subKensington pilot thesis by David Jones

S U B-KENSINGTON The Basements That Describe a City

An essay submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design examination 2013-2015. I would like to thank Ingrid Schrรถder and Alex Warnock-Smith for their help with the completion of this work.

David Jones Darwin College

S U B-KENSINGTON The Basements That Describe a City

Pilot Thesis 5,545 words David Jones Darwin College

S U B-KENSINGTON The Basements That Describe a City

Pilot Thesis 5,545 words David Jones Darwin College

S U B-KENSINGTON The Basements That Describe a City

David Jones Darwin College

Pilot thesis abstract Contemporary South Kensington basement dwelling and the associated shift in spatial values are signs of globalisation manifest in the architecture of the domestic sphere. Its rapidly increasing popularity since the recession of the late 2000s1 evidences not just an economically motivated grapple for space but also that people are more comfortable being physically disconnected from their urban context. This idea is taken forward as a methodology in design that manipulates the identified condition. Subsequently, a scheme is proposed in aid of innovating a sustainable densification strategy for the highly-preserved urban cultural-hub typology. An underground spatial network is proposed that undermines the present super-gentrified state and will increase accessibility to SKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s valuable cultural offerings.

SK = South Kensington RBKC = The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea HK = Hong Kong DSN = domestic space network HDB = hyper-dense block

fig.1 (front cover) Photograph taken by author 11th April â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;14. fig.2 (previous pages) is an extract from The Basement Catalogue by author, an attempt at recording the floor plan of every basement extension application in RBKC since 2008. fig.3 3D visualisation of a basement development by author.

1. 450 applications concerning basements registered in 2013 compared with 64 in 2003 (RBKC, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;13)

SK = South Kensington RBKC = The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea HK = Hong Kong DSN = domestic space network HDB = hyper-dense block

1. 450 applications concerning basements registered in 2013 compared with 64 in 2003 (RBKC, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;13)

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Introduction Following the financial crisis, the number of proposals for basement extensions submitted to The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea proliferated disproportionately in comparison to general economic recovery in London.2 This paper is submitted at what is likely the climax of their architectural freedom as planning authorities respond defensively and begin to tighten restrictions.3 This project analyses the ‘Iceberg home’ era and proposes that an understanding of underground development in South Kensington will provide an entry-point into theorising the widerreaching conditions to which these spaces exist as a response.

fig.4 Sections of 7 Thurloe Street, 29 & 30 Brompton Square. The unusual offset basement designs are due to preservation Listings on the original building. Furthermore, basements must be beneath a metre of topsoil to allow for a green garden (RBKC, ‘14)

2. Rate of recovery of London generally in comparison with rate of increase in basement applications. 3. ‘basement development should: [...]not comprise more than one storey. Exceptions may be made on large sites.’ (RBKC, ’14)

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Contents

fig.5 Map of buildings in London by author. Red line indicates boundary of RBKC. Blue shading indicates area of central London with the highest average house price in 2012 (Stabe, M., and Jones, C., â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;12)

Codification and preservation in South Kensington

Basement extensions as an urban condition

Domestic space network (DSN) design response

Reading : globalisation, space and place

Hyper-serviced block

Super-imposed hyper-density

Re-contextualisation

Metabolism, expansion, discourse

Contents

Codification and preservation in South Kensington

Basement extensions as an urban condition

Domestic space network (DSN) design response

Reading : globalisation, space and place

Hyper-serviced block

Super-imposed hyper-density

Re-contextualisation

Metabolism, expansion, discourse

1. Cencus data (Baker, ‘11), 2. Data from London Development Agency (‘09), 3. Albertopolis first coined in 1856 after Prince Albert’s vision for the area. (Starren, C., ‘06) 4. According to Trip Advisor (‘14), fig.6 (opposite) by author. Axonometrics illustrating the composition of several buildings with deep basements.

Fourth floor

Third floor

Second floor

First floor

Ground floor

Basement level -1

Basement level -2

Basement level -3

South Kensington is physically, culturally and economically saturated. The incredible fluctuation in the crowds that populate Exhibition Road in the daytime, especially on a Saturday morning, while nearby residential streets are desolate is an undesirable urban condition. Jacobs says that in a successful neighbourhood ‘the sidewalk must have users on it fairly continuously’ (‘92, p.35) From this we can establish that there might be problem in South Kensington. The erratic nature of SK’s use is a symptom of the areas saturation. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is the only borough with a declining population.1 SK remains, however, one of the most popular destinations for a ‘day visit’.2 Few people can afford to live in SK and domestic properties are used as a currency which often results in under-occupation. (Burrows, ‘13) The population in residence, of a neighbourhood, should not necessarily be in proportion to the physical size of the building stock but rather to the cultural offering of the place. London is a poly-centric metropolis. SK’s built heritage and location ensures its own strength as a cultural hub and consequentially the value of its property. The lack of any official area with the name ‘South Kensington’ stands testament to its strong identity. Much of the area was conceived as private estates for the upper-classes following the location of Kensington Palace. (Hobhouse, ‘04) Furthermore, the surplus funds from the Great Exhibition of 1851 founded several cultural institutions which endure today as ‘Albertopolis’3 and remain amongst the best4 in London. This resulted in Kensington claiming ‘a pre-eminent position in the hierarchy of the Victorian metropolis’. (RBKC, ‘10) Opulence is codified within the vernacular.

Assembled

Codification and preservation in South Kensington

Fourth floor

Third floor

Second floor

First floor

Ground floor

Basement level -1

Basement level -2

Basement level -3

Assembled

Codification and preservation in South Kensington

0.035- 160- 1800k- 30-

0.03-

140-

1600k251400k-

1200.0251200k- 201000.02-

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6. Term introduced by Lees, L. (‘03) 7. Term introduced by Burrows, R (‘13). fig.7 (above) Extract from fig.5 illustrating an enormous basement at 30 Brompton Square.

