The Conflict of The Individual and The Collective by David Brien

David Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Brien

The Conflict of the Individual and the Collective in the Negotiation of Collective Space

Derryarkin Forestry Centre: National Debt Forgiveness Programme

Thank You: Mum, Dad, Darren, Elaine, Aisling, Granny, and all of my extended family for your support and enthusiasm. Colleen, Stephen, Kevin, Aifric, Fortunato, Kate, Darragh, Cian, Deirdre, Aisling, Claire, Kieran, Ger and all of my friends for indulging me and distracting me when necessary. Paul Moore, Nigel Orr and Aileen Mullane for more or less everything. The Fifth Year Staff for their advice and guidance through the course of this study. Also the staff that I have encountered throughout my college life for their patience, honesty and expertise. All of my classmates, all the way through this course for your hard work, talent, masking tape and lack of staples.

CONTENTS Part 1

Introduction: Brief

Part 2

Architectural Position

Part 3

Typologies

Part 4

Developing the Brief

Part 5

Design Stage 1

Part 6

Research 1: ReCycle

Part 7

Design Stage 2

Part 8

Research 2: The White Tulip

Part

Tectonic Design

Part 10

Design Stage 3

Part 11

The Public Space

Part 12

Final Design

Introduction

DERRYARKIN FORESTRY CENTRE THE ACCELERATED DEBT FORGIVENESS PROGRAMME, DERRYGREENAGH BOG

Bogs represent a duality of mythical landscape and energy resource. The history associated with the bog, and often found preserved immaculately in the bog, presents a source of mythicism and folklore that runs deep in Irish culture. Simultaneously, the energy that the bog provides is an invaluable resource that helps to heat many of our homes. This hostile landscape that has been an ivaluable national natural resource provides an environement in which to develop an architecture for a voluntary community. The creation of a facility for a specific shared purpose acts as a device through which the conflict inherent in all communal architecture between the individual and the collective can be analysed. This project wishes to continue the story of the Boglands as a natural energy reserve, through the harvesting of birch trees for use as a biofuel in the existing Edenderry Power Station. Birch trees would be grown for their high calorific content and because the Downy Birch grows well in bogs.

This project seeks to critique the development of a willful community in an isolated context. The bog historically has combined myth with machine; it is part romantic Ireland of druids and ceremony and part invaluable natural resource. This project seeks to continue the story of the bog in such a manner, creating a narrative through which our recent national relationship with land value, wealth and debt can be critiqued, and through which the bog can continue to be a productive national resource. This backdrop is a device through which the creation of a voluntary community can be studied and the conflict of the individual and the collective in communal spaces can be explored. The architectural investigation into the creation of communal spaces, the manner in which they function and the design for balance between individual behaviour and collective needs is given the freedom to be grounded in Derryarkin Bog as a result of the provocative device that is a Programme for National Debt Acceleration.

The provision of spaces for intimate interaction as well as communal activity allow both spaces to compliment each other, allowing for spaces of collective bonding as well as individual expression. The balance of these spaces, and the manner in which the individuals take ownership of them depending on their inhabitation, allows for an architecture that is more democratic and engenders more citizenship than otherwise. This project seeks to be a case study in how people relate to public space, publicness and belonging to a collective. The variety in spatial experiences and in scales of inhabitation is intended to be a critique of the over simplification of our understanding of the value of public space and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design in the recent past.

This project seeks to place the individual in the context of a voluntary community in Derryarkin Bog. The location of the buildings and their orientation is designed to create a sense of immersion in the boglands as an environment. It is located along the existing rail network, with the complex overlooking large areas of stripped bog towards Croghan Hill. The buildings themselves are designed to offer variety in the manner in which they can be inhabited. When spaces are provided that allow for a sense of ownership to be engendered in an individual, this has the effect of also instilling a sense of responsibility and pride. Through the interweaving of spaces for the inhabitation by the individual, by the few, and by the many, this project forms a community with a natural sense of democracy and interconnectedness. The role of the individual is respected, while framing that as a participatory role within the collective.

Architectural Position

Introduction Architecture exists in the relationship between Man and his constructed environment. As such, it is a social phenomenon, arising naturally out of ones everyday experience. Anywhere there is construction, economy, agriculture, there exists architecture, mediating between man and nature. The omnipresence of architecture makes it an important part of everyday life, and places it at the centre of considerations related to the well-being of man. Recent history has seen architecture refined to a self referential discipline; as such architecture is judged purely as an object of architecture, i.e. as an aesthetic article. While this may seem perfectly reasonable, it fails to take into consideration the fact that architecture is a complex system that must be evaluated on a number of criteria that includes aesthetics, but that aesthetics is framed within a broad complex of ethical concerns, that also includes sociological, political, infrastructural and sustainable issues. Architecture is not an object; it exists in the relationship between object and subject as the event that creates objective and subjective experiences. To only analyse the objective elements of architecture is to miss out on a large portion of itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s value and importance. The Ethics and Aesthetics of Sustainability Ethics are the value matrix possessed by every individual that allows them to make decisions on what is good and what is right, or the complex system by which we evaluate the various factors present in each condition. These matrices interact with each other to create complex opinions and value systems. Every individual has a unique set of values, which gives them a unique ethical system. When a person belongs to a particular culture, that culture strongly shapes these values, which is why culturally similar people have many common values, and a similar moral code[1].

Above and Right This project exists on the corner of 2 communities divided by Culture and Politics.Just by being there, it has provided a point of interaction and commonality between these communities. I admire its modesty; it belies a complexity of ambition; it shows a generosity to and understanding of context that is notable.

Aesthetics are the values associated with sensory experience. The role of design within architecture is to create a framework whereby the experience of the architecture is paramount. In contemporary society,the word aesthetics has predominately come to mean visual aesthetics, at the expense of all other aesthetic experiences. This has reduced the depth of meaning in architecture; by rejecting the rest of physical experience as not aesthetic, the visual has become fetishised. In the process of reading an object as a mere image, that object is emptied of much of its original meaning[2]

Architecture is not about the objectification of artefacts of beauty; it is about the experience of the world through the human body. Aesthetics is the process by which this experience is understood, and through an understanding of aesthetics, the architect may be able to create predictable aesthetic experiences. As such, aesthetics is one of the matrices that makes up the complex value system that is an individuals code of ethics. In “The Architecture of Deceit” (1984), Diane Ghirardo admonishes the glorification of Style in architecture, pointing out how it’s glorification by architects and critics becomes more important than analyses of architecture validity, usefulness and quality. The emphasis by Ghirardo on a Social Dividend for architecture is important, as if all architecture does is erect edifices to style, architecture becomes an endless parade of ego, or in her words a “meaningless and consumable artefact” rather than a meaningful social act. [3]

Above and Right This represents the ANTITHESIS of cultural generosity and sensitivity to context. It captures a cultural shift to PROPERTY as COMMODITY, and the fetishisation of short term speculation

In contemporary society, sustainability is one of the biggest value questions facing us today. For a large period of the last 20 years, development has been undertaken at a ferocious pace, and the architects role in controlling and considering the built environment we create has been put under enormous stress. Land during the Celtic Tiger could be said to have been fetishised, and the value of many architectural undertakings were solely defined on their objective value[4]. Architecture should seek to balance this narrow definition of value by considering its potential as a resource, both in terms of a finite physical commodity and as a cultural commodity, and ensuring that what we build, where we build and how we build are carefully considered and appropriate in each case. To narrow the definition of value to simply how-much-can-this-be-sold-for is to commodify buildings and land to an extreme degree, often overlooking the basic fact that buildings tend to last a very long time. Sustainability is a much bigger issue than just carbon emissions and net zero buildings. While these things are valuable in their own right, they only form part of the matrix called sustainability, in conjunction with other concerns, such as a buildings use, the frequency with which it is used, the pride that it’s communities have in it, and many others. In many ways, the obsession with the Green movement that identifies itself with Carbon Neutral buildings and Photo Voltaic technology is similar to the manner in which developers obsessed themselves with land value as a commercial dividend; it’s a convenient manner in which to package a product that makes it easier to sell.

