Brighton City College Social Interface : Crystalline Growth as an analogy for social condenser Creating interactions with the public Merging the educational and cultural values of the college Developing Brighton City College into a social hub
Urban Context and Site : Social Overlaps in Brighton
Brighton City College [1] is situated at the northern end of the Brighton Lanes, [2] in what could be regarded as a crossing point of different social groups. There are commuters, going to and from the train station [3] students of the college, residents of the nearby flats [4], and shoppers going about their business in the lanes. The college tower is also visible from the primary vehicular route into Brighton [5]. As a site, the car park represents an opportunity to create a hub of social activity away from the traditional centre of Brighton – the sea front [6]. The ambitions of this proposal are simple; to create an obvious way for the college to interact with the rest of Brighton, and to reinvigorate the area which at the moment is a void in the cultural mesh of Brighton.
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College tower as seen from [5]
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Brighton from the air
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scale 1:5000
Early Plans Proposal
site analysis : relation to urban context from points of vision
Based on the original line drawing of routes just below, this proposal vaguely expanded upon the functions within the college - extending the hall, making a cafe/gallery area on an upper floor, and pushing the parking to the lower level of the site. It also included several bridges over the site to create a layered effect. These were later removed to grow more structures around the site.
The site lies between varying different areas, as labelled around the 1:1000 plan to the right. The various demographics could be drawn in by the tower, as also analysed, and dispersed throughout the site creating an overlap between shopping areas and college functions London Rd Commuters / Residents / Shoppers / Students
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Viewpoints around the site - as numbered on plan
College
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Students / Commuters / Shoppers / Residents
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St. Peters Area
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Tourists / Shoppers [5]
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Looking from the south-west towards the site, Sussex Downs in the background
Lanes
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Shoppers / Commuters / Tourists
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Views towards the site The tower can be viewed in many places around brighton, but it is usually only revealed in very specific areas and for brief periods. These are shown above and in the photographs on the left of the page. The buildings in areas with potential views are in black, therefore highlighting the areas which people can be visually drawn to the area from.
scale 1:1000 site plan
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Design Strategy : crystalline growth for social benefit The design primarily stems from the site research conducted at the start of the project. I found myself quite taken by the crystal growing project set up outside the chemistry laboratories in the college, seeing this crystalline growth as an analogy for what a social condenser could be, both aesthetically and functionally. The way crystals grow from existing objects is a natural process relying on the geometries of whatever surface the crystals grow from. These surfaces represent here the existing building functions around the site. The aim is to grow the new spaces out into the car park, and create a social hub from the area which currently exists as a void in the framework of Brighton. These spaces will be designed to interface the goings on in the college with Brighton. Analysis will be carried out to determine which functions occurring in the college would be most effective to overlap with public functions.
Early design visualisation - drawing extensions onto the design
Existing site condition
College
Lanes
Programme and schematic development
Retail / Exhibition Growth [3]
Underground Car Park [5]
This area would include a budget hairdressers, run by the students on the hairdressing course, as well as an exhibition area for any work produced by the college. It could also be used over the summer period as a professional exhibition space. There would also be a Computer Repair Workshop run again by students on related courses at the college.
This new structure would extrude from an existing cafe on the corner of the site, opposite the college. This extension would function as both a public and college cafe, with a large array of indoor and outdoor seating.
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Tower Extension [2] This is an idea which sprung from the existing tower being too bland as an attraction point. A new growth on the corner of the tower could act as a visual attraction point from the views previously discussed. A crystalline growth there could also potentially improve access through the floors and create a new social gathering point.
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scale 1:500 - eastern growth elevation
Hall/Auditorium [1] Extended outwards to meet incoming pedestrians from the lanes, providing larger and better features for college and third party productions. This will aim to create a social gathering point, and additionally allow the college to perform to members of the public in a good venue, at the premisis.
[1] - Auditorium [2] - Tower extension [3] - Exhibition wing [4] - Cafe [5] - Underground parking
Drawing investigating interweaving public routes and growth lines from the existing function areas.
3d sketch view from the south-eastern edge of site. This incorporates some of the main schematic functions of the design. Cafe [4] This new structure would extrude from an existing cafe on the corner of the site, opposite the college. This extension would function as both a public and college cafe, with a large array of indoor and outdoor seating.
Development Timeline : project evolution
Card Model [week 5] This model began to experiment with extruding from buildings as staircases, formally, rather than simply creating bridges across the site.
