valdrada
j.e. singer sid: 460383819 tutor: c.l. smith
“in this framework where, by requiring consent, individuals are loaded with societal responsibilities, a commune reaction could be an escape:
what you do not know cannot be an object of your responsibility.”
“active citizenship” “the public can participate and where it can, actively shape the project’s aims and processes.”
r: flavio d’abramo, biobank research, informed consent and society. towards a new alliance?
concept The subject I wish to explore is that of dynamic consent within the world of medicine, biomaterial and our engagement with our bodily fragments and where they end up. D’abramo’s article which is central to this project, speaks of our inherent desire to forget all things that are cut away to alleviate our burden of responsibility, but proposes a new method in engaging with the otherwise unseen, subliminal biobanking effort and civic duty that constantly churns around us. On the following page, is an excerpt from Calvino’s ‘Invisible Cities,’ specifically the city of Valdrada. As told, Valdrada speaks to a subliminal plane, an inherent understanding within all of us of the concept of symbiosis, but on an axial plane - that which is above + below. The sketch to the left is a visual cue for my initial thinking and form-finding; wanting to create a place that activates this subliminal plane with specimen-like follies. A place for people, a generous walled garden that garners programmatic engagement with intrigue, appealing to our attraction to the anthropomorphic. In short: I want to create a space that negotiates the delicate idea of D’Abramo’s ‘dynamic consent’, provides an autonomous function for the transactions of biobanking with a constructed landscape that invokes the subliminal plane and appeals to the senses.
r: j. singer - ‘calvino promenade’
valdrada “Thus the traveller, arriving, sees two cities: one erect above the lake, and the other reflected, upside down. Nothing exists or happens in the one Valdrada that the other Valdrada does not repeat,” “Valdrada’s inhabitants know that each of their actions is, at once, that action and its mirror-image, which possesses the special dignity of images, and this awareness prevents them from succumbing for a single moment to chance and forgetfulness. Even when lovers twist their naked bodies, skin against skin, seeking the position that will give one the most pleasure in the other, even when murderers plunge the knife into the black veins of the neck and more clotted blood pours out the more they press the blade that slips between the tendons, it is not so much their copulating or murdering that matters as the copulating or murdering of the images, limpid and cold in the mirror. At times the mirror increases a thing’s value, at times denies it. Not everything that seems valuable above the mirror maintains its force when mirrored. The twin cities are not equal, because nothing that exists or happens in Valdrada is symmetrical: eWvery face and gesture is answered, from the mirror, by a face and gesture inverted, point by point. The two Valdradas live for each other, their eyes interlocked,”
r: italo calvino inivisible cities
site
To me, this project is best served as a that of an urban reorganisation and renewal of what is currently a severely under-utilised space, and that in doing so, the bio-banking program within can be activated by an engaged, generous and thrumming precinct above. The following pages will outline the key findings on site that carved the proposal’s layout.
existing site isometric 0
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context
solar + wind
educational
hopk ins d john
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existing site medical
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medium open
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6 site security concerns + existing bus stop
existing vegetation to be retained + shelter
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8 open views + prospect
strength + weakness
to hide
to retain to maximise
formal beginnings
cls: “what feels like this project?� me: my formal beginnings lie with an experience I had when I was 12, I went out for a surf and as my hand came down to paddle, I brushed the surface of an unsuspecting jellyfish... as i peered over the side of my board, I saw just a throbbing, red glow from beneath the waters surface... for a brief moment I felt a *click* kindred spirit, this idea of transparency as paradoxically thick.
r: robyn leigh hand holding a jellyfish (2019)
a visual render for the conflation of my 3 main conceptual drives: 1) invoking the subliminal 2) the city of valdrada 3) the jellyfish
valdrada
The following pages will show the sequential layering of program and site planning objectives that directly satisfy the on-site findings. The intention of this ground floor precinct is to be a macro through-site link as a vital intersection within its broader context and engage with the public.
