Malcolm GreerPritchard
Porfolio Architecture + Design BA Hons Newcastle University 2013
Stage 3
Contents
Stage 3.
1. Year Review — p. 1 2. City of Bridges 2.1. Brief — p. 2 2.2. Development — p. 4 2.3. Design — p. 16 2.4. Technology — p. 36
3. Factory of Synergies 3.1. Brief — p. 38 3.2. Development — p. 40 3.3. Design — p. 46 3.4. Principles & Theories of Architecture — p. 54 3.5. Technology — p. 56
4. Ecologies 4.1. Brief — p. 66 4.2. Development — p. 68 4.3. Design — p. 70
Stage 2. p. 78
5. Section Alley
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6. Civic Centred
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7. Sense, Simplicity & Home — p. 86
8. Placed, Displaced — p. 94
Non - Project Theory
9. Place of Houses — p. 95
10.
Professional Practice & Management
11.
Charettes
— p. 97
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Barcelona Sketches — p. 100
External Work — p. 104
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Year Review Ecologies This project was an enjoyable way to start the year. It was useful to ease ourselves into the year with a group project. The most useful thing about this project was learning how to integrate ideas from different people into the final design. To say that our group was the epitome of harmony would not be true however we did end up with a pleasing design that resulted in an A- and I think I learnt a lot about how to interact with others to achieve the best end mark in this project. The most enjoyable area of the project was the incentive that the winning designs would ultimately be built on site. A criticism that we picked up in the final crit was that not all the the drawings correlated between each other. I think this is down to the communication between us being poor. One group member preferred to work from home which, at the time, I was ok with however, having read through the feedback, in hindsight I would have insisted that she stay and work with us to ensure that we a have cohesive design in the end. Another area of criticism that we picked up was the lack of small diagramatic illustrations. Again I feel that this is down to our problems as a group as we only began to put our final presentation together the day before the hand in. Since then I have always tried to ensure that I give plenty of time over to putting together the final presentation piece.
Factory of Synergies The Factories of Synergies project was one I thoroughly enjoyed. Having been to Barcelona a number of times it was great to do a project in the city; furthermore being able to develop a strategy from a city scale down to a very small technical detail was incredibly satisfying as until now all the projects we had done at University had always seemed unresolved at the end of the project. However with this project I found that after the final Crit and the accompanying technological coursework I had fulfilled the potential the project had at its outset. This project was the first time since the memory spot project in first year that I was truly happy with the final output of a non-group project and as such became something of a turning point for me. I found 2nd year very difficult and the marks that I was receiving were not as good as I had hoped they would be, unsurprisingly I began to fall out of love with the subject. However, after working in a small practice over the summer and then enjoying this project, by the time it had finished I had begun to enjoy the course again and was excited to start the Graduation project after Christmas
Something I struggled with in this project was knowing what type of images to use on my final presentation to best get across my design intentions. I failed to include any site strategy images on my presentation making for a difficult discussion when it came to explaining my overall design for the site. Furthermore a key component of the design was that many spaces were shared by various programmes depending the time of day or week. This is something that I worked on in this portfolio exercise. I have made various diagrams to show programmatic layout of the site and made illustrations to show the main entrance of the site and how the main square changes between night and day.
City of Bridges The final project of my time in Newcastle was also my favourite. I loved how free we were in this studio to develop our own programme around what we were interested in. The project began with us developing films that described an Architectural journey through Newcastle. Making films is not something I have done during my time at Newcastle, in other projects that have required films I have usually chosen to do other things and let other people control the film making. However with this project I dived in, learnt a new programme in Adobe Premier Pro and created a film that in the end I was incredibly proud of. Having made the film we then created a Notational drawing to describe the film. Again this is not something I had done before but I looked at the work by Giambattista Nolli who made an ichnographic plan of Rome and I chose to do this for my imagined city of Newcastle, the design and programme of the bridge then the flowed from this drawing. This process of following a concept, with no predetermined end outcome in mind, through to the end of the project was particularly enjoyable. A problem that was identified in the final Crit was the lack of the context that I had included in my final presentation. It was also suggested that I should revisit the concept at each stage of the design to ensure that I was not drifting too far in the wrong driection. Although the early stages of the progression from film to design was described as “very nice” and I feel that I rushed the later stages to produce something for the final crit. Furthermore it was once again mentioned that I had failed to use drawings that adequately described all aspects of the design however this is something that I have fixed for the final presentation.
Over the course of the project I feel that I developed my diagrammatic skills as well as my technical knowledge. However my primary skill that grew as a result of this project was my large scale Master planning abilities. The previous Master planning project that I did was in 1st year and resulted in my group having to resubmit. However having received a “B” in the Factories of Synergies project I feel that this demonstrates how far I have come over the course of my time at Newcastle University. Page – 1
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Throughout history, from the medieval London Bridge to Italy’s surviving Rialto (Venice) and Ponte Vecchio (Florence) bridges, habitable bridges have been used to link two parts of a city whilst also giving using habitable spaces to create a seamless join between the two. This idea has been utilised in contemporary projects by architects such as Steven Holl, Morphosis and Bernard Tschumi who have developed projects that extend and intensify the topography of a place and create new spatial links within the city, while also accommodating new “urban events”. The city of Newcastle upon Tyne has become characterised by an irrational, compulsive desire to span the river that has resulted in the remarkable density of extraordinary bridges that has made Newcastle a “City of Bridges”. Parallels can be drawn with New York where the collective obsession is to build vertically even when it does not make economic sense. The aim of this project then was to design 12 bridges in conjunction with others within the studio that, using the existing context of the River and the Cities of Newcastle and Gateshead, not only connects the two cities but also introduces a new programmatic element to them. I began by creating a film of an Architectural passage through the city. I based it in the area of Jesmond where I was interested by the regularity of the Victorian Terraced Housing, that reflected the rhythm of the structure of the bridges over the Tyne, and Imagined a city where everything conformed to the rigor of this grid with the same façade on all buildings that give no clue to what lies within. The film travels through houses in Jesmond but each time a door is opened a new civic space is revealed. From here I made a drawing based on the film turning it into a city plan, based on the historic plans of Newcastle, of my imagined city. It was from here that the programmatic and atmospheric qualities grew into the final design. The film can be seen at http://youtu.be/7IO-g7o3Fn8.
