Agatha Barber Portfolio

ACADEMIC PORTFOLIO A MANIFESTO FOR HOUSING AGATHA BARBER 180146576 STAGE 3 20202/21

CONTENTS

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REFLECTIVE REPORT

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01 FRAMING

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02 TESTING

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03 SYNTHESIS

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CULTURAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

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LIST OF FIGURES

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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APPENDIX

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ILLUSTRATED REFLECTIVE REPORT

ILLUSTRATED REFLECTIVE REPORT

life, thus deeming social housing a completely respectable way of life in Austria. Comparatively, designed to suit the logic of capitalism, British social housing often carries the negative stigmas of minimal to no communal space and circulation systems often itself designed to be as small and efficient as possible, with little thought put towards fostering interactions between residents (Wood, p.80).

The site of our project is Cruddas Park, a 1960s concrete residential tower block that sits above a podium-like structure housing a shopping centre. It is located in Elswick, a residential but commercially underdeveloped area just outside of Newcastle’s city centre. The tower is under inhabited and lacks a dynamic demographic, with 2/3 of its inhabitants being male, 95% of which are above the age of 45 and no children living on site (StreetCheck, 2011). Mirroring this, the shopping centre in the podium is also widely underused as most of its units are unoccupied or out of business.

The evident issues faced by the site, however, are not limited to Cruddas Park and echo the wider negligence of the social housing sector in the UK. Shortages in housing have led to inflated house prices and for homelessness rates to sky rocket, with an estimated 8.4 million people in England living in an unaffordable, insecure or unsuitable home (National Housing Federation, 2019). Our studio brief therefore requested us to identify the architectural flaws that have contribute to Cruddas Park’s failure and to propose a scheme for its refurbishment as an exemplar solution to the demands of the housing crisis.

FIGURE 1 - Aerial View of Cruddas Park

FIGURE 4 - Communal courtyard in Sargfabrik

Reflecting on the group analysis of Cruddas Park and precedent research, I felt that site’s lack of

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interconnectivity socially was most largely contributed to

by the poor circulation, both within the narrow corridors

of the tower and within the disconnect between the

GROUP SITE ANALYSIS: ENVIRONMENT ECOLOGY podium andAND its surrounding context. This is represented

in my initial massing development sketches.

CRUDDAS PARK, NEWCASTLE

Cruddas Park’s corridor

Deserted Shopping Centre

SUN PATH

The ‘Theory Into Practice’ Essay was exceptionally useful in encouraging me to research the theories underpinning

my work and articulate them verbally rather than just

visually. In writing the essay, I came to understand that

compact circulation spaces associated closely with tower

blocks, has often been pinpointed as the reason for why

Poor integration to surrounding context you people rarely envisage a future, or starting a family,

in high rise buildings, instead favouring the ideals of a

low rise neighbourhood street (Suruchi Modi, 2014, p.26).

Given Cruddas Park is home to no children, it is clear that

its tower is rife with this specific issue. More generally,

researching the importance of circulation to architecture

emphasised to me the extent of the role circulation can

play not just in residential spaces, but in dictating our experience of all built form. Therefore, as I continue to

practice architecture, I will endeavour to maintain a FIGURE 2 - Groupwork poster summarising design approach that considers circulation from the onset demamds of Housing Crisis. and throughout.

SUMMER SUN PATH

SITE

01/06/20 9:00

CRUDDAS PARK TOWER BLOCK

As a studio, we researched a broad range of social housing schemes around the world in order to gage the necessary elements for curating a harmonious living environment, both physically and socially. In particular, I was both impressed and inspired by our research of exemplar social housing schemes in Vienna, due to their frequent provision of an extensive range of communal facilities that promote a high standard of

FIGURE 3 - Communal facilities at Alt-Erlaa

SUMMER SUN PATH

SUMMER SUN PATH

WINTER SUN PATH 01/12/20 12:00

01/12/20 16:00

01/06/20 12:00

01/06/20 16:00

WINTER SUN PATH

Massing Development

Upon endeavouring into the ‘Integrated Construction’ project, my aspirations to promote fluid and free-flowing space within the podium was directly confronted with the reality of the existing rigid concrete grid on site. As I had not considered the structure of the building in depth until this point in the project, which was post the ‘Testing Review’, I had to implement complex additional steel frames to the existing structure to facilitate my defined design goals. Moving to the future, I now know to consider the structure of the building from the onset of a project’s design rather than as an after-thought.