The Conflict of the Individual and the Collective If cultures do share common ethical systems, then the architecture is the most permanent, largest manifestation of their ethics. It embodies and displays their values; it represents their view of themselves in the context of history through their treatment of historic architecture, their view of their projection into the future through their new buildings and their view of themselves as an existing culture through their patterns of inhabitation. Seen in this light, public space is the platform on which a culture demonstrates their own sense of worth on a daily basis. In post-Celtic Tiger Ireland, our public space tells an unusual story, which is very indicative of how Irish culture views itself and how it got there. A large number of the public spaces have become privatised; gates are erected to control the times a square can be accessed, private security discourage antisocial behaviour, people are being paid to collect litter, and so on. The privatisation of public space has led to a decline in a sense of individual responsibility. The replacement of a self editing process that exists because the community had a sense of civic duty with a system that relies on hired help who are paid to perform that function has led to an emptying of the moral values that made people perform those tasks of their own volition in the first place[5]. There is no doubt that any culture needs public spaces in order to thrive, but the rarefied spaces of ownership obsessed Ireland have become places for individual rebellion. A conflict exists between individual behaviour and collective needs. In recognising this conflict, opportunities begin to show themselves. The Ethics of Architecture

Above and Right The CITY can be a place that harbours threats and provokes paranoia. Equally the INVERSE IS TRUE. The city can be a powerful and rich source of diversity, communication and optimism. This can only be the case because of the volume of people, and complexity of interaction between them. This overwhelmed Peter Searle, as he shows in this painting, “Menace”.

Because ethics form the value system that generate the decision making process and the process by which we assign value to our experiences, they are fundamental to understanding architecture and it’s role in society. In Robert Pirsig’s philosophy, the Metaphysics of Quality, he places Quality at the centre of the object-subject divide, in a manner that places it in a similar realm to the ethics outlined here. Quality is the pre-conscious experience of humans, that exists at the point where they have been culturally taught to create a Subject-Object divide[6]. An awareness of Quality as being the metaphysical property of all things that gives them the attributes that we respond to, allows us to assign value to experience in a manner that does not

necessarily objectify the experience. Quality for Pirsig seems to equate to an approximation of ethics in so far as it forms the value filter through which we experience and interpret the world. In it he says somewhat polemically: In our highly complex organic sate we advanced organisms respond to our environment with an invention of many marvellous analogues. We invent earth and heavens, trees, stones and oceans, gods, music, arts, language, philosophy, engineering, civilisation and science. We call these analogues reality. And they are reality... But that which causes us to invent the analogues is Quality. Quality is the continuing stimulus which our environment puts upon us to create the world in which we live. All of it. Every last bit of it.[6]

Above and Right Two images of CULTURAL ARCHITECTURE. It begs questions about which is richer; the haptic or the controlled? Which is more generous to its users? Where would one feel a greater sense of control and possession of their built environment?

Pirsig elaborates his Quality system into patterns with a hierarchy in his second book Lila: An Enquiry into Morals: inorganic, biological, socio-cultural and intellectual. Each value system, or moral code, exists independently of the other, which often leads to conflict. An example he gives is of HIV; the biological pattern that creates HIV values it’s own existence and success, while the cultural system of the host victim detests anything that destroys elements of the culture it organises, including human life[1]. The thinking in the book helps crystallises the role which Ethics play in architecture. Architects exist between the socio-cultural pattern and the intellectual pattern, and success lies in supporting the patterns of both systems. It could be said that given architecture is a cultures most lasting and definite definition of it’s own ethical position, that Georgian Dublin was so successful because it supported the values of the culture that inhabited it so completely, and that Modernism was a cultural response to City making and the problems of modern life. Slowly, as the morality of the culture evolved and modified, the relationship between the citizens of the culture and the architecture they wished to create changed too. If this is accepted, then Georgianism gradually became undermined by the rise of Intellectualism in the late 19th century, while the Intellectual side of Modernism so thoroughly rejected the cultural patterns of it’s citizens that it became unworkable, and the evolution of architecture is reflective of these cultural value shifts. Successful architecture seeks to be supportive to the cultural and social patterns of the inhabitants, while still maintaining an intellectual rigour that allows for a freedom of thought and expression lacking in overly-prescriptive social patterns. After all, the joy of living

in cities is the freedom they provide; but if all they provide is freedom, with no element of social standards, all that exists is anarchy. One of architecture’s most important role is in providing the framework for these conflicting patterns to negotiate their way past and around each other. One of Pirsig’s predecessors, William James, succinctly posed the challenge with the quote: Religious genius (experience) should be the primary topic in the study of religion, rather than religious institutions—since institutions are merely the social descendant of genius[7] What this implies is that the experience is fundamental in the creation of social patterns. Communities are social patterns, so the experience of social patterns are fundamental in community. A city is an extremely complex relationship of social patterns, and so if you want to create a sense of community in the city, a common experience must be provided. But as cities become more complex, what does this mean for the creation of communities? The Aesthetic of the Collective

Above and Right CONTEXT is a framework by which we analyse the relationship of a system to a larger system it exists within. In reality, systems are extremely complex, and deserve a greater level of sensitivity and generosity than simply concerning oneself with “district” as an abstract and compartmentalised physical notion. CONTEXT is 4 dimensional and cultural.

In a City environment where the Geographical definition of a city is becoming less important than its psychological meaning[10], the creation of a community is becoming less about physical proximity and more about shared experiences. As such,provision for spaces created for the housing of collectives is necessary, but can only exist in contrast to spaces that can be inhabited and made feel individual. The dichotomy of spaces for the masses and more intimate, specific places creates communities of users who relate to each other not through geographic similarity, but cultural similarity. These spaces need to be democratic, and can only succeed if the users gain a feeling of authority and ownership over the space. The function of these spaces is to provide a counter balance to the collective public realm, not to undermine it. The necessity for spaces open to everybody is what makes successful cities feel generous and safe; it could be said that the increased privatisation of public space has led to an increased sense of paranoia about “others” and a lack of responsibility in the citizens of a city for the functioning of those places. The commodification of land has led to a scenario where people assume that looking after their city is the responsibility of somebody else[5]. Constantine Doxiadis developed a system of analysing the manner in which humans develop

settlements and how they inhabit them which involves the layering of architecture, environmental psychology, politics and sociology on top of one another to get an accurate reading on a culture. The premise of Ekistics is that Human settlements are no longer satisfactory for their inhabitants[9] This is the opening line of the book, and so immediately places Doxiadis in a position with relation to contemporary urbanism. Such a dystopian reading of today’s built environment is perhaps extreme, possibly unnecessarily so, however there is much value to be found in the book if one reads on. Ekistics is Doxiadis’ thesis on how to read and interpret human settlements on all scales. What it seeks to do is to utilise geography, environmental psychology and the sciences of the built environment in unravelling the reasons behind patterns of human settlement, and to use these to project forward to predict future changes. What is appealing in such a methodology is the understanding that architecture, politics, economics and sociology are inter-related with respect to place making. Cities grow and develop because of a complex set of stimuli, or because of the evolution of societal value matrices. The complexity of this development is very difficult to analyse and chart, and while Doxiadis’ negative readings of modern settlements may be polemical or intentionally provocative, his acceptance of various influences upon the behaviour of the citizens of a city such as politics and sociology as well as architecture and urbanism places him in opposition to the architects of objectification.

