DEV HALAI CONTINUUM CONDENSED VERSION
THE BRIEF
The context of Manchester has a well known heritage in textile manufacturing previously known as ‘Cottonopolis’. Currently a large number of small scale textile businesses collectively make a significant contribution to the economy of Manchester’s city centre. We were set to create a modern factory in Manchester’s city center as the local government does not recognise the value of the collective significance of this manufacturing network and their interlationship with other industries, economies within the city centre and nearby in the modern day.
Required Spaces: - Manufacturing area + supporting spaces - Gallery (to display manufactured goods) - Public cafe - Additional programme (see as needed)
Location Plan 1:2000
MACRO SITE ANALYSIS
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Looking at how the potential sites link to greater Manchester, to see what connections can be made in the existing city network.
SL
sk Ba etb all
Millgate
C rt ou
SL
SL
SL
SL
ria Victo
East
link Metro
ction Jun
Sudell Street Industrial Estate Games Court
Royal Mail sorting and delivery office
SL
Victora Station
Crown Industrial Estate
Fire Departement
Railway Crossing
Poland Street Industrial Estate
LC
s t a
LC
o c n
LC
A
Arndale LC
M
et
ro lin k
ANCOATS
LC
Piccadily Gardens
LC
LC
Bus station
Level Crossing
Piccadilly Village
LC
Gateway Industrial Estate
Scale 1:5000
Piccadily Station
Victora + Piccadily station identified for potential freight import/exports. Royal Mail office within close proximity aswell. Fire department within close range incase of emergencies, and bus station located for easy transport workers. All within a 1KM radius. Pinpoints on map are identified textile sellers to directly distribute to. Arndale centre is also located with in close range incase manufactured goods wished to be sold in store.
SITE ANALYSIS 1850
1940
1980
Contemporary
Ancoats has a heavy favour for residential buildings at this time with a few industrial buildings.
Industrial revolutions oocurs and industrial buildings grown greatly over the past 100 years as expected.
Industrial revolutions oocurs and industrial buildings grown greatly over the past 100 years as expected.
Unchanged from previous generations. Still mainly used for industrial buildings today, however some have been converted to residential buildings and offices to lease in order to renovate ancoats.
Microsite Analysis
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Site Photos
Materiality
Camera stitch shows the constrast of quality from 1 extended view. Left side shows a completely run down, industrial backstreet area. Whilst Right side shows a clean renovated residential look thats invites you into somewhere greater. The site also has a lot back facing buildings with no glazing feeling unsafe.
Materiality is heavily favoured towards brick. However due to the various age of buildings, the brick has a wide range of colours and texture.
Site Boundary
ork s
SILK STREET
84
82
80 9
El Sub Sta
11
ork s
Warehouse
W
Primary Roads
111
2 SILK STREET
109
84
In du
POLAND STREET
12
2
In du
GEORGE LEIGH STREET
12
Factories
Po lan
str ial
2
22 Factories
De
Cit yC ou din rt gE sta te 4
RADIUM STREET
46
te
Tra
NAVAL STREET
LOOM STREET
Tertiary Roads
dS tre et
Es ta
4
POLAND STREET
LOOM STREET
Secondary Roads
te
11
2
109
dS tre et
Es ta
11
Warehouse
11
111
Po lan
str ial
7
80
GEORGE LEIGH STREET
7
82
9
El Sub Sta
po t
22
13 46
W or ks
Tra
Cit yC ou din rt gE sta te
10
RADIUM STREET
50
ork s
30
W
NAVAL STREET
De
po t
ork s
W or ks
30
13 W
50
10
Scale 1:500
CONCEPT Transparency
Dense
Factories should be transparent and celebrate the manufacturing process. Able to use it as a point of attraction for visitors.
Space is more scarce then before. Factory’s previously were only a few stories high but had enormous floor plans. Although circulation was easier, if we’re to have factories back in cities they need to be compact.