Furthermore, the technology module guided my design in helping me to address our studio brief’s emphasis on modularity by re-working my housing floor plans into a repetitive grid. The technology modules have been something I have struggled with throughout this course, even failing an assignment during second year. However, rising to the challenge of completing this year’s report on such a vast building, and endeavouring on the necessary independent research, I believed to have truly elevated my understanding of how building’s function in this respect.

Similarly, the ‘Professional Practice’ exercise introduced me to the process of construction in the architectural profession, something I had very little knowledge of prior to this assignment. Through tasking us to explain why our project should win a hypothetical competition, it encouraged me to re-evaluate whether my design proposal was hitting my core aspirations to promote social integration and a high quality of life at Cruddas Park.

Finally, a key learning point for me this year has been the introduction of ‘celebration pieces’ to my diagram vocabulary. Due to the format of previous years, I felt naturally inclined to create a series of smaller atmospheric diagrams that appeared less intimidating. However, a single diagram could exhibit many aspects of the scheme, whilst portraying a more cohesive vision of my building. I decided a perspective section would offer this best and endeavoured on a process of trial and error to find the best angle of my digital model that would explain the maximum features within my building proposal. My final drawing depicts how this diagram style enabled me to combine an elevation and section drawing in one, whilst simultaneously detailing the building’s relationship to the surrounding site.

Primary Structure Diagram

Pespective Section

Circulation diagrams before and after proposal

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01 FRAMING

SITE: CRUDDAS PARK The site of our project is Cruddas Park, a 1960s concrete residential tower block that sits above a podiumlike structure housing a shopping centre in Elswick, Newcastle.

The in depth precedent analysis during framing nurtured me towards identifying that the core fundamentals of successful social housing schemes lie within the presence of sufficient communal space. Social housing schemes that exhibit such a trait seem to naturally curate a harmonious living environment between residents, who have maximised opportunity for spontaneous interaction. Through this process, Cruddas Park’s failure to offer such features was only further exacerbated. Moving forwards to developing my own brief to regenerate Cruddas Park, I aimed to infiltrate the existing podium and tower with a range of new communal facilities and to rework the site’s circulation system to one which brings the community together naturally. In deciding to develop a new housing scheme above the podium, I further championed these core ideals of providing extensive communal space and strong circulation systems that foster sociable living communities.

FIGURE 5 - GROUPWORK site axonometric diagram

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SITE ANALYSIS

SITE ANALYSIS

LOCATION

TECHNICAL FACTORS

Elswick is primarily a residential area but also has an industrial history that remains present to this day. The area is commercially under developed, with the majority of the existing space being warehouses and outlet stores. However, the site is also strongly connected to Newcastle’s city centre and is surrounded by an existing community of residents, suggesting it ripe for an economic reboot.

As a group, a key output was the site specific technical analysis. I found this research particularly useful to refer back to throughout the massing stages of my design to ensure I was responding to the following factors.

Site Plan at 1:10,000

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FIGURE 6 - GROUPWORK site analysis

FIGURE 6 - GROUPWORK site plan

FIGURE 7 - GROUPWORK site analysis

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SITE ANALYSIS

SITE ANALYSIS

CONTEXT: SURROUNDING BUILT FORM

CONTEXT: MATERIALITY

Groupwork reserach found the the northerm facade of the tower makes quite a statement to Newcastle’s skyline, looking out mostly onto low rise residential buildings.

