Tracing History Exhibition Catalogue by Javier Lam

Syracuse University Spring 2021 ARC 561 Survey of British Architecture Professor Davide Sacconi Joao Ruivo Group 3 Javier Lam Laura Mukazhanova Seung Hyo Chang

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INDEX 5 STATEMENT 6 ABOUT THE EXHIBITION 7 EXHIBITION MATERIAL 9

LONDON WATERLOO INTERNATIONAL STATION

13 OLD MANOR PARK ART STUDIO 17 168 UPPER STREET 19 NIGHTINGALE ESTATE 24 INSTAGRAM DIGITAL ARCHIVE

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Statement: History is chosen by those who appreciate it. When buildings are set and done, they get demolished and are removed from history forever. They leave very little traces of its presence in history when something new gets designed over. However, certain people respect and adore history, and leave behind some of the items from previous periods. These original designs could also be a driver for new designs. Each of the four architects has its own perception of history. In this exhibition, we will investigate how each architect perceives history through historical and palimpsest drawings These sets of drawings of the past intertwining with the drawings of the present can display the changes that buildings went through, design decisions of the architects, and finally what elements were preserved. This exhibition has selected four different projects, one from each firm, located in four different boroughs in London. The finished products are four sets of drawings that involve overlapping historic and current information of the proximity that the project is located in. The exhibition takes place on Instagram because it allows us to expose our discourse to a large variety of audiences, eventually delivering new knowledge. These sets are formatted in Instagram’s layout as an overview of the exhibition. Under each central image are captions and additional images/drawings that explain the history of the selected projects and how each architect in the future operates with history.

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Our exhibition is located on Instagram. Scan the QR Code to enter the exhibition:

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EXHIBITION MATERIAL

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LONDON WATERLOO INTERNATIONAL STATION - GRIMSHAW ARCHITECTS

London Waterloo Station was built in 1838 and was rebuilt in 1922. Grimshaw Architects were tasked to build the International Station section of London Waterloo Station in 1994. Two elements that changed over time were the structure and the roof envelope.

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This image shows the palimpsest of the viaducts, in which they were demolished in order to create a free plan for the station lobby. There is a contrast between the station for international trains and station for local trains.

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A change in the viaduct also means a change in the envelope. Grimshaw Architects uses the structural rhythm and cutting-edge technology to conceal the station.

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Grimshaw Architects uses an arched roof to create a new roof. This roof structure contrasts with the old London Waterloo Station. Both roofs are representative of cutting-edge technology in their time periods.

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OLD MANOR PARK ART STUDIO

Old Manor Park project by OMMX, which is about transforming a historic library into an art studio, portrays an extreme version of the idea of preservation. The building boundaries and the grid of the area have not gone through any recognizable changes over a period of time. The original Library and its surrounding environment have been excessively reused, expressing the idea of palimpsest in an overly-preserving way.

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The original library that was given to the firm to initiate the revitalization project was not the only element that OMMX had to consider when questioning about what should be preserved and what should be destroyed. The library itself and the surrounding environment shared a very strong sense of connection through maintaining their structural forms for over a 100 years together. The neighborhood was an outcome of a palimpsest with a set of layers where each has almost the exact same information.

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Overwhelmed by the historical value of both the site and the original building, the firm used the opportunity to rather strengthen the identity of the library instead of seeking out possible changes. Built in the early 1900s, the original building was constructed under the influence of the 20th-century Library Movement with the motto of “Let there be light.”

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OMMX used the symbolic meaning of the motto as an additional layer on top of the site’s palimpsest and developed a set of short partition walls with a long-thin lamp on top. The lamp expresses the idea of enlightenment embedded in the motto, even amplifying the historical value the original library possessed. The Moore Park Road Art Studio is a project that best represents how OMMX tends to consider abstract and symbolic values when it comes to the idea of preservation. A library became an art studio where artists would produce their artworks under the sense of enlightenment that remains along with the overall structure.