Minimal pollution
Minimal pollution to create a better work environment for the workers but also for the surrounding parties, so it becomes more welcomed by its neighbours.
Approachable
Links with transparency. But a factory should celebrate what it creates and invite people in, rather than have a sealed operation going on.
Concept inspired by a reading ‘Corner Factory - Revisiting urban manufacturing’. With all the innovations in technology today, maybe it is possible to have a factory in an urban area without it being so solated. Textile Mills are considered ‘light manufacturing’, they don’t produce as much noise and pollution to typical heavy manufacturing. With all the innovation in technology barrier to exit + entry can be reduced and maybe we can see an increase in small - medium sized factories built in urban areas.
Manufacturing Proposal Previously Manchester was known for its Cotton Mills and that’s what put its name on the map and expanded it into a known city. Manchester is also famous for its Graphene discovery. Since Graphene can be woven into textiles, its perfect to revive Manchester’s textile past and bring it to the future. Since Manchester is the leading city for the development of Graphene, there will always be an interest in graphene products coming from here. And since Graphene is still early in terms of its predicted development, any breakthroughs can be implemeneted in the factory immediately. Manchester also has a reputation for its engineers (which helped them during their textile phase because of the breakthrough in machinery in the industrial revolution). So by producing a smart textile the company could also build links by regularly supplying engineers and the university for their research in smart textiles. And lastly its about innovation. Most textiles are already well known. But by producing a new composite textile, it can be used to attract visitors to the building and educate them about the process and the excitement behind the manufacturing behind this new scheme.
PROGRAMME M AN
U F A C T U RI N
Initial Arrangement
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PRIVATE ENTRANCE
LOADING ZONE
C
M OM
STORAGE
ERICIAL
Whilst programme is seperate in terms of noise. Each side feels really disconnected.
LAB MILL
CORE OFFICE
G AL MEETING ROOM
P U B LI C A R E
A
LE R
EMERGENCY EXIT
Y
INSTALLATION
EGRESS
KITCHEN EXHIBITION
STORE
Manufacturing process has the same importance as the exhibit, Manufacturing could be part of the exhibition.
CUSTOM SHOP
PUBLIC ENTRANCE
Fundamental Minor
Beneficial Entrance / Exits
Factory/Mill programmes are usually quite robust with limited flexibility due to the efficiency of handling raw resources to exporting final goods as fast possible. Other typology’s such as office spaces and exhibition spaces hold different goals. Exhibition area should be located away from mill and office so people can concentrate on the artwork. Offices and meeting room should also be seperate from mill due to the noise, and to obtain privacy from public areas.
Linking them together again but with private links. So the office and design studio (introduced) has direct access to the lab and plant for conveincy. Seperate public links for exhibitition and public manufacturing viewing.
Manufacturing dominates left side as well as underground. Introduction of ASRS saves storage space with an interesting feature. Helps the flow of goods, so heavy machinery doesn’t neccessarily have to be at top. Packing and delivering is underground saving space, and is also closer to the vertical circulation of materials.
SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT 1
Commercial Core Exhibition Public Manufacture
Initial volumetric model. Factory steps back to allow more sunlight throughout the days.
Split office and exhibition into two different volumes rather than floors. Allows for more intimate spaces whilst remaining large and open. Gets rid of everyone working in the same view.
Factory orientation reversed to provide more internal views from atrium and other workers. Volume arrangement also allows more sunlight for residential block behind.
Seperate core into 2 different volumes. This allows for better adaptability if either side is sold seperately.
Reduction in factory size since it was too generous and fits the rest of the buildings proportions.
SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT 2
Commercial
Exhibition
Manufacture
Core / egress
Public
ASRS
Volumes focused on the atrium circulation and how to create a better journey for those visiting to expose them to all elements of the building.
Adding egress and ASRS. Atrium circulation introduced but seems too ordinary.
Circulation path leads them up showing the first exhibit, the manufacturing process. Then it leads them to the exhibit space where they can go down to the public area and atrium.