Initial model [week 1] Looking initially at making routes and pathways over the site, show above in the slightly monolithic collage, with a large skin over the whole structure.
3d model / early sketches [week 2-4]
Crystalline form introduction [week 6-end]
Crystal Analogy continuous process developing project narrative
A number of weeks were spent investigating ways to create a perforated effect on the building’s skin, as well as creating different levels of transparency for light and for human movement. This investigation culminated in the creation of these corrugated plastic skin panels, mounted on a wooden frame. This aesthetic was translated back onto paper and shaped the final design.
Huancu Warehouse Precedent skin investigation - pierced corrugated sheets to allow light interplay
‘Process’ Skin Investigation
crystal analogy developed from site
crystal aesthetic heavily involved in decision to extend tower - using the design as almost an advert for the college
Viewpoints to tower investigation - decision to build on tower was long
Tower ‘Vertical Condensing’ Investigation
investigating ways to materially recreate the design
Routes analysis
Growth onto site concept
Week 7
Week 5
formed initial plans
Project Flow Diagram
Building Skin inviestigation
Site Analysis
Week 6
many separate investigations came to a head at this point and the project was taken back to the sketching phase with more dynamic results than the initial ideas.
Week 4
Week 3
Week 2
Week 1
This phase of the design expanded upon the routes and bridges made in the earlier designs, however, ultimately the plans to do this were scrapped in favour of a long staircase.
This outlines some of the main stages of development within the design, and other contextual/material/conceptual investigations, laid out along the first 8 weeks of the project
Tower Sections 1:200
Vertical Condensing The college tower currently consists of a series of flat levels, each only connected to the other by a staircase at either end, and a lift stretching through the entire college building. This gives each floor a sense of isolation from one another, especially as the stairs are daunting due to the 9 levels they traverse. The proposed extension to the tower cuts into the existing infrastructure slightly and builds out slightly. This leaves enough room to cut a 4 floor high atrium with connecting stairs, to introduce flow between the floors. The atrium would also act as a communal area within the tower, something which it lacks at the moment on any of its floors. Minimal classroom space would be lost, and the additional uses provided by the extension are considerably greater. The tower is also visible from some distance away, and when completed the tower extension would help to draw curious tourists towards it to visit, and provide a visible landmark for the college to exist as.
Skin development [Process] week 1
The skin was initially represented in a pen sketch actually creating these forms and integrating them as a material was a separate process altoegther. The material was developed from its initial bulky, concrete outer form. This was used in the first place for its ease of manipulation in the form development process. This initial process did have one major outcome; which was the use of perforations in walls to create light and define spaces.
week 2
This was then advanced with a laser cut perforated canopy extending from the college. This form of the skin was, however, lacking, because the perforations would obviously allow rain as well as light through.
week 3
This was further developed in the final process week, when a mock up of a potential corrugated plastic skin was assembled using a basic wooden frame. These sections of skin were very cheap to assemble, and presumably would be on a larger scale as well. The effects of the varying opacities of white provide a warm glow inside while simultaneously making the building bright and recognisable from outside.
Outer skin - layers of corrugated plastic and metal
inner framework shaped to crystal design
Photos of the final buiiding skin mock up Below: Night [Left] and Day [Right] imitations of ambient light qualities
Attatchment to existing/college wall
Structural breakdown sketch
Final development : site in elevation
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college functions
lanes functions
1:200
Programmatic Growth social condenser overlap
cafe underground parking theatre/lecture/auditorium hairdressers computer repair workshop exhibition area
These two diagrams explain in brief how the final form was developed - the inital six functions explained on the left and how they enter the social condenser in elevation. The diagram on the right is an image used previously representing where these growths overlap with public movement and usage of the site.
Eastern site elevation: scale 1:200
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Journey from automobile to auditorium [read from left to right]
[4.30pm] Ground Floor plan scale 1:200
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[4.30pm] First Floor plan scale 1:200 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Journey from west of site to study area [read left to right], as seen on above plan
Sectional drawings
section bb scale 1:200 - lanes growths Cafe area - split over two levels
Wohr Parking Lift and storage set underground relatively central to the site, under the existing site re-levelling works
tower vertical condenser - linking up isolated classroom floors, creating a social space within the tower and advertising the Brighton City College project to the city.
college seminar/reading spaces exhibition / retail extension
section cc scale 1:200 - inside the college
college circulatory area
auditorium/college hall space
College and Condenser view from south west