Portfolio of University Architectural Projects (Part 1 & 2) by Lina Noueiri

LINA NOUEIRI NOUEIRI LINA PORTFOLIO OF ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS - 2022 -

PORO(US) Part 2 - (MA)Architecture Royal College of Art Year 2

3D view of proposed intervention in Badbhoun Quarry, Chekka - new paths, human crevices, porosified surfaces

Brief: We are constantly metabolising our environment and our environment is metabolising us within a post-industrial environment that unfarily harms unwilling humans and non-humans with pollutants and toxins. Analyse a substance of fertility that is being exhausted and design an intervention to combat the issues of said substance being exploited / extracted / processed. Proposal: In response to the brief, the substance focused on in my project PORO(US) was limestone. Limestone’s formation into a mountain within Lebanon means that a greater volume of rainwater and slowfall filters through the sedimentary rock, dissolving away calcium carbonate to leave behind insoluble soil particles over time. The limestone acts as a sponge, absorbing water and filtering/holding it below ground for use at a later date, all while the ground is softened and texturised for vegetation to take hold within.

Satellite view of Badbhoun Quarry

Expansion of quarry over last century

Analysis of limestone under the micriscope (clasts & micrite)

Chekka, a town in the north of Lebanon, has been the heart of the country’s cement industry for a century now. Large-scale quarries located close to the factories encroach on residential and protected environmental zones. The extraction of the limestone for cement entails the rock being exploded to create rubble. This also relases particulate matter dust into the air to be inhaled and metabolised by the unwilling Chekka residents nearby. The humans become the porous actors in the post-industrial environement. The proposed intervention aims to take the site of the quarry and turn it into a space where the human-limestone relationship is reignited with traditional stonemasonry techniques once again, combatting the monopolising cement industry. Using these techniques, the surface of the ground can have paths added for pedestrian accessibilty, and human spaces for learning the craft. Once more humans know the skills of the stonemason they can porosify the surface of the rock to create the ideal conditions for the rock to soften into soil once more, regenerating the land over a slow timeline.

Post-industrial metabolic pathway of limestone particulate matter in Chekka, Lebanon

Sponge models of proposal

Design strategy diagram

View of Human Crevice 01 in use

Process of porosification - vegetation taking hold in chiselled holes of quarry site over time

Regeneration over time after soil comes forth within porosified quarry site

Sectional axonometric of Human Crevice 01 - stonemasonry teaching space

Internal Human crevice 01 - section

External Human Crevices 10 & 04 - section

Vegetation crevice / pore, 5mm wide, with endemic plants having taken hold in the rock - section

Proposed site plan cut through topography

CHATEAU D’EAU Part 2 - (MA)Architecture Royal College of Art Year 1

Postcards, tools to influence relationship with new site, inverting who Lebanese luxury spaces are marketed to

Brief: The design studio focused on sites of indeterminacy, and explored the power held within their indefinability. A strong focus on history, colonialism, language and its usage was also prevalent throughout the year. The year had a research-heavy stance and the design strategy involved reflecting through diagrams about strategies and logistics.

Plan of the St Georges Hotel as a colonial stamp, infinitely repeatable like fractal geometry

Sketch exploration - deconstructing the fort of St Georges Hotel into its elements

Proposal: The site of indeterminacy I chose was the St Georges Hotel in Beirut - close to my family home in Lebanon. In focusing in on a single physical site, a whole history of colonialism, logistical and financial control, and capitalism came to my understanding. In reaction to this research the proposal aims to turn the private capitalist haven of a French colonial hotel into a public space once again like the shoreline used to be before France took hold of the land. Research into indigenous understandings of engaging with the world pre-western colonialism was the primary influence in the final proposal. Responding to issues taking place in Lebanon, and taking into account that France described Lebanon as “Chateau d’eau” due to its rich resources when it was taken control of, the hotel would be turned into a chateau d’eau for the locals. The geography of the land means it is rich in water and other resources, but logistical control means that the these are no longer easily available for those who live on the land. Starting with opening up the bar, which was the heart of the hotel’s influence and control through media in the past, the existing corpse of a site can be rejuvenated to become useful to locals rather than servicing rich elites, tourists, spies and celebrities. Chateau d’eau therefore opens up, deconstructs itself, and plays on the grid-like controlling plan to spread out and collect as much rainwater to distribute as possible - all while providing public space along the shoreline of Beirut.