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Filmshots
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Notational Drawings
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Notational Drawing
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Turf Moor
Site Analysis Heaton Park Newcastle University
Newcastle City Hall Northumbria University
Leazes Park
St. James’ Park
Newcastle Library
Ouseburn Valley Laing Art Gallery
Tyneside Cinema Theatre Royal Grainger Market
Baltic Central Station Life Centre
Sage
Site Plan 1:10000 Page – 8
Gateshead City Council
The Bridge is located between the Millennium and Tyne Bridges below the Sage, Gateshead and at the bottom of the Broad Chare, Newcastle. It is an area that has seen much redevelopment particularly on the Gateshead side but sits apart from the historical cultural buildings in the centre of Newcastle and does not have any appreciable green spaces nearby. After this study the creation of green space was something that I was particularly keen to create as there are currently only a handful of spaces where it is possible for the public to stop and sit that is also protected from the elements critically the cold wind that blows down the Tyne. The site has excellent pedestrian access to it thanks to the footpath that runs along the Newcastle Bank and the “Geordie Ramblas” proposed by Farrell’s that runs from the Baltic up to the Newcastle City Centre. I would like to relocate the Navy Barracks that currently sit on site to create a path on the Gateshead Bank similar to that on the Newcastle side. This will link the bridge, the Baltic, and the Sage.
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Site Analysis
Site Plan 1:1500 Page – 9
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Initial Development
From the Notational Drawing I began to extract the key elements that I wanted to develop. First I noticed the rhythm of the notational drawing a various points that closely reflected the key rhythm that I so enjoyed about the Victorian housing in Jesmond. These rhythmic spaces quickly became areas for housing with the areas surrounding it becoming supporting programmes. I also made the concept model seen on the left in an attempt to capture the experiential qualities of spaces that I was in. These approaches were combined to give myself the constraints that led to my Initial idea. As each space had its own experiential quality and architectural vernacular I chose to develop each separately but within set parameters that would result in a cohesive design over the entirety of the bridge. The areas of the Notational Drawing where I noticed rhythm were; the Baltic in the stacked floor plans, in the Grainger market area where the market stalls are set out in a strong rhythm and finally in the high level bridge where the bridges structure has a regularity to it.
Concept Model Page – 10
The atmospheric qualities that I identified in the concept model were; the height and views of the Baltic, the Grainger space to me was about separation from cold and hectic nature of the exterior, the Chare space was about transition as there is a building up height as you drop down the stairs going from a fairly open space into one that is quite enclosed before you exit and finally the bridge is about the long framed views that run from before that start of the bridge and extend out the other side. In addition to this as you walk down the high level bridge you go from relatively open to very enclosed spaces.
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Notational Drawing Development Page – 11
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Terraced Housing Development
Retail Space Development
Tower Housing Development 1:500 initial Idea Page – 12
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Chare Development
Bridge Housing Development Page – 13
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Structural Development
Having developed the mass of each space separately I began to develop into the structure of each space. From here I found that to best link each space together they should exist as blocks with an overriding structure. This led to the concept model seen on the right after having been through the numerous structural iterations seen on the left. The conceptual design was to create very lightweight boxes that were suspended within a large beam. During the day these would blur into the background of the sky and allow views through onto the other bridges down the Tyne. At night however the whole bridge would come alive and glow from within from the activity of people living and experiencing the bridge. I was also at this stage that I began experimenting with ways to allow boats underneath the bridge. The ideas for this ranged from having a crane on site that could lift a section out in a similar way to how goods would have been lift from ships in the past however I didn’t like how this prevented people from accessing the bridge at certain times. The final structural design that I settled on was to create two “beams that sat side by side across the river. The downstream wing, otherwise known as Coast Wing, would then be lifted up with its entire programme to allow boats through. To allow this to happen the vertical circulation routes on to and off this wing would sit independently of is structure and allow circulation when the bridge was at its highest as well as its lowest points. Page – 14
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Structural Concept Model
Structure Intial Idea 1
Structure Intial Idea 2 Page – 15
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Final Design Bridge Housing Units
Terrace Housing Units
% of Brigde as Housing
% of Brigde as Retail Units
Tower Housing Units Tower Housing Units Bridge Housing Units
Terrace Housing Units
% of Brigde as Film Units
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% of Brigde as Public Green Spaces
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Bridge Community Man from the beginning of time has migrated to water for survival. The Tyne is no exception. The community my aim for the community here is reunited and engaged with the life and visual amenity that the Tyne offers in a way that has not happened on the Tyne for many years. The visual connection to the Tyne is maintained throughout the design by visually permeable walkways between each programmatic space. Following on from the Notational Drawing and the Film that I made at the start of the project I wanted the Bridge to reflect the needs of a community. Therefore it should include a range of housing from the more expensive through to the more affordable. Furthermore the bridge should provide the amenity space that a community requires such as both private and public external space. This public space will also provide benefits to the local community around the Tyne tying the community of the bridge into the communities of Newcastle and Gateshead. The Film school includes a Film Archive, Library and day-care/after school club for use by the bridge community and the wider community. In addition to the film school will hold public showings of films during the summer in a similar way to Summerset House does in London, these films could be preceded by student work providing publicity for the school and its students. The units will be highly flexible and therefore sustainable, capable of considerable change over time. Internal walls can be shifted or removed altogether, units can be united and their use changed, to respond to the needs of the community, evolving as a shifting typology.