Kensington and Chelsea

Camden

Westminster

City of London

Hammersmith and Fulham

Richmond Upon Thames

Islington

Wandsworth

Barnet

Haringey

Merton

Brent

Southwark

Ealing

Hackney

Lambeth

Hounslow

Kingston Upon Thames

Harrow

Tower Hamlets

Bromley

Greenwich

Enfield

Redbridge

Lewisham

Sutton

Hillingdon

Croydon

Waltham Forest

Havering

Newnham Bexley

RBKC is heavily preserved. 70% of the borough is a conservation area and 4000 of its buildings are Listed (RBKC, ‘10). One questions the sustainability of such an important city neighbourhood being so heavily protected. London’s ‘current vitality and indestructible authenticity seem to represent a definitive rebuke to the dubious charms of the Grand Projet’. (de Graaf, ‘11) To what extent does preservation protect London? Preservation is not always conducive to sustainable urbanism. ‘the area of the world declared immutable through various regimes of preservation is growing exponentially[...] The march of preservation necessitates the development of a theory of its opposite: not what to keep, but what to give up, what to erase and abandon.’ (Koolhaas, ‘10) Can architectural innovation address the problems of SK? Furthermore, the codification and subsequent preservation of South Kensington lends itself especially well as a base for forms of contemporary gentrification. More specifically, ‘super’6 and ‘supersuper’7 gentrification. Super-super-gentrification is the state where the value of space is so dependable that it can be used as a form of currency. At which point one might speculate that the original value of the location

Barking and Dagenham

The graph is ordered by the dataset ‘Average house price’ and illustrates correlation between four datasets: • Affordability: Earnings to house price ratio • Average house price (£) • Population density (persons per hectare) • Vacant homes to population ratio

fig.8 Graph by author using data from 2011. (London Datastore, ‘14)

0.035- 160- 1800k- 30-

0.03-

140-

1600k251400k-

1200.0251200k- 201000.02-

1000k15-

80800k-

0.01560-

600k- 100.0140400k5-

0.00520-

200k-

6. Term introduced by Lees, L. (‘03) 7. Term introduced by Burrows, R (‘13). fig.7 (above) Extract from fig.5 illustrating an enormous basement at 30 Brompton Square.

Kensington and Chelsea

Camden

Westminster

City of London

Hammersmith and Fulham

Richmond Upon Thames

Islington

Wandsworth

Barnet

Haringey

Merton

Brent

Southwark

Ealing

Hackney

Lambeth

Hounslow

Kingston Upon Thames

Harrow

Tower Hamlets

Bromley

Greenwich

Enfield

Redbridge

Lewisham

Sutton

Hillingdon

Croydon

Waltham Forest

Havering

Newnham Bexley

Barking and Dagenham

fig.8 Graph by author using data from 2011. (London Datastore, ‘14)

1,800,000

1,600,000

Average house price (£)

RBKC

1,400,000

1,200,000

1,000,000

800,000 Inner London

600,000

400,000

Outer London England

200,000

2013

2011

2012

2010

2009

2007

2008

2005

2006

2003

2004

2001

2002

1999

2000

1997

1998

1996

fig.9 Graph by author of average house prices by region. Constituent data from the London Datastore (‘14)

begins to diminish–as a neighbourhood is converted to potential value. In a neighbourhood with a physical heritage of significant and finite value such as SK however, the original desirability is to some degree insured, in this instance to the result of a certain complacency or oversight. This is one of the dangers of preservation. SK’s rigidity is enforced by a simplistic attitude toward preservation: “If you can’t see something, it doesn’t make any difference.”8 Regardless of physical representation, our changing understanding of SK represents the passing of time. The writhing subterranean realm manifests a real understanding of the city, battling beneath a crust of preservation. The single preserved Georgian facade does not just ensure the value of the neighbouring house but also the value of surrounding houses whose quotidian vista includes that facade; and also the Londoners who frequent and tourists who visit SK. The street adopts quasi-landmark status (Lehnerer, ‘09, p.128) and questions of ownership arise.

fig.10 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. Exhibition Road’s shared surface by Dixon and Jones stretches from the Tube station to Hyde Park. The majority of which permits pedestrians, cars and bicycles with a speed limit of 20 mph.

SK is frozen by super-super-gentrification and preservation, this is not sustainable considering escalating density elsewhere in London. (RBKC, 2011) It is the distinct cultural heritage reinforced by Albertopolis that lead to the monetisation of space. SK is now saturated and basement developments proliferate in response. 8. Commented Guy Bradsby on the sustainability of mega-basement development. Bradsby is the director of Jones Lang LaSalle, Real estate company. (Watson, ‘10)

fig.11 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. Thurloe Square is just metres away from Exhibition Road and the Victoria and Albert Museum yet remains deadeningly quiet. The occasional tourist wanders through taking photographs.

1,800,000

1,600,000

Average house price (£)

RBKC

1,400,000

1,200,000

1,000,000

800,000 Inner London

600,000

400,000

Outer London England

200,000

2013

2011

2012

2010

2009

2007

2008

2005

2006

2003

2004

2001

2002

1999

2000

1997

1998

1996

fig.9 Graph by author of average house prices by region. Constituent data from the London Datastore (‘14)

fig.12 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. Closed shutters and no one home, a common sight. Note also the planning application notice tied to the railings. RBKC is the London borough with the highest percentage of vacant homes according to data from 2013. (London Datastore, ‘14)

fig.13 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. Cranbrook Basements neatly packages a single terraced house while rennovation works are undertaken. A double basement is being constructed which stretches beneath the garden and will include a swimming pool. (PROUN Architects, ‘10)

Basement extensions as an urban condition To issue judgements about what is beautiful and what is ugly is difficult enough. To then formulate generally valid rules based on such judgements is virtually impossible without generating new problems. (Lehnerer, ‘09, p.109)

Lehnerer’s comment on the judgement of beauty can be applied to this situation. South Kensington’s dilemma and the complexity of preservation is hereby understandable. Underground development by private homeowners can be read as a response to SK’s saturation. If the condition is extrapolated, however, the results are oppressive. SK needs to be able to sustainably increase in density in order to prevent extortion in the real estate market and alleviate rigidity. This saturation has resulted in a proliferation of private householder planning applications for the extension and excavation of basements. Planning regulations are looser on rear elevations but the majority of these have been extended to the point of resembling Hugh Ferris’ zoning law masses.1 As a response to the lack of space elsewhere in South Kensington, and areas of London with similar conditions, its residents are seeking to expand underground. Density and preservation are synonymous with London. De Graaf observes that London’s modernisation is only visible from the ‘roof’. London’s density ‘limits both the impact of architectural crimes committed against it and the exposure of its hidden assets’. (de Graaf, ‘11) Density and preservation become, therefore, assets to a city-wide identity.