Sketch diagram showing the hotel as a corpse with an economic ghost Shadow of plant canopy above

Recycled concrete aggregate gabion walls

Ground floor deconstruction concept

Towards public beach

Existing concrete column grid frame Recycled concrete aggregate gabion filter planter beds

W/C

Recycled concrete aggregate drinking fountain pool

BAR

Recycled concrete aggregate porous ground

Existing bar facade walls

Curtains

Existing staircase

Recycled concrete aggregate gabion walls

Entrance from road

Proposed textured Ground Floor materiality plan with activity

Final proposal collage

6 3

Proposed sketch axonometric

Imports

water/sea

Western

Liban

Eastern

Imports

Exports

Exploded axonometric

Trans-epistemic Cosmogram - overlaying research into worlding

THE EX-CHANGING ROOMS Part 1 - BA(Hons) Architecture University of Westminster Year 3

Private

dwgmodels.com dwgmodels.com

Central Axis

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Exploded axonometric of wall detail

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Final short section

Shared

Brief: Provide a communal living scheme for a site in Crouch End acquired via CLT, designing in a way that promotes the sharing of at least one aspect of daily life that has potential to be untapped within neighbourhoods. Proposal: Responding to my budding interest at the time in the effect fast fashion had on the planet, The Ex-Changing Rooms takes into account the vastly untapped potential that sharing clothing has within communities. The act of learning to fix or make clothing tends to be cross-generational and expressive of culture, and the culture of taking on second-hand clothes is already an important part of the economy of fashion.

Communal

Private

Wardrobes

Concept Schedule of Accommodation Diagram - Storage vs communal vs private spaces

A building designed around the sharing, fixing, and re-configuring of clothing therefore lends itself to communal living that can promote a more connected way of living in cities. The wardrobe itself becomes the structure in this proposal - between which communal living happens flexibly. The proposal took influence from enfilade spaces and poché structures in order to provide the wardrobes that would act as the skeleton for the communal living of the scheme.

Sketch construction drawings of plywood walls

Sketch step-by-step construction diagram

Central Axis

Concept art of movement through building like music (inspired by John Cage)

Concept sketch of internal user engagement

Concept sketch of external entrance

Concept model of ground floor central axis through site

Handmade balsa wood model, side

Structure acts as recesses for either wardrobes, kitchen

Central axis acts as a

spaces or stairs to residents’

communal corridor / cat

private spaces above

walk with opportunities to encounter others and exchange

Donation

Wheelchair-accessible

drop-off

units

zone

Final Long Section

THE OCULUS PAVILION Part 1 - BA(Hons) Architecture University of Westminster Year 3

Early laser-cut 1:20 plywood model photographed from the inside looking up

Brief: Conceptualise, design and build a full-scale pavilion that exemplifies a proposal of how co-housing can be proposed in the future. The process took us through all RIBA stages. The team work was conducted over two semesters. The process included meetings with structural engineers and others to help with the full design process. Proposal: With the utilisation of all the fabrication labs at the University of Westminster, computerised design software, and model making the Oculus Pavilion came to be possible for us as a studio to build. The overall consensus between studio members was that a closer connection to nature and natural materials was a key component of better residential design.

Sketch plan & section focusing on movement / vision

By designing a fluid structure which literally bent towards where the light came from we successfully exemplified the concept. This feature also allowed us to combat the constraints of the site - overlooking neighbours. The pavilion aims it’s gaze specifically at the small green space to the south of the university instead. It’s manufacturing allows for it to be taken down and rebuilt in other locations. The process of meeting with structural engineers and other professionals went handin-hand with the fabrication facilities made available to us by the university. The design strategy utilised CNC machine usage to create the parametric design that spiralled towards a central oculus point. By sawing an angle off the symmetrical models we could bring about the angled amorphous form we wanted, pointing its oculus towards the sky and nature and away from the buildings it sat within.

