PORTFOLIO BOOK
KUL11350692 MA ISD CHELSEA COLLEGE OF ARTS UAL 2017/2018
IN TRANSIT The awareness of air pollution in transitional space
WRITTEN BY Isada Kultavarakorn
CONTENTS Introduction What is in this book?.......................................................................5
Unit 1 PEOPLE MOVEMENT AND AWARENESS WHILE IN TRANSIT - Movement.....................................................................................8 - Awareness...................................................................................14 - Interaction of Internal / External.................................................20 - Behind The Secse........................................................................26 - Research Development................................................................40
Unit 2 OBSERVATION IN TRANSITIONAL SPACE - Visited / Observation...................................................................50 - Design Development...................................................................66 - Site Research...............................................................................78 - Experimentation..........................................................................94 - Film making process..................................................................108 - Interim Show.............................................................................118
Unit 3 POLLUTION IN TRANSITIONAL SPACE AWARENESS - Site Choosing / Research...........................................................124 - Design Process..........................................................................146 - Render Images...........................................................................172 - Model........................................................................................188
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Introduction This portfolio book is a collection of research and experiment focuses on transitional space by looking into people’s movement and behaviour, specifically at Underground and train stations. King’s Cross Station, which is related to the current pollution problem in the area, is chosen as the research site base. The project is divided into 4 parts. First, “people’s awareness” concerns with how one is too focused on one thing and become unaware of his or her own surrounding or the fact that he or she is being looked at. Continuous observation of people’s behaviour on train and at the train station waiting area led me to the next question: what do people do while they are in transit? Therefore, in the second part, a survey and observatory study was conducted to explore people’s thought and behaviour while they are in transit both on tube and at the train station. The part aims to find problems that need to be solved and concerns that users have and want to be improved. The third part further explores the environment and pollution problems, specifically smell, in the waiting area of King’s Cross Station. Common smell that can be sensed in outdoor seating area, including cigarette, dust, food, drink, pee, among others, were recorded, along with the potential effects of these smell on overall health. The last past explores the vernacular architecture and technology of air purifiers, which can be applied to and help with design process of the project site. It also includes a study of people’s flow and movement, particularly in this transit between King’s Cross Station and the outdoor waiting area in front of the station.
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UNIT 1 PEOPLE MOVEMENT AND AWARENESS WHILE IN TRANSIT
“Select two video clips, one from a film and one from a music video that contain a spatial sequence, i.e. motion though room, rooms street or similar. Prepare the clips for showing with titles. Add text to the to describe the atmospheric qualities and details of the clips, expressing your observations and reasons for selecting them. Note the connections between the two.�
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MOVEMENT IN SPACE
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Video made by Author
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I chose a film call ‘From Emptieness to Infinity’ directed by Mathias Frick. Matching with a song call ‘On the Nature of Daylight’ by Max Richter with ballet show from David Dawson. The movie is about Tadao Ando, he is a Japanese architect. This film has included a lots of his building. His work is all about Zen and Minimalist. Le Corbusier has a lot of influence on him. He is self-though to be an architect and one of the building that mad him famous is Church of Light. Main material that he use is concrete and it has become his signature. Even though concrete is a hard material but in his design we can still feel the softness because of plants are one of the componets that help mellow the whole place. I was interested in people movement and the flow through interior space. So to see the two ballet dancers interact with Ando’s building was the idea. There are some moment in the film that shows the curving building or walls and the bodies move along with it.
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Video made by Author
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Scan the QR code for the movie.
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AWARENESS
Taken by Autho
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or, National Gallery
Taken by Author, Victoria Railway Station
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Taken by author, Sketch model Material: Cardboard / wooden stick, joined with glue
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A combination of National Gallery and Victoria Station. The little wooden sticks are representing the people in the space.
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Many people sitting on benches, focusing on their phone. It seems they were using National Gallery as a waiting space as Trafaga Square is one of the landmarks people use as a meeting point. However, when it is rainy or cold, people prefer to wait inside. Therefore, some people might be here for other purposes than to visit the gallery: some are looking at painting, while some just use the public seat as a wating area. It is surprising, from my observation, how much time one could spend in the this supplosed waiting are. This led me to think of the actual function of space itself and how people use it. It isn’t just A to B. There are more activities happening either on the platform of the underground or in the waiting room.
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Taken by author, ‘Square Prism by Nathaniel Rackowe’, The Royal British Society of Sculptors.