1. As referenced in Delirious New York. (Koolhaas, ‘94, p.168) See fig.23. fig.14 (opposite) Design provocation by author speculating as to the future of underground development.

Dining

ed hou

all

Preserv

room

ce ent spa g basem r Existin pe e e d d excavate

Party w

ce ult spa Coal va le b a it b ha

made

ts in law

Skyligh

Car lift

Earth

orage,

Safe, st

plant

Atrium

ool

ming p

d swim

Spa an

fig.15 30 Brompton Square rendered section by author. Constituent plans by HWO Architects (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;08)

Dining

ed hou

all

Preserv

room

ce ent spa g basem r Existin pe e e d d excavate

Party w

ce ult spa Coal va le b a it b ha

made

ts in law

Skyligh

Car lift

Earth

orage,

Safe, st

plant

Atrium

ool

ming p

d swim

Spa an

fig.15 30 Brompton Square rendered section by author. Constituent plans by HWO Architects (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;08)

fig.16 Excavation for basement at 30 Brompton Square (HWO Architects, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;08)

The preconception of the spatial inferiority of underground space should be challenged in light of this situation. In order for a householder, and a wealthy one, to be content with a partially-subterranean home there must have been a shift in values. We can decipher that the value of location is outweighing the value of above-ground space. We are in search of sustainable densification, a problem that the skyscraper proved impossible: the alleged ‘open frontier that was the virgin site created by skyscrapers’ (Koolhaas, ‘94, p.87) is being replicated in underground development. ‘The man-made territories of the frontier in the sky could be settled by the irresistible Synthetic to establish alternative realities on any level.’ (p.87) Alternate realities confess abstraction from ‘place’ and thus the conclusive failure to replicate the total value of an urban site. Verticality is unjustly stigmatised. The 2012 media scandal of Henry Tang, a 2012 Hong Kong Chief Executive election candidate, who concealed an enormous subterranean space from the authorities (Jiang, ‘14) illustrates that even in a city of outrageous ‘high-rises’ built on rock, the covert nature of basements cause them to be overtly political. Furthermore, the hierarchal nature of the Tower of Babel or the much more recent (and realised) Adelphi2 in London stand testament to the stigmas of verticality, especially with regard to the subterrain. Vertical ascent or descent however, is often achieved at the expense of the values of context.

DISLOCATION

CODIFICATION

DERISION

350

Basement extension applications submitted to RBKC

300

250

200

Recession

150

100

fig.18 Dislocation of grand facade from modest interior in Foxtons advertisments (Foxtons, ‘14). fig.19 Codification: properties are used as a currency (Marsh and Parsons, ‘12). fig.20 Derision: high-net worth individual’s ideas of opulence specify ‘McMansions’ (Burrows, ‘13) underground (Rice, ‘13).

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2. The Adelphi project is referenced in London: The Unique City (Rasmussen, ‘74, p.183) fig.17 (above) is a graph of basement extension applications submitted to RBKC. Constituent data from RBKC (‘09 and ‘13)

DISLOCATION

CODIFICATION

DERISION

350

Basement extension applications submitted to RBKC

300

250

200

Recession

150

100

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

Through the analysis of the architecture of the ‘Basement Boom’3, the conditions which permit it are unearthed. Why do super-high net worth individuals build underground? Why are they happy to live partially or completely underground? Basements do not contribute enough to the urban environment by existing standards but perhaps their contribution does not necessarily need to be physical. In the next chapter a project will be introduced which challenges the systems of ownership and understanding-of-value at play in South Kensington’s domestic sphere. It proposes a less-tangible domestic construct to match contemporary attitudes.

Ground level (0m)

Basement digdowns (15m) Post Office railway (21m) Proposed Silvertown Tunnel (25m) Proposed Northern Line extension (33m) Proposed HS2 (38m)

Crossrail (48m) fig.22 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. A lightwell is covered to form an unusual room, the value of which is ensured by the Thurloe Street sign in the foreground. Proposed London Power Tunnels (60m) Proposed Thames Tideway Tunnel (66m) Foundations of the Shard (73m)

3. Phrase used by the media (Allen, ‘14) to desribe the alarming rate at which popularity for basement extensions is increasing. fig.21 Diagram by author. A cross-section through the ground beneath London. Constituent data from Allen (‘14)

Ground level (0m)

Basement digdowns (15m) Post Office railway (21m) Proposed Silvertown Tunnel (25m) Proposed Northern Line extension (33m) Proposed HS2 (38m)

fig.23 Photograph taken by author 11th April â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;14. Rear facades of houses on Thurloe Square, rear additions and mansard roofs have been constructed since the original designs by George Basevi and the designs have been heavily influenced by planning policy.

fig.24 Photograph taken by author 11th April â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;14.

Domestic space network (DSN) design response part of this insecurity which bedevils capitalism as a social formation arises out of this instability in the spatial and temporal principles around which social life might be organised (Harvey, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;90, p.239)

As a design provocation, an alternative real estate system is proposed with a vertical hierarchy of value. Users will subscribe to the network using a website interface depicted in fig.25 (opposite). Domestic spaces such as bedroom, dining, living, storage can be placed around the city. Each constituent space is a unit valued on select variables such as floor-plane dimensions; altitude relative to street-level; proximity from cultural centres, such as Exhibition Road; and time-spent inhabiting. This concept doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just represent a way of dealing with private space in the city but it also adds a layer of accessibility to Albertopolis. Basement living can be part of a healthy lifestyle when considered in a daily network of spaces, some above ground. A new spatial system for the city that deals with preservation and saturation can therefore be proposed. Developing this idea will explore the spatiality of this world of architecture. In the DSN, buildings will be allowed to extend downwards infinitely with no regard for diminishing environmental quality. The resulting system will assure at the very least the following advantages: no one will be without shelter or storage space as affordability can be exchanged for depth below ground; everyone will be able to enjoy SKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Georgian and Victorian appearance fig.25 (oposite) DSN interface. fig.26 and 27 (overleaf) Three examples of personal networks mapped out across the postcode district SW7.

