bilbao masterplan, the proposal aims to create a landmark building with a strong visual presence and a playful relationship with the waterfront through a series of external landscape works. The building is clad in perforated copper panels, emphasising a process of natural ageing through patination. This is inspired by the Basque landscapes, infusing their rural, coastal and mountainous qualities. Internally they produce a dappled light effect such as you might have from the flickering of tree leaves in the sun and wind, evocative of a long-standing relationship with nature.
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KA TOV I C E Ben Norrish Matt Kennedy Sharon Sin Annie Kwan Vince Adiamah
Katowice is a prominent city in Southern Poland, sitting at the heart of a large urban sprawl called the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Zone. Historically the region was part of a late but intense period of industrialisation based around local coal mining and steel smelting. The landscape of Silesia is characterised by skeletal water pumping towers standing derelict in the landscape, once used to pump water out of the mines and into the local river systems. Present-day Katowice, whilst having benefited greatly from this period of industrial activity, is now seen as a polluted and dying city, unable to shake off its harsh industrial past. The presence of Auschwitz to the south-east of the city doesn’t help and Katowice struggles to compete with neighbouring cities such as Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw which boast far more cultural heritages and a less brutal urban landscape.
This issue is epitomised by the River Rawa, a once-natural river that now forms a scar through the city centre, having been channelised and polluted by industrial and human waste. The negative image surrounding urban life in Katowice has seen the local population migrate from the city centre, commuting into the city each day by car. The results are high levels of air and noise pollution throughout the day, whilst at night the absence of a resident population turns the city into a ghost town. Land values have plummeted, particularly around the river, with the housing stock there rapidly decaying into dereliction.
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When considering how best to solve these issues it became apparent that the Rawa could be the solution for redeveloping the city, due to its central linear location connecting to multiple disparate parts of the city, its heavily polluted condition, and the continuous swathes of abandoned brownfield flanking the waterway. The proposed master-plan aims to resolve the key issues of Katowice by cleaning and rejuvenating the Rawa as it enters Katowice. From this a continuous urban park, named the Greenway, will be established. The park will
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flank the Rawa’s route through the city centre, a sizeable urban intervention that will re-cast Katowice as a sustainable city for the future. This continuous urban park encourages sustainable transportation solutions that will harmonise the previously-fractured city and its disparate zones, a legacy of Soviet post-war urban planning. New cycle routes and an improved tram system look to reduce the reliance on car transportation in conjunction with the proposal’s efforts to breathe city life back into the centre. The Greenway is characterised by various nodes that each celebrate a different aspect of Katowice’s culture; such as music, festivals and outdoor leisure. This dispersion of culture throughout the city centre aims to catalyse specific areas with enriched urban activities, which will bring flavour to the city and facilitate development. The end result is a city reborn; one that acknowledges yet evolves from its industrial past in order to become a repopulated and sustainable sub-capital for Silesia.
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THE RY N E K E X C H A N G E Ben Norrish The Rynek Exchange is situated in the heart of the city centre where the proposed urban cultural park of the ‘Greenway’ masterplan greets the city’s main boulevard, Korfantego Avenue and Rynek public square. The proposal forms a physical point of exchange, connecting between the tramway interchange located in the Rynek, and the heavy footfall along Stawowa street leading to the train station and large shopping complexes. As a backdrop to the urban cultural park and revitalised River Rawa, the Rynek Exchange, as a new landmark, becomes a celebrated point of arrival into the city centre.
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The covered market hall and community driven accommodation establishes a new social hub for local and regional cultural activity, bringing culture back into the heart of the city centre. The cross-pollination of people generated by the physical connection and social amenity creates an important node within Katowice that celebrates cultural exchange.
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TH E S ILES IAN BIO FACILITY Matt Kennedy The Silesian BioFacility aims to purify the River Rawa as it enters Katowice, catalysing a new urban park through the heart of this post-industrial city as per the wider Greenway Masterplan objectives. The building perches over a large raceway pond system through which the river water is cleaned using microalgae technology.
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The proposal showcases the applications of algae for biofuel, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals in order to foster interest in modern sustainable technologies and help bolster Katowice’s flagging post-industrial economy. Within the building programme several open-air volumes used for the production of biofuel serve as points of engagement and demonstrate the technology, deriving beauty from its rugged, pragmatic appearance. The BioFacility draws inspiration from the region’s mining heritage, with a powerful steel exo-structure inspired by the water pumping towers dotting the landscape. Within this steel frame habitable timber ‘pods’ are suspended, providing a softer contrast to the raw, angular exterior.