The southern facade looks out onto Newcastle’s valley, interrupted only by the four other high rise blocks within the same social housing scheme.

Cruddas Park Context, North

Groupwork materiality studies found that the Brutalist language to Cruddas Park juxtaposes the surrounding low rise housing that is mostly built from red brick.

Cruddas Park

1. Terraced Housing - Residential

Built Environment Texture, Materials, Patterns

Cruddas Park 1

Cruddas Park

2. Terraced Housing - Residential

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1. Terraced Housing - Residential

Built Environment Texture, Materials, Patterns

Context South

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2. Terraced Housing - Residential

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3. Terraced Housing - Residential

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3. Terraced Housing - Residential

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4. High Rise - Residential

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4. High Rise - Residential

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4 5. Commercial and Public Facilities

5. Commercial and Public Facilities

FIGURE 8 - GROUPWORK analysing site context

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FIGURE 9 - GROUPWORK analysing site materiality

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SITE ANALYSIS

SITE ANALYSIS

TOPOGRAPHY

TOPOGRAPHY IMPACTING CIRCULATION

Our group produced a series of collages to help deepen our understanding of the physical boundaries of the site.

Due to Covid restrictions, it was difficult for us to visit the site at this point in the year. I therefore found the following collages particularly useful in helping me visualise the steepness of the site’s topography down south towards the river tyne, up north towards the terraced housing and the impact this would have on both Cruddas Park currently and any new build proposed, something I hadn’t fully realised beforehand.

Diagramming a site section allowed me to further my understanding of the impact of the site’s topography on Cruddas Park. Due to it’s sloping nature, the ground floor whilst exposed on the southern facade is entirely underground on northern facade. However, the first floor on the northern facade still does not provide a level access out onto the adjacent road, and requires visitors to travel down 2.6m of stairs or a ramp to enter (see figure __). Despite being one of the main entrances to the podium, the fact that it is sunken below the road level forces it to appear unapproachable and uninviting to passers by, who wouldn’t have full visibility of what it is.

On the southern facade, the ground level is 3m above the adjacent park, with just one staircase connecting the two, deterring the space from being used.

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Site Section at 1:1000

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FIGURE 10 - GROUPWORK collages to express the routes towards the site

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SITE ANALYSIS

SITE ANALYSIS

SITE CIRCULATION

THE EXISTING PODIUM

The following diagram highlights the failure of the original architects to integrate the building’s circulation naturally with the sloping topography on site. The small, and few, entrances on the comparatively large and wide podium diminishes the fluidity of circulation from external to internal space and seems to suggest it holds something private, deterring passers by from entering the shopping centre.

Sketch of Cruddas Park’s programme to help further my understanding of the current spatial uses in the building. As diagrammed, the majority of the commercial spaces within the podium are either closed or entirely vacant, meaning their is a vast amount of space for new developments. The shop fronts are also inside the podium, making external passers by unlikely to know of their existence as they are met with block fronts.

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SITE ANALYSIS

SITE ANALYSIS

THE EXISTING TOWER

TOWER DEMOGRAPHICS

The tower is 75m tall and houses 168 single-aspect apartments, all of which stems from a long and narrow anti-social corridor.

Christian Schittich champions the importance of circulation to residential spaces, arguing that “the ability to meet others is directly associated with movement” and that “the pathways through a house therefore not only satisfy the purpose of connecting rooms, but also the desire for social exchange” (Schittich, 2013, p.9). However, constructed to suit the logic of capitalism, tower block circulation spaces, as seen in Cruddas Park, have often been “designed to be as small and efficient as possible, with little thought put towards fostering interactions between residents” (Wood, 2017, p.80).