LON NDON

and enter their building through a preserved facade; domestic space can be accumulated and expanded without the problem of extending; moving house can happen gradually without the need for lengthy consideration or commitment. Access to vital daylight and fresh air can be obtained by locating part of the domestic space network above ground with proximity to a cultural hub as a variable to ensure affordability. This system conceives to offer a greater flexibility in property ownership and open up the opportunity for more people to populate the streets of South Kensington. The streetscape will merely appear more populous and otherwise unchanged. Underground space can suffer from a disconnect with environmental benefits. If the present underground development paradigm is accelerated, the results are undeniably dystopian (see fig.14 on p.23). The biggest obstacle for building underground might be popular attitude. As previously mentioned, however, these attitudes are changing, beginning with those of the economic elite. By existing qualitative standards, we are constructing spaces of inferior spatial quality. The readiness of wealthy homeowners to inhabit them, however, speaks to the contrary. ‘Man’s relation to locales, and through locales to spaces, inheres in his dwelling.’ (Heidegger, ‘51, p.359) These basement spaces might be part of a legacy of new architectural values and also urban values. A conversation about basement space in South Kensington can be a conversation about South Kensington. The system of spatial ownership in London is historically contentious, a handful of aristocrats still have freehold on much of the land of central London (The Great Estates, ‘10) and the private rented sector is still growing. (Pearce, ‘13) It is an archaic system.

fig.28 (oposite) A section that llustrates the cross-over between the lives of three Londoners who use the DSN.

Home

We are living in an anachronistic system of domestic space. ‘as one apartment-dweller put it concerning the rooms in his flat: “One can mix them up”’. (de Certeau, ‘11, p.121). There exists a dissonance between what we build and where we dwell. According to Harvey, we have the ability to dwell globally (‘90) thus the feasibility and the playfulness in comprehending this proposal. ‘However hard and bitter, however hampering and threatening the lack of houses remains, the Proper plight-of-dwelling does not lie merely in a lack of houses’ (Heidegger, ‘51, p.363). The DSN would undermine the domestic preconceptions of the Georgian terrace. The ease with which this is done is revealing. This real estate network challenges the rigidity of the preserved terraced-house structure and its underlying value systems without causing overt damage to the heritage aesthetics. The question now becomes not just where we dwell but how we dwell also.

fig.29 by author. Axonometric sections of London at four different densities with coloured rings to represent three different domestic networks.

Home

fig.29 by author. Axonometric sections of London at four different densities with coloured rings to represent three different domestic networks.

CITY

Reading: globalisation, space and place The desire to quantify space in order to deal with it in an economic system can be read into when the condition has urban consequences. Perhaps it is a response to dealing with postmodern pluralism in an age of statuses. Boswell comments on being struck with contemplating the inexhaustible variety of life in London (Jacobs, ‘61, p.142) and Wolf presents the very recent Quantified Self movement (‘10) that one might propose is a response to, and confession of, confusion in a time which demands universal values. ‘Today’s economic crisis is a capitalist crisis of social stability, not a simple recession.’ (de Angelis, ‘13, p.121). Basements extensions are the result of commodified urbanity, not just commodified homes. De Graaf offers an insight into a wider reaching problem: ‘Price Waterhouse Coopers—they’re not urbanists they’re not architects but they talk about the city in terms of value.’ (‘12) Walmart has a higher GDP than Mexico City, and Mexico city higher than Australia. Is the propensity to accept and comprehend invisible underground space in a domestic sphere linked to membership of an intangibly governed society? We can no longer experience a true claustrophobia. ‘Globality means that we have been living for a long time in a world society, in the sense that the notion of closed spaces has become illusory’ (Beck; Sorensen, and Christiansen, ‘00, p.10). To confirm Forster’s greatest fears:1 the prospect of an underground studio flat is not quite the architectural horror it once was.

fig.30 Part of the basement plan catalogue (fig.2) fig.31 Map of London by author (fig.5) fig.32 Photograph of Chung King Mansions elevation (Field, 2008). fig.33 The lower ground floor plan of the Adelphi (Rasmussen, ‘74, p.183)

Harries puts forward the idea that communications technology has allowed us a reconsideration of domestic space as ‘a place we just happen to 1. In his book The Machine Stops, Forster describes a dystopian society by describing the life of a person who lives underground in a hyper-serviced room (1909)

CITY

occupy and may want to exchange for another’ (‘98, p.172). Harvey offers a similar message when he says that ‘The home becomes a private museum to guard against the ravages of time-space compression.’ (‘89, p.214) EM Forster’s The Machine Stops presents an image of an apartment-space solely through which he manages to describe a dystopia. What does the architecture of domestic basement spaces tell us of society? The proverb: ‘Magna civitas, magna solitudo: a great city is a great solitude’ (Mulfinger, ‘96; Stathos, ‘96, p.10), explains a paradox and Harries questions the success of communications technology ‘Genuine intimacy demands a different kind of proximity’ (‘98, p.172). These statements must now be challenged. There is a need for us to reinterpret ourselves within cities, redefining solitude.

fig.35 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. A taxi hosts an advertisement clearly aimed at tourists and a man leans back while he tries to frame the Victoria and Albert Museum facade.

fig.34 Concept diagram by author inspired by a quote from Harvey: ‘the home is an antique for living in’ (‘89, p.215)

fig.35 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. A taxi hosts an advertisement clearly aimed at tourists and a man leans back while he tries to frame the Victoria and Albert Museum facade.

fig.34 Concept diagram by author inspired by a quote from Harvey: ‘the home is an antique for living in’ (‘89, p.215)