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MOST S I L ES IA : T H E NE W S I L E S IA N B R ID G E Sharon Sin
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“Most Silesia” presents a new delightful journey of celebrating the local industrial heritage and art making. “Most” conveys the meaning of “Bridge” in Polish and this is seen as an important architectural key of reconnecting the two urban fragments in Katowice- the Capital of Silesia Province in Poland. Most Silesia is a new Art & Design School that situates within the academic quarter of the city. It is designed in a bridge form that spans over a 120 metres wide motorway in order to create a social linkage between the isolated museum park in the North and the historical town in the South. The school would provide a series of programmes including workshops and technical laboratories for textile, jewellery design, ceramics and metallic art; seminar rooms and administrative offices, exhibition space and café as well as live-work studios. The main school programmes form a large public space in the lower bridge level and smaller units of individual live-work studios form an active street frontage to the upper bridge level. Hence the architecture functions as a catalyst of intensifying the students’ community and of activating the local public realm.
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TH E FO LK LIVING RO O M Annie Kwan The Folk Living Room intends to improve the living standard in Katowice. The Social Hub is a community living room for intergenerational activities. It offers the amenity needs and promotes Polish cultural activities, such as paper cutting and farming.
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Understanding the protected courtyard living pattern in Katowice, the scheme utilises courtyards as a linkage to create a transition from public to private living spaces. Starting from an urban square: the Aquatic Square, to a semi-private Playing Courtyard and Urban Farming Workshop, then into a residential Vegetable Garden. Each courtyard offers unique functions and acts as an additional outdoor social space for occupants.
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THE S UN KEN G A R D E N S Vince Adiamah Katowice and Upper Silesia Coal Basin, has had an extensive environmental problem due largely to its intensive mining history. In most parts of the country and especially in the Upper-Silesian Coal Basin, large areas of coal mine waste heaps the riverbanks and shoulders of rural routes. When coal waste deposits are exposed to the atmospheric conditions as part of their waste disposal strategy, the chemical composition of material changes considerably and becomes hostile for plant growth. This results in frequent landslides of top-soil cover and heavy erosion into neighbouring water bodies, contaminating with great detriment to both fauna and flora.
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The Sunken Garden project as a botanical research institution seeks to pioneer alternative bioremediation solutions to the environmental pollution of coal and other mining activities. As a research facility it will also aim to identify plants capable of accumulating toxics in the cleanup of contaminated soils.The uniqueness of the scheme can serve as a sustainable icon for the city, and aid in the rebranding of the city’s negative image; elevating Katowice’s profile. The ‘Sunken gardens’ is a conceptual ‘play’ on the historical mining identity of the city - where once the treasures of the city were found below. Articulating the botanical gardens below ground is a bold gesture in generating intrigue, interest and a means of exploring alternative ways of engaging with the public on the premise of creating an attraction.
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P ROJE CT NAM E Your Name
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PA L E R MO Sophie Beagles Akshara Pulpa Andy Edwards Catrin Spinner Ross Ledsham
The Sicilian capital city of Palermo, situated on the island’s fertile Northern coastal plains alongside a natural harbour and enclosed by mountains was originally named by the Greeks as “Panormus” or “All Harbour”. The symbiotic relationship between this harbour, La Cala, and the surrounding fertile lands enabled the city to become a burgeoning trading port from 535 AD to the nineteenth century and the most prosperous trading city within the Mediterranean. Ultimately, Palermo’s history is one of exchange, the exchange of people, of ideas and of goods. Our master plan aims to reinstate the historical relationship between the city, land and the sea, by firstly incorporating a number of contextually respondant stitches that run through the city and culminate along the waterfront and secondly by enhancing the city’s residual memory of exchange; it’s food culture.
The Nourished City WWII bomb damage and a lack of amenity has made the centre an undesirable place to live. We sought to nourish and repopulate the old city through the integration of a continuous urban productive landscape and extensive refurbishment.
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The Active Spine Our proposal aims to address the perceived disconnection between the city and the sea by replacing the hugely busy and dangerous Via Crispi with an improved and extended public transport system. A new tram and cycle route forms the active spine which connects our waterfront scheme.