Cross - Section Through the Bridge
The units will be highly flexible and therefore sustainable, capable of considerable change over time. Internal walls can be shifted or removed altogether, units can be united and their use changed, to respond to the needs of the community, evolving as a shifting typology.
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Programme of Use The programme is broadly spilt into three uses. These are the Film School, Housing Units and Civic/Commercial spaces. Each of these is then subdivided again. Housing is split into three Groups: Tower Housing Units Designed to be the more exclusive units on the bridge, each flat has 3 bedrooms including a study come spare bedroom. Each unit has its own private external space on the roof of the unit below. Terrace Housing Units Located along both sides of the central space but set on overshoots of the main route to ensure a degree of privacy. These units also have three bedrooms and are seen as being more medium to expensive housing due to the reduced privacy of their position. The personal external space of each unit is positioned on the roof. Bridge Housing Units These are the smallest of the three units on the bridge with just one and a half bedrooms. They are arranged either side of the main route over the bridge. Again the private exterior space is located on top of the unit. The Film School is comprised of: Film School Studios Located on both sides of the central civic spaces these are spaces for students to develop their films as well as being used as classrooms for teaching.
Site Section Page – 18
Film Archive/Library The film archive will hold digital copies of films for viewing by members of the School and public alike. There will also be a film library and a more usual library. The Library can provide help for the community of the bridge by having day-care/ after school club facilities. Filming Studios Located on the Gateshead bank these are large open plan spaces that can be used to build sets for filming, they could also be used as rehearsal spaces as well as for live performances. Finally I imagine this space being used to host the graduation exhibition at the end of the film schools academic year. The Civic Commercial Spaces Retail/Restaurant Located on both sides of the central space along the route of the highest footfall. These are fairly open spaces which could be used for cafes, restaurants, bars and shops primarily for the use of the residents of the bridge. Civic Spaces These are open grass spaces that can be used as a space for recreation, for the Sunday market and for the end of year exhibitions of the Film School.
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Site Axonometric
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Public Route
Coast Wing
The structural Renders at the top of the page show how the Coast wing of the bridge rises up to allow boats through as required. Hydraulic rams will push the structure upwards slowly and smoothly so as to make sure that the residents of this wing do not experience any discomfort as it does so. The sensation would be similar to that of the Millennium Wheel in London where the journey is so slow that the users often forget they are even on a moving wheel allowing them to be completely absorbed into the views over London
Northumberland Wing
The housing units have been positioned in such a way so as to maximise the privacy from the public users of the bridge by placing them on “overshoots” from the main bridge. This will mean that your average user will not venture down the semi-private walkways that service the Housing Units. Conversely programs that demand high footfall such as the shops, restaurants and Library sit directly on the main route. The film school studios sit on the main route but being on the 2nd Floor they are given some security from people breaking in.
Private Route
Public/Private Routes Page – 20
Navigable Channel
The public green spaces of the Bridge sit at its heart in an effort to protect them from the bracing winds that come down the Tyne. Each Green space experiences direct sun various times throughout the day.
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Facade Day Page – 21
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Materiality My Inspiration for the concept of this design came from much of the work by Steven Holl, in particular his use of U-Profiled Glass as a facade punctuated, either fully or partially, by windows. The result of this is that during the day the building facade matches the colour of the sky and it appears to melt into its surroundings. At night however the building comes alive and begins to glow as the lights within are turned on. A similar effect was achieved by Herzog & deMuron at the Laban Dance Centre in Deptford, London, although this was done using polycarbonate instead of glass. This suits the Quayside of Newcastle and Gateshead which both come alive during the evening with activity and light from the surrounding buildings. As can be seen the glass gives no visual connection apart from allowing shadows thourgh meaning there is no problem with privacy, this is especially important when considering the high density of the buildings on the bridge and the sensitive nature of the housing programmes. The Glass must be secured top and bottom in a similar way to conventional glass facades. Furthermore it is possible to get double glazed profiled glass which traps a pocket of air inside, thus keeping the building cool in the summer and insulating it in the winter, enhancing the environmental qualities of the bridge and protecting it from the fierce winds that often blow down the Tyne. The other facade material I will use is a Zinc cladding. This will be visible both externally and internally to reflect the industrial nature of bridges and the steel that many of the Bridges over the Tyne are made from.
Head & Cill Detail 1:5 Corner Detail Plan 1:10
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Facade NBight Page – 23
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View from below the Bridge Page – 25
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Coast Wing Terraced housing + shared outdoor space Page – 27
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Tower Housing Units Each residential unit in the tower sits around the central service space in a horseshoe shape. These units are then stacked on top of one another and rotated about 90o relative to the unit below, see illustration to the right. All services are centred around the central space with circulation within the unit on the outside. Due to the units being rotated above each other the tower has a pattern that spirals up its height that reflects the original concept of the staircase of the Baltic gallery. The rotation also creates external space for each unit on the unit below. This also acts as the front door into the living space.