When in a basement space, do we feel like we are in South Kensington? Harries asks: ‘if modern life demands minimizing the importance of distance and that means inevitably also the significance of place, does it also demand the death of an architecture that grants a sense of place?” (‘98, p.172) In this instance it seems so if ‘place’ is taken for its traditional definition. Bachelard deconstructs the French language: ‘the la (there) is so forceful, that to designate being (l’etre) by etre-la is to point an energetic forefinger that might easily relegate intimate being to an exteriorised place.’ (‘58, p.218) and here lie architectural consequences of globalisation, ‘ontological aspects of the problem are sharply summarized in a geometrical fixation.’ (p.220) Basement living, however, relies upon a contextual disconnect only bearable to a mindset that dwells almost purely in ‘place’. A study of the contemporary quantification of domestic space to currency has contributed to an understanding of continuing globalisation. Gentrification processes which promote the quantifying of space can be translated as the expression of a 21st century hyper-gentrification epoch. These new basements are not the voids we assume them to be and stand to express the beginnings of a legacy of new domestic and urban values in response to 21stc society, the architectural expressions of which require intervention. One questions the very constructs by which we demarcate spaces of intimacy. With his poem, ‘Michaux has juxtaposed in us claustrophobia and agoraphobia’ an interesting hypothetical considering Mulfinger’s proverb on solitude, ‘he has demolished the lazy certainties of the geometrical intuitions[...]’ (Bachelard, ‘58, p.220). So how must architecture and urban design accommodate exteriorised and globalised psyches that are no longer capable of complete solitude? Furthermore, how can architecture manipulate this towards a universal advantage in London?

fig.36 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. Seven world famous cultural institutions are signposted above the opening of a dark underground tunnel, written in Edward Johnston’s font for London Underground.

New urban block design As an extension of the ideas which formed the DSN concept, the following design is for a complete segment of a new urban metabolism all inspired by the contemporary use of basement space in South Kensington. It is a spatial network which embraces and encourages the architectural qualities of underground space. It is a hyper-version of the Iceberg home. The scheme proposes a hyper-dense block of hyper-serviced domestic spaces (HDB) that sits half-above and half-below ground. In this block, private cinemas, indoor swimming pools, bedsits, storage spaces, and dormitories etcetera will all be found in a complex arrangement understood solely by its respective occupants as a whole. The block embraces the architectural value of underground space. It will be accessed through a network of public spaces several metres below street level.

fig.37 (oposite) Concept model montage by author showing a hyper-dense block situated within a giant excavation in SK.

HDB osed Prop

Thur urlo oe St S re reet et

Exhib ibit iti tio

n Road

HDB Plan one 1:250@A1 - fig.38

HDB Plan two First floor level. 1:250@A1 - fig.39

HDB osed Prop

Thur urlo oe St S re reet et

Exhib ibit iti tio

n Road

HDB Plan one 1:250@A1 - fig.38

HDB Plan two First floor level. 1:250@A1 - fig.39

Expandable commercial units

Su ubt b er erra rrra ane n an a way y 52

HDB Plan three Basement floor level. 1:250@A2 - fig.40

HDB Plan four Several storeys below ground level. 1:250@A2 - fig.41

Expandable commercial units

Su ubt b er erra rrra ane n an a way y 52

HDB Plan three Basement floor level. 1:250@A2 - fig.40

HDB Plan four Several storeys below ground level. 1:250@A2 - fig.41

HDB Section one 1:250@A2 - fig.42

HDB Section two 1:250@A2 - fig.43

HDB Section one 1:250@A2 - fig.42

HDB Section two 1:250@A2 - fig.43

HDB Section three 1:250@A2 - fig.44

HDB Section four 1:250@A2 - fig.45

HDB Section three 1:250@A2 - fig.44

HDB Section four 1:250@A2 - fig.45

HDB Section five 1:250@A2 - fig.46

HDB Section six 1:250@A2 - fig.47

HDB Section five 1:250@A2 - fig.46

HDB Section six 1:250@A2 - fig.47

Hyper-serviced block As a common trait of underground space, this chapter argues the case for hyper-serviced hyper-density. An argument is made for acknowledging and encouraging the identity-generating qualities of hyper-dense environments, and the schism with exterior environments hereby required. The stigmas associated with subterranean space are observed in London by Rasmussen in his analysis the Adelphi, a 17c. housing estate built on the bank of the Thames: ‘this pile of human dwellings, one class over the other’ incredibly, also included underground streets with names such as ‘Subterranean Way’ for service workers etcetera (Rasmussen, ‘74, p.183). The Adelphi may have even inspired H.G. Wells’ The Story of The Days To Come—‘In the nineteenth century, the lower quarters were still beneath the sky’ (Wells; Rasmussen, ‘74, p.183). Here being beneath the sky is considered a definitive luxury. This project seeks to reevaluate the subterrain. As illustrated in Cities Without Ground, vital interior public spaces in Hong Kong which transcend the ground plane are little understood infrastructurally. There are many number of these internal streets which connect important buildings yet remain private property and as such fail to reach their potential contribution to the urban environment—in a similar manner to the tube in London of which there remains no complete 3D visualisation. Visualisation is the key to reevaluation. Koolhaas’ ‘needle and globe’ idea offer a useful analogy as an archetypal contrast of the outer limits of architectural choices. (‘94, p.27) This analogy fits with the tube logo and the tube. The basement is, at

fig.48 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. A bus drives past the Ismaili Centre on Cromwell Road. The dome of the Victoria and Albert Museum is at once a globe and a needle.

present, a globe. Could we choose to see it as a needle? It is here poignant to note that the dual purpose of the Latting Observatory, a needle, was to offer a Renaissance-style overview of the city. At the stage where it is the basement that becomes as conspicuous as the Latting Observatory, in this case through journalistic media, what perspective does it offer us of London? De Carteau comments on the difficulty of representing a city: ‘in relation to representations, it remains daily and indefinitely other.” Barthes explains that ‘the city is truly a language’ (1975, 92) but it is neither successfully written nor successfully read. Anything which offers an overview therefore, remains of fascination. Koolhaas’ theories on bigness in buildings may be applied to the condition of urban design in SK. ‘Interior and exterior architectures become separate projects, one dealing with the instability of programmatic and iconographic needs, the other offering the city the apparent stability of an object.’ (‘02, p.494) Facade becomes a device through which we understand basements. The units of scale here can be adjusted and perhaps the SK streetscape can be considered the building and the facade, and the globalised contemporary domestic space (including basement) can be considered the interior. Basements are symptomatic of ‘bigness’.