Above and Right These density studies carried out as part of the 2006 Venice Biennale struck me as odd; they represented a Dublin that emptied the closer one got to the centre. Empirically, I do not believe that. What it does highlight is the plastic sense of community that exists in Dublin; what is locality at 6am is distinct from 2pm. Dublin is a city of movement, and the relationship of edge to centre is important.

Contextually, this book was written in the 60’s at a time of deep uncertainty about the value of Modernist architecture, and an ideological vacuum following it up. His dystopian outlook is reasonable, potentially even convincing, when viewed from that perspective. A half a century has passed since then, and some of the settlements he lambasted have proven immensely successful, such as New York. Others, such as Los Angeles, continue to present a difficult problem for contemporary urbanists, and Dublin would be a challenge when viewed from a similar vantage point. It is most likely not just the “Ekistic Pattern”, or grain and massing of the city, that provides the complication, (in fact, Doxiadis would correctly not regard Dublin and Los Angeles as similar in this respect, though their problems with regard to density, reliance on motorised transport and suburban sprawl seem to be related) but it is also an infrastructural problem, and a manifestation of the fetishisation of land ownership

mentioned earlier; clearly people are, or at least were, happier being in a geographically dislocated part of Dublin if it means they can afford to buy their house, and three hours daily in a car is a price they deem worth paying. In terms of highlighting problems and dealing with them in a complete manner in which architecture plays a role, not the role, Ekistics is a more powerful mechanism than a reduction of all problems to the object of architecture (or shells). There is much talk about paradigm’s and paradigm shifts, but here there seems to be a case where Doxiadis wrote a powerful piece as the paradigm was repositioning itself. When Copernicus redefined the world as revolving around the Sun, it completely altered Man’s relationship with the universe, and yet very little changed. Change occured slowly to react to this revolution. Our Copernican Revolution occured as a consequence of the slow death of Modernism; fundamentally, nothing in architecture changed, but we knew it wasn’t working especially well. Doxiadis was someone who was trying to offer a different way of looking at the architectural universe that could potentially stabilise it once again, and while some of his conclusions may seem of little value 50 years on, his methodology of searvhing for architectural validity from all of social and cultural experience rather than only the field of architecture is extremely valuable. The thesis that true meaning has multiple sources is echoed by Deleuze and Guattari’s rhizomattic assemblages: In a book, as in all things, there are lines of articulation or segmentarity, strata and territories; but also lines of flight, movements of deterritorialization and destratification... All this, lines and measurable speeds, constitutes an assemblage. A book is an assemblage of this kind, and as such, is unattributable[10]

Above and Right In Dublin, Suburbs play the role of Supporting Cast to the City Centre. The relationship between them is important, with the Suburbs providing much of the Urban Players. How can the city react to support the physical distance between Suburb and Centre for thousands of people who exist in both every day?

The implication that truth is an assemblage of multiple, simultaneous sensory experiences reinforces the notion of community being a more complex entity than simply geographical position. The Venice Bienalle exhibition of Urban Density in 2006 shows a Dublin that empties closer the centre, a true statistic that jars with real experience. The explanation is simply that the high levels of travelling that occur in cities such as Dublin, a phenomenon known as Hypermobility, a term coined by environmentalist John Adams[14], and is one of the biggest issues facing our society, both with regard to the need for sustainability, and with regard to how it affects communal spaces.

So where does this leave the practice of architecture? It would seem that architecture concerns itself with patterns of inhabitation, with recognising the metabolism of a place and creating a framework, or an infrastructure, to support that. It is also about the provision of social platforms that allow people to relate to each other and co-exist in a supportive relationship. It is about understanding the sociology of a context, and providing the facilities that allow communities to develop and feel ownership and pride in their place. And of course, it is about making buildings. To limit the definition of architectural practice to elements of these things would be to ignore the role that architecture plays in society, a role that exists in relationship to sociology, politics, economics, etc. The Individual and Community In “Untitled Thoughts on Place and Occasion” (1962), Aldo Van Eyck questions the importance of time and space in architecture, reminding us of how they are abstractions of occasion and place. The quest for a universal in architecture (time, space, the wall, the plaza, etc.) is a fruitless ambition because architecture, and indeed most of life, does not actually exist in neatly defined object/ subject roles. As Van Eyck says: Man is the subject as well as the object of architecture...Whoever attempt to solve the riddle of space in the abstract will construct a line of emptiness and call it space[12]

Above and Right One of the fascinating things about society is the dialogue between the collective whole and the individual. There exists an complex relationship between people and the public space they occupy and feel ownership of. This conflict between the individual behaviour and the collective needs is potentially the source of an understanding for public architecture.

The understanding that architecture is a specific thing, that exists in relationship to man and supersedes the object subject divide is a lesson that serves as a reminder of the pitfalls of style. Architecture exists only in relationship with the individual, and the aesthetics of this supersede the egotism of adherence to a style. The ability of the architect to create “places” as opposed to space is of great importance, as this is where the value in public architecture exists. In other words, the responsibility of the architect is to create places where the individual can live in a relationship to the community without compromising either; not the creation of an abstracted, objectified piece of fashion for the consumption and enjoyment of a few for a while. Architecture is a lived experience, or an aesthetic experience, and a mindless fashioning of stylistic objects undermines the value of this, and simply serves to propagate images rather than genuine thought. The individual constantly subconsciously reads and rereads the overall implications of architecture and urbanism and how they effect the collective; simple

imagery is not sufficient in the creation of communities. The Role of Architecture in the Conflict of the Individual and the Collective What emerges from this is a concern for the potential released in the conflict of the individual and the collective in creating communal places. These opposing forces that exist within communities are necessary in the creation of public spaces and services that are safe to use and enjoyable to experience, and at the same time are the things that can make them threatening and dangerous. What role does architecture play in this dialogue? What can architects do to create a place of support and security for public places?

The community must be at the centre of any dialogue that is undertaken with regard to this conflict. Contemporary society exists in a condition where the community of many places are dynamic, changing on a time basis due to the high levels of mobility and the manner in which distance between people can be overcome, both through travel and digital connectivity. This lends a unique set of problems to dealing with a public architecture. Context is a woolly term as a consequence, and rationalising a social and cultural context might be the most challenging part of any project. The challenge of architecture is in creating places where people perceive a volume of people around them, lending a sense of safety, but also engenders a sense of civic responsibility too. In an era when psychological understanding of the meaning of

community is changing[8], engaging with this conflict is important in counteracting the commodification of architecture, and in engendering a sense of responsibility and pride in the built environment, a pride that will guarantee it’s continued value. This is the essence of true sustainability; society will only sustain that which it deems to be important, that which it values. Conclusion The role of architecture is to provide the facilities for all of the communities of a context to coexist, and to endeavour to support the Ekistic patterns of it’s inhabitants[9], while providing limits of ownership and responsibility for its specific community. Architecture serves a simple purpose; to allow the people that exist within it to be content. And yet the enormous complexity of that task is caused by these very people, by the peculiarities of individuals within the collective. An architecture that hides from this, becoming an object for the intellectual digestion of a small group, is not sufficient, and provides nothing for its people. On the other hand, an architecture that engages with it’s context (political, physical, sociological) will find that it embodies a conversation thatis far richer and far more enjoyable, and only by that engagement can architecture hope to bring anything at all to the table, and contribute something of value to a culture, and ultimately, prove to be sustainable.