Circulation re-arranged to focus more on the journey. Manufacturing process is part of the exhibition circulation. Used to create a journey throughout the building, allowing them to fully circulate the building.
SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT 3
Circulation now merged into each floor to allow for more realistic stair spans and create offsets allowing better views into factory floors. Introduction of spaces between 2 cores. Factory dimensions also made smaller since it was previously too excessive.
Slight adjustment to shift western side of building (and eastern core) to reduce building footprint, allowing a more suited building access.
Smart core rises to the top. And evaluating distances, egress can be removed from the factory allowing for a more open interior throughout the floors.
PROCESS MODEL - MAIN SCHEME
Main iteration where I began seeing the building form in terms of the interior. This model compared to previous one is the change in circulation. Previous iteration had a problem where the floor slabs were over a set distance requiring 2 landings per run resulting in unwanted staircase length. The solution was to create the platform walkway halfway between the double heigh zones to create more regular length staircases and allow for the public to see better views. This creates more circulation through the atrium since each floor is discovered one at a time instead of skipping double height spaces. The atrium was shown to be the most promising feature of the building in my eyes. After sketching on top of the physical model I could begin seeing how it could tie the building together just as I planned. This render allowed me to capture the atmosphere I wanted without going to technical yet and is something I wanted to try and keep whilst continueing to resolve the space.
RED CARPET STAIRCASE Staircase Colour Precedent
Staircase Structure Precedent
Clive Wilkinson Architects - Ropemaker Place
FCB Studios - Manchester School of Architecture
My project render - Red Carpet Staircase
Ropemaker place is a building that hosts different businesses under 1 roof. Multiple sized businesses share 1 common atrium space which connect them altogether to stress the importance in connectivity. The use of red highlights the staircase as a ‘red carpet’. The staircase is the first thing visitors notice which invites them to go around the building.
For my atrium to have long spanning stairs without columns to support, I looked at the staircase Feilden Clegg Bradley studios designed. By making the entire staircase sit within a truss the long spans were achievable, and this also gave an aesthetic look I was found of.
The staircase in my building uses the structure and aesthetics of the former staircases to create a visually highlighted journey in my building. This signifies its importance to the user the moment they walk in the building and allows them to explore the building through the intended order.
As my factory exposes the structure I liked the idea of having the staircase expose the structure as a form of continuity and made it a theme in my building. The steel structure wrapping around the staircase gives it a bold highlight making it seem more important and weighted from the moment you walk in.
Atrium Staircase Render
STRUCTURE & SERVICES
Seperate Cores
ASRS + Freight Elevator
Lecture from 5Plus Architects inspired the decision to split 1 larger core into 2 smaller cores for future use. This way if the building is ever sold in seperate parts, each party has access to their own core. The cores position is also advantageous as it allows for a shared plant room, and each core contains elevators, toilets and staff rooms.
Part of the problem with previously built factory’s is the barrier to exit. This is especially difficult for a ‘vertical factory’. So a freight elevator was added in order to add new machinary and remove old / broken machinery as needed. The Automatic-Storage-Retrieval-System allows for goods to be stored in a more efficient space than a storage room. It can also be used as a faster lift in order to move goods through the vertical use of production.
Structural Grid
Steel frame as the primary structure with composite concrete floor slabs. Grid size is 6m x 5m which allows for larger spaces between columns for the public (North Eastern) side of the building. The Factory side is column free through the use of 900mm cellular beams. This also allows the integration of services within the beams.
ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY Wind path analysis through building
Performance Evaluation Performance analysis taken through sefaira, which allows me to see my building’s energy consumption and the lighting quality.
Venturi effect occurs at my site, and this could be used for the factory part for passive ventillation.
Baseline tests with poor insulation and single pane glazing option.
Roof, wall and glazing u value improved through better insulation.
G value for glazing has been reduced.
G value for glazing has been reduced.