fig.49 Extract from planning application for 30 Brompton square

As recognised by Koolhaas, one interesting trait of skyscrapers and buildings of ‘bigness’ is a severance with nature. ‘the immensity of its interior precludes any reference to external reality’ (‘94, p.74) This severance is acknowledged in projects such as Murray’s Roman Gardens; the botanical gardens in the Globe Tower; and South Kensington’s 31 Brompton Square basement extension. Suddenly, the innocent pot plant becomes a harbinger of ‘bigness’. Many SK basement extension design drawings illustrate pot plants and other forms of pastiched nature (see fig.49 above). ‘Bigness = urbanism vs. architecture.’ (‘02, p.494) These additions located within domestic spaces speak of urban design and they are a subconscious confession of the wider-reaching implications of mega-basements. Underground spaces are contextualised by the journey preceding them; communications technology; and architectural gestures within. In the proposed development at 30 Brompton Square, within the otherwise estranged floor plan on basement level -3 (see fig.51 overleaf), there is a spa in the form of two egg-shaped pods and a swimming pool. These forms are a physical offering of pseudo-context in the absence of another. ‘These voices’, said Huxley, listening to Madrigals while under the influence of mescaline, ‘they’re a kind of bridge back to the human world.’ (‘54, p.15)

fig.49 Extract from planning application for 30 Brompton square

HDB section #5

fig.52 Lights designed to imitate stars are sunken into the ceiling above a basement swimming pool (Carr, ‘13)

But what happens when we become accustomed to the pseudo-context? ‘What is unique in Coney Island — is that this false daytime is not regarded as second-rate. Its very artificiality becomes an attraction.’ (Koolhaas, ‘94, p.35) This concept can be used as a design tool in the HDB project—it can be designed for bigness. Being beneath the sky is no longer a definitive luxury. Hyper-density is more conducive to opulent lifestyles than it once was. A new densification strategy can be proposed which seeks to sustainably expand locations. The terraced facade is a device that permits the use of basement space. For the Londoner, it is a spike and the basement is a globe. Where, then, does this design sit? Could it be a needle and a globe? The next chapters will examine the mental and physical implementation of a dissonant architectural language within South Kensington.

Brompton Square Floor Plan G-3

fig.50 (opposite) Pseudo-contexts within the HDB design (by author) fig.51 Proposed basement floor plan for 30 Brompton Square, design by HWO Architects (‘08)

HDB section #5

fig.52 Lights designed to imitate stars are sunken into the ceiling above a basement swimming pool (Carr, ‘13)

Brompton Square Floor Plan G-3

fig.50 (opposite) Pseudo-contexts within the HDB design (by author) fig.51 Proposed basement floor plan for 30 Brompton Square, design by HWO Architects (‘08)

fig.53 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. The grand rendered facade stops abruptly to reveal bricks and some modest openings.

fig.54 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14.A sandwich shop ‘Fresh Bake’ sits beneath Exhibition Road, accessed from the Victorian footway. The barrelled ceiling, while strewn with pipes and cables, is clad in glazed ceramic tiles. This decorative undercroft is a successful articulation of the notion of subterranean architectural value.

fig.53 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. The grand rendered facade stops abruptly to reveal bricks and some modest openings.

Super-imposed hyper-density This chapter discusses how the conflicting architectural languages of preserved SK and the HDB might be circumnavigated or even embraced as a means of communicating this project as a secondary realm superimposed on the existing. Threshold becomes an important consideration. Developing a notion and an architectural expression of value in the subterrain will involve designing infrastructure. Tube stations such as Ian Ritchie’s at Bermondsey demonstrate a desire to connect, or blur, above and below ground. More recently, Foster + Partner’s Cross Rail Station at Canary Wharf has embodied the idea that a station is not necessarily a transitory space but can be a cultural hub, or destination. Furthermore, as Coney Island’s 24-hour daytime illustrated, new spatial qualities can be appreciated which make synthesised environments places in their own right. The HDB will use load-bearing brick walls. Excavated London clay might be baked to bricks. The facade will represent that of an exposed basement wall and the building will be placed in equal parts above and below ground. Following the success of the Georgian house structure, the load bearing exterior walls of the HDB would allow for a very flexible interior which may develop over time when internal walls are repositioned. The column layout copies the successful Georgian terrace dimensions at 5 metres intervals. Interior circulation though elevators will emphasise the lack of importance put on experience of journey and maximum importance on spatial efficiency, pragmatism and destination. Elevators are a good example of a gesture which might be used intentionally in the HDB as a way of communicating a divide in the fig.55 (opposite) An early model depicting abstracted facades and basements. The HDB, envisioned as two blocks, sits conspicuously among the floating objects of SK.

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fig.56 Spaces ordered to a hierearchy of public-perception which almost correlates to physical altitide. fig.57 (opposite) A photograph of the basements and facades of SK concept model reflected in a pool of water. fig.58 (overleaf) Another photograph of the concept model.

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way space and time is experienced, and for catalysing bigness. In existing contemporary basement developments, the Londoner is tolerant of being underground. In the HDB the Londoner is ignorant of being below, or above, ground. It will be possible to enter the HDB through an elevator and not be aware of ground level—an example of manipulating the value of underground space. Learning from the follies of the London Underground that plunges users into contextless-darkness between stops such that their bearings are degraded; and going one step further than skyscrapers where a panorama of geographical context is always offered: Londoners in this new dense block will know only the whitewashed Georgian facade—through which they entered several seconds past—and the well-lit homely space they find themselves in. Density by design is an anticlimax (de Graaf, ‘11) but the conditions which encourage it can be implemented. ‘Hong Kong may be one of the few cities where one finds people in pyjamas strolling in shopping malls’ (Abbas, ‘97, p.88). The hyper-density of HK has lead to an environment of ‘heterogeneity, vitality’ and ‘complexity’ (Lok, ‘11, p.18). But hyperdensity is not merely a linear extension of density. The kind of diversity that Jacobs endorsed may be a catalyst to obtaining the state of ‘hyper’. The said heterogeneity is an important feature, one which the previously proposed DSN would encourage. The scheme will not be overtly obvious from the street and there will only be four points of access. ‘As the future landing points of the as yet free-floating planet, the socles are invested with a special mystique.’ (Koolhaas, ‘94, p.75) The threshold is important in order to emphasise this is not infrastructure, it is a realm of an alternative urbanism, integrated but also super-imposed on the existing.

fig.61 An early axonometric section expressing a desire to transcend the ground plane with a different architectural language that challenges the demarcation of inside and outside and the preconceptions of what makes a public space.

fig.59 and fig.60 are thumbnails of sections #1 and 2.