Bibliography 1 Robert Pirsig, 1992. Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals. Edition. Bantam. 2

Neil Leach, 1999. The Anaesthetics of Architecture. Edition. The MIT Press.

Diane Ghirardo, 1966, The Architecture of Deceit; pg. 110115, Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture:: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965 - 1995. 2nd Edition. Princeton Architectural Press.

Programme Five, Fergal Keane, 2011, The Story Of Ireland, BBC Television

Jane Jacobs, 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Edition. Vintage.

Robert Pirsig, 1984. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values. Edition. Bantam.

James, 1997. Varieties of Religious Experience. Edition. Touchstone.

Nick Barley and Ash Amin, 2002. Cities: Reimagining the Urban. 1 Edition. Polity

Constantine Doxiadis, 1968. Ekistics: an Introduction To the Science of Human Settlements. 1st ed. New York: OXFORD UNIV PRESS

Felix Guattari, 2002. Thousand Plateaus. Edition. Continuum

John Adams (1999). The social implications of hypermobility. OECD Env. Directorate, Unclassified ENV/EPOC/PPC/T (99) 3/FINAL/REV1

Aldo Van Eyck, 1962, Untitles Thoughts on Place and Occasion; pg 178-180, 2007. The Architecture Reader: Essential Writings from Vitruvius to the Present. Edition. George Braziller, Inc.

ETHICS are the VALUE MATRIX each one of us has that allows us to make decisions on what is GOOD and what is right. These matrices interact with each other to create complex opinions and value systems.

SUSTAINABILITY is one of the biggest value question facing us today. We must counter the treatment of our land as COMMODITY by valuing its potential as a resource, and by ensuring its continued success and viability.

AESTHETICS is the VALUES associated with SENSORY EXPERIENCE. The role of design within architecture is to create a framework whereby the VALUES of the EXPERIENCE are evident.

Within this study, SUSTAINABILITY and AESTHETICS have a lot of value. They are united by CONTEXT and USER; in other words are related by process. Is there an aesthetic of sustainability, or a sustainable aesthetic?

AESTHETICS and SUSTAINABILITY form two components that help derive a design. There cannot be an aesthetic of sustainability without brief, context and user(s). These matrices of value then work together to coordinate design decisions (value judgements).

This study wishes to pursue the importance of CONTEXT and USERS in generating a communal architecture. The negotiation of context from micro to macro and the CONFLICT between the INDIVIDUAL and the COLLECTIVE are important.

SUSTAINABILITY AND AESTHETICS will be interrogated through the lens of ETHICS with respect to the creation of an architecture to negotiate the TENSION between the INDIVIDUAL and the COLLECTIVE. Architecture exists in the relationship between Man and his constructed environment. Architecture is NOT AN OBJECT; it is the EVENT that creates OBJECTIVE and SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCES.

TYPOLOGIES

ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE

The typologies studied were chosen for the manner in which they defined territory in a landscape. The sense of place, and of a difference between in the scheme and the sense of approach to each one was important to developing an architectural response in Derrygreenagh

Manorhamilton tomb, Leitrim Taylor Architects

Ashbourne Community College Noel Dowley

Woodland Crematorium Erik Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz La Tourrette 4 Le Corbusier

Traditional timber jointing techniques were examined, ranging from complex Japanese timber craft, to simple lap joints and shear plating. Simaultaneously, analyses of typologies such as beer halls and public houses were undertaken to establish the relationship between structure, space and inhabitation in places of public gathering. The result of these studies was a greater level of understanding about the tectonic capabilities of timber and joinery, along with a fuller understanding of the consequences of tectonic decisions on the social lives of the spaces that they create. In this project, it will be important to ensure that the structure embodies a degree of modesty and simplicity, while creating spaces that are spatially diverse and allow for different types of interaction at different scales.

Clonmacnoise became particularly important. As a collection of individual objects in a landscape that defined a very clear territory, it provided a framework for how the Debtors Forestry should at be a related collection of buildings, where each building enjoys a sense of autonomy and independence. The relationship between the buildings and their landscape is also important; parts of the project seek to isolate and enclose the user, others exposing them to the power of the surrounding landscape.

Clonmacnoise Monastery

Biomass is organic matter that is used as a source of energy. Because it is made of organic, recently living matter it is a very sustainable source of clean energy. The energy created from biomass can be converted into many different kinds of energy, meaning it can replace fossil fuels as sources of energy. This programme will be involved in the production of biomass from sustainably farmed Birch trees. Birch is a suitable crop for biomass production on the Derryarkin Bog because it is one of the few trees that thrive on the bogland. It is also highly �� transported to the Edenderry power plant thanks to the existence of the rail network developed by Bord na Mona. With bogland becoming rarer due to industrial farming, this programme will also begin a new chapter in the story of the boglands as being a productive source of sustainable energy for Ireland, while maintaining and preserving the remaining Virgin Bogland in the Midlands.

DEFINING THE BRIEF

Derryarkin Forestry Centre

What is Biomass?

FUNCTION AND USER

If you would like more information �� please note the following resources: Derryarkin Forestry Centre: http:/www.derryarkinbirchforest.ie National Debt Forgiveness Programme: http:/www.ndfprogramme.gov.ie

If you believe you might be eligible for the programme, and require further advice on the matter, please contact your local council, or you can visit the following: Money Advice & Budgeting Service(MABS) http:/www.mabs.ie/ndfprogramme helpline@mabs.ie 0761072000

National Debt Forgiveness Programme

The Derryarkin Forestry Centre was designed to be a device through which the conflict of the individual and the collective could be analysed in a wilfull community in the bog. The political backdrop to this project was conceived was also something that was important to the initial evolution of the proposal; Ireland is economically straitjacketed, with levels of personal debt higher than at any previous point in the history of the state. One thing that has not been made clear so far in the study is the function of the programme:

What Does the Debt Forgiveness Programme do?

The Nationaly Debt Forgiveness Programme came into existence to address the issue of growing household debt in Ireland. This unique programme allows individuals suffering with overwhelming debt to have an amount of their debt forgiven if they volunteer to enter this programme.

How is my debt forgiven?

While our national debt levels have risen, so too has our energy demands and environmental consciousness. This programme offers people the chance to help themselves by helping others. Participants in the programme will engage in the production of Biomass Energy from birch trees. This process is quite simple, and all necessary training and information will be provided to everyone involved in the programme. To put it simply, you will be invovled in producing clean, green energy for the country, and the government will pay you for this by relieving you of some or all of your debt.

How do I know if I am eligible? Assessors nationwide will participate with MABS services and the courts in judging whether or not the Debt Forgiveness Programme will be suitable for an individual on a case by case basis. Obviously, this programme is not for everyone, and only volunteers will be accepted. The basic requirement is a level of debt that can not be repaid, but where bankruptcy is to punitive a measure. This is a programme that seeks to forgive the most vulnerable in our society, and get them back to economic health faster than the available alternatives.