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168 UPPER STREET-GROUPWORK

The Upper Street is rich with the history and transformations that it went through. From varying height buildings in 1848, uniformly styled buildings at the end of the 19th century to the place that pays tribute to the history nowadays. The corner project by Groupwork architects preserves recent history by interpreting Victorian elements as a part of the facade ornament and continues the intent of the almost uniform, continuous elevation.

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168 UPPER STREET-GROUPWORK

1848 In 1848, the corner building was William Gillingwater’s hair cutting and dressing shop. Along the Upper street, there were series of distinct low rise buildings of varying height. These buildings were demolished to allow road widening works along Upper Street. Prior to demolition the property at 167-168 had been used as a Boots chemist.

1894 The new buildings which incorporate Victorian architectural ornamentation along its facade were erected creating a uniform block of buildings. 168 Upper Street was significantly damaged during WWII, and eventually demolished in its entirety.

Now A newly built project at the corner by Groupwork aims to continue the elevation and history of the block by carrying on the elements of neighboring buildings, such as windows and ornaments. Architects preserve recent history by interpreting Victorian elements as a part of the facade ornament and therefore, paying tribute to the demolished building.

Palimpsest

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NIGHTINGALE ESTATE - STEPHEN TAYLOR ARCHITECTS

Nightingale Estate is a project that has gone through three phasES: PreWorld War 1, 1960s to 2000s, and the current redevelopment plan. It integrates elements of previous eras into its current design.

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The three layers (Pre- World War 1: Blue; 2000s: Red, Current: Black) are overlapped. Pre- World War 1 designs were typical London housing, and none of these buildings remain today. In the 1960s, there were six apartment towers, in which five of them are demolished. One remains today as palimpsest.

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Pre- World War 1 London-style housing is an organization that Nightingale Estate uses. It is an aspect that Stephen Taylor respects as a local identity. However, the remaining tower within the site is acted as palimpsest, with the only interaction being the orientation of buildings parallel or perpendicular to the tower’s form.

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This image shows the changes from the six towers into the new estate. The remaining tower acts as palimpsest within the site, as it does not contribute to the context of the design.

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Instagram Digital Archive

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Plashet Road project located in London and planned to be built in the summer of 2021 is a mixed-use development that has a community center, children’s nursery, and affordable housing. Initially, at the site of the project, there was a 19th-century school, which was then re-purposed into the community center by Stephen Taylor Architects. The site was unique in having many trees and architects decided to keep them adjusting their design based on the location of trees. The facade of the building has semi-circular forms as if the facade was carved out in the places of the trees. That spaces allow creating a kind of plaza in front of the building, which promotes community gatherings with residents of the project and the residents of the surrounding housings.

The picture captures the space that tries to allow residents to meet and communicate. The corner of the residential housing was designed to be open creating a sense of civility and a space for gathering. At the bottom, there is a precast concrete block, which is protruding to the front allowing people to sit and communicate. The corner has a “roof”, which can protect people during rainy, snowy, and sunny days, while the lighting at the edge of the “roof” allows collective gatherings during the nights.

The Plashet Road housing project by Stephen Taylor Architects might be inspired by regional housing in Mediterranean areas, specifically in North Africa, where the courtyard is hidden from the eyes of the passerby keeping the privacy of the residents. When looking at the facade of Plashet Road, there is no sense of the project having a private courtyard inside. The facade doesn’t give a hint of a community life behind it. The colonnaded courtyard creates a sense of openness and transparency, while, also, promoting collective gatherings. When entering the apartment, one has to pass by their neighbors sitting behind the columns or looking at the windows of their apartments, which promotes communication between residents. The Collonaded space not only creates a strong bond between residents but, also, becomes a space for hiding from the sun in the shadows, from bad weather conditions, and allows light to enter and fresh air to circulate in the apartments.

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The refurbishment of the Holton Lee Wellbeing center in Dorset by Stephen Taylor architects.Looking at the picture, it is noticeable how the color of the wood changes from grey to almost light brown/gold. Whether it was intentional or not the color is reminiscent of the building’s original one before the refurbishment. If it was intentional, the preservation of such little detail is something that keeps the history of the building throughout its existence. When renovating buildings, some decide to completely redesign or keep the history. Stephen Taylor architects try to intentionally and maybe unintentionally point out the buildings’ previous look, story, and refurbishment with the help of wood color on the facade.