Without acknowledging inferiority to Exhibition Road and without attempting to bring the sky down underground, it superimposes itself upon the existing. The architectural language generated by such an attitude results in the ability to place buildings above-ground which still speak the language of those underground. An opportunity arises for juxtaposing inside and outside as previously mentioned in the work of Michaux. Blurring and comparing this relationship with that of above and below, the next chapter will read into the comparison between the different architectural languages. 75

fig.59 and fig.60 are thumbnails of sections #1 and 2.

fig.62 (above) Thumbnail of plan #3. fig.63 (opposite) â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Subterranean Wayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Dynamic facades offer interest in all directions. The columns are informed by Georgian Terrace structures above and walking through them leads to the HDB entrance. Basement spaces have developed facades using Mock-Georgian style openings.

77 7 7

fig.64 (above) Thumbnail of section #4. fig.65 (opposite) A view towards the entrance of the HDB. The underground infrastructure is visible beneath a terraced row on Thurloe Street.

fig.66 (above) Thumbnail of section #5. fig.67 (opposite) A three-dimensional visualisation of the HDB interior showing a cross-section through swimming pools, tube stations and a space with a synthesised sky.

81 81

Re-contextualisation The site is located in the existing lowered-ground area where the District Line emerges and connects to the tube station. The typical SK city block contains an area divided into private gardens used exclusively by the surrounding houses. In London’s climate these spaces are seldom used and are also usually in shade1. As such, in a densely populated area such as SK these gardens are an inefficient use of space, ideal for the location of this design. During first-hand research viewing basement apartments in South Kensington with Joudie Callah2, she mentioned that in some basements the rumble of the tube can be felt. The experiential connection of these two covert features of South Kensington—the tube and the basements—is inspiring. Alexander explains this phenomenon—‘I believe that a natural city has the organisation of a semi-lattice; but that when we organise a city artificially, we organise it as a tree.’ (‘66, p.1) Cities function and grow like mycelium. At present SK tube station is situated in a pit with a partial, translucent roof. There is a high wall all around, suggesting that the station is an undesirable attribute. The site could be a stage for the connection of the basement and the tube. As proposed, the tube lines will be completely excavated such that from some view-points they will appear as Berlin’s S-Bahn. An invitation and a challenge to reassess their presence in the city. The trains will then pierce through the HDB, perhaps rumbling past swimming pools or home cinemas along their way (See visualisation on p.81).

1. The conclusion of environmental analysis conducted in Essay 1: building / site analysis 2. Joudie Callah is a saleswoman for the South Kensington branch of Foxtons Estate Agents.

fig.68 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. A rare glimpse of the dynamic scene where the tube station and some industrial land meet the backs of houses on Thurloe Street. This scene is completely hidden from view from public space due to a high brick wall surrounding it.

1. The conclusion of environmental analysis conducted in Essay 1: building / site analysis 2. Joudie Callah is a saleswoman for the South Kensington branch of Foxtons Estate Agents.

With this excavation the existing one and two storey basements of properties on Thurloe Street will be exposed, see fig.69 below. This will provoke a reconsideration of the growing size of residential development in the area and in London. The uncovering of these spaces that were designed with no facade but a defensive and functional wall will be interesting. Beneath the inadequate brick foundations of the Georgian and Victorian houses, concrete is usually poured to form box beneath the house which in most cases acts to stabilise the original building. As such, removing the surrounding earth would not cause structural instability and would force facades to be considered as an architecture with a duty to contribute to public space. Beneath the basements and carved from the side of the excavated pit, commercial spaces can emerge, an important architectural distinction from the hyper-serviced domestic spaces that will exist within the block (see plan #4 in fig.70 below). The rest of the outdoor space will be deliberately left empty except for a detailed paving to match that of Exhibition Road see plan#4 (below), a pattern which implies value. The result will be a sheltered, well-used and intimate common space.

fig.71 Photograph taken by author 11th April â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;14. Performers being ushered through the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Secretariatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; entrance to the Victoria and Albert Museum illustrates the performance-like nature of the area as a whole and also embody a misunderstanding of what emhances an urban environment.

fig.69 (above) Thumbnail of section #6. fig.70 (above) Thumbnail of plan #4.

fig.72 Photograph taken by author 11th April â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;14. Inhabitants of this building are quite literally dwelling within a facade.

fig.73 Photograph taken by author 11th April â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;14. The wall that hides the tube station in a pit below and the faceless rear facades of Thurloe Street.

fig.72 Photograph taken by author 11th April â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;14. Inhabitants of this building are quite literally dwelling within a facade.

fig.73 Photograph taken by author 11th April â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;14. The wall that hides the tube station in a pit below and the faceless rear facades of Thurloe Street.