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INTERACTION OF INTERNAL / EXTERNAL
Taken by author, ‘Sculpting the Mind by Bruce Nauman’, Tate Modern.
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Scan the QR code for the movie.
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Scan the QR code for the movie.
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BEHIND THE SENSE
Taken by author
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Sketches by author
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From unit 1 I was finding a relationship between one painting and the other advert. After walked around National Gallery I notice that not many people paid attention to this one paticular painting. So I ended up looking at a painting and an advert that no one really looking at. And then again, it happened when I was doing looking at internal and external installation. One thing I notice is that people pay less attention to the external installation. In contrast to the internal installtion is Tate Modern, people were taking photos and discussing about it. So this is what it led me to my main focus on sequence six, which is about human awareness and behaviour in trasitional space. Do people aware of what’s happening around them while they are too busy focusing on direction.
Testing Process Taken by author
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This sketch model represents camera and also the people behind the camera. There are three holes that you can look throw. these three give you a different view, which represents eye levels. I did a little addition to the model with frame slider with four frames that you can change. These frames add an extra feeling of the digital camera today because you can change the size of the frame.
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Taken by author
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DIY phone projector made from cardboard and magnify glass. Taken by author
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All the research and ideas accumulated from personal practice were combined to communicate the idea of people’s behaviour in three perspectives- general people, people looking at other people, and the person observing the first and the second- to reflex privacy in our society these days. The first view is from the screen: the video of two dancers dancing around is projected to represent the movement of people in space. The frame seen links to the second angle showing people behind the box that represents a camera or a television, through which the second viewer is looking at the first. What the second viewer sees is the mirror image of the front. The third, us the viewers, are people looking from the overview of a bigger picture and working with the dancer to get the better understanding of human movement.
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Taken by author
CRITS I display my work in the staircase corridor and next to the work I put a small poster with a QR code link to my booklet. Taken by author, Setting up process for crits
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RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT
Taken by author, Sketches
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After the exhibition, I got some feedback about the work I have done. Maybe just the frame isn’t enough to draw attention and since I was using the projector. Focus and out of focus idea to play with projector distance to the object is something that I can explore more like the photo on the left. I took the frame off and project the film directly to the box and it creates another effect, which leads me to experiment more with different shape of boxes.
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Taken by author, Sketch models
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Shooting process The QR code here on the left is a link to a video that I made to improve the project. In the earlier stage, I used a found footage of two ballet dancers for the sequence two and keep using it in the last sequence. But in order to improve it, I thought it would be better to make the video myself, so I put posters around our college. Photos from the page before are the process of the shooting. I was filming the moving image and I got a friend to help me take some still images for the poster that we had been asked to do for our project.
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Dancer: Thea Laang / Hanyun Du Taken by Author Scan the QR code for the movie.
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UNIT 2 OBSERVATION IN TRANSITIONAL SPACE
Taken by Author, Paris
VISITED / OBSERVATION I went to Transportation Museum in Covent Garden to do some research about Underground in London. After having enough idea and how people think about transportation. I also want to observe how people occupy each space, including: Earl’s Court, Victoria, Wimbledon and Tolworth.
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I was looking at many models of tube station to get the idea of planning and customer journey system from the ticket office down to the platform. One of the exhibition room was about new Tube line that’s going to be opening soon, which is Elizabeth Line. From what I saw, I think most of the new stations these day are very modern and much cleaner than the old one. Furthermore, the ventilation system is so much better and also airconditioner is installed. That’s why I would like to focus on the older Tube station and see what I could do to improve it. I also created a survey on Survey Monkey website to get a general idea of what Tube users think about the services and what their opinion is on how to improve or make things better.
Taken by Author., (2018), ‘Station model’, London Transport Museum.
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Earl’s Court Station
I did a video showing the movement and the flowing of the people in the space throw different time of the day: morning, afternoon and evening. The reason I picked Earl’s Court to look at because it has it’s own character and not like the other underground station. There is also train to Heathrow Airport and also underground that’s above ground and it has a lot of transition in one station because it is the last stop before the district line separate into four ends.
Scan the QR code for the movie.
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Taken by Author, Earl’s Court
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Taken by Author, Earl’s Court
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Victoria Station Victoria Station is one of the stations in London that’s has a lot of dynamic and very busy since there is a lot of buses and train express that go to many different airports in London. I can see that most people are carrying luggage or backpack.