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The Stitches The vast expanse of Foro Italico is an area of reclaimed land, formed from the disposal of WWII bomb damage debris and ultimately severed the ties between the city and the sea. Our stitches intersect where this empty landscape stood, envisaged to be developed to introduce recreational areas to create a new vibrant waterfront. The Heart The harbour, La Cala, existed as the ancient centre of the city. Today however, the harbour is largely privatised and inaccessible to the public. The proposal reinstates La Cala as a place of arrival, activity and enjoyment for the city
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THE A PI A R IU M Sophie Beagles There are approximately 20,000 different species of bees in the world. In the face of dwindling bee colonies, this pool of genetic variety is invaluable. In 2011, the first Sicilian Black Bee conservation programme was piloted by the University of Palermo.
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The proposed Apiarium provides permanent research facilities & public engagement spaces to allow this conservation programme to continue and expand. The proposed Apiarium is situated at the perimeter of Palermo’s Botanical Gardens; a rich and once celebrated landscape at the edge of the historic walled city. Many of the gardens perimeter buildings were damaged during WW2 and have been left in a state of decay. Subsequently, the gardens have suffered from a reduced status. The proposed Apiarium inhabits this neglected fabric, forming a new gateway to the gardens.
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EX I SST I N G WA L L S T H E WA L L E D T H E E X I S T I NTGH E WA LL T HGEA WA LN LED GARDEN RDE
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T H E E X I S T I N GT WA H E LELXSI S T I N G WA L L ST H E WA L L E D G AE RD E NL L E D G A R D E N TH WA
HIC T H E T H I C K ETNHEED TWA LK L E N E D WA L L T H E H I V E I NTTHHEEHGI VAER D I NE N THE GARDEN
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W ITH IN TH E W ALLS Akshara Pulpa The project responds to the need for a pre-school and primary school in the historic centre of Palermo, Sicily. Recognising the pertinent issue of the ‘European Refugee Crisis’ and the large number of displaced children arriving on Italian shores, the scheme proposes an integrated model of providing shelter, support and education.
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From an intrinsic understanding of the derelict walled site, the project explores an architectural response that inverts the remnants of exclusion to one of social inclusion by layering the forgotten site with new function, vitality and ownership. The three existing walls - the Bastion Wall, the Dividing Wall and the Ruin - are inhabited by the School, whilst new stone walls define a safe boundary for the children’s House.
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THE S ALTE R N SAN T’ E RA S M O Andy Edwards The collection of buildings which comprise the Saltern Sant’Erasmo form a holistic complex dedicated to sustaining the new master plan proposed for Palermo, whilst contributing and enhancing its gastronomic, cultural and environmental agendas. A sustainable source of fresh water production in the form of sea water greenhouses provide irrigation water to the newly cultivated waterfront, while brine disposed of from this process support a network of brightly coloured salt lagoons. This new, vibrant and ecologically diverse wetland reserve along the coast engages a new sea salt production industry whilst also serving as an ethereal public landscape.
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A newly regenerated Sant’Erasmo port defines the site for the principal building accommodating facilities for the processing, preparation, sale and consumption of produce harvested from the sea and sea water greenhouses. Public displays teach locals and visitors alike about the history of salt production in Sicily, the fresh water systems in use as well as a visitor’s centre and numerous hides belonging to the newly established nature reserve. A bustling market and restaurant provide yet another thriving social hub along Palermo’s newly envisaged waterfront.
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P ANO RM U S W INERY Catrin Spinner Sicily is world renowned for it’s fertile volcanic soil and agricultural heritage; however there exists a darker side to the Island. Sicily is the birthplace of the mafia, a criminal organisation well known for inciting corruption, violence and extortion since it’s inception in the late eighteenth century. In Palermo, the mafia has a huge amount of control over three key industries; tourism, agriculture and the construction industry and makes around 14 billion euros a year from the agricultural sector alone. Fortunately, there exists a movement whose sole purpose is to eradicate, once and for all, the control that the mafia exerts over Sicily, The Anti- Mafia Movement. Lib era Terra and Addio Pizzo, two cooperative organisations, are taking back the agricultural and tourism sectors and re-purposing confiscated mafia land for the production of wine.