Looking at the picture it is hard to imagine the space being dedicated for hay storage. Hard materials of brick, concrete, and wood structure could delude one as if the building is for housing or anything else but not a barn. We start to see what the architect was possibly trying to refer to, symmetry, hierarchy, and the traditional wood structure. The interior of Hay Barn at the Shatwell Farm is very symmetrical, mirroring one side to another. The hierarchy of space is reminiscent of the ones in the traditional hay barns, where the hierarchy is being created with the help of thin wood structures/columns in the center of the space. The interior wood structures are very reminiscent of the old barns, especially the roof part, which is high pitched.

Glazed screens in Three Small Houses create a balance between visibility and privacy. It reduces the ability of the people outside to see in but allows those inside the building to see out. However, the screens start to have a connection with the site. They start to mimic the shop shutters around as if there is a public space, store behind the screens.

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Stephen Taylor Architects look at a project as more than a component of itself, where the projects have certain roles in the city. The buildings are designs for the city. This is the Aikin Court project. Its facade has a repetitive little garden area, which is looking towards the city and the street rather than towards the backyard and, therefore, it adds a beautiful picture and element to the street view. We start to see a kind of responsibility of architecture in the city through these elements.

This is the plan of 168 upper street from 1894, showing what the site looked like before. The new building, 168 upper street, was built in the place of the old building and the block, where 168 upper street is located hasn’t changed much in comparison with other blocks that surround it.

“Before demolition, the property at 167-168 had been used as a Boots chemist picture #1. The row of buildings along Upper Street between Waterloo Terrace and Barnsbury Street were originally a series of distinct low-rise buildings of varying height as indicated in picture #1. These buildings were demolished to allow road widening works along Upper Street. The new building which incorporates Victorian architectural ornamentation along its facade was erected creating a uniform block of buildings (picture #2”-by Groupwork architects.

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The reconstructed facade of the Museum of Natural History by Diener&Diener Architekten continues the modulations of the original building. The gray-colored part sets apart reconstructed elements from the preserved segments. Inspired by the project, 168 Upper street building continues the elements of the neighboring building in its facade, but with different material.

“The site of the House on Work project was the last remaining piece of Charlotte Road to have escaped redevelopment in the nineteenth century when most of the existing one-room-deep cottages were replaced with larger scale warehouses and workshops that served the neighborhood’s burgeoning industrial economy. This gradual intensification established a prevailing urban character of buildings directly abutting their neighbors on three sides, which places a special value on both the front elevation and the roof in their potential for bringing light and air into the site”-by Stephen Taylor Architects.

The picture captures the nowadays state of the House on Work project site, however before it was distinctive for its polychromy before the street reconstruction. “The red brick was used for banding between each floor, striped heads over the second-floor windows, and the solid in the third-floor windows and curved heads of the central loading bays, where there was also polychrome herringbone brickwork. Interspersed with this was a pattern of molded bricks at the top and bottom of each floor division, and between each window cill, with a different detail to each level, numbering about ten. There was a corbelled eaves cornice and pronounced slender corbels at the top of each pilaster. Some of the shop windows have been replaced, but altogether sympathetically; the pilasters between each bay has plain heads over a molded squat capital with griffin detail.”

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This image captures the colonnaded frontispiece of the Shatwell Farm cowshed by Stephen Taylor Architects. The columns are crafted from a semi-dry cast concrete using locally quarried stone, sustaining the identity of the site in the process of the renewal project.

Through mirroring the left facade that sustains the identity of the Shatwell site, the facade of the haybarn on the left echos the quality carried by the cowshed to further strengthen the identity of the farmyard and acknowledge the value the industry contains.

This image captures a corner of an urban housing project by Stephen Taylor Architects at Cadix in Antwerp. The corner steps back at the lower level, conveying the idea of permanence and solidity and creating an environment of continuity in the city’s fabric.

