Realisation Jordon Anderton
170374127
Relationship to Studio Themes The main theme that we have been exploring in our studio is systems, how we use and move around our environment and public realms. The themes that my project related too from our studio is engagement, change, and time. Taking systems into account when choosing my site I wanted to choose site 1 for my design as it incorporates two very contrasting systems between Coventry university student life and the life of the general public, public who may be unsure if they are allowed to use the university space, or who may feel burdened by the students presence, I want to merge these two systems together to help make Jordan Well more friendly for everyone.
Ghost in the Machine / Primer group work
2
Manifesto In today's society, both the young and old often live away from each other due to contrasting lifestyles within age groups. Whilst at university, students often live with like-minded individuals of a similar aged group, and similarly, the elderly often live isolated or in care homes where they are surrounded by those of the same age. My project focuses on generational integration and inclusion, specifically through the heart of Coventry, its university. Coventry has become known for its university, with new student housing schemes being built across the city all the time due to large numbers of students embracing the city and choosing it as a place for them to study. But what has come with this is little to no designated housing for the elderly in the east side of Coventry’s town centre, which is a prime place for them to live due to frequent and various public transportation and transportation stops, and with the town centre being a mere 5 minutes walking distance for those elders who are more active.
Protagonist Scenario On his way home from class, Jurriën takes a slight detour to pick up some fresh fillets from the fishmonger. His neighbor has an affinity for fish and, since he cycles by the market anyway, it’s really no trouble. After paying, he hops back on his bike and heads home. He’ll visit his neighbor, have dinner, maybe do some studying or kick back to watch TV. Much like any other university student. Except his home is a nursing home. And his neighbor just turned 93.
Housing for an ageing population and housing for Students Housing for the elderly had once seemed like a fairly simple concept, The elderly may wish to stay in there oversized and under heated family homes, or it may be beneficial for them to reside in places such as care homes, where they can get the help that they need. However with many elderly citizens of today often being able to move around frequently and live fairly active lifestyle, this is what my design encourages. The main aim of my design is to merge housing for an aging population, with student housing, to form relations between two contrasting age groups and to eliminate segregation between these two types of resident through a shared-living scheme.
Precedent:'Almshouse' Witherford Watson Mann Architects
Humanitas Care Home Deventer, Netherlands In the Netherlands, students spend an average of 366 Euros (roughly $410) each month on rent, and this is where the idea for student and elderly shared living originated from, offering free accommodation to students in return for only 30 working hours per month. Humanitas go out of their way to adapt the complete living experience, its philosophy describes the reasoning of its uniquity. Humanitas core values are to achieve the best possible quality care and prove a community for their residents, Humanitas quality delivery promise consists of 6 cornerstones. ●
Provide a recognisable living environment, to know their own residents and acknowledge all that makes them unique as individuals. This allows residents to be comfortable and feel at home.
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Provide an authentic feel within an environment and lifestyle that you influence and design yourself.
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Humanitas provides a complete living environment including healthcare and well-being, fitted to the resident's habits, desires and preferences.
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The residents of Humanitas are assisted by the same employees wherever possible. This helps to build the relationship between worker and resident, they recognise each other and become friends.
Site
My site occupies where the James Starley building has stood since 1963, and the surrounding area is predominantly student facilities, which include the student union, Graham Sutherland, Bugatti, Maurice Foss, and Ellen Terry buildings in the immediate vicinity of my site. An important aspect of my site is the walkway in between my site and the student union building. I believe there is an ‘invisible wall’ around this area and as the walkway is surrounded by university buildings, this makes the general public unsure if they are allowed to walk through here, thus creating more segregation.
Parti Diagrams showing importance of the communal walkway next to my site, original thoughts of how my design can create a visual or physical connection through my site to the student union directly adjacent.
Site Approaches Taking inspiration from the style of Alex Hogrefe, specifically using his train pavilion Diagrams for my president. These set of diagrams were produced using sketchup and photoshop show a range of approaches to my site, based on the most popular directions to get to the site, and the point of this was to help conceptually visualize the first ‘point of contact’ that users will see when visiting my site and also to help me further down the line when designing my entrance
Educational Buildings Diagram
Surrounding Green Space Daigram
Site Recorded during our field trip to Coventry, I looked specifically at which parts of my my site and its surroundings had a heavier flow of pedestrianisation, and specifically how people were using my site, what they were interacting with, and how it seemed to me that non-students visitors to the site would avoid the university walkway which is what made me believe that the site wasn't’ being used to its full potential.
Little Pedestrian Flow
Heavy pedestrian flow
The Connection I have used sketchup and photoshop to diagram how I am potentially able to incorporate a connection through my site to the student union building and the courtyard/walkway space. Relating back to the ‘imaginary wall’ of the public realm in between my site and the student union, it has been important for me since the start of my design process that my final design opens up this space and makes non-students know that they are welcome to use this space too. By having my building a shared accomodation between students and also residents of older ages, it opens this space up to much more, It could almost be seen as the garden of my building, potentially where elderly residents can watch students go about their day to day life.
This uses three separate colours to show the public realm of Coventry in its sections according to commercialist, religious and educational values. Buildings of educational purpose take up a large part of the east side of Coventry town centre. I used this form of map-diagraming frequently throughout the ‘primer’ stage of our design module to better understand the realm of Coventry before choosing my initial site for my design project. The capacity of university buildings in this educational space shows that more needs to be done to combine the university life into the public realm of Coventry, instead of seeing the university (and more specifically my site) as something that has one sole purpose, instead I think that it would be beneficial to incorporate those of different age groups into this space to help form otherwise unlikely relations with those of different age groups and life experiences.
Heating Infrastructure Project (HIP) Levitt Bernstein I have taken inspiration from a lot of Levitt Bernstein’s work throughout my design process, Buccleuch House, Hazel Hurst Court, but the Heating Infrastructure project at Liverpool University I have used as a precedent for my exterior facade idea, this scheme used anodised aluminium cladding pieces, which are organised to allow air to move in and out of the building. Levitt Bernstein refer to the HIP project as a direct response to the historical core of the university. The HIP structure has five pitched roofs, while glazed sections alternately reflect the surrounding buildings and allows glimpses of the machinery inside. I wanted to use this concept of having certain parts of my structure offer visibility completely through my structure, other parts offer visibility to what's inside my structure.
Aviation Museum, Krakow Poland, Pysall Ruge Architekten with Bartlomiej Kisielewski Another precedent which i looked at