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This project, for a winery located at the heart of the Palermo, the Capital City of Sicily, aims to bolster the anti-mafia movement and build up on the work that Lib era Terra and Addio Pizzo are involved in. It aims to become a symbol of resistance against the mafia and solidarity for the anti mafia movement. By focusing efforts on, the agricultural and tourism sectors, the building’s agenda is to educate residents and tourists alike of the work that the anti-mafia movement is involved in, and hopefully bringing ab out change, not only to the city of Palermo, but to the Island of Sicily as a whole
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PO RTO Tom Lewis Chris Moore Mike Lewis
A Ilha Esquecida: Unlocking the Island The masterplan proposes a bold, re-imagining of a forgotten part of Porto. An area once defined by abandoned industry and trapped by major infrastructure is transformed into an active and vibrant extension of the city. Exploiting the proximity to the main railway station in Porto, an extensive business spine is proposed. With a focus towards commercial activity, research facilities and live/work units, this hub attempts to retain the invested knowledge and counteract the increasing problem of ‘brain drain’. By placing the highdensity accommodation along the railway line, the development to the east is passively shielded from the noise and pollution of passing trains. By providing good quality housing with much needed access to green space, the scheme encourages young people and young families to remain within the city. Dual aspect maisonettes incorporate features to encourage social interaction and an outdoor lifestyle, including Juliet balconies, shaded overhangs, benched seating and communal roof gardens. Shared surfaces, community parks and generous communal gardens combine to form a welcoming urban realm. Shared
growing facilities encourage residents to produce a small amount of their own fruit and vegetables and attempt to foster successful relationships between neighbours. The housing works with the natural topography of the area creating a series of stepped terraces, reminiscent of the local Portuguese vernacular throughout the rest of Porto.
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A cable car system links an underground car park to the east with the railway station to the west. This innovative transport solution successfully negotiates the steep topography providing quick and efficient transportation with minimal impact on the surrounding landscape. The car park occupies the trapped space within the motorway ring road and planted with extensive soft landscaping, allowing it to disappear into the forest beyond. By consolidating all of the
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parking into one area, the residential units become car-free, creating a safe outdoor environment where the streets are given back to pedestrians. A tall concrete wall previously defined the edge of the river Douro with an under-used road and several derelict buildings. The proposal draws inspiration from the terracing of the Douro Valley, with a series of platforms that step down to the water, creating a greater connection between the city and its river. Strands of soft landscaping allow residents and visitors to occupy the terracing as well as providing an additional habitat for local ecology and reducing localised flooding. A shaded pedestrian route and cycle path now occupies the upper terrace with a new tramline that connects to the city centre and urban park.
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porto
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I L H A S O C IA IS : THE S O C I A L ISL A N D Tom Lewis
porto
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In Porto, social housing has had a chequered history. Suffering from the long-term effects of recession and years of poor provision, current demand is increasing, leaving thousands of families and vulnerable households without suitable homes. In this context, and that of the masterplan, the individual design proposal is for a mixed-use, co-operative social housing scheme, providing accommodation for just under 200 residents. On a site with challenging topography, the building marks the transition between existing neighbourhoods, a busy main road, a high street and a huge swathe of new homes. It incorporates shared facilities, public shops, a sheltered courtyard, roof terraces, meandering routes and a community park. Granite stone, cantilevered balconies and generously proportioned French windows are abound, while azulejos tiles emphasise key thresholds, helping define the progression from public walkways through to private bedrooms. It draws on themes of inclusivity, accessibility and durability, learning valuable lessons from Porto’s vernacular and infamous ‘ilhas’. This is emphatically not a trophy building, but an attempted celebration of the extraordinary ordinary and the simple pleasures of everyday life.
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O CENTRO D E P LANTAS NATIVAS - P O RTO Chris Moore The worlds wild flora is in a sorry state. Of the 400,000 plant species that scientists estimate to exist on Earth, as many as a quarter are threatened with extinction. Every year globally, an area the size of England is cleared of primary vegetation. Wild plants are vital to human existence as food, fuel, clothing, building materials and medicines. Many poorly studied plants could yield new nutritious foods, valuable biofuels or cures for diseases. Conserving new plant species and seeking out new ones is of the utmost priority. In Portugal, there has been a rapid decline in natural species in recent years. Despite a decline in native Portuguese flora of over 60% there is currently no seed protection facility in Portugal, and very limited public appreciation of the current issues facing native plant species. O Centro de Plantas Nativas will aim to protect and showcase the native plant species of Portugal. The building will provide space to store, research, and grow Portuguese flora, while also becoming the centre of a wider plant release program strategy aiming to supply seeds for research and growing throughout Portugal.
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Sitting overlooking a wild landscape of native plants, O Centro de Plantas Nativas creatively re-uses an abandoned and derelict industrial relic, balancing new architectural elements with existing elements to create a diverse and exciting visitor experience.