Scan the QR code for the movie.
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Taken by Author, Victoria
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Taken by Author, Victoria
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Wimbledon to Tolworth Train stations, in general, are very interesting to look at. In comparing to the underground stations because of the duration time is longer. There are more activities and movement in each waiting area. For example, duty-free in an airport as well as coffee shop and supermarket in most of the big train station.
Scan the QR code for the movie.
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Taken by Author, Wimbledon
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Taken by Author, Tolworth
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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT I saw this whiteboard at Pimlico Tube Station. My first reaction was laughing and then I took a photo and share it on social media. I found it funny and inspiring at the same time. So I thought this could be something that I can achieve. So the first idea was to create many small interventions through traveller journey from ticket office down to the platform. Making a small change or invent something nice that make people happier or distress their city life that always in a rush.
Taken by Author, Pimlico
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Taken by Author, Victoria
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Sketches by Author
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Collage by Author, Victoria Station
Collage by Author, Victoria Station
poster A2.pdf
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9/3/2561 BE
15:52
Isada Kultavarakorn
IN TRANSIT
(People movement in transitional space, focusing on public transport such as underground and train.) The movie on display is an observation of people movement and activities while they are travelling. And also some survey from the Tube users in London. Focusing on what are their concern and what are they doing while travelling.
MA Interior and Spatial Design
SURVEY RESEARCH TUBE USERS
USERS CONCERN Air pollution 25%
Clean 30% Users 96% Others 5% Price 5%
Non-users 4%
Overcrowded 15% Delay 10%
No Internet on board 10%
There are three big concerns including cleanness, air-pollution and overcrowded. However, these 3 problems are too big for me to fix it by myself. Especially, when these problems are already in process of developing and according to Transport for London website, they are already aware of the problem. So I only explore on fixing the obvious problem I saw in Victoria Station. I added roof and ceiling panel that absorb some sound to make the station less noisy. And the other one is growing an indoor plant or a hydroponic plant to make the atmosphere fresher.
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WHAT USERS DO WHILE THEY ARE ON BOARD
Others 15%
Bored 70%
Not bored 30%
Playing games 5%
Even with the tube which is a small duration but 70 percent of people is bored. Most people are listening to music and reading books but what about a long journey that's take more than 2 hours? What do people do? Wifi is available but not free, phone signal is unstable and charger socket isn’t available for every seat. The next idea I would like to research more on a long journey and movable activity room that can be provided on trains.
MA Interior and Spatial Design
Reading 15%
Isada Kultavarakorn
Listen to music 65%
USERS FEELING BORED
Work in Progress On the work in progress presentation, I pin up a poster with information that I did earlier. I gather all the research and survey I did in one video and illustrate the statistic information into many pie charts. There are also proposals in collage images of what could be improved or to be done in the future.
Taken by Author
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Scan the QR code for the movie.
SITE RESEARCH
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Clapham Junction Station From all the information I have, there is two topic that I’m interested, which are overcrowded and pollution. I when to Clapham Junction Station to see this waiting area that was built as an extension afterwards to reduce the number of people on the platform. In the room also install an information screen that tells you what time the next train will be arriving.
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King’s Cross Station Pollution is also one of the topics I think it is interesting. So I went online researching for a possible site that I could look at. Then I came across this article from Evening Standard news saying that Northern line is one of the dirtiest Tube lines in 2016. And also I found a site that gave you a diagram of hotspot polluted area in London, which King’s Cross and Euston are the two most polluted area.
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Taken by Author, King’s Cross Station
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The Regent’s Park
Euston
Marylebone Baker Street
Great Portland Street
Warren Street
Edgware Road
The Regent’s Park
Euston
Marylebone Baker Street Edgware Road
Illustration by Author, Information from http://www. howpollutedismyroad.org.uk/hotspots.php
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Great Portland Street
Warren Street
2013 - 2015 King’s Cross
King’s Cross
2015 - Present
Comparing these two maps of the polluted area in London and I figure the stations that are overground or the one that railway actually above the ground such as district and circle line isn’t that polluted. So I suggested that because the ventilation system is much better.
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I went to King’s Cross to survey the area and finding a potential site. I found that outdoor waiting area in front the station very interesting. I started to notice that people use this waiting area as a smoking area. The majority of people who are waiting are actually inside where the timetable screens are.