How long will I be in the programme? Again, this will be assessed on a case by case basis. Because of the nature of the work, a minimum of 6 months would be required, in order to become trained and productive. The length of your stay may not necessarily correspond to your level of debt. You will be required to work 5 day weeks, and accomodation will be provided for those who wish to stay on site.

What will I be doing in the programme? A variety ty of work will be b undertaken in t programme: the

planting felling g bucking

Who is it for? Who would volunteer? Is this a punishment or is this a cop out? Most people who declare bankruptcy in Ireland are the very wealthy; is this a service to get them “off the hook” quicker? How long are people going to stay here?

g stacking n pellet formation loading n. vehicle operation.

What do the volunteers do? Why would they do it? 1. http://www.herald.ie/news/record-numbercall-on-mabs-for-help-3077658.html

To help answer these questions, a leaflet in the style of many government information leaflets was produced, outlining the background and function of the programme. 2012 has seen a record number of individual debtors apply for MABS assistance[1], most of whom are between 26-40. These are the people the scheme was conceived for; people who could be classified as collateral damage from the fallout of the Celtic Tiger. Their levels of personal debt are potentially going to affect them for the rest of their adult lives. The National Debt Forgiveness Programme would be an option for them wherby their voluntary alternative contribution would help to offset their debt, accelerating their period of indebtedness. It is conceived as a method to alleviate problems faced by thouasands, rather than as a punishment from the economically stricken, or a cop out for the very rich. The length of time an individual agrees to participate would be their decision, with a minimum of 3 months necessary to become useful and productive. More importantly than all of this is to reinforce what this project is about from an architectural standpoint: this programme is an invention designed to critique the formation of a willful community. It is provocative, and is so intentionally, because of the circumstances Ireland has found itself in as a result of a specific relationship with land and value that has prevailed in the pst years. The provocation only serves to ground the study in the context of a contemporary Ireland.

Schedule of Accommodation CHP Plant

100sqm

Timber Drying 800sqm

4 3

Pellet Storage 400sqm Machine Store and Workshop 600sqm Long Hall; Classroom, Dining, Counselling: 794sqm Train Dock

400sqm

Graduation Building

110sqm

Dormitories 1100sqm Forested Areas

11,620,000sqm

Areas of Planting 1

Lodgepole Pine and Pedunculate Oak

Common Alder and Sitka Spruce

Hybrid Larch and Western Red Cedar

Downy Birch

Pedunculate Oak and Western Red Cedar

Downy Birch and Pedunculate Oak

Downy Birch

Managed forests operate are generally planted loosely on a grid to aid even growth and tree selection. One of three methods are generally employed for choosing which trees to harvest; line, selection or clear felling. This centre will operate a hybrid system, where line and selection will occur frequently to facilitate rapid growth, and specific zones will be selected for clear felling on a periodical basis, in this case, a 12 year cycle. After 12 years Downy Birch reaches the stage where further growth does not yield a considerable increase in volume of usable timber. The timber will be used for pelleting. This method is chosen for itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relative speed compared to the burning of large members of timber. Burning timber relies on maximum calorific yield, which is at its max per weight when the timber is dry. Timber takes on average 1 year per 30cm thickness to become dry. Pellets, on the other hand, can be made from timber that has been drying for as little as 4 weeks. For this reason, this centre will pellet the timber produced.

BIRCH YIELD PER ANNUM: 70m3/ha in wood pellets

DERRYARKIN FORESTRY CENTRE YIELD PER ANNUM: 7,080m3

= 21,633,333kWh

x 100

= 5,405 average Irish households annual energy consumption

Y The forest in which my site is based is planted on a grid as indicated. The X axis is based on the direction of peat harvesting on the adjacent stripped bog, while the Y axis is based on existing drainage furrows on the site. The building nestles into the edge of the planting.

The trees are line harvested every 8th line in the X axis, and the Y axis defines each hectare of land. This means that when an area is to be clear felled, a hectare of forest is removed.

Y X

The majority of this building is designed to be as passive as possible, with the orientation of the buildings designed to take advantage of natural light conditions, natural cross ventilation made possible due to shallow plan depths and fireplaces with large thermal mass hearths relating to the individual dorm rooms. This means that reliance on electric heating is minimised. For extra supply of power, a CHP (Combined Heat & Power) unit is located adjacent to the pellet area, which will use a small portion of the timber pellets produced to create the extra heat and power needed on site. This will be especially important for cooking and hot water.

DESIGN STAGE 1

THE ACCELERATED DEBT FORGIVENESS PROGRAMME, DERRYGREENAGH BOG

Development Sketches

The Centre is located just off the existing narrow gauge rail line that connects all of Bord na Monaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boglands. It is situated on the edge of one of the largest areas of prepared, but unharvested peatland. Unharvested peatland is extremely rare, and the utilisation of the bog for forestry as opposed to peat extraction will maintain this resource. The area where trees are grown will offset one families annual use of power for every individual participating in the Accelerated Debt Recovery Programme.

Site Plan

Study model showing oblique view

2 Approach 3

Aerial view

At this stage the project was developing characteristics of a communal settlement. There were still many challenges facing the development of the design; The obvious negative connotations brought on by the imagery used of the train pulling in was something to be careful of The role of debt and communal guilt is something that needs further investigation: Is this a labour camp or a Kibbutz?

As a device to critique a mixed, varied community, it is useful, but that critique is yet to be analysed in any great depth

Who builds it and how they do so might allow for a development of a more convincing architectural proposition

Sketch of Approach

Oblique View

The site is Glendinning Lane, a service lane off Wicklow Street, Adjacent to Suffolk Street and Grafton Street. The challenge was to povide a recycling centre for Dublin City Corporation. As a group, we created a Masterplan for the block with a number of features.

Research Through Design

RE:CYCLE

RECYCLED BICYCLE SHOP, BICYCLE LOCKING AND SHOWERS

The lane becomes a public routeway. 2. Every project actively engages with the lane 3. The mechanical and engineering services of the street are rationalised and integrated. 4. The projects respond to each other; no project is isolated. The block became a prototype for the city in terms of its waste management. We proposed that organic material and aluminium from this block plus surrounding blocks could be processed and recycled on site, with other blocks offering similar programmes for paper, glass, etc.

This project sought to provide a Bicycle Carcass recycling centre, bike maintenance classes, secure bike locking, showers and a delivery service for shoppers in the surrounding areas who chose not to drive, and use a bicycle instead.

Ground Floor Plan

1/100

1. 2. 3. 4.

Workshop and Demos Bike Shop Changing 1 Shower 1

5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

WC 1 Changing 2 Shower 2 WC 2 Delivery Storage

This project sought to confront a number of issues surrounding community, sustainability and the creation of public spaces. Community in the 21st century is no longer the geographically defined entity it once was. The rise of Hypermobility (John Adams, (1999) The social implications of hypermobility) has led to definitions of place as something more based on psychological patterns of knowledge. Thus, community is know an association of people with familiar values rather than people of geographical proximity. This project sought to provide a layer of spaces designed to respond to the multiplicities of communities existing in this part of Dublin. Moving from the very public and open front to the more private changing rooms and showers would provide a sense of connectedness with the diverse communities that is filtered through the building to give spaces purely for one of these communities at the end. Doing so allows for the building to engage with the site, and provide a community space for members from all over Dublin and its environs.