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The Moore Park Road housing project by Stephen Taylor expresses a clear sense of contrast between its private and public divisions through materiality and color. It is interesting to see how different color tones of an identical material could be used to exaggerate the sense of boundary.

One of the design elements that Stephen Taylor likes to use is a staircase with doubled height that acts as a corridor. It is interesting to see how splitting floor levels could create both an efficient economic value and an impression of spaciousness through a fluid spatial movement on every corner of a house.

For the Shatwell Farm revitalization project, Stephen Taylor Architects went through different tests and mixes of combining concrete, clay, cement, and stone from the local quarry in search of a color that could best represent the site. It is interesting to see how the firm spent time on exploring not only the architectural elements but also the color appearance to design a new agricultural building.

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In Three Small Houses, two of the three houses have 2 by 2 meters courtyards at the back sitting right next to each other. The two are totally separated on the ground level, but the separating wall gradually recedes in a stepped form as it goes higher. It is interesting to see how the overlooking problem could act as a threshold that allows a sense of liveliness and togetherness within a housing project.

In Moore Park Road project, the irregular orientation of the 4 houses create a set of thin gaps in between the buildings. This condition creates a set of windows that do not even have enough space in front for a proper lighting/ventilation. It is interesting to see how an opening could be used as a threshold that invites in the noise and the feeling of density.

In the process of renovating an old house, OMMX thought it was shame to discard a chunk of an existing staircase. So the firm decided to develop the removed handrail into joinery items that can be attached to furnitures, so that the residents could feel the presence of the old house every time they use the furniture. This is one of the examples that shows how OMMX tends to value symbolic and abstract values when it comes to the idea of preservation,

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Similar but a little bit different from Shatwell Farm by Stephen Taylor, Trehilyn project by OMMX uses naturally existing material of the site. The house was built from raw stones collected in the site in respecting the agricultural identity. A vernacular technique was done to refine the texture and color of the stones so that the project can blend in with other while agricultural buildings in that area. Again, it is interesting to see how color and materiality could be used for preservation.

When it comes to the idea of preservation, OMMX tends to keep the original structural elements as much as possible. The surviving stained glass from an old house is what the color of H beam in Stele House was derived from. The decision was made as a way to record the destructed wall’s former presence within something that represents “new,” preserving the original building’s identity.

Transforming a historic library into an art studio was done through emphasizing the library’s symbolic meaning instead of applying structural and aesthetical changes. The firm focused on the motto of 20th century Library movement “Let there be light,” which is preserved through OMMX’s new set of partition walls with lamps. Th library became an art studio where artists would produce artworks under the sense of enlightenment that remains along with the original structure.

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“London is also a city of houses, I think, generally speaking. It’s houses rather than apartments. It’s also a city of villages, which have grown, expanded and joined…” Stephen Taylor (2008) Stapleton Hall Road by Stephen Taylor Architects challenges this norm. This house starts to challenge how a house can be operated. By splitting into half-floor formations, the diagonal allows the users to be able to see someone half a floor above and half a floor below. This allows more visual angles within the building, allowing a visual connection between users, and allows sunlight to penetrate to several floors. This also challenges the programs of the house, blurring the definition of the “floor” and therefore splitting the house not by floor or wall, but by furniture or the human intervention.

“Social Housing” is a forum that discusses about social housing projects in Europe. While there are no standard ways for social housing, each country or region has their own identity. Identities, such as amount and sizes of living units in a building, shared items or amenities, organization of apartment units, and more are compared and contrasted. These identities are based on economic status, income rate, local materiality and construction techniques, political, social and economic structure, as well as necessity. Affordable social housing targets buyers with a medium-low income, as a temporary housing option before purchasing private housing units or apartments. Social Housing responds to capitalism, in which these countries may not have optimal usage of shared spaces. They aim to inject this type of housing category into capitalist markets, such as the United States, to ease the burden brought to low-income individuals. This may be a temporary solution to a permanent problem, which is the utilization of space in architecture. This also emphasizes an ever-changing societal aspect, where the occupants change over time, meaning that the occupants are integral to the functioning of the architecture design.