The tower lacks a dynamic demographic, with 2/3 of its inhabitants being male, 95% of which are above the age of 45 and no children living on site. Furthermore, the highest relationship status is divorced, 81% of flats have single occupancy and only 25% of inhabitants are employed, highlighting how for much of the time its residents are isolated alone in their flats and rates of loneliness are high (StreetCheck, 2011). It is evident that the architecture of Cruddas Park is deterring a more diverse living environment from flourishing.

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Extracted from ‘Theory into Practice’ essay

FIGURE 11 - GROUPWORK Western and Southern Elevation (from left to right )

FIGURE 12 - GROUPWORK typical tower floor plan

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Figure 13 - GROUPWORK photograph depicting narrow tower corridors.

FIGURE 14 - GROUPWORK analysis of site demographics

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NEW WORK

STUDIO BRIEF The issues that have been raised through the group site analysis are not limited to Cruddas Park and echo the wider negligence of the social housing sector in the UK. Shortages in housing have led to inflated house prices and for homelessness rates to sky rocket, with an estimated 8.4 million people in England living in an unaffordable, insecure or unsuitable home (National Housing Federation, 2019).

SITE ANALYSIS WOHNPARK ALT-ERLAA CRUDDAS PARK TOWER BLOCK

WINTER SUN PATH 01/12/20 12:00

To further our knowledge of social housing, and what makes it successful, our group analysed a broad range of precedents. In particular, I felt inspired by Wohnpark Alt-Erlaa, in Vienna, and its extensive range of communal space including childcare, sports facilities, rooftop swimming pools and saunas and plenty more. The high quality of life curated in this scheme only further exacerbated the lack of social considerations, not only in Cruddas Park, but also within much of British social housing, something I carried forwards within the development of my own design proposal.

WINTER SUN PATH 01/12/20 16:00

Our studio brief therefore has challenged us to identify the architectural flaws that contribute to Cruddas Park’s failure and propose a scheme for its refurbishment as an exemplar solution to the demands of the housing crisis.

FIGURE 15 - GROUPWORK poster summarising demands of Housing Crisis.

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FIGURE 16 - GROUPWORK analysis of Alt-Erlaa

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PRECEDENT ANALYSIS

PRECEDENT

ROBIN HOOD GARDENS

TOUR BOIS-LE-PRETRE

Another precedent study that strongly influenced my design thinking was Alison and Peter Smithson’s Robin Hood Gardens built in 1972. The couple were pioneers in attempting to solve the negative stigmas surrounding British social housing by meshing the notion of horizontal social space with high density housing, coined “a street in the air” (Smithsons, 2004). These streets were essentially large hallways that residents had to utilise in order to access their apartment unit, hoping to echo the desired atmosphere of suburbia in which children play and adults naturally and complicity interact.

PRECEDENT: TOUR BOIS-LE-PETRE

The renovation of a tower block in Paris has amassed much praise for providing an aesthetic and cost efficient solution to the growing number of social housing projects from the 60s now in desperate need of reparation.

Avoiding the building’s demolition, the architects chose to extend the floorplates outwards to increase the size of the apartments. New floors, built as a self-supporting structure, were added to the periphery of the existing building at every floor, using prefabricated modules erected like scaffolding so that the residents were not displaced during construction.

However, it is important to reflect on the fact that although Alison and Peter Smithson’s made their best efforts to nurture a community through communal circulation, 75% of its residents were in favour of its demolition in 2008. Unlike a regular street, there was a lack of frequent passers-by to act a deterrent to crime and, in times of trouble, residents had a difficult escape route from the walkways. Thus, moving forwards, I have attempted to take from the Smithson’s ideals of maximising interaction through circulation, whilst simultaneously attempting to respect a balance between public and private space in my proposal for refurbishing Cruddas Park’s tower.

FIGURE 17 - GROUPWORK analysis of Robinhood Gardens

I found studying the renovation of Tour Bois-le-Prêtre in Paris to be particularly inspiring due to the similarities of the original brutalist tower to Cruddas Park. Avoiding the building’s demolition, the architects chose to extend the floor plates outwards to increase the size of the apartments with conservatories and balconies on every floor. Such innovative design could be be applied to Cruddas Park with much smaller economic and environmental consequences than demolishing and building from scratch. The precedent was also useful in highlighting the importance of providing small flats with private external space to make inhabitants feel less trapped.