First Floor Plan

1/100

4 3 5 6 7

The creation of public spaces is a difficult thing to get right. The phenomenon of privatising communal spaces such as terraces and parks has led to a dissolution of the sense of responsibility in the citizens who occupy space, often leading to a passive attitude with regards to antisocial behaviour. In the riots in London and Manchesterin the summer of 2011, areas where the small business owners united and kept watch over their businesses suffered little to no looting, while places where large corporations were located often suffered very badly, due to a lack of anybody willing to take responsibility. In architecture, we respond to this by creating services on public spaces that wll occupy the street or square. This project investigates the definition of space as belonging to a particular group without comromising its usability for others. In this building, through the creation of a public face distilling to a Community Service, a sense of responsibility would be instilled in the individuals using the service, meaning they would not be passive â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;eyes on the streetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; but active citizens. This conflict between the individual and the collective leads to a greater definition of the publicness of the place and a greater sense of community within it.

1. 2.

Study Model Design Model

Section AA

Section BB

Section CC

Axonometric 2.

The alterations to the building were designed to intensify the journey through the building. There are no parts of the building inaccessible to the public, but the sequence of thresholds and spaces of specific quality leads to a sense of privacy and of communal purpose. This sequence of spaces is designed to initially remove the person from the street, behind the wall and upstairs(sketch 1), then back towards the large window, locating the person within the city(sketch 2), then into a centrally lit communal changing room(sketch 3) before entering a private 1. shower area(sketch 4), lit from above. The negotiation from the public realm through the intimate spaces to the individual space is a sequence that helps to unite the community of building users, locate them within the wider context of the city and instill in them a sense of responsibility with respect to the building.

Design Stage 2

NATIONAL DEBT FORGIVENESS PROGRAMME

DERRYARKIN FORESTRY CENTRE FOR BANKRUPTS AND THE HEAVILY INDEBTED

The forestry initiative has been expanded to include all of the areas of bog that have been prepared but not cut at the Derrygreeenagh site. The four areas are planted on their perimieter. Planting on the edge of the bogs will assist the preservation and sustainability of the uncut bogs, while still utilising land that is fertile enough to produce enough Birch to reach the offset targets set out earlier. The scheme has been moved on to the extension to the existing rail network, allowing the transportation of people to the forests, and the felled trees back to the centre along the existing narrow gauge railway with relative ease. Creeping bent is planted to the south of the centre to provide an area for potentially grazing animals.

A number of site strategies were tested both for the collection of the buildings and the inverse space created by their arrangement. Ultimately strategy 4 chosen as the final one

D A

Site Plan

Ground Floor Plan

1st Floor Plan

The Shed Storage of equipment, train dock, log loading area and grey water storage

The Long Hall Kitchen, communal dining area, counselling and budgetary service and classroom

The Yard Practical lessons on machine use and demonstration of forestry practice

The Chapel Induction and Graduation services and formal ceremonies

The Dorms Eight dorms to each major Unit of five units which share a common area and individual bedrooms overlooking the bog

Section AA

Section BB

Section CC

Section DD

Section through the Long Hall The vaulting communal dining area is complimented by the smaller seating areas adjacent and the gallery above; all of these spaces serve different purposes for the community, and rely on the existence of the contrasting spaces for value.

Section through the Chapel The top lit room serves the important function of welcoming incoming members of the programme into the community, and providing for their release. The act of ceremonialising the end of the period of stay here serves to psychologically create a definite alteration in the individuals relationship with the collective

At this stage, the project is beginning to create a communal condition dependant on the participation and behaviour of individuals. The arrangement and design of the buildings is defining a set of conditions that are variously communal and individual, with the realtionships between the big spaces and the intimate space of particular interest. There are still a number of tasks to be dealt with: The central area needs to be designed properly. It is a very important space for the success of the scheme, and to ignore it would be detrimental. The tectonic of the buildings needs careful attention. The creation of different strata of space for different levels of occupation is beginning to become apparent, but the manner in which this is articulated is crucial, and will be resolved tectonically. The relationship between the decked external area, the undecked courtyard and the buildings needs analysis. The ritual of daily life in this community will help to inform how things should be, in a logical and convincing manner. This is a device to analyse a willful community. The design of the buildings at every scale is crucial to the success of this as a community.

Research Through Design

THE WHITE TULIP, ROOM 102 A HOSTEL ROOM FOR 17 PEOPLE

This project deals with the conflict created when 17 people sleep in a room 8m x 5m for 4 nights. The hostel room is nominally â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;designedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for 12 people, so matresses were put on the ground and personal space was removed. The project seeks to create various strata of ownership with regrad to the spaces, to more comfortable deal with such compressed and unusual temporary living patterns

1 Axonometric 2 Plan of Lower Beds 3 Plan of Upper Beds

1 2

View from Balcony View towards Window

Model Studies

TECTONIC DESIGN

CONSTRUCTION AS A METHOD OF MAKING SPACE

To begin with, it was necessary to examine the tectonic elements of the design. The barrel vaulted long hall represented both the most tectonically complex and architecturally rich part of the building, so that was scrutinised first.

The long dining hall is designed as the main formal eating space in the project. The daily meals provided to the volunteers are communally eaten at a single long dining table in a large open volume. The smaller alcove spaces adjacent to the dining hall and the balconies above provide a distinct contrast in terms of scale and inhabitation.

Detail A

Double Glazing in Fixed Oak Frame with treated oak ledge on 2 x 50mm x 125mm studs on Damp Proof Membrane

50mm x 125mm timber framed built in seating at height of 400mm finished in birch plywood with the edges sanded and painted black

25mm Birch Plywood on 2 x 25mm cross batons on Damp Proof Membrane on 300mm x 200mm Glulam Frame with 200mm sheepswool insulation

25mm Birch Floor Decking on 300mm x 200mm Glulam Frame @ 3000mm cc with 75mm x 200mm cross beams with 200mm sheepswool insulation Damp Proof Course and Radon Barrier with treated Birch Plywwood exterior

Detail B Annodized Aluminium with standing seams @ 500mm cc on 25mm Birch Plywood on Damp Proof Membrane on 300mm x 200mm Glulam Frame @ 3000mm cc with 75mm x 200mm cross bracing with 200mm sheepswool insulation on breather membrane on Birch Plywood finish

Aluminium Gutter with Birch Plywood facing

Double Glazing in Hinged Oak Frame with treated oak head notched for drip

Birch Floor Decking 25mm on 25mm Plywood on 300mm x 200mm Glulam Joists @ 3000mm cc with 75mm x 200mm Joists at 1000mm interim cc

Detail C Annodized Aluminium with standing seams @ 500mm cc on 25mm Birch Plywood on Damp Proof Membrane on 300mm x 200mm Glulam Frame @ 3000mm cc with 75mm x 200mm cross bracing with 200mm sheepswool insulation on breather membrane on Birch Plywood finish

Steel Fixing Plate

Detail D Aluminium Flashing on Damp Proof Membrane on 300mm x 200mm Glulam Beam crossing 300mm x 200mm Glulam Arches

Annodized Aluminium with standing seams @ 500mm cc on 25mm Birch Plywood on Damp Proof Membrane on 300mm x 200mm Glulam Frame @ 3000mm cc with 75mm x 200mm cross bracing with 200mm sheepswool insulation on breather membrane on Birch Plywood finish

The use of glue laminated timber posed a question: Is something that uses so much glue necessary? The sustainability of using such large members filled with synthetic resins, and the difficulty they would pose in terms of delivery and assembly on site meant that alternatives were considered. Sitka Spruce, Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most plentiful timber, can be bought all around the island in 63mm x 220 mm members. It was decided that a method of on site lamination using shear bolts and screws would be researched, and the result of the tectonic evaluated. It was important to maintain the diversity of spaces created by the structure; the alcoveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s for intimate gatherings, the balconies for individual retreat and the large central space for communal dining and socialising.