Sketch 1:20 scale section exploring the possibility of hammocks

3D printed 1:100 scale model of final proposal before construction

Laser-cut 1:20 plywood model before sawing off the base at an angle

Constructed Oculus pavilion (internal)

Constructed Oculus pavilion on site (external)

STREET-ART GATEWAY Part 1 - BA(Hons) Architecture University of Westminster Year 2

Final proposal sketch sectional perspective on site - Chrisp Street Market Gateway

Brief: The brief was to design an gateway to the Chrisp Street Market in east London that would revive the market and place it on the map as a location to visit. The entrance had to be a structure that included a Market Office for enquiries, as well as having extra storage and public toilets. The gateway had to represent Chrisp St Market. Proposal: Identity is built by those more marginalised only for it to be stripped bare of its authenticity and reconstructed into a marketable asset for new properties. Creating a gateway to rejuvenate a slowly dying outdoor market would have to remain sensitive of the usual affect ‘rejuvenating’ an area might have in driving out / displacing existing residents and identities. The proposal therefore frames the market, drawing ones eye to what already exists as the market is also a potential hub of communal activity. Where the gateway provides indoor services, external canvas will clad the metal structure. Here space is given to proudly display the street art already prevalent in hidden spaces throughout the market, especially on the shutters of surrounding shops.

Early concept - framing the market & creating engagement

Concept mixed media sketch - frame as structure on market site

Final proposal - sectional perspective showing internal spaces

Filling with art over time

Final primary elevation on site

Early model exploring how to incorporate street-art in

Final detail elevation - constructed with easy to source I beams

BIRD SANCTUARY Part 1 - BA(Hons) Architecture University of Westminster Year 1 (CLAWSA prize)

Final Exploded axonometric

Final 1:100 paper model

Brief: After visiting the Sir John Soane Museum and studying its history and interior, we had to design a space for the museum that was located within the square opposite: Lincoln’s Inn Fields. What was already there was a cafe, and we had to replace this with a space that not only contained extra storage, lecture spaces, and bathrooms for the Sir John Soane Museum, but also provided an additional function of our choosing stemming from our site analysis. This would make the proposal link to the square as well as the Museum. Concept Diagram Design Development Pen, marker and graphite Lina Noueiri

Note directions people approach area

Cut form to create maze-like paths into the proposal

Place bird-sanctuary and immersive space at heart

Proposal: Concept Diagram Design Development Pen, marker and graphite Lina Noueiri Concept Diagram Design Development Pen, marker and graphite Lina Noueiri

After conducting a site analysis of the square that focused on how people walked through the space, regardless of the paths set out, I also studied the natural inhabitants of the space. What I found was that the people who visited the square more often than not used it as a place to cut through quickly. From an interview with a regular visitor of the square I discovered the rich wildlife located at the heart of the city within this Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Concept Diagram Design Development Pen, marker and graphite Lina Noueiri

Concept diagram

Final axonometric on site

View looking into central core

The final proposal provides bird boxes, raised high like a marker. A dark space below the bird’s nesting spaces (influenced by the use of light in the Soane Museum) would be bathed in the aural experience of bird-song with a crack of sunlight streaming in, re-framing the square and people’s perception of it.

Concept view within central core

BIRD SANCTUARY

LECTURE SPACE

Final proposal - sectional light study

CAFE

SANCTUARY SPACE

PARASITIC ROOM Part 1 - BA(Hons) Architecture University of Westminster Year 1 (CLAWSA prize won) Brief: With ourselves as the clients and the Jinchokan Moriya Historical Museum as the site, the brief was to design a parasitic room that somehow attached itself to the building. After having to research and recreate a scaled model Terunobu Fujimori’s Jinchokan Moriya Historical Museum in the countryside. The brief was an exercise is understanding oneself and exploring what experiences we could create. Proposal: My proposed parasitic room was an escape hide-away, that made the interior and exterior walls of the Historical Museum bulge. This took a literal approach to the word ‘parasitic’ in the brief.

Sketch perspective collage with existing site

Final proposed section/elevation overlaid

Final proposal - grey card model

Reverting back to childish tendencies of finding hiding places in climbable locations, the room is accessed via a ladder leading to a window above head height. From there one could sit and enjoy the view of the countryside before climbing down between the walls like a parasite into the bulged crawl-space. To exit you would literally have to crawl out, bending very low to get through. Through the design process I grew an understanding of the importance of the sensorial experience within architecture.

Iterative sketch concept development

1:20 scale model of Jinchokan Moriya Historical Museum, on which the parasitic room was to be attached