MA - INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT

COMMUNITY HOME PRECEDENT 1:

INTENT::

Looking at another Social Housing building with a feeling completely different designed by Le Corbusier in Marseille, France, this is a concrete building but with a feeling and materiality completely different. The fact that the found floor is totally opened invites people in as well as light and wind, creating a nice environment.

The project asks to investigate the 2 underground car parks and the Podium of a Family State - located in the Middlesex Street, East End - and develop a new programme that follows the original aspiration to combine, unite and conjoin the inhabitants of the estate and the wider community of both the City of London and Tower Hamlets.

COMMUNITY: “Offers the promise of belonging and calls for us to acknowledge our interdependence. To belong is to act as an investor, owner, and creator of this place. To be welcome, even if we are strangers. As if we came to the right place and are affirmed for that choice.” (Block,P: 2008,pp.3) The intent is to engage the local community through encouraging natural and unforced integration through design solutions and materials.

MIDDLESEX STREET BACKGROUND:

SOURCE: https://lecorbusiersheffield.weebly.com/park-hill.html

It became an unsafe area due to the case JACK THE RIPPER. From that on, Baby-selling became a common practise in the East End as well as other shady activities. It was a poor area with high numbers of criminals and prostitutes. An old saying states that you can expect someone to steal your petticoat at one end of the market and then sell it back to you at the other end.

Petticoat Lane's name changed again due to its reference to ladies’ undergarments, but the old name continues to be associated with the area.

Its name previously was Hog’s Lane which made reference to an old tree-lined droving road from the Medieval times that was used to bring livestock into the city.

Due to Hitler’s bombers, much of the slums disappeared beneath the rubble.

It was severely affected by the Great Plague.

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1665

1830

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1882

1936

1945

1970

HOG’S LANE

It had become a commercial district and its name was changed due to the emerging of clothes tranding in the area, usually cheap and second hand.

A new wave of immigrants, Huguenot weavers, moved into the area to escape persecution in France. They maintained the area's identity as a centre for clothing manufacture. .

SITE ANALYSIS::

The Market was formally recognised A new wave of immigration from India and east Asia restored the area's vitality A wave of Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution in eastern Europe settled in the area. They entered and invested on the local garment industry, and also maintained the traditions of the market.

The Family State is located on the boarder of the City of London (Business Area) with The Great London (Family State + Cultural Diversity Population). By analising its location it was concluded that the fullfillment of need is required by that place from different interest’s groups: the family from the dwellers, the commuters from the business centre, the local people and the shop owners.

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To encorporate that concept into the building in study, 5 accesses were opened in its ground floor to allow flow underneath the building giving continuity to the urban fabric. So how to create a community environment and reconcile these flow - making the space public - with security issues and dwellers private circulation?

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Middlesex Street Family State

Middlesex Street

City of London

Great London

According to Peter Eisenstadt Experiment’ result in Integrated Housing,Rochdale Village, New York, crime levels rise as community’ activity in streets felt.

The best way he found to fight it was bringing community together through stimulating on them the sense of belonging by keeping the place busy.

By creating a multiactivity space, the place would become alive with the real community engaging in it. When there are many activities happening with local people in a place, there is no crime because people are watching. So, as a solution, to put local people out of their houses into the public space, it was created an Space for All. Three design solutions were introduced to provide them a public environment’ feeling and engaging them with the space: 1- The application of the same floor material on the path and on the bulding interiors, expressing that there is no barriers, it is a public area, re-afirming the continuity concept, as can be seen on the image above.

By working into the community from real knowledge gathered (Primary Research), it was recognized an area that is relatively ill-served although being culturally diverse. So, how could the street serve those publics and bring such a mixed community together?

Besides being a Family State, there is no proper space for the family itself. Through the Site Analysis it could be noticed that there is no space for kids to play nor space for community engagement nor even an affordable place to do some exercise.

2- 24h space. Besides the fact that there is no closing/opening times - which reassure the sense of belonging as there is no specific time, the space is always available to everyone - it also avoids anti- social behaviour.

3 - Market Stalls were placed on the whole way from the paths to the building’s entrances working as anchor stores (inviting people in to see which activities are happening under the building). From study the local histoy and culture, it was noticed that the East End population has this characteristics of being good communicators/sellers and they completely take over the place and call people in. This is also a way to give the shop owner - which would have their shop taken to open up the building - their ‘shop’ back.

BUILDING ANALYSIS:: The building feels like a dead-point placed in the City’s Urban Fabric. As can be seen, it is a closed and dark block of massive concrete which ends the street with no option of passage and no possibility of any type of interaction.

MARKET STALLS

MARKET STALLS

MARKET STALLS

MARKET STALLS

Considering this issue as a starting point and through a series of studies on Le Corbusier’s concept of bringing the flow through the building, giving continuity to the Urban Fabic, the first concept chosen was the opening of the ground floor to break the block’s brutalism and invite people in allowing a continuity of the public area and social interaction.