The repetitive use of a single modest member size to create the complex and voluminous shape was studies in detail, with the various junctions designed for ease of assembly.

Nuts and Washers

Shear Plate

8mm x 350mm Bolt and Washer

Structural Beam Build Up

1/5

Assembled Beams

Method of Assembly

1/5

1/20

European Larch Shingles 250mm x 75mm @ 220mm cc on 25mm Birch Plywood on Damp Proof Membrane on 2 x 50mm x 97mm cross direction Lodegpole Pine batons @ 600mm cc with 184mm sheepswool insulation on breather membrane on Birch Plywood finish on 63mm x 220mm Sitka Spruce frame made as per instructional drawings

Corner Detail

1/5

Above, drawings indicating how the timber is laminated and held together with the shear bolts. Above right and right, the physical study model at 1/20 studying the construction.

The result of this was a satisfactory construction technique. The current resolution of the frame section is still a simple iteration of the traditional vaulted barn form found previously, but the construction does suggest other possibilities and other iterations are possible.

Sitka Spruce Sitka Spruce is one of the most readily available timbers grown in Ireland, and is grown in sustainably managed forests. It is particularly suited to Irish forestry sites. Supply of Irish Sitka Spruce is high, and it can be sourced easily from almost any sawmill. It will be used as the main structural timber.

Timber Selection: The timber chosen for this project was selected based on the types of timber that can be easily grown and are readily available in Ireland. Each timber is commercially available throughout the island, locally grown, sustainably farmed and easy to use. The sizes specified in the project are also the standard sizes available from commercial sawmills.

Lodgepole Pine Lodgepole Pine grows rapidly in th poorest soil available. It is often used as a pioneer species, being replaced by spruces and pines after first rotation. It is not dimensionally stable, and so its uses are limited. It will be used for batons.

European Larch While not as abundantly grown as spruce, European Larch is still commonly grown in Ireland. It is naturally resinous, and has good resistance to fungal growth. Commonly used in boat building, it is also an appropriate timber for cladding, due to itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s properties of water resistance and fungal resistance and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s straight grain. It will be used for the cladding shingles.

Birch (Silver and Downy) Birch is commonly used for plywood, both as a facing for the ply and in some countries as the timber throughout. Commercial availability of birch in Ireland is relatively low, due to itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s use as a biofuel. Some of the birch grown is used in furniture making, woodturning, and in plywood. In this project, it will be used as the plywood and flooring throughout.

Building in a bog presents a simple difficulty in terms of the ground condition. The bog is saturated with water, meaning that foundations can be troublesome. Traditional toghers, or bog roads, were built on timber piles. A more recent version of the same idea can be seen in the Bull Island Bridge. The bog has the unusual ability to preserve timber due to the absence of oxygen, but problems arise in the exposed portions of timber. This timber requires trreatment, in this case the proposal is charring the top 600mm of buried and all of the exposed timber to prevent exposure of the timber to oxygen. The arrangement of piles was designed for ease of application of the aluminium firmgrip decking material, commonly used in industrial factories. This is corrosive resistant and provides good underfoot grip when wet. It comes in 45mm x 200mm in lengths up to 6000mm. The pile arrangement allows for the decking to be put down without the need for cutting at angles, easing the installation of the deck. Where there are differences in geometry, a level change would occur.

DESIGN STAGE 3 TECTONIC LESSONS AS A DESIGN DRIVER Having analysed the building in terms of its tectonic challenge, it was important to evaluate how the decisions made at that level effected the design in a more general way. Using the lessons learnt in the previous study, the buildings were redesigned, examining how the experience for the individual and the collective were affected. The result was a more convincing arrangement of spatial experiences that catered for different intensities of occupation depending on the number of people inhabiting a specific space.

The general arrangement of the complex is largely the same as previous versions. The buildings are arranged around a training yard facing south west overlooking the stripped bog, with the dormitories looking towards Croghan Hill, the communal building facing the courtyard on one side and the forest on the other, the shed on the west of the courtyard acting as a portal for the train line and the ceremonial building acting as a central fulcrum for the arrangement.

The Shed Storage of equipment, train dock, log loading area and grey water storage

The Long Hall Kitchen, communal dining area, counselling and budgetary service and classroom

The Chapel Induction and Graduation services and formal ceremonies

The Dorms Eight dorms to each major Unit of five units which share a common area and individual bedrooms overlooking the bog

The Yard Practical lessons on machine use and demonstration of forestry practice

Long Hall Section

1/50

Dorm Section

1/50

Selection of model studies

So far in the development of the design, the square has been shown as a training yard, an area for the volunteers to learn how to use the machinery and train for the forestry. As this central courtyard was the major external public space created for the complex, this needed to be analysed. Should the major external public space be dedicated to practice and work, or should it be something more communal? The decision was made to reorganise some of the project, to create two seperate courtyard, one for the practice of forestry, and one for communal leisure activities. Studies were carried out with the warehouse building being moved off the train track, and the train arriving at a deck. The warehouse building would be divided into a machinery building housing the forwarders, skidders and forklifts and one for the storage of felled timber, as following a meeting with a Bord na Mona engineer it was discovered that while Birch can be burnt wet, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s calorific value is only fully yielded when the timber is dry. The division of the warehouse creates a main public square and a minor practice yard. Various iterations of similar arrangements were tested, with the one shown on the right deemed to be the most successful

THE PUBLIC SPACE DESIGNING THE COURTYARD

The design of the central communal square needed to be resolved in order to adequately deal with the conflict of the individual and the collective in this project. The central courtyard needs to be a space that allows movement, congregation, isolation and communality in order to provide for the various stresses put on public space by communities. A strategy of dividing the functions of public space into necessary, optional and social allowed for the definition of the different types of activities that were likely in this area. To acheive this, the alcove spaces on the south side of the dining hall extended out to form a sitting area on the square, a gardening area was provided on the western side of the square and a â&#x20AC;?Fulacht Fiadhâ&#x20AC;?, or recessed barbecue area was provided on the east side. The area that the train arrives at was also covered with a pavillion roof.

1 + 2 Sketches of the various building arrangements 3

Sketch of selected building arrangement and central area

4 A

5 6 B

D E

C F

12 14

16 D E

Ground Floor Plan 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Reading Room Games Room Dormitories Pelleting Timber Drying Pellet Storage Machine Storage Briefing Classroom Counselling Dining Hall Kitchen Vegetable Garden Fulacht Fiadh/ Barbecue Area Train Depot Graduation Hall

F G

1st Floor Plan 1 2 3

Reading Room Games Room Dormitories

Section AA

Section BB

Section CC

Section DD

This study began with a general interest in investigating public space, and what constitutes successful public spaces. Through the course of this study, that interest was more clearly defined as an interest in the relationship between the individual and the collective, and how this tension both affects and is affected by architecture. This tension became an overarching theme for the research undertaken.One of the most important conclusions of the research is the belief that architecture exists as the relationship between man and his environment. To simply define architecture as an object ignores the subjective quality that makes so many communal spaces successful. The bog represents a challenging landscape. In order to analyse a collective on the bog, a device was required that brought people together in a wilful community. It is important to continue the story of the bog as part myth, part machine in this study. With the acitivities of Bord na Mona, the evidence of human mechanised activity on the bog is hard to miss. This landscape has been a productive natural resource for generations, and whatever was to be put here had to respond to that. Equally, the bog represents a source of myth and folklore, something that also required a degree of attention.

