Community Cuppa Contraption by Craig McCracken

Contents Brief - 4 Statement - 5 Site - 6 Method - 10 Concept - 20 Appendix - 28

BRIEF Description The Community Cuppa Contraption aims to explore how infrastructure can facilitate quality social infrastructure. Not only that, the project aims to highlight problems within Blairgowrie and Rattray while providing the tool set required to tackle them. Generating ambitious conversations about topics such as accessibility, the waterfront & sustainable place, through cuppa culture.

Questions 1. Can infrastructure facilitate quality social infrastructure? 2. Can infrastructure be a tool to generate ambitious conversation? 3. How can we turn Blairgowrie & Rattray from Boundaries to Borders, connecting them? 4. Will a conversation started over a cuppa spark change in a place? 5. Can Blairgowrie utilise it’s waterfront and natural resources more effectively? 6. How will Blairgowrie become more accessible?

Methods 1. Take advantage of Blairgowrie’s industrial heritage. 2. Use people’s natural curiosity in industrial mechanisms to encourage interaction. 3. Use eye-catching to attract people. 4. Generate conversations over a cuppa and open new lines of communication. 5. Turn the river from a boundary into a border. 6. Highlight and use Blairgowrie’s Resources through a temporary installation.

STATEMENT Introduction The idea for an installation in Blairgowrie started with a conversation. Could I create a piece of infrastructure for the local people to engage with, aiding them to generate ideas for their own town? This evolved from,a cup of tea with a colleague into infrastructure facilitating quality infrastructure. The Community Cuppa Contraction tries to explore how people engage with this form of infrastructure. This engagement is predominantly there to generate conversations about Blairgowrie over a cuppa. The machine allows the creation of tea through available resources on site: water and sun. Issues for the area are highlighted through the machine and it’s location; accessibility, connection, the waterfront and a sustainable town. Engagement is sourced through peoples natural attraction to mechanisms and the contraptions ephemeral qualities. It is eye-catching, a beacon for the town. This booklet has been developed to pitch the idea for the temporary installation of Community Cuppa Contraption (CCC) and display the research and thinking behind it.

SITE

Blairgowrie Riverfront 1:5000

Site Location, Photograph Collage, fig.001

Waterfront Access, Photograph, fig.002

The site chosen to locate the Community Cuppa Contraption sits right next to the only major bridge connecting Blairgowrie & Rattray. It is an under-utilised zone within Blairgowrie even with it’s stunning views and flowing water. This could be down to it’s lack of interactable attractions. Access is also a factor in it’s popularity. In-fact, most of Blairgowrie is fairly inaccessible to wheelchair users with narrow and crowded pavements littering the area. As part of the temporary development, a ramp will be constructed to allow access to the machine as everyone should be able to contribute to the conversation for the future of the town.(fig.002) The ramp will hopefully highlight the issues present, generate conversation and ultimately lead to a more accessible waterfront and Blairgowrie in the future.

Town Centre Visual Connection, Photograph, fig.003

The site also offers a location to connect both sides of the river and utilise the natural resources available. Being away from tall buildings allows maximum solar gain. While it’s direct relationship with the river allows for water to be gathered and filtered for use within the machine. It will also dominate the view from the bridge or from Rattray. As will be discussed further in a future section of this booklet, it is fundamentally important that the machine is visible and accessible to people. Most people in Blairgowrie pass the War Memorial in the town centre frequently. It’s views to the river are blocked by a building and trees as shown above (fig.003). To overcome this, the machine will use height to remain visible over the obstructions.

METHOD Natural Resources Blairgowrie has a rich heritage with textiles and berry farming being two influential parts of it’s making. These industries utilised the land Blairgowrie is set upon to aid in creating a sustainable and economical process. The remnants of the textile industry scattered up the river Erchit show water wheels and weirs which facilitated the power factories needed. The berry farms use the sun and soil; as one of the sunniest areas in Scotland, it is a prime location to grow berries. There is a clear appreciation for these industries in Blairgowrie. You need only walk up the rivers edge on a sunny day to find a local stopping to observe an old mill. The Community Cuppa Contraption tries to capture this love of mechanisms by fully displaying inner workings of the machine. Attracting people like a fly to a light. Bringing people together across the river. Reviving the otherwise dead waterfront space and generating conversations which would otherwise not happen. Inspiration from heritage will spark conversations about the future of Blairgowrie. Capturing the resources available to the area such as solar for powering the machine and hydro for water collection & filtration jump-start conversations about self-reliance and potentially, a sustainable Blairgowrie.