TOUR BOIS LE PETRE FLOOR PLAN

CRUDDAS PARK FLOOR PLAN The new exterior shell consists of large aluminium framed windows and glazed balconies that back onto floor-toceiling glazed conservatories. The results have allowed for an abundance of light in the flats and have provided the residents with the exceptional view of Paris all around.

FIGURE 18 - Photograph depicting an exterior view of the Robin Hood Estate in the 1970s

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FIGURE 19 - Photograph depicting the Smithson’s ‘streets in the air’ in Robin Hood Estate

FIGURE 20 - Photograph depicting the Smithson’s ‘streets in the air’ in Robin Hood Estate

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THEMATIC CASE STUDY

THEMATIC CASE STUDY

To further enhance our understanding of successful social housing, our sub-group was tasked with analysing ‘Sargfabrik’ in Vienna as a case study. Similarly to Wohnpark Alt-Erlaa, Sargfabrik is packed with an extensive range of communal facilities, earning it the nickname “a village in the City”. I found this a particularly important concept to carry forwards with me into my own brief as a guide to the standard of living and level of community that we should be aspiring for in British social housing.

Sargfabrik was also a useful case study in its success in catering to a diverse living community, something that Cruddas Park is lacking.

FIGURE 21 - GROUPWORK thematic case study analysis

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FIGURE 22 - Groupwork thematic case study analysis

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THEMATIC CASE STUDY

STUDIO MANIFESTO

Another strong concept from Sargfabrik that I felt keen to take forwards with me was the close relationship between the future residents and architects throughout the design process. This led to a sensitive output that directly catered to the needs of these residents who had initially come together after feeling frustrated with the expensive housing market in 1960s.

Our site analysis and precedent research then culminated in a studio manifesto that championed the standard of housing we should be promoting and designing as architects.

FIGURE 23 - GROUPWORK thematic case study analysis

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FIGURE 24 - GROUPWORK Studio Manifeso

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PERSONAL BRIEF DEVELOPMENT AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. Championing a strong community through the provision of shared, communal space and strong circulation systems that nurture spontaneous but frequent interactions between inhabitants.

2. Promoting a more diverse living environment through the provision of a wider range of flat sizes and wider range of available facilities (i.e. childcare for families and accessible flats for disabled or elderly)

MASSING DEVELOPMENT DIVIDING UP THE PODIUM Massing sketches exploring different methods to break up the solid and enclosed mass that forms the podium with external walkways. This would leave behind open passageways that invite pedestrians into the commercial space more casually, as one could roam and window shop without having to actually enter the building.

3. Improving the relationship of the podium to its context to make it more approachable to the surrounding community in Elswick, thus facilitating its economic reboot.

4. Sustainable design

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MASSING DEVELOPMENT MASSING RESPONSE TO CIRCULATION I decided to partially demolish the podium on both the northern and southern facade and create an open walkway running through the centre of the podium to provide and encourage more space for natural circulation through and around the site. Making the podium narrower would also help to create a more conversational language between the current wide and flat form of the podium and the existing tall and narrow tower.

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MASSING DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPING FUNCTIONS AND PROGRAMME As the ground floor carpark is largely underused, I decided to make up for the lost floor space from narrowing the podium by building new commercial and sports facilities into it. As the ground floor is underground on the Northern facade, I decided to make these spaces double height in order to allow light in from the first level.

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MASSING DEVELOPMENT NEW HOUSING SCHEME However, there still seemed to be a disconnect between the flat form of the podium and the tall form of the tower, and so I decided to build up the podium’s height through proposing some new housing above it. The following massing sketches explore different potential housing forms from in attempt to maximise the promotion of external circulation and communal space.