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[RE ] -C ONST R U C T IN G P O RTO Mike Lewis The Massarellos School of Construction provides a nurturing learning environment, where students are trained with specialist practical and theoretical skills to successfully rehabilitate the city’s sensitive urban fabric. By combining college level teaching, university level research and small start up businesses, the facility becomes a holistic hub for construction knowledge. It provides opportunities for cross fertilisation of ideas and serendipitous meeting, blurring the boundary between academic teaching and the commercial reality. Questioning the role of educational buildings, the scheme explores the idea of a ‘living demonstrator’ and presents a model for sustainable construction. The design proposes a bold contemporary interpretation of traditional Portuguese vernacular, embracing modern craft and construction techniques.
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Through sensitive interventions and spatial planning around existing structures, the site’s industrial heritage is preserved and celebrated. The building becomes a landmark destination for visitors wishing to learn about the significance of the former Massarellos China Factory and explore the inner workings of the construction school.
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porto
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P ROJE CT NAM E Your Name
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VA L E NC I A Luke Macnab Alex Peacock Andrew Wardrope Harry Streuli Sean Riddington
Valencia is a city defined by the river Turia, the rich soils in the surrounding ‘La Huerta de Valencia’, and the Mediterranean Sea. Since the devastating flood of 1957, the city’s relationship to the founding triumvirate of elements has eroded. The river has been diverted, dried, and reused as a park; the sea has been split from Valencia due to the mass expansion of the industrial port; and the Huerta is being rapidly destroyed by urbanisation. In 2015, Valencia’s newly elected mayor Joan Ribó, the first left-wing mayor in 25 years, said ‘It is a shame that at this time the river runs like a sewer underneath a roundabout. This city deserves a park that reaches the sea. I’m sure we can achieve this and we will work in that direction. It is the first issue I want to deal with’.This proposal is a concerted effort to re-establish Valencia’s relationship to the Turia, the Mediterranean, and the Huerta. The overarching conceptual theme of the proposal is to draw on the notion of a river delta, as an ordering device to connect the city to the coastal areas of significant value. At each destination there is the potential to join an abstracted coastal route. This would connect to the north and south fringes of the city, and to the wider rural context. The existing Calatrava development, ‘The City of Sciences’, acts as a catalyst for the formation of a delta, at which point ‘distributaries’ of the Turia Park will extend to meet the sea.
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Via de la Marina connects through to the expanded marina, where there is re-use of roads and warehouses that have been left abandoned. Additionally, New Cabanyal is a high value development area that fronts directly onto the new park.
Via de la Huerta connects to the Fields. It also delivers a new public transport link to the marina, creating a more significant link between the historic city and the coast. The Strand also provides a means through which the extensive trophy projects at the City of Arts and Sciences can begin to be contextualized.
Via del Parque connects to the new cruise terminal via the park. The park provides extensive green space, waterfront activities, and amenity for both the existing, and the proposed maritime communities.
Via de Nazaret connects to Nazareth. The existing town is densified with specific developments and urban retrofit. New Nazareth expands on the existing urban grain, taking advantage of the new park amenity. Importantly, there is a new accessible waterfront by means of the lagoon.
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V alencia
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RÀ DI O TE L E V IS IÓ VA L E NC I A N A Luke Macnab The Ràdio Televisió Valenciana restores a much needed public broadcasting building to the ‘Valencian’ speaking community, representing and celebrating their cultural and linguistic identity. The RTVV is nestled in the heart of the Valencian speaking community, Nazareth, immersed in the culture it is catering for, ‘A building for the people,’ and is divided into two parts, the ‘Broadcasting House’ and the ‘TV Studio’:
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The Broadcasting House includes the news studio, radio studios and all the creative, editing and administrative offices. Notably the ‘visual’ aspect of public broadcasting has been extrapolated to also include a significant public engagement. This ethos stems from the masterplan’s desire to design sensitively for the local population, contrasting the city’s previous vast overspending in non-contextual, tourist orientated, trophy building architecture. The TV Studio benefits from its direct adjacency to the Broadcasting House, forming part of the overall RTVV, but retains semi-independence as a community space to be utilised.
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NAZARETH TOW N H ALL Alex Peacock Nazareth is a neighbourhood in the city of Valencia, Spain, located east of the city centre on the Mediterranean coast. The regeneration of Valencia’s relationship to the sea prioritises its once autonomous costal towns and returns local government to them. A statement of intent for righting the political wrongs of the recent past manifests itself in a new town hall for Nazareth. Drawing on the local vernacular and archetypal Spanish town halls, the building uses the symbols of the clock tower, flag pole and colonnade to create a strong civic identity. The town hall is constructed from red pigmented concrete to both create an local landmark and exploit the Mediterranean colour palette within the surrounding area.