Social Resource Harvester, Sketch, fig.004

Local & Reusable As the contraption is to be a temporary installation, reusable materials have been employed wherever possible. The use of scaffolding offers the ability to quickly create a tall and modular form which can be utilised in a number of ways from housing the machinery, hosting interaction or catching the eye. It’s re-usability ties in with the theme of sustainable design. Flooring is built up using a base layer of standard scaffolding board before being decked with reclaimed pallet wood. The table is also made from this pallet wood. Simple, reusable scaffold sheeting will provide cover from the weather so it is appealing to use at all times. Machinery, where possible, will pre-owned, giving it a new lease of life. Any new components such as PV Panels will be donated to the community after use. The construction of the machine will be through collaborative construction. Engaging local community sheds and skilled labourers, opening lines of dialogue between the community can skilled workers.

Community Construction, Photo Collage, fig.005

Table A table is made to facilitate shared human experience. When we have a cuppa, chat and dream, we sit at a table. (Sarah Wigglesworth, Table Manners, fig. 006) With the recovery from the covid-19 pandemic slogging on, we jump at the opportunity to engage with one another. Can a table become a safe way to re-ignite social interaction? “To live together in the world means essentially that a world of things is between those who have it in common, as a table is located between those who sit around it” (Hannah Arendt - The Human Condition, pg. 52) The table is therefore an integral part of the machine, and with it; it’s design. The following design for the table takes inspiration from Allan Wexler’s ‘Too Large Table’, creating a community table where people sit, becoming part of the able structure. “People sit together, forming unusual pairings because of the chair groupings.”(Two Too Large Tables, 2006). I have adapted this idea to give 1 meter face-to-face distancing to reduce covid-19 transmission while engaging with one-another. The fixed, structural chairs prevent turning to face someone less than 1m away.

Sarah Wigglesworth, Table Manners Analysis, fig.006 15

Table Plan 1:50

Table Model 1:50

Eye Catching For the machine to work effectively it requires fuel. This fuel, is people. To attract people to the machine, the people must first know it exists. Using height tries to create a slight-line for people lurking in the town centre or across the bridge in Rattray. In the essay ‘Open City’ by Richard Sennett, he discusses borders and boundaries. Boundaries being separated zones, while borders are two distinct elements which share an edge. Currently Blairgowrie and Rattray are boundaries with a void of river between. The machine’s height tries to stitch both edges together, bring people together and to share and enjoy the river front. (Sennett, 2006) Jane Jacobs talks about these border areas as a place where friction occurs, generating energy in the form of conversations and ideas. This is exactly what the community cuppa contraction aims to facilitate. The scaffold sheet’s semi-transparent nature when lit from the inside turns the machine into a lantern. Coloured florescent tubes dangle inside from the roof as a glinting chandelier. Eye-catching, warm and inviting. This is emphasised with scaffold poles and boards in painted pastel colours and the use of neon tubes clamped to the exterior as signage and features at night. These factors paired with it’s mechanistic attractive qualities and it’s ephemeral nature, create a vacuum people cannot avoid. (Holl, 2021)

Eye Catching, Photo Collage, fig.007 19

CONCEPT The following section shows concepts for the Community Cuppa Contraption. Conceptualizing it’s form and how people utilise it. The wish is to create this physically as an installation in Blairgowrie over a 2-4 week period.

Exterior Visualisation

Front Elevation

Section

Lower Path Mechanism 24

Approach Visualisation 1 25

Interior - Looking Up

Approach Visualisation 2

APPENDIX Bibliography Two Too Large Tables (2006). Allan Wexler & Ellen Wexler. Available at: http:// www.allanwexlerstudio.com/projects/two-too-large-tables-2006 (Accessed: 5 December 2021). Architectural Review (2018). Sarah Wigglesworth’s dining tables - Architectural Review. Available at: https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/folio/folio-sarah-wigglesworths-dining-tables (Accessed: 5 December 2021). Sennett, R. (2006) “Open City”. Available at: https://newformalism.aaschool. ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/The-Open-City.pdf (Accessed: 5 December 2021). Holl, S. (2021) Painting with Light: The Ethereal Glass Façades of Steven Holl Architects, Journal. Available at: https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/translucent-glass-steven-holl-architects/ (Accessed: 5 December 2021). Potemkin Theatre (2021). Available at: https://www.potemkintheatre.com/ (Accessed: 5 December 2021).

Thank you to my tutor Helen O’Connor for guidance along the way and anyone else in the MArch & UP Studio who has had input on the development of the CCC booklet. 28