Taken by Author, King’s Cross Station
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Taken by Author, King’s Cross Station After the site research, I felt like there is a lot more to look at in King’s Cross and there are also more contexts to talk about. So I decided to look at the waiting area in King’s Cross.
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Collection of can and paper cup I found. Collage by Author, King’s Cross Station
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Collection of cigarette butt I found on the floor. Collage by Author, King’s Cross Station
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The first thing that hit me when I was there was cigarette smell. Especially for a non-smoker, I feel like this smell must be very sensitive. As soon as I started to look around, there are also a lot of cigarette butts left on the floor. There are coffee cups, alcohol cans, train ticket and etc. There are also people just eating their fast food next to a trash bin. I felt like there are so many disgusting things around but people just ignore it because people just get used to the bad smell after a while. And especially in this space, people just come and go very quickly, so they didn’t really look after it. I came up with this idea of Oxygen room. I was looking at the smell and the fresh air quality and also looking at lichen plant that only grow in a certain area with a certain air condition.
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Sketch by Author, King’s Cross Station
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EXPERIMENTATION In this experiment chapter, I was looking at the different sense of smell both good and bad.
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Making a box and try to capture smoke and smell. Model by Author
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My second attempt at trying to capture smoke I built a smoker machine and burn some cigarette that I collect from the street.
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My third attempt, the smoke isn’t strong enough to go inside the bottle, so I took if the plastic tube and then cut a hole at the bottom of the box and using hair blow to blow up the smoke underneath the box.
Model by Author
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My fourth attempt I use e-cigarette and blow it into the plastic tube which I put it in the bottom of the bottle.
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Photo by Author Scan the QR code for the movie.
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A collection of smoke, dust and cigarettes. Photo by Author
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I used a storage jar with a silicone seal to keep the air inside. The smoke still disappears after a while but the form change to water instead. So the smell and the sir still kept inside just the form that’s changed.
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Photo by Author Scan the QR code for the movie.
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FILM MAKING PROCESS I made these four jars representing all the common smells found in King’s Cross Station and asked people to smell them. In the first jar, a cigarette was lit and left burning there to keep the smell and smoke within. In the second jar was dust collected from my vacuum cleaner at home. The third contained a mix of drink, including alcohol, coffee, soft drink and whipping cream. In the last jar were fruit, vegetable and cheese. All were kept for about two weeks before I asked some of my friends to smell it and filmed their reactions when they smelled each jar
Scan the QR code for the movie.
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DAY 1
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DAY 1
Ingredients - Cigarette
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DAY 1
Ingredients - Coffee - Jack Daniel with Coke - Gin and Tonic - Heavy Cream
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DAY 1 with cream
DAY 4 with cream
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DAY 1
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DAY 1
Ingredients - Dust - Hair
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DAY 1 Ingredients - Banana - Orange - Lime - Goat cheese
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DAY 4
DAY 4
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INTERIM SHOW
The idea of increasing people awareness is combining with bad air pollution by using this idea of making invisible thing visible. My idea is to play with sense of smell because it is something invisible, and to make them visible, my experiment tries to capture the smell. I thought about all of the common smells that could be sensed around there. The first is cigarette because there is a huge waiting area in front of the station where people are smoking since it is an outdoor area. I did an observation around there and started to see people eating their lunch next to a rubbish bin, coffee cup everywhere on the floor, and homeless people drinking beer, ad pee could also be smelled.
Photo by Author, Triangle Space, Chelsea College of Arts
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Photo by Author, Triangle Space, Chelsea College of Arts
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UNIT 3 POLLUTION IN TRANSITIONAL SPACE AWARENESS
SITE CHOOSING / RESEARCH
I went to King’s Cross Station to survey the area and found a potential site, the outdoor waiting area in front the station. I noticed that people use this waiting area as a smoking area. The majority of people who are waiting are actually inside where the timetable screens are. Since King’s Cross Station is one of the most polluted areas in London, the waiting area in King’s Cross and the outdoor area was my main focus because, despite being designed as a seating area, from what I see, people have turned this place into a big smoking area. After King’s Cross Station was chosen as the main area of study, three potential spots there were explored. There, I observed everything related to all my developed concepts, such as wind direction, sunlight, people flow during peak time and off-peak. In the end, I chose only one spot where is the most polluted and has a ventilation block that lets out all the bad air from underground.