Through fine tuning, my building now consumes 30% less energy along with improved lighting quality.
Environmental Strategies
Thermal mass
Factory volume successfuly recieves passive air intake which flows through the factory uninterrupted.
Site has a lot of brick, building can relate to site and have environmental benefits of thermal mass. Can keep the workers cool by absorbing heat.
Double Skin Facade Double Skin facade on the factory facade will allow for the heat to escape faster and allow for passive ventillation, buildings orientation allows for this. Works well with thermal mass too.
ENVELOPE ARRANGEMENT
First iteration encloses the spatial arrangements into 1 volume. Volumes are indistinguishable and doesn’t reflect well on the buildings programme.
Second iteration tilts facade back for the factory allowing more solar radiation on the surface for the double skin facade.
Built from previous attempt to create a cleaner + more smooth aethetic between the factory and the atrium.
Considering the cost for the atrium glass as individually curved pieces. 2 triangular pieces gives almost the same impression for the shape.
Final form. Curtain wall facade has a large steel beam spanning from ground to roof for structure. Although previous itent was to hide the join between 2 surfaces of glass to achieve a single surface look. Spanning beams at different directions gave the atrium facade a unique aesthetic allowing it to be read in another way.
FACADE STUDY Original Grasshopper Script
Simplified Script Brick Dimensions
Bricks Generated Culling Pattern
Surface Area
Brick Facade
Fade pattern
Image Pattern
Kenga Kuma and assosiates Shipyard 1862
Output examples Random Iteration 1
Random Iteration 2
Fade Pattern
Image Sampler of Graphene
Facade shows clay bricks suspended on steel wire to create a permeable effect with brick. Gradually fading from the existing factory brick to a more contemporary curtain wall. Facade lighting + view models
Physical model made to view the different patterns produced. Exploring the views both the workers and visitors passing by would see, testing the permeability of the brick as well as the patterns.
FACADE STUDY 2 LSE Saw hock O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects
AU Office and Exhibition Space Archi Union Architects The perforated brick is something I wanted to use on the public side of the building for a more subtle effect on the exterior. For the interiors it provides a nice effect with gentle perforated shadows and at night the exterior seems like a ‘glowing lattice lantern’.
The ‘twisted’ brick used in the AU Office + Exhibition space immediately reminded of a fabric or another type of soft material. The bricks twisting in a non-linear pattern creates a soft approach of a material being torn or acting in tension.
The effect of the brick is subtle unlike the manufacturing side facade. This gives more individuals to each side of the building and reflects more on the programme of being a gallery and less intruisive.
As the bricks are in varying angles, as the visitors walk by some parts of the building are exposed due to the position they’re in along the path and new parts are exposed as they walk further along. This is another type of facade I could use to play with the idea of permeability to tease people into my building.
Physical Models testing views and lighting
Physical model tests for perforated bricks in different styles. First (left) is standard perforated brick seen in saw-hock with a gap between each brick. Second is made from an image map pattern to twist brick based on colour output to achieve the permeable effect based on rotation to effect what a user would see depending on where they stand.
FACADE STRATEGY
DOUBLE SKIN FACADE DETAIL
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8
7
1 Mullion 6
2 Transom 3 Operable window 4 Steel column
5
5 Steel beam 6 Single pane glazing 7 Double pane glazing 3
8 8mm steel wire 9 Polyethlyne block
4
10 Steel maintenance deck 1
11 Steel bracket 12 Ladder 2
13 Concrete Floor 14 Metal Decking 15 Insulation (Aliminium covered)
Factory Section
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13
10 14
Double skin facade was used in the factory for the passive ventillation benefits. This was important in my facade in order to get both the environmnetal benefits and the aesthetic of a perforated brick system. Suspended bricks were used in order to achieve this effect.
15 11
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
GALLERY + OFFICE SECTION
SOUTH EAST ELEVATION
South Elevation
SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE
FACTORY INTERIOR
ATRIUM RENDER