Tower Axon Page – 28
Tower Unit Plan — 1:100
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Tower Unit Living Space Page – 29
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Bridge Housing Units The Bridge Housing units, designed to be representative of the atmosphere of the high level bridge. They wrap themselves either side of the pedestrian route which runs through the middle of them, see diagram on the right. The effect of this strategy is such that as a user walks down the row they see a clearly framed view in front of them and then move from tight dark enclosed spaces out into the open voids between the units. Internally the units are the smallest of all the units on site. With a single bedroom on the ground floor a study come spare bedroom on the 1st and the primary living space on the 2nd. The louvers around the stair case act as a division screen as well as being a bookcase or shelving unit that the residents can use for storing all the odds and ends that people collect through their lives, the idea being that the staircase becomes an exhibition unit that grows and develops as the family does. The unit has its own external space on the roof which is accessed via an external staircase on the 2nd floor.
bridge Unit Axon Page – 30
Bridge Unit Plan — 1:100
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Bridge Unit Living Space Page – 31
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Terraced Housing Units The Terraced housing units are designed to the most flexible of all the housing units. The steel structure means that they can easily change through the addition or removal of the partition walls. I have designed them with three bedrooms and open plan living space on the ground floor and a TV snug on the 2nd with two bathrooms on the 1st and 2nd. The roof is accessed from the internal staircase that rises to the top level. These units also have some shared external space at the front of the building. The units have an industrial feel thanks to the exposed steel walls and the steel cantilevered staircase this was done on all the housing units to reinforce the idea that the housing exists on the bridge.
Terrace Housing Unit Axon Page – 32
Terraced Housing Unit Plan — 1:100
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Terrace House Living
Terraced Housing Unit Living Space Page – 33
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Terraced Housing Unit Primary Housing Unit
Terraced Housing Unit Secondary Living Space
Terraced Housing Unit Stairs Page – 34
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Terraced Housing Unit Bedroom Page – 35
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11.
Technological Study
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Primary Strucutre 7.
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Secondary Strucutre 5.
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Detail Section 1:15 Page – 36
Tertiary Structure
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11. 1. 7.
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Primary Steel Structure
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Steel Deck
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Reinforced Concrete Slab
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4. Insulation 5.
Steel Mullions
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U-Profile Glass Facade
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Waterproof Membrane
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Root Barrier
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Drainage Layer
3. 2. 4. 12.
10. Growing Medium 11. Grass 12. Window Frame 13. Glass
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14. External Bridge Structure 15. Internal Wood Stud 16. Plasterboard
Housing Unit Combine Structure Page – 37
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The Factory of Synergies project was set in the Poblenou area of Barcelona Spain in and old abandoned group of factory buildings. The original buildings were built in 1855 by Jaume Ricart who wanted to set up a textile factory. The factory was completed before the 1859 expansion of the Barcelona into the classic grid pattern that Barcelona is so famous for and as such sits at odds with the geometry of the grid. Over the life time of the factory it has undergone numerous iterations spending time as part of the chemical industry and then being divided into numerous metal factories. Recently the area the Factories is in as undergone major redevelopment work in an effort to turn the obsolete factories of the area into useable spaces such as housing and office buildings as well cultural buildings for the residents of Barcelona. This was done by improving transport links, relaxing planning laws and offering government grants to developers however many projects in the area have been halted do the economic recession. It was during this time the local community gathered together to prevent the redevelopment of the Can Ricart factories which resulted in the project being refused and the buildings being protected by strict planning rules. The failed planning application has resulted in the planners stipulating that the site must be used in a more inclusive way for the community. The project began with a weeklong site visit to Barcelona to soak up the culture of the city as well as to get on site, to begin developing strategies. The site itself is in a state of great disrepair with many of the existing buildings beginning to crumble and degrade. After this we had a week to begin developing site strategies in a group of two before separating off the focus in on our chosen space.
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Site Layout
Routes on to and around the site
Existing shadows on site
Industrial Units Residential Units
1:2500 — Plan showing building use around Can Ricart Site Page – 40
Civic Space Public Green Space
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1:10000 — Barcelona Plan Showing the Can Ricart Site
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Programmatic Design The concept for the design centres on the play between the monumental mass of the existing factory building and the intangible lightness of people moving through the site. I found how the story of the buildings on site could be read like a book. The sketch below demonstrates this as one facade had begun to fall away until someone had come along and hammered staples across the crack in the wall to keep them together. The image on the right demonstrates this with the existing building providing the mass around which the movement of people can play. The design concept centres on creating links through the site with the central space hosting community activities from markets to the public showing of films and theatre productions. The Site plays host to cafes and green spaces that will encourage visitors to stop and enjoy the spaces that have been created whilst providing jobs to the local community and a much needed boost in an area of low growth and high unemployment. The “Front Door” to the site is located along the main road at the front of the site. The public will enter through the old building which will be converted into housing units for visiting artists and the new Food Co-op building, see entrance render p.49. Inside the entrance there will be green space flanked by more housing for Artists on the right and café on the left. Moving into the heart of the site the main square will be surrounded a cookery school on the left artist workshops in front and theatre space on the right. Moving through the main building the light workshops will be positioned on the secondary horizontal route crossing the site. At the back of the site to prevent noise intrusion to the theatre and business units will be the heavier workshops such as the Ceramic, Metal and Wood Workshops. The central square will play host to theatre productions and markets depending on the time of day and week. The markets in particular will draw people on to the site whilst providing an opportunity for the Artists to sell their works and gain commissions. Furthermore the workshops will be able to bring their goods down to be sold.