FINAL DESIGN

DERRYARKIN FORESTRY CENTRE NATIONAL DEBT FORGIVENESS PROGRAMME

The answer to this was to propose a Forestry Centre, providing wood pellets from bog birch for use as a biofuel. It would be ran by volunteers, consisting of the thousands of people nationwide engaged with MABS service, suffering massive debts as a result of our collective greed in the recent past. The programme would offer them an alternative option for debt forgiveness. This device, although provocative, was chosen to allow me to create a wilful, purposeful community on the bog, and acted as a lens through which the conflict of the individual and the collective could be analysed. It also continues the tradition of the bog as a source of fuel, and of the bog as a source of myth, this time examining collective guilt in post Celtic Tiger Ireland

1 2 3 4

Contour Lines Field Patterns Drainage Cut Away Bog

Site Plan Showing All Information

The project is positioned on an area of virgin bog adjacent to an existing rail line overlooking depleted bog towards croghan hill. It was placed on the virgin bog because birch grows well in unharvested bog, and also to give the remaining virgin bog a purpose, a reason not to harvest it for peat fuel. The project utilizes the existing rail line for transferring the pellets to Edenderry power station, and is orientated so that the individual dorm rooms view out over the bog to the croghan hill.

Areas of Planting 1

Lodgepole Pine and Pedunculate Oak

Common Alder and Sitka Spruce

Hybrid Larch and Western Red Cedar

Downy Birch

Pedunculate Oak and Western Red Cedar

Downy Birch and Pedunculate Oak

Downy Birch

BIRCH YIELD PER ANNUM: 70m3/ha in wood pellets

DERRYARKIN FORESTRY CENTRE YIELD PER ANNUM: 7,080m3

= 21,633,333kWh

x 100

= 5,405 average Irish households annual energy consumption

Site Plan

1/2000

The repetitive use of a single modest member size to create the complex and voluminous shape was studies in detail, with the various junctions designed for ease of assembly.

Method of Assembly

Assembled Beams

Nuts and Washers

Shear Plate Shear Plate Shear Plate

8mm x 350mm Bolt and Washer

Structural Beam Build Up

The development of this tectonic method of construction altered the design of the spaces themselves. By an investigation into the technique of assembly, the volumes proposed changed, becoming more logical expressions of the method of making.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Initial Sketch of Dining Hall Spatial result of Tectonic Investigation Tectonic Exploration of Dining Hall Sketch of Proposed Dining Hall Tectonic Application to Graduation Hall Final Dining Hall 6

This programme operates as a self built centre, with the construction method flexible enough to allow for alterations and expansion as necessary. The act of communal building reinforces the concept of communal endeavour, which for the most part is embodied in the harvesting and planting of trees.

Building

The structural strategy for building on the bog allows for modifications to be made to the building proposals, and allows for ease of expansion in the future. The buildings are frame structures built onto charred timber piles, with the decking and cladding acting as a membrane between the tectonic elements

Decking

Piles

Exploded Axonometric

While the majority of the building are expressed as frames on piles, the dormitories are expressed as tectonic frames on stereotomic brick hearths. The hearths then act as communal gathering areas and as thermal mass for the dorm rooms.

Roof

Timber Framed Walls with built in sleeping level View from Dorm

Dorm Section

Timber Floor Finish

Timber Floor Beams

Brick â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hearthsâ&#x20AC;?

Assmebled Dorm Unit

This proposed buildings are organised around two courtyards; one communal and one working. The volunteers arrive via the train to the communal yard, which is fronted by the dining hall, the graduation hall and adjacent to the dormitories. In the communal courtyard is a barbecue area and a vegetable garden. The working yard is fronted by the timber processing areas, the machine storage and maintenance warehouse and a classroom. In the yard, volunteers will undertake 2 days of vehicle operation training and 2 days of chainsaw operation training, as well as assisting in the processing of timber.

C 1 2

3 A

B 4 7

Ground Floor Plan 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

CHP Unit Pelleting Timber Drying Pellet Storage Machine Storage Briefing Classroom Counselling Dining Hall Kitchen Vegetable Garden Barbecue Pit Train Depot Graduation Hall Dormitories

First Floor Plan 1 2 3

Reading Room Games Room Dormitories

Section AA

Section BB

Section DD

Section CC

South Elevation

The buildings were designed to be a collection of structures sitting on the edge of a forest overlooking the depleted bog towards croghan hill. Through the composition of the buildings, areas of communal activity were investigated. The relationship between the collection of buildings and the communal spaces, and between the project, the forest and the bog, affected the composition of both the courtyards and the buildings themselves.

1/200 Building Model

The tectonic method developed for this project has allowed the creation of different scales of spaces closely related to each other. The stratification of spaces for the collective and spaces for the individual allows for a balance between communal engagement and individual repose and reflection. By offering these differing types of space, the individual is offered greater autonomy over their own spatial condition, giving them a sense of ownership and control.

1 2 3 4 5

Sketch of Dining Hall Sketch of Alcove looking into Forest Model Photograph Model Photograph Model Photograph

This sense of ownership will instill a sense of responsibility over the communal spaces within the individuals. By allowing this ownership of specific spaces to occur, the communal spaces are constantly activated by activity.

1 2 3 4 5

Sketch of Graduation Hall entrance Sketch of the Central Chamber of the Hall Model Photograph Model Photograph Model Photograph

Annodized Aluminium Hidden Gutter on Sitcka Spruce 63mm x 220mm beams with Aouminium Flashing and Horizontal Larch Cladding 220mm x 25mm

Roof Detail

1/5

European Larch Shakes 350mm x 125mm @ 100mm cc on 25mm Birch Plywood on Damp Proof Membrane on 2 x 50mm x 97mm cross direction Lodegpole Pine batons @ 600mm cc with 184mm sheepswool insulation on breather membrane on Birch Plywood finish on 63mm x 220mm Sitka Spruce frame made as per instructional drawings. Larch Floor Boards @200mm cc on 25mm Birch Plywood on 50mm x 180mm Spruce beams on 25mm Birch Plywood on 63mm x 220mm Sitka Spruce frame made as per instructional drawings.

Aluminium Gutter with horizontal larch cladding 220mm x 25mm on 22mm baton on damp proof membrane on 18mm plywood with aluminium cap and flashing.

Double Glazing window units sitting into Larch window frame. Upper window with howrizontal pivot sitting on 63mm x 150mm Sitka Spruce. Lower glazing sliding unit.

Roof to Glazing Detail

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Sliding Glazing unit on aluminium runners falling externally to aluminium gutter with tongued Larch Floor boards internally @200mm cc on 25mm birch plywood on breather membrane on 63mm x 220mm Sitka Spruce frame with 100mm x 50mm floor joists on 100mm x 100mm cross joists with 150mm sheepswool insulation on radon barrier and damp proof coursing on 25mm marine grade plywood fixed to aluminium 5mm hanger.

Larch 200mm x 30mm decking with 2mm gap on 63mm x 220mm Sitka Spruce frame with 100mm x 50mm floor joists on 100mm x 50mm cross joists with aluminium drainage falling to gutter.

Top 600mm of submerged timber piles and all of exposed timber piles to be charred to 3mm for water protection. Deeper members of wood will not be exposed to oxygen, and thus do not require treatment.

Ground Detail

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