Stephen Taylor Architects and Zombory-Moldovan Moore Architects collaborated to design “Four Oaks Brick House”. This house looks at the common space within the building. In plan, the common space is in two of four floors. The sequence of the two kitchens suggests that there are two different purposes. Perhaps this house can be made for two sets of people to use at the same time, not interfering with each other in their activities, as suggested in plan. One of the kitchens is enclosed by a bedroom, suggesting that there may be a maid room or a guest room, while the other kitchen is enclosed by a dining room. The partition wall between the space for vertical circulation and the dining room also suggests that there is a common space for meeting, a threshold between family activities and guest activities. Overall, this house is a unique case study of how the house determines the mode of life and lifestyle.

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Stephen Taylor Architects draws inspiration upon the housing units at Saint Germain de Calberte. The stone roofing is a technique used in southern France by nailing stone onto a piece of wood. The purposes of this stone finish is rather similar to a brick finish, functionally speaking, but creates a new layer of texture. Because each piece of stone is unique, the finish is rather unpredictable. This is drastically different from the designs by the firm, which use bricks of all sorts, but are geometrically precise and accurate. This perhaps also looks at the firm’s appreciation of masonry. Preserving tradition in southern France is essential to the village, hence why the method of construction is kept as close to tradition in France. On the other hand, using brick finish is a distinct element used in London Georgian housing, so to keep historical lineage, Stephen Taylor Architects decides to use brick in many of their projects.

Across Stephen Taylor Architects' designs, one thing that was repeated numerous times is the type of windows used. These projects (from left: Urban Housing, Antwerp; Station Road Mansions, London; House on Work, London; Plashet Road, London) all use this window style. This is a Sash Window (with railing, perhaps for safety), very commonly seen in the United Kingdom, because the windows do not rotate outwards. This saves space and avoids any legal issues with out-swinging windows. However, the drawings do not have any interaction with humans. This raises questions - What is the interaction between the people on the street and the people standing at the balcony? Is this trying to discourage interaction because the user cannot step out onto the balcony? Or is this merely a façade design that is used to please the user from the interior? In this case, why does one need a two-meter-tall window? I think Stephen Taylor Architects missed an opportunity to answer this question, placing a somewhat generic window and railing system in multiple projects without answering why.

The way that Stephen Taylor Architects draws out their “Urban Housing, Antwerp” project reminds me of contrast between housing unit and garden in Older Women’s Co-Housing Project. In the Older Women’s Co-Housing Project, the garden is shared by the users, and the apartments are linked together with corridors. Its neighboring houses are individual, with long strips of lawn and housing units stacked vertically with 2 or 3 floors. The design in Antwerp is a mix between the two. The housing unit in Antwerp is identified by a long strip, with two units stacked on top of each other. The garden is also an extension of these apartment units. However, on a higher floor, there is a connective corridor, called a deck, similar to the one in Older Women’s Co-Housing project, albeit for a different purpose. The deck serves to be an entrance for those on the higher floors, but the geometry also emphasizes the importance of the strips of apartment units. This is a cool crossover between these two elements – the collective spaces and the individual spaces, intersected in section.

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A competition proposal in which Stephen Taylor Architects did not win, the Stockholm Library is one of the few proposals Stephen Taylor has worked on which does not involve any residential requirements. This project uses cutouts to shine light into the public space, which is open. It manipulates the ground plane, which means there are two main floors – one on the roof and another as the diagonal of the original topography, transformed into steps and seating spaces. This double-surface project is very intriguing and very different from the more recent designs that has come into fruition. Perhaps it is the limitations of residential architecture that limit Stephen Taylor from experimenting more with wild designs, and focusing more on reality of real estate in London.

The House on Work wood model manifests itself within the apartment space of the actual House on Work project. In Stephen Taylor’s Lecture – a category called “Architecture as a Gift to the City”, is exemplified in the project. Maybe it isn’t to the city, but it is for the residents in the house. This wood model now becomes a piece of furniture, functioning as a table stand, or a storage box. This creates a different perception to the design, in which a house can be viewed as a storage place. A change in dimension also gives another interpretation based on scale, being able to look at the design from top view. It could have been a complete accident that this wood model is practical, but this is an interesting small gift that Stephen Taylor Architects may have left behind for the users.