New Routes through and around the Site Light Workshop
Heavy Workshop Business Incubator
Cookery School Artist Workshop
Theatre
Food Co-op
Programmatic Layout
New Public Space Creation Page – 42
Artist Housing
Bakery
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Concept Image
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Design Development My design began with adding new mass to the already heavy walls of the central building. My intention for the design was to use the interventions that I was creating to frame and highlight the nicer aspects of the existing Architecture on site. These interventions could be opened up and closed to allow the site to be used whilst also preserving the architectural feel of the existing buildings on site. As well as this the new interventions would allow the users of the building to get up close to the existing architecture and experience it in a way has not happened before. The reason for making the intervetions able to open up and close down is two fold. Firstly it stops the new programmes from taking over and dominating the site at all times which I felt was too confrontational a design to pursue, and secondly the size of the site means that security will be a problem for the inhabitants who will be using the site and differing times. Therefore if each programme is responsible for its own module which they can open up and close down as they require there will be no problem with doors or windows being left open at night The modules can be opened in a variety of ways. For example the theatre could have workshop units that are able to move around the site to build sets instead of having to bring the sets to the workshop to be built. Conversely the Business modules could simply have a single wall that folds out to give the each office some outdoor space. Finally the artists workshops could have detachable exhibition walls to show off the work they have created.
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X - Section through Site
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Ground Floor Plan Page – 48
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“Front Door Boulevarde” Render Page – 49
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1 Floor Plan
2nd Floor Plan Page – 50
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Internal Street
Raised Walkway Render Page – 51
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1 Floor Plan
2nd Floor Plan Page – 52
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Key Spaces
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Technological Study
Photovolatic Cells in suniest positions on site
As can be seen from the image on the right there are many spaces that only experience any shading in the very early morning or late evening. These tend to be the roof tops of the existing building or my insertions. Some of these spaces would see some shading from the existing tall structures such as the clock tower or the the chimney.
Groundsource Heatpump in central square. This would have to be dug up anyway to allow for the new concrete floor
The large open spaces such as the centre square and the new created route running through the site would see only a few hours of shade per day. Therefore I have situated the photovoltaic cells on top of my insertions in the centre of the site and on top of the existing building and my new building at the front of the site. The ground source heat pump will sit at the underneath the concrete of the main spuare and this is also where the market, outdoor cafe spaces and theatre spaces will sit as seen in the images on the two preceding pages. I chose to this as the environmental conditions here are best for outdoor activities as there is enough shade from the buildings in the summer months and plenty of space in direct sunlight and warmth in the winter. Page – 56
Shadows
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Stack Effect
Thanks to the height of my buildings, four storeys in most places, and the heat from the spanish sun I believe there is an excellent oppourtunity to get some stack effect natural ventillation going in the building. The top of the stack of air will heat up due to heat from the sun and reradiated heat from the concrete insertions. When the air heats up it will rise causing more air to be sucked in from gaps at the bottom of the building. As each of the modules has a door and a window opening up into this space they should benefit from this effect. If it was found that the sun was heating the buildings up too much causing them to over heat additional shading could be added in the form of a canvas roof.
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Primary Structure
The primary structure within the building will be a steel frame. I chose this structure to try to save some weight within the structure and therefore allow all the cantilevers and large spans that I have within the building. Furthermore A steel frame allows for additions to be made at a later date or for certain sections of the buildings to be removed if they are no longer required. This is possible due to the steels being bolted together instead of welded and the modular sized steels that I am using. The primary Structure also supports some of the existing structure where I have removed sections of walls to improve pedestrian routes through the site. At ground level the steel columns are bolted to a concrete pad which then sits on top of a screw pile foundation. This is possible as none of the piles sit flush with any existing masonry and as such the machine used to screw them into the ground should have sufficient access.
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Secondary Structure
The secondary structure of the building takes the form of additional steel beams to help stiffen the primary steel structure and support the steel deck that in turn holds up the concrete floor slab. This steel deck would be bolted to the Primary and Secondary Beams to allow it to be removed at a later date. There are also diagonal bracers to improve the stiffness of the structure. These would also be bolt to the structure so any future changes to the floor plan could be adopted.
Primary Structre Secondary Structure (Seel Beams) Secondary Structure (Steel Deck) Page – 59
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Tertiary Structure
On top of the steel deck would be poured a reinforced concrete slab. At this point as well the steel supports for the facades would be bolted to the beams and columns. These two components act as the final pieces of reinforcing structure on the building. The facade supports in particular are helpful as they would form an exoskeleton that ties all the pieces of the building together. At this point the winches to lift and support the moveable walls would be bolted on to the steel frame. These would be operated by an electrical switch within each individual office module. An steel wire would run between the top of the wall and the winch mechanism. Page – 60
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Final Construction
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12 8 6 5 9
7 4 3
1. Screw Foundations 2. Concrete Pads 3. Primary Steel Structure 4. Steel Deck
2
5. Concrete Facade 6. Hinge Fixings 7. Reinforced Concrete Slab 8. Insulation
1
9. Facade Supports 10. Vapour Proof Layer 11. Water Prrof Layer 12. Service Pipes Page – 61
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Facade Detail
4
4 3
2
1
1
3 The concrete facade is hung from its supports which are attached to the primary structure. the steel tracks that take the bolts are cast into the back of the steel concrete facade as seen below. Thanks to the fact that steel tracks run perpendicular to one another the the facade can be fine tuned to make sure that is fits tightly with one another. The tracks are then welded onto small steels that run between the structural beams and are bolted on to them. This system can be seen in the images to the right.
2
1. Concrete Facade 2. Steel Runners cast into facade 3. Bolts running between runners 4. Steel supports running between structural beams Page – 63
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Construction Reduction
Building, Component and Material Reuse
Building, Component and Material Recycling
In an effort to reduce the amount of material within the building where possible and make the spaces around the building as flexible as possible, I have made the my Insertions as small as possible. An example of this can be seen within my strategy for the theatre workshops and the artist’s exhibition space.