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MASSING DEVELOPMENT NEW HOUSING SCHEME I decided to divide the two rows of housing into six blocks of flats separated by communal walkways as an an active decision to maximise the flow and potential for natural circulation within community space and with the intention of meshing high density living with the ideals of suburban neighbourhood streets.

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FINAL MASSING BRIEF Exploded Axonometric diagram to illustrate the proposed programme.

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FINAL MASSING BRIEF Site Axonometric Diagram to illustrate the new proposal and how it relates to the surrounding context.

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CONCEPT ATMOSPHERICS Sketch depicting central walkway that allows light down into the adjacent double height space. It also shows the 6 new housing blocks and how they are connected through external walkway systems.

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CONCEPT ATMOSPHERICS Sketch depicting increased focus on entrances.

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02 TESTING

SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT PODIUM FLOOR PLAN ITERATIONS

In past projects, I have had a tendency to execute the iteration process mainly through floor plan diagrams. Therefore, during testing, I aimed to explore a vaster range of diagrammatic techniques to help develop my design. In particular, I found sketching and overlaying different 3d housing iterations to be really helpful in visualising the atmosphere on site. As Cruddas Park is such a large plot, I decided to focus my project primarily on my new housing scheme sitting above the podium, but also lightly on the massing of the podium, as I found the success of each entity to be reliant on the other.

Programme from framing illustrates how all the existing spaces that remain open at Cruddas Park will be carried forwards as well as the provision of an abudance of sports facilities and communal functions.

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During framing, I had decided to reduce the incline of the hill on the northen facade within the space where the podium had been demolished. However, I this floor plan iteration discovered how the space could be used more efficiently if the hill remained the same and the area of demolition became an external terrace available for outdoor sports activities.

This iteration analysed the programme in relation to circulation routes and documents the widening of the ground floor back to its original facade line on the north, following the decision to use the space directly above on the first level for external activities in the previous iteration.

In the final iteration, I decided it was most logical to only have double height facilities on the northern facade, as this is the only area underground, and therefore the only area that would benefit from the access to light. This would also act as an attraction feature to passers by on the north who could look down into the activities going on.

Comparing iteration 1 to iteration 4 highlights how the programme has transformed from long and narrow spaces towards smaller box-like spaces, that maximise access to the southern sunlight.

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PRECEDENT

SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT

TREEHOUSE

HOUSING PROGRAMME ITERATIONS

A key precedent that heavily influenced the development of my new housing was the ‘Treehouse’, a sloping block of co-living apartments in Seoul by Architecture studio ‘Bo-Daa’. Centre to the building is a bright, planted atrium that acts as a communal living space, encourgaing its inhabitants to interact as private living space is absent from each flat.

The following iterations explore the implementation of an atrium-like, communal living space (as found in Treehouse) in each housing block, and finding the best programme for this in relation to the sun-path. I chose to stick to quite boxy forms, in order to match the brutalist lanugage on site currently.

FIGURE 25 - Images depicting the central communal atrium in Treehouse

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SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT

TESTING OUTPUTS

HOUSING FLOOR PLAN ITERATIONS

SITE AXONOMETRIC CONCEPT SKETCH

Starting to consider modularity as I began my research for the ‘Integrated Construction’ report helped to develop the floor plans. In order to create a modular floor plan, I realigned the floor plans so that they stuck to a rigid grid formed by three cubicles. This would help to standardise measurements so that they could be prefabricated as a flatpack set and constructed swiftly on site.

Depicting growing relationship of podium to surronding context.

The layout of both the rooms and furniture within the rooms was then organised to achieve an adaptable design. The core cubicle walls (which would be CLT) would house all servicing (electrics and plumbing) and the floor plan was divided up so that each room has access to one of these core walls. This enabled the partitional CLT walls to be easily adaptable as they would be free of any servicing. As shown in figure __, they could be bolted into and out of place with much ease, allowing the separate cubicles to be joined together to make larger apartments or the reverse. This hopefully would improve the longevity of the site and the sustainability within this.