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The existing town square is joined to the new civic space by shallow steps and unified with the same materiality and detail.
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INSTITU TO D E L’H O RTA Harry Streuli The formal brief is a function of the narrative aspirations and the requirements of the client. This distils into two key goals: • •
To provide a facility for collaborative agricultural research between the City and the University. To create a conference centre that will focus delivering demonstrable new agricultural methods to the adjacent agricultural communities.
These two elements set out an interesting architectural condition, which will deal with potentially sensitive research, while maintaining transparency to the public. The conceptual response is made up of four key architectonic devices that inform the rest of the proposal. They are: Ribbons - span the site in order to facilitate integration of the project within the masterplan, and importantly, connect to the fields. Spine - Two Ribbons are promoted to form Spines to the building. They are a backbone for services and access to the modules located along it. Modules - are placed along the Spine in groups of five. They can move perpendicular to the Spine to adjust the serve/served space ratio.
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The Kit of Parts - Modules are created from a Kit of Parts, providing a long-life, loose-fit framework for built programme.
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THE TURI A C O L L E G E AN D WOR KS H O P Andrew Wardrope The Turia College and Workshop sits between the Via del Parque strand of the Turia Delta masterplan and the existing maritime village of Nazareth, a suburb of Valencia. It houses an apprentice college for 16-18 year old students, based on a nation-wide initiative to provide dual academic and vocational training as a response to high youth unemployment in Spain.
V alencia
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The proposal has two halves. The first is a teaching facility for apprentices to attend 2 days a week for academic support alongside their work placement elsewhere in Valencia. The second half is a furniture workshop, which provides one of the available placements ‘in-house’ within the college campus. Public urban furniture that is designed and made by the workshop is tested as prototypes in the neighbouring landscape of the Turia Delta proposal. It is therefore hoped that the Turia College and Workshop will act as a driver for a rich and detailed public realm in the masterplan scheme.
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TH E LAZZARETTO LID O Sean Riddington Nazareth, a small maritime village to the South of Valencia’s historic centre, is central to the city’s relationship with the Mediterranean. However, this coastal village has historically had a negative relationship with the waters that delineate its edge. Originally called Lazzaretto, after the parable of Lazarus the beggar, it was a quarantine area for any visitors who arrived via sea with infectious diseases. The village was renamed because it was believed that during the forty days of quarantine it was Jesus of Nazareth who brought about the healing of the sick, which allowed them to integrate back into society. The expansion of the Valencian port in the second half of the 20th century resulted in Nazareth becoming increasingly inward looking, rather than outward towards the sea. Reversing the notion that water is not the carrier of disease but rather the cure, and that the isolation of quarantine can be a positive experience as opposed to a negative one, The Lazzaretto Lido seeks to reconnect the community of Nazareth with the sea in the form of a secluded saltwater pool and public baths. The scallop motif is prevalent throughout Valencia, a symbol of The Camino de Santiago (Saint James’s Path). It is believed that after Saint James’s death his disciples shipped his body to the Iberian Peninsula to be buried in what is now Santiago. Off the coast of Spain, a heavy storm hit the ship, and the body was lost to the ocean. After some time, however, it washed ashore undamaged, covered in scallops. The scallop shell is representative of the sea and it’s rejuvantive and restorative quality - The Lazzaretto Lido adopts this symbolism. THE LAZZARETTO LIDO
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WEEKDAYS 8am - 10pm SUNDAYS 10am - 5pm
The proposal endeavours to cater for the communal and social requirements of Nazareth as well as offer the seclusion and ritualistic aspect of bathing. It is a result of these juxtaposing ideologies that the program has been split into two entities, the outward looking Lido Building and the introverted Bath House.
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PUBLIC BATHS AND POOL
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Bath Annual Team
Publisher
Alex Hewitson
University of Bath
Aoife Morris Bana Hammad Harry Streuli Shemol Rahman Sophie Beagles
Photographs AP Commercial Photography Garrick Chan Additional photographs from students
No parts of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. For further information and a full range of programmes please see University of Bath Undergraduate and Graduate Prospectus. Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering University of Bath Bath, BA2 7AY United Kingdom tel +44 (0) 1225 385394 fax +44 (0)1225 386691 ace@bath.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk/ace