COMMUNITY HOME DISTRIBUTION OF SPACES AND ACTIVITIES: :

- The whole design was created based on Louis Sullivan’ idea of Interpretable Spaces. The fundaments that there is no right way of using a space, users appropriation is made in different ways according to their interpretation. So there is no strict determination related to the spaces created.

- Considering the fact that the majority of the dwellers are elderly people - which need easy access to health assistence and wellbeing support - and the fact that they get a Podiatry practice once a month and there is no proper space for that activity, it will be provided a Pharmacy - which is going to be the only one 24h to support them - with a space for Drop in practices such as GP, Physiotherapy, Podiatry etc.

PRECEDENT 4: : - By having this like bleachers structure - from the Danish Architecture Center (DAC) in Denmark - as a precedent. It was created another furniture’ like object would be bleachers made out of richlite - a paper composite material made out of recycled paper which is nonporous, heat and water resistant and can withstand everything from food preparation environments to the harsh outdoors. Another relevant point about richlight is that it is really flexible, facilitating the creation of curves, such as the slides. Besides of being a recycled material, it is a wood like material made with different colours of wood.

- Its location was intentionally chosen creating a Health Zone where it is already located a Gym and a Dentist Unit.

SOURCE: https://oma.eu/projects/dac-blox

It was intentionally located in front of the stage so it would also be a seating’ option for those who are watching a performance.

It also has a function of a quiet space, where people can just lie down and be reading, contrasting with the busy space and with the pallets that would never be in the same position or form.

STUDIO: The studio is also a Functionless space which can be used for practice from different groups such as theatre, dance, choir group etc. The room was also intentionally positioned besides the toilets and in front of the stage so that it can also be used as a dressing room with the toilets and lockers facilities during any apresentation on the stage.

WORKSHOP: By knowing that there are ceramics and sewing groups in the building which meet to create and chat, and considering the fact that the apartmants are becoming smaller and expensive, the workshop is a space`s solution for those who wants to create in a free way with no stain or space concerns.

MATERIALITY: Materiality is the main instrument of that project as the concrete can not be removed, its darkness and brutalism feeling would be soften with the use of a variety of natural materials to create a pleasant environment.

GROUND FLOOR - The concrete pillars will be covered with engraved and colourful mirrors’ surfaces in order to bring light through the building as it would reflect among the mirrors through the building.

Dentist

Gym

Library Service

Market Stalls

Pharmacy + Drop in Practise

Studio

Toilet

Service Circulation

Workshop

As another solution for lighting, the light wheel from the floor above was brought to the ground floor so that the natural light could come through the Podium and reflect on the mirrors improving the lighting issue.

Also, this wheel was used to place a giant scaled slide to unable the children to go to the beach downstairs by slide. The slide is made out of a colourful and transparend recycled material in order to allow the sun light to pass through it and to avoid anti-social behaviour - such as a hiding place

CANTIN

LIBRARY

TOILETS

CENTRAL STAGE

STUDIO

WORKSHOP

BASEMENT : THE BEACH All divisions created will be out of natural material such as baboo, stone and oak wood in order to create a natural and pleased environment softed the interior feeling of the anterior car parks.

PRECEDENT 2: The Library concept is not just to borrow books, but to provide the community with that space where they can just sit down and study, or bring their notebook to work without feeling the pressure of buying anything in order to use the space. By having this library below as a precedent, its iteriors is also a pleasent space with design in wood where they can go for a reading and relaxing time. In the library there are also some aditional facilities such as the Computer Room, for those who does not have it at home, printers and scan services which over the time are becoming more necessary to the population.

Central Stage - by considering the fact that the residents have a choir which they rehearse regularly in a small space with no proper structure. It was developed the idea of a central stage following the concept of an open theatre for them to make their presentations encouraging art activities among the community.

PRECEDENT 3: By having those playscapes as a precedent - which shows that children do not require elaborated things to have fun - which also confirm Louis Sullivan’ concept of Interpretable Spaces. Furniture’ function is made by different sizes of mobile pallets put toguether in diferent ways which can be used as seats to watch a show happening on the stage, or can be used as a table for people who purchased food from the stalls or even being used as playing equipments from children.

The concrete pillars will be covered with natural rope resembling a coconut tree in order to bring materiality in and soften the pillars brutalism.

The Portuguese Stone was the material chosen to cover all the area from pathways to ground floor‘interior space’ as it is a resistent and natural material which can be used in and outdoors.

PRIVATE CIRCULATION:: Considering the fact that community and dwellers vertical circulation has to be independent for PRIVACY and SECURITY reasons, it was created The 5 Threes which are the 5 isolated’ towers of private vertical circulation such as stairs and lifts to the flats. They are called threes because their external walls are going to be covered with live green material all the way up to the top, bringing a natural feeling for the whole space - softening the concrete heaviness.