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external wall The carpark is the least favourable part of the existing site, so a large retaining wall is proposed to enclose the site and provide a utilites/services spine.
responds to on-site findings:
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pink poly observatory domes Catenary domed pink polycarbonate observatories that breach the surface and puncture through to the subterranean spaces below and flood them with reflective light.
responds to on-site findings:
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student hub / forum Student hub and forum in the most protected (shaded) portion of site and closest access to the street frontage along john hopkins drive.
responds to on-site findings:
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terraced green space Garden platforms that protect and demarcate all existing foliage (save for 1) and a grassy knoll atop the grotto of the park entrance that maximises on the existing park aspect as a capture point and addresses this area that currently is a place of compromised site-security due to lack of lighting and activity.
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transport ammenity external + entry wall glass brick observatories A relocated and properly student hubtransport / forum accommodated link that also serves as direct terraced green space entry to the autonomous bio-banking level from the transport ammenity + entry main road.
responds to on-site findings:
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leisure space + cafe external + utilities wall glass brick observatories Cafe and leisure sitting student hubwall / forum against the external and utilities block to maximise terraced green space on the weakest portion of site and provide lift+access transport ammenity entry to the level below, this also houses the ground floor toilet block and allows for the existing vehicular access to be retained and used for biomaterial transport and such.
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walled external garden wall glass brick observatories High-streetside wall to / forum create student intriguehubfor the exterior and refuge for the terraced green space interior - this aspect of the site is intended to +create transport ammenity entry acutely concentrated smallgrain capture points along the popular street frontage.
responds to on-site findings:
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retained external folliage wall glass brick observatories Retaining the existing forum folliage student on site hub was/ key to the spatial arrangements terraced green space and placement of various programmatic elements. transport ammenity + entry All save for 1 have been retained in this scheme. Their root systems and proposed depths have been factored into the design of the subterranean spaces too.
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Note the legally graded path that runs the length of the site for patrons of restricted mobility and prams. As a place of intended total equity, this was an integral aspect of design and the surrounding spaces were carved accordingly. there is also a ramp up to the cafe precinct seeing as it would be a focal point of site. I’d also like to draw attention to the perforations in the john Hopkins drive side, that correspond to existing pedestrian crossings as capture points.
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zoom 1
steps to cafe
retaining retainingwall wall
bus shelter
escalator entry
forum seating + entry to dome pedestrian access capture
zoom 2 cafe seating
cafe + toilet + lift block ramp up to cafe
kid’s area
pedestrian access capture
skylights
pedestrian access capture
zoom 3
stairs down to bio-banking level
park entry
external wall
garden entry
forum seating
inbuilt desk
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lower floor silhouette
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autonomous biobanking precinct
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access-only lift to lab
escalator entry
main dome void to lab below
zoom 2 autonomous bio-banking booths
lift from cafe
second dome
skylights above
zoom 3 park grotto entry
lounge area
help desk
cafe
tertiary dome
toilet block
office space
Connected to the base of each of the biobanking booths, are a series of cryogenically graded storage vaults. These vaults store the specimens temporarily as they await to be received and processed by the lab facility. These vaults are connected to the lab with a series of steel encased tendrils that feed specimen samples into the lab.
lab silhouette
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cryogenic freezer vaults
connector tendrils
specimen processing belt
P2 lab space
lab precinct
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access-only lift
wash station
bathroom
staff storage
lab space 3
receival point for specimens
lab space 2
kitchenette
lab space 1
n2 tank
p2 lab
cryogenic storage
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section shows the puncturing of the landscape and encouraged axial flow and park side grotto entry. it shows the engagement with all levels in the main observatory and the proposed light conditions that rosy poly would afford.
south-east perspective section
the elevation shows this walled frontage to john hopkins drive and pocket viewports into the site along its street edge to draw patrons in, via these constricted openings - this is in keeping with traditional arrangements of follied gardens.
south-east elevation 0
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i intend for the materials to talk to the idea of transparency and engagement with tactile, warm surfaces that evoke feelings of age and weight while simultaneously reaching skyward. soft pink poly domes articulated with anodised brushed bronze steelwork, dark walnut interior finishes and verdigris details.
valdrada