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SITE A - Good wind direction - People passing a lot - It might be blocking the entrance of St. Pancras Cross
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Scanned with CamScanner 127
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Sketches by Author
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Sketch Model by Author
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SITE B - Good wind direction - Good transition from main road into a close space - Not many people passing - Blocking the window view
Sketches by Author
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Scanned with CamScanner 133
Sketch Model by Author
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Sketch Model by Author
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Sketch Model by Author
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SITE C - Good wind direction - People passing a lot - Spacious - The most polluted spot in King’s Cross Area
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Scanned with CamScanner
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Sketch Model by Author
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I did an observation on people at stations, both tube and train, finding a significant difference because time on the train is longer. I observed Earl’s Court Station and Victoria Station for the underground and Wimbledon, Clapham and King’s Cross Station. When I was at the station there was a guy standing in the middle giving out free water. And it was a good thing to see how people reacted to that in order to understand how they would react or interact with my installation. Most people are walking diagnose from where they are to where they want to get to unless there is something on their way. Instinctively, people would take the shortest way or the easiest way to get to anyway.
Scan the QR code for the movie.
Map by Author
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DESIGN PROCESS My first idea was a copy of the existing ventilation block shape in contract with purer colour like white. A small room inside the big structure because of the air control. I want a room within a room so the one inside is the pure clean air. the idea is that the installation acts as an air purifier and the wall structure are the filter and it’s like you walking through this massive air purifier.
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Sketches by Author
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3D Render by Author
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Instead of a copy of the block, I want to minimise and made it simpler by using curve line or the shape and form that already exist around there so it is blending in with the surrounding but not the exact cloning of the existing block. Scanned with CamScanner
Sketches by Author
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3D Render by Author
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Thinking about flow in the space and also the form and shape of the installation. There are two other factors, prevailing wind and sunlight are also very important, having great effect on temperature. When standing or sitting in the shade or shadow, one can feel cooler although the temperature hasn’t changed. Similarly, heat from standing in the middle of the field with a direct sun can be reduced with the coming wind.
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Scanned with CamScanner
Sketches by Author
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3D Render by Author
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One of the most widely-used techniques, common in Spanish regions of Fermoselle and Sayago, is “evaporative cooling process,” which uses water to cool down air before entering the building. Rock and soil are used as the main waterproof materials while absorbing water and wetness from ground up to walls, making the house cooler. So, I think it’s also a good idea to put this water element into the installation. Since it’s often rain in The UK. I think it could be the idea of fenel shape that keep the rain on the flat roof in the middle and also create this water wall down the gap between the inner room and the outer room.
Sketches by Author
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Sketches by Author
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3D Render by Author
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Studies on the technical part of the ventilation system and innovations available these days provides a basis for the final outcome of this research, the installation King’s Cross Station area. Exploring vernacular architecture for a sustainable ventilation system that would be applicable for the station first led me to “bioclimatic solution,’ the understanding of the climate and the surrounding where it sits. Material, throughout the whole house, is the next important element to the ventilation system.
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3D Render by Author
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I investigated air purifier comprising vertical walls with fans installed to draw air into the first enclosure and blow out to the other end. Inside, a HEPA filter, standing for “high-efficiency particulate absorber�, is a type of filter that absorbs dust of 0.3 microns or greater and removes up to 99.97 per cent of the dust; sometimes there is additional carbon filter to remove odour as well. The disadvantage, however, is that this filter needs to be changed regularly. So I think I would apply this technology to the layers of the wall will have an air purifier inside there will be layers of filters and other generators inside.
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RENDER IMAGES
The idea of two layers is to make two different transition from outside, which is very busy, noisy and polluted air to the inside which calm, clean and fresh. First layer aim is to give this feeling of freshness as you entre there is the waterfall in the middle to keep the temperature and humidity level but you will still hear the noise from the ventilation wall. As you entre the second layer, it will be quieter and also brighter with the natural light from the skylight flat glass roof.
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Visual image by Author
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Visual image by Author
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Visual image by Author
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Visual image by Author
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Visual image by Author
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Visual image by Author
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Visual image by Author
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MODEL MAKING
1:1000 Model by Author, Showing where the installation is on the site.
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Model by Author
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Bending plastic testing
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Plastic roof in a funnel shape and wooden sticks on the building facade and the top.
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This is 1:100 model that is more detail into the installation. It shows the lighting effect and also the material of the real thing.
Model by Author
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Model by Author
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