FIGURE 26 - Arched rooves of Dujardin Mews by Karakusevic Carson Architects in Enfield, London.

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TESTING OUTPUTS CONCEPT SKETCHES The first sketch was drawn to articulate the nature of the new housing scheme looking down onto the central walkway.

The second sketch was drawn to help convey the active decisions made to make the northern facade more interactive with passers by. As depicted, the partial demolition of the podium leaves behind an external terrace where activities and classes held by the sports centre can happen. The double height feature allows light down into the podium and attracts passers by to look upon the busy building and feel drawn to enter.

PRECEDENT INFLUENCE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT Referring back to the Alexandra Road Estate and it’s success in maximising private space whilst simultaneously promoting community through its central walkway. Following this, I decided to reduce the width of the podium that I planned to demolish, so that what remained would be wider.

This would provide each block of flats with a now 4m wide terrace, acting both like a street front and garden for the inhabitants to maximise the potential for community.

FIGURE 27 - Images depicting the central walkway on the Alexandra Road Estate

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SUNLIGHT RESPONSE

SUNLIGHT RESPONSE

SOUTHERN FACADE

MASSING REVISIONS

Due to Covid restrictions meaning Newcastle’s architecture studio was closed for the majority of the year, I have spent much time working from my bedroom this year. Unfortunately, my bedroom is north facing, making for quite a somber and dark living environment. From this experience, it then became a key objective of mine to ensure that all flats had direct access to southern light, particularly important for those living alone. The need to maximise sunlight into the new housing is further exacerbated by the vast shadow cast over the podium by the tower each afternoon.

Despite my efforts to maximise sunlight into each housing block, my tutors highlighted to me that in doing so I had neglected the central walkway, which would be overshadowed by the southern row of new housing blocks. In order to combat this, I decided to arc the roof over the communal living rooms, maximising the light travelling down into the northern space.

FIGURE 28 - Sunlight strategy diagrams all taken from Arc 3013 ‘Integrated Construction’ submission.

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FIGURE 29 - Arched rooves of Dujardin Mews by Karakusevic Carson Architects in Enfield, London.

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THINKING THROUGH MAKING I used the ‘Thinking Through Making’ project to experiment with the materiality of the podium. As I am planning to partially demolish the concrete structure, I was aware this would likely leave behind a jagged and rough edge. In order to decide whether to leave the concrete with a rough texture or whether to sand it down and clad it in a new facade, I used a plaster cast to test the various options.

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THINKING THROUGH MAKING I then tested each cast below a cedum wall which, at this point in the project, I had planned to act as a key feature on the new housing scheme.

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SITE PLAN - SCALE 1:500

03 SYNTHESIS I have been really fond of the way that the separate modules throughout the year have infiltrated and overlapped with design at varying moments.. At this point in the project, my goal was to create key diagrams that expressed the maximum components of my project.I decided the best option for this would be a perspective section, which proved to be incredibly time consuming, however in the end, did offer a broad range of views of the site.

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PODIUM GROUND FLOOR PLAN - SCALE 1:500

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PODIUM GROUND FLOOR PLAN - SCALE 1:500

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HOUSING GROUND FLOOR PLAN - SCALE 1:200

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HOUSING FIRST FLOOR PLAN - SCALE 1:200

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SITE SECTION

TECHNICAL SECTION 1:20 The new housing will be cladded in corten steel, to fit in with the colour palette of the surrounding red brick terraced housing, whilst simulatensouly catering to the robust, brutalist language on site. The podium will be re-clad in smooth GRC concrete panels, again chosen to match the brutalist form of Cruddas Park as it currently stands.

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FIGURE 30 - Extracted from ‘Integrated Construction’ project.