Metabolism, expansion, discourse In Forster’s The Machine Stops, one of the terrifying features of the dystopian underground society he describes is the slightly-curving tunnel that is, by nature, a space for moving through, but although linear, offers no destination. Tunnels are the antithesis in form of valuable space: they exist in relation to places, hence the architectural horror of a curving tunnel, an efficient form ubiquitous in, and synonymous with, the subterrain. The London Underground is a vital part of the city but while culture has crept into its stations and cars, it merely imposes an idea of place on the system as a whole. The architectural language is linear and as such it merely succeeds in connecting two above ground locations. The adequacy of the simplicity of Beck’s famous Tube Map is testament to the lack of the tube’s experiential quality. This project, contrarily, proposes to identify and innovate a sense of architectural and urban value in the subterrain, an important distinction. Constant’s New Babylon mapping styles are a useful precedent here, they depict a new order, a new language of space directly over conventional city maps. Although distinct from the language of the cityplan, there is inevitably a conversation between the two. The subterranean traffic introduces a new model of theatrical economy where an infinite number of simultaneous performances can be given by a single rotating cast, each play both isolated from and intertwined with all the others. (Koolhaas, ‘94, p.53)

fig.74 Plan of proposal for concourse (underground) level of the Rockerfeller centre in New York (Koolhaas, ‘94, p.198). fig.75 & 76 are thumbnails of section #4 and plan #3 by author.

fig.77 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. Lanterns for the Victorian footway beneath Exhibition Road pierce through and become public seating areas —a discourse between above and below ground.

fig.78 Photograph taken by author 11th April ‘14. A lantern illuminating the busy Victorian footway leading to the station.

The theme park infrastructure discussed is a good metaphor for city-life, and especially apt in London. Above and below ground can be a discourse. The proposed circulation space (See plan #3 and section #4) avoids the pitfalls of existing underground transitory spaces such as in the tubenetwork and the Victorian footway that already exists. The underground public space will conceive to generate a horizon which Harries identifies is universally ‘an image of liberty’ (‘98, p.170). The space creates as much lateral openness as possible leaving just a suggestion of the Georgianterraced structure above in the form of load-bearing columns. This will create a space that ‘flows from one facility to the next without a single step [...] an architectural approximation of the stream of consciousness.’ (Vilder, ‘91, p.46) It also connects the main building with a proposed new common space, the tube and the Victorian footway. Mental anchors from the city above become visible landmarks in this city below. In the City of the Captive Globe it is independence which permits the architectural schism and an identity to be expressed. This mass descention has implications on the rest of the city, especially when applied to Harries’ fears in an age of communications technology. To sojourn in the HDB therefore contradicts the statement that inside is concrete and outside is vast. (Bachelard, ‘58, p.216) Thus is the paradox of the City of the Captive Globe and the contemporary potential of subterranean space. It is a necessary schism which permits the generation of an identity and the potential for expansion. Urban design using this new palette of ideas undermines and subjugates the existing physical city. Geographical extrapolation of this language becomes a device for reinterpreting South Kensington. Harvey comments on Baudelaire’s postmodernist philosophy regarding “the double-coding architecture must embody: ‘a popular traditional one which like spoken language is slow-changing, full of cliches and rooted in family life,’ and a modern one rooted in a ‘fast-changing society, with its new functional tasks, new materials, new technologies and ideologies’” (‘90, p.83). It is poignant to consider this philosophy tangibly enacted within the contrasting languages of South Kensington, above and below ground. Embodied within subterranean development in SK is a set of ideas distinctly divergent from that of above-ground SK. Although physically inferior, the concepts which govern this growing realm form a city in their own right, the structuring ideologies of which lead us on to bigger questions. 92

fig.79 (above) Drawings explain the location of the HDB. fig.80 (overleaf) Map illustrates the potential extrapolation of the language of this new urban condition.

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Conclusion A rich cultural heritage promoted the codifying, preserving and subsequent monetisation of South Kensington’s housing stock. This situation constitutes a contemporary urban dilemma warranting further study. Furthermore, the proliferation of underground development that offers no physical contribution to the streetscape appears unsustainable. Basement extensions are symptomatic of SK’s problems. Verticality is culturally stigmatised, but now there is a sign of an architectural shift in values within this rigid cityscape. As a way of understanding said shift in values, a real estate network concept was developed which attempted to manipulate the shift in values in order to aid accessibility to Albertopolis. The DSN does not just propose private space but spaces for the city, to add a more accessible layer to Albertopolis. Basements are globalised spaces. Understanding this, a new spatial system for the city can be proposed that usurps the constructs of preservation and saturation. The spatiality of this world of architecture is explored. Following drawings and diagrams that began to reify the network concept, and because of these efforts, a social condition is observed. Literature on globalisation and the discourse of space and place offer a theoretical standpoint using which a justification for basement space is proposed as a symptom of the exteriorisation of being to a global village. A project which addresses ‘urban metabolism’ is hereby proposed. The project consists of three components which follow three theoretically divergent strategies, an elevated block of ‘hyper-density’; a superimposed basement level circulation strategy; and a location beneath the block for the expansion of existing location-ignorant urban components of a commercial nature, such as super-markets.

An argument is made for hyper-density justified by the theories on globalised mind-set and that the population in residence, of an urban neighbourhood, should not necessarily be in proportion to the physical size of the buildings but in proportion to the cultural offering of the place. A case is argued for acknowledging the identity-generating qualities of hyper-dense environments and the schism with context hereby required. The conflicting architectural languages of preserved SK and the hyper -dense block might be circumnavigated or even embraced as a means of communicating this project as a secondary realm super-imposed on the existing. Threshold becomes an important device. Reifying this proposal would undoubtedly reflect upon the established environment. The site then becomes a stage for embracing interaction between previously oppressed components such as the tube. It is speculated that the basements which inspired this project might have a changing involvement and become excavated to produce facades now that the hyper-serviced need is acknowledged and in efficient block form. The possibility of a new order of spaces within SK in discourse with the established fabric has been explored. To what extent could this language be extrapolated, physically and theoretically? Is discourse between above and below ground representative of a postmodern urban condition? Subterranean development becomes a device for the dynamic and destructive trial and error development that cities need, a technique which de Graaf observes is not new to London. In order for this program to work, the underground realm must be acknowledged with deserving city-status. Its cultural value is not tangible enough to be preserved, and it should not be.

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fig.30 Extract from fig.2

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fig.30 Extract from fig.2

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fig.66 Same as fig.46

fig.34 Drawing by aithor.

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fig.35 and 36 Photographs by author.

fig.68 Photograph by author.

fig.37 to 47 Drawings by author.

fig.69 and 70 same as fig.46 and 40.

fig.48 Photograph by author.

fig.71 to 73 Photographs by author.

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fig.79 and 80 Drawings by author.

104

105