Nightingale Estate originally had six high-rise apartment towers. Originally, they were solutions to Post-World-War-II housing problems, allowing more people to live under one square area of land. However, there were many social problems that arose in these towers, such as crime (robbery, drugs). Stephen Taylor himself also considered these towers to be foreign within the city context of London. It is true in some ways, because London’s residential areas are mostly houses. However, when looking in plan of the new Nightingale Estate, the grid-like arrangement is also a bit foreign. The alignment of buildings show that it follows the logic set up by its neighboring lots in the early 20th century. However, it is more of suburban style, something popularized in the United States post-World-War-II housing, but also seen in London prior to the 20th century. Bringing in a bit of Edwardian flair into the design makes it home to London’s style. As this design has not been completed (as of writing), hopefully, the mistakes that have happened in previous Nightingale Estate designs would be diminished in this design.

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Stephen Taylor argues that the life of a house is very important in its relationship to the street. In this lecture “Some Ideas On Living”, Taylor uses this image in the lecture to show that a three-storey building is very much in conjunction with the width of a two-lane street. This (approximately) 1:1 ratio is very important, because it gives a sense of domesticity. Two-storey buildings do not have the presence of the mass that carve out a street, while four-storey buildings may have fire-related issues. This argument makes sense in a practical aspect as well. If a building is too tall, it blocks out sunlight and reduces air ventilation, and the section loses the bottom-middle-top condition. Many of Stephen Taylor’s projects that deal with the immediate street conditions follow this idea, such as Aikin Court, House on Work. While these buildings are four stories tall, the fourth floor is actually tucked inwards, such that the three floor façade matches its neighbors and keeps the ratio. In summary, Stephen Taylor Architects make conscious decisions of the façade along the street level to match the dimensions set by the street or neighboring buildings.

The Soviet Union decided to map London during the Cold War. This image in particular looks at Waterloo, London. It is very interesting to see the perception of an “enemy” in the Cold War plot out what London is in their eyes. The drawing seems to indicate the masses of each building, and mainly several types of passages. Main roads are colored in yellow, while roads (including underground tunnels) are colored in white. Some docks are also precisely drawn to show the location of boat landings. In particular, Waterloo London Station was highlighted in dark grey. This map is interesting because it gives a different perception of London as a city. Potentially, Grimshaw Architects may have looked into this and designed based on the urban streets, understanding that some places may have more traffic than others and used it as a design incentive to position entrances and exits

Another map of London Waterloo is this historic map. It is believed to be 18th Century London. Waterloo Station hasn’t been built yet, and the plot of land is all but barren. None of the current facades of Waterloo Station exist, but it could be a hint of the palimpsest located in Waterloo. All of the current connections across the Thames River within this image still exist, including the suspension bridge, which will soon become another train track across the Thames. The main road network has been set, and the train tracks are the highways which connect London to other cities in the United Kingdom. The drawing conventions are also clear about how London functions – bigger chunks are masses of commercial buildings, while lot lines and houses are also illustrated. It’s also weird to see that several buildings find themselves aligned to the riverfront, and not many docks are visible in this view.

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Syracuse Architecture London Program Spring 2021 ARC 561 - Survey of British Architecture Professors Davide Sacconi Joao Ruivo Group 3 Javier Lam Laura Mukazhanova Seung Hyo Chang “Tracing History” is a semester-long project on an investigation of London architecture. London Waterloo International Station, Old Manor Park Library, 168 Upper Street, and Nightingale Estate were investigated, analyzed, and traced of its history and connections to the past. The sets of drawings are produced to illustrate the change over time and understanding how each architect interacts with palimpsest. Special thanks to representatives of Grimshaw Architects, OMMX, Groupwork, and Stephen Taylor Architects for providing lectures and learning material in order to create productive sets of drawings and archives.