My strategy to encourage the reuse of my building in situ starts below the ground. Using screw foundations means that there is minimal impact on any of the surrounding structures and they can be easily removed if required. Furthermore it allows for further foundations to be easily added at a later time should the need for more enclosed space be required.
Steel
Due to the size of the object being manufactured within the theatre workshops such as scenery etc. a large space is necessary to be able to manufacture these items. However by creating workshop walls that can move around the site with machinery attached then be plugged into the mains electricity the props manufactures are able to work throughout their space with only a very small outlay of material and structure.
On top of these foundations would sit a steel frame structure that uses modular sized steel beams and columns which are bolted together, making transport from factory to site or from the Can Ricart site to another simple and inexpensive. Furthermore, any changes in the future could be made by simply bolting on further steels to the existing structure. Conversely structure could be removed to open up space by removing the façade and unbolting the steels.
The artist exhibition walls work in a similar way. Galleries are generally very large spaces as the artwork requires enough space to be seen on its own. By creating moveable walls the art work can be viewed without distraction but also be packed up and covered to prevent it getting ruined by rain etc. without the large material costs.
This steel frame also enables the enclosed spaces to be partitioned off or opened up as none of the dividing walls have any structural importance. Therefore, for example should the need arise for the office spaces to be used for another function the walls can be removed and new floor and ceiling panels introduced.
The simple geometry of the building means there are few curves and a fairly simple structural grid to the building. This means efficiency savings when the building is being costed and when it’s being built as the standardisation of many of the panels will mean that they can be manufactured off site then added to the building without any further editing. Furthermore the life costs of the building will be cheaper as if any of the panels breaks or becomes damaged they can be easily replaced. In addition to this the standardisation should make construction easier, meaning less skilled labourers can be used.
This is possible thanks to the standardisation of the façade fixing system throughout the building which is bolted to the steel frame at the top and bottom then the concrete panels can be adjusted in two dimensions and trimmed down to make it fit.
The modular walls of the Offices and Artist workshops should make construction even easier as each wall is a maximum of 3 metres high and 2.5 metres long. These could be manufactured off site in the controlled conditions of a factory before they are brought to site and craned into place. Page – 64
The final benefit of this cladding system is that as it can be easily removed to reveal the cavity within which holds the services and insulation. These can therefore be easily upgraded and maintained over time the keep them up to date and relevant.
In 2008 97% of structural steel was recycled. First all fire resistant intumescent paint must be stripped of using a chemical paint stripper. After this the now clean steel is heated in a blast furnace or arc furnace and is melted down to form new steel beams. Steel recycling results in an 86% reduction in air pollution a 40% reduction in water use and a 76% reduction in water pollution however these figures do not take in account the chemical paint stripper of the first phase. Whilst it’s not necessarily easy to recycle steel it is worth noting that it is 100% recyclable if the facilities are availiable.
Concrete As the site stands currently there is a very large amount of rubble and this will only be added to once construction began. All this could go to landfill however another option is to crush it and use it as the aggregate in the concrete I’m using on site. Alternatively it could be used as gravel for road construction, in Rip Rap to prevent soil erosion and in gabions in retaining walls. This is done by feeding the concrete into a crushing machine which could be brought to the site to save on transport costs. Recycling concrete saves landfill space, reduces the need for gravel mining and for every tonne of concrete that is recycled 6183 litres of water are saved and 900kg of CO2 are saved.
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The Ecologies project was set in the Heaton Park area of Newcastle. It was a project based on how the artificial can participate with the natural and develop ecological relationships. The project looks at how a building can be used to accommodate both human and non-human life forms. This project should be ecologically driven as opposed to the more normal economic and programmatic drivers. The building should provide spaces for many species to nest, stop and go through. The project was run as a competition with the winning groups design going on to be built as part of the 2013 British Science Festival submission from the Newcastle University School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. The site for the project was an abandoned concrete paddling pool in Heaton Park, Newcastle. This currently gives nothing to the local ecology and is a drain on the time of the park rangers as they must ensure the drains are kept clean to stop the pool overflowing. Heaton Park acts as an environmental corridor linking the Tyne and lower Ouseburn River up to Jesmond Deane and then the Gosforth Park Nature Reserve. These nature corridors are particularly important for migratory animals that move through the area and give the more permanent members a home away from humans.
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Design Development
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We started this project by collectively deciding on what we wanted our design to do. It was decided that the design should have two components one which could remain on site indefinitely providing habitat for animals of various sizes to use and enabling members of public to visit the site to learn about the ecology that exists there. The second component would be more temporary perhaps only being on site for a couple of months each year to enable the annual bio blitz to take place. Therefore we chose to turn the concrete paddling pool into a pond that is home to a reed bed this would encourage a very wide range of animals, from insects up through to large birds, to settle in this area. The pond would have a walkway that extends from the main access point, out over the pond before visiting the main pavilion at one end of the pool. This walkway will allow users to get out into the middle of the pond to experience the ecology that exists there. When the walkway meets the end of the pond it changes and becomes an insect wall that will be the habitat of many land based insects as well bats and other small birds. Again this wall will remain year round and have a path running alongside it for the public to be able to see the insects inside the wall. As a temporary structure the pavilion needed to be a light weight building that can either be dismantled or lifted out of the site and moved to a storage space. The pavilion should provide space for teaching and collating Bio blitz information whilst there should also be storage spaces and a wheelchair accessible toilet on site.
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Site Plan
Site Plan Page – 70
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Pavillion Plan Page – 71
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Final Design
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Perspective view from site entrance Page – 73
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Insect Wall
External Classroom
Internal Classroom
Walkway over the pond
Axonometric Page – 74
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X - Section Page – 75
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Stage 2
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Access For All
Means of Escape
Disabled Parking Area Storage Areas Workshop
Disabled parking is located on the Ground Floor at beach level. Disabled users would be able to drive down the access round, currently used by people wishing to launch boats, and park very close to the workshop entrance where a lift could take them to any other part of the building they wish to access. The disabled parking bays will have all the necessary marking to depict it and prevent other people taking it. There will be a pedestrian path leading from the disabled parking bays to separate it from the rest of the slip ways.
The current access road is slightly rough therefore to help with access this should be
Area Admin Office Shop Changing Rooms Gym/Trainin g Room
relayed to make it smoother. The main door to the club is on the 1st floor of the building down a shallow gradient path which is over 1800mm wide and again should be relayed to ensure it is smooth enough for disabled people to walk down. All access points are step free allowing wheelchair users easy access to the building. Coupled with this all the access points are easily wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair user. These doors will be mechanically operated through motion sensors so anyone confined to a wheelchair would be able to operate them without having to push any buttons. Furthermore they are covered to offer some weather protection and are double width to make sure they are wide enough for wheelchair users.
Disabled access within the building is achieved through the use of a lift to the three levels of the buildings. This is further helped by there being no level changes on any of these floors meaning that once a wheel chair user is on a floor they would be free to access all areas. The wheelchair toilets are located at the top of the building where the lookout space and café is located as I felt that this is where someone confined to wheelchair is likely to spend the majority of their time.
m Person
Max. No. of People
190
30
6
15
5
3
9 750 1000
Ground Floor 2
/m
m2/Person
Max. No. of People
10 20
6 2
2 10
40
1
40
1
65
65
117 850 1000
1st Floor /m2
Area
Café Kitchen/Ba r Lookout Area Bar Area
m2/Person 1
65
20
7
3
10
0.3
33
10
0.3
33
Total People Minimum Escape Route Corridor & Door Opening Width
Max. No. of People
65
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2/
Total People Minimum Escape Route Corridor & Door Opening Width Minimum Stair Width
Other Disabled Access Factors All surfaces leading up to the building will be non-slip, either through the use of a non-slip surface or bay adding anti-slip tape to the floor. Due to the main path being 100% non-vehicular there is no danger of people inadvertently walking into a vehicular access route. Furthermore all access routes will be well lit to make sure they are safe and easy to navigate for visually impaired people and all doors will open internally to stop them from obstructing the path.
/m
Basement
Total People Minimum Escape Route Corridor & Door Opening Width Minimum Stair Width
Access for Wheelchair Users to Main Entrances
Access for Wheelchair Users within the Building
2
135 850
Minimum Stair Width
1000
Total People In Building
261
Minimum Width For Final Exit
1050
The main Escape point from my building is on the Ground floor out through the main entrance. There would also be a secondary Escape from the basement out on to the beach and due to how the Shop exists as its own entity within the building with its own entrance this will also have a fire escape. Due to the calculations I have done, on the right, the stairs through the center of the building will be a minimum of 1000 mm wide and all corridors and exit doors must be a minimum of 850mm however most are actually wider than this to allow easier access for disabled users or to allow boats in an out of the boat house. I have also included a refuge for any disabled people on the top floor of the building in the Disabled toilet which lies next to the stair case. This would be a fire safe zone like the fire escape routes and should provide protection for and disabled users of the building until help arrives. Due to the open plan nature of the top floor I deemed th is space best for a refuge due to its proximity to the stair case and being a fairly small space it would be easier protect from fire spread. The other two floors do not require a refuge as there are step free escape routes on these levels.
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Fire Safe Zone Stair Well to all Floors Going - 250mm Riser - 200mm Stair Width - 1000mm
Escape route for people in the Workshop/ Boathouse
Lift to give access to all levels for disabled users
Fire Door Width 1000mm Escape Route from Gym Length – 17m
Escape Route from Bar Length 17m
Escape Route from 1st Floor Length 23m (Total) Escape Route from Shop Length – 5m
Fire Safe Area
Refuge Area for wheelchair Users
Basement (1:100)
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Environmental Design & Services
Wall 1
Malcolm Pritchard - 102375408 Project Study - Sense, Simplicity and Home
Material
Introduction to Design I designed the tutor flat as a standalone self-sufficient dwelling at the top of site D. I is a long thin design orientated to the south and east there are no windows to the north or west to give privacy and high windows allow light into the bedrooms whilst limiting views in and full length windows in the living space maintain the link to the grassy courtyard outside.
Materials
Cedar Cladding
0.02
0.16
Timber Batten
0.04
0.12 0.333333333
Plywood Sheet
0.04
0.13 0.307692308
PIR Insulation
0.2
0.021 9.523809524
Plasterboard
0.02
Total Thickness
0.32
Material
In the floor of the Building I used a suspended hempcrete floor, a material with a conductivity rating of 0.05W/mK, containing under floor heating, with 200mm of the same Celotex insulation material as I used to insulate the external walls of the Flat. The combination of these materials gave a U-value for my floor of less than 0.1
After this and due to the wide expanse of glass I looked at reducing its U-value. The lowest value I could find was for triple glazed argon filled windows, which gave me a U-value of 0.8
0.16
0.125
0.125
U Value 0.096016882
Roof
I began my environmental design of the Tutor flat by looking at how and what type of insulation I am using. I ended up choosing to use Celotex FR5000 as this gave a Lambda of just 0.021W/mK. This material comes in boards of 100mm thickness, which I chose to double up to give a total thickness of 200mm around the whole building. This resulted in me calculating a U Value for my walls of less than 0.1.
Finally in my roof used the Celotex Insulation however due to the sloping nature of the “flat” roof the level of insulation varies from 200mm up to 300mm however I when calculating it’s U-value I chose to take the Insulation at its lowest level of 200mm. This resulted in my roof having a U-Value of just over 0.7
Thickness/m Thermal Conductivity W/mK R value
Thickness/m Thermal Conductivity W/mK R value
Plasterboard
0.02
0.16
8
Plywood Sheet
0.06
0.13
2.1666667
PIR Insulation
0.2
0.021
0.105
0.28
U Value
0.0973552
Total Thickness
Floor Material Floor Boards
Thickness/m Thermal Conductivity W/mK R value 0.02
0.16
0.125
Hempcrete
0.2
0.05
4
Insulation
0.2
0.021
9.5238095
0.42
U Value
0.0732665
Total Thickness
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Other sources of energy. Due to the onsite tree cover I immediately ruled out Photovoltaic Cells and due to it’s urban environment and a lack fuel I also ruled out a biomass heater and wind turbines due to the amount of noise that they produce and because the site is well sheltered due to surrounding trees. The two technologies I have chosen to include are; a vertical Ground source heat pump and a Thermal solar gain panels. These will allow me to minimise the requirements for hot water generation through electricity. During the summer the months this saving should be around 90% however in the winter months it could be as low as 30%. Therefore I took an average of these to values to reduce the energy requirements on the spreadsheet by 60%. I have also stated in my spreadsheet that the boiler of the flat will run at 150% as shown in the table to the right. A Vertical ground source heat pump suited my original design as due to the high number of trees on site I was using Pile foundations, which could easily accommodate the piping required. I also have a large flat roof on which I can easily position solar gain panels to give the best efficiency for daylight heat gains The reason I chose to integrate the use of these two technologies is due to their limitations. As drinking water must be heated to 70oC to kill bacteria in the tank and this is beyond what a Ground Source Heat is capable of achieving. However this temperature can be achieved by using Thermal Solar Panels. The weakness of this technology however is its unpredictability as it is entirely dependent on sunlight and air temperature. The levels of which are highly volatile, however a ground source heat pump extracts its heat from underground where temperatures are very regular
CO2 emissions Primary Energy
CO2 emissions
Efficiency (%)
(kg CO2/kWh heat)
Oil fired boiler
60 - 65
0.45 – 0.48
Gas fired boiler
70 - 80
0.26 – 0.31
100
0.21
Electrical heating
36
0.9
Conventional electricity + GHSP
120 - 160
0.27 – 0.20
Green electricity + GHSP
300 - 400
0.00
System
Condensing Gas Boiler + low temperature system
Changes to Design.
(Source: Sustainable Energy Ireland)
http://www.greenspec.co.uk/ground-source-heat-pumps.php
It became clear that introducing a lobby was a simple and effective way to help insulate the rest of the building against open doors and although it has a negligible affect on the overall SAP evaluation when the building came to be lived in and the front door was opened on a windy day in mid winter. Another change I considered was to limit the height of the windows. However it works out to be better to reduce the height by 250mm rather than 500mm due to the windows being south and east facing and the level of solar gain outstripping the heat loss from these windows. I had planned to include a large roof light, in the living room to try and make it feel like an outdoor space when open, but including this would half the thermal efficiency of the building so I removed it.
Newcastle
There should be no problem with too much light penetration due the face that the site is very highly wooded which should prevent there being excess direct sunlight in the summer time and in the winter when leaves have fallen allow the limited direct sunlight into the building. This can be seen in the DiaLux Light Model I have made. It is worth remembering that the white areas in the bottom left corner could be reduced dramatically by using blinds to limit sunlight during the day and it will be primarily utilised in the early evening to night times.
Bibliography http://www.celotex.co.uk/products/celotex-products/celotex-fr5000 http://hempcrete.com.au/pdf/Tradical%20Hemcrete%20R-values.pdf http://www.macroe.co.uk/id6.html http://www.housingenergyadvisor.com/eco-products/ground-source-heat-pumps http://www.housingenergyadvisor.com/eco-products/solar-thermal-hot-water-systems greerpritchard Page – 91
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Other Projects During the paper Charettes Project we were asked to create an Artwork Installation on the university campus using just paper. We were split into groups containing two 3rd years, who would lead the project, three 2nd years and three 1st years. The brief for the project was almost completely open as the installation could be either non-functional or functional and we were free to do whatever we wanted to the material to enhance it. We were also asked to produce some marketing material to go with the project. The first thing our group did was to explore the campus for the site. The final one we settled on was at the bottom of the stairs just outside the cathedral doors entrance to the Architecture building. We chose this site as it was one that we had all walked past countless times but had never entered. This proved to be the imspiration for our design as we felt we should do something that enhances the unappreciated areas around campus. We started to build an installation seen on the right hanging down from a light. We then progressed onto framing the important views around campus and began to construct a wall made from folded prisms that people would have to look through to see our light installations and some viewing trumpets that we could angle around the quad to view our chosen features that we felt should be more apprecitated. Both of these can be seen below. The final results of our work can be seen at the bottom of the page.
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Long stairs project Bringing joy and interest into an otherwise unused and intimidating area of Newcastle, by creating a space where people are able to stop and think the space will be changed from somewhere people ignore into a destination for people travel to. We chose the space because it is currently an intimidating place to be due to the curving nature of the stairs and there existing a middle place that cannot be seen. We saw this as an opportunity to create an unexpected refuge where people can remove themselves from hectic lives. We have chosen to mainly used bricks, as this is a material that is indicative of the site but wanted to use them in an unexpected way. We have chosen to create a sofa out of recycled bricks from a nearby building site putting an unwanted waste material to use.
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