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CONNECTIONS TO THE NORTH

CONNECTIONS TO SOUTH The existing southern facade at Cruddas Park looks out onto a green space, and so, naturally, experiences less human traffic than the north (which looks out onto a busy road). The following strategy has been designed in attempt to encourage people to travel towards the green, so that it is not so deserted and underused as previously, whilst simultaneously choosing not to overload the area with a broad range of new functions in order to preserve a level of the tranquility that is experienced there currently.

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2 5 5 1. New Connection from road to provide easy accessibility to housing for residents.

2. Underneath of platform can be used for storage for sports functions (i.e. yoga mats) 3. Clear route continues through site 4. External terrace provides space for activities held by new sports centre podium.

5. Glazing maximises light travelling down into double height sports courts.

6. Central Walkway allows people to roam the site without having to enter the building, allowing for more fluid and natural circulation.

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1. Route continues through the site 2. Vertical circulation is integrated into building facade and cladded in perforated corten steel 3. Stairs finalise route down to green 4. Provision of benches to invite people to sit and stay 5. New playground shows that children our welcome at Cruddas Park 6. Podium facade is interrupeted with maximum glazing to signify there is life going on within.

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NEW HOUSING SCHEME

HOUSING UNIT STUDY

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6 3 1. First floor flat (private living room) 2. Ground floor flat (bedroom & bathroom) 3. Communal living rooms 4. Roof top gardens 5. First floor balconies 6. External stairs to provide first floor flats with quick access to external space, as they do not have as large a terrace as the ground floor.

7. Terrace creates street like feeling for residents.

8. Walkways connecting the two rows of housing.

9. Arched roof to prevent overshadowing down to walkway below.

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1. Southern Terrace 2. Ground floor single flat (depicts living room which connects to a bedroom and bathroom) 3. First floor family flat (depicts child’s bedroom that is connected by a corridor to kitchen) 4. Communal living room 5. Stairs 6. Skylights and clerestory windows to maximise light down into north facing space.

7. Roof top garden

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OVERALL SCHEME ILLUSTRATED IN PERSPECTIVE SECTION

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CULTURAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

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‘THE SMITHSONS ON HOUSING’ DOCUMENTARY

‘BUILDING SIGHTS - TRELLICK TOWER’ (1991)

The documentary features Alison and Peter Smithson discussing how they have materialised their approach to housing through Robin Hood Gardens

The documentary challanges the negative stigmas surrounding high rise housing, arguing it to be a “positive response to the city, to rise above the pollution and noise and free more of the available land for open space, for parks and pedestrians”.

“Two women with prams can stand and chat and the post man can still get by” highlighting how the building take’s its physical form in response to the needs of its inhabitants - designed for the people.

An interesting perspective to carry forwards, and encouraging me to make the most of the green land surrounding Cruddas Park.

They also discuss in depth how the language of the architecture can help explain and enhance the use of a building, something clealry lacking at Cruddas Park currently.

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THE FORM OF HOUSING

ARCHITECTURE AT THE CROSSROADS

This text by Neave Brown discusses the changing attitudes towards differing housing typologies. With regards to high density housing, the Brown suggests that “the open space at blocks creates a no-mans land”, a theory exemplified strongly by Cruddas Park, and argues that social housing has “little evidence of recognition of many aspects of life it must cater for.”

An old BBC documentary critical of high rise towers, illustrating many of their negative connotations in the English culture.

THEMATIC CASE STUDIES

Having read Neave Brown’s text, it was interesting to see his work materialised in the Alexandra Road Estate, and being used as an exemplar low rise, high-density housing scheme in this documentary.

St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross Scotland by Gillespiem Kidd and Coia

Walmer Yard in London by Peter Salter

FRAC Dunkirk in France by Lacaton and Vassal

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LIST OF FIGURES

THEMATIC CASE STUDIES

Figure 1 - Ariel photograph of existing site (Google Maps, 2021) Figure 2, 4-17, 21-24 - Groupwork Suburban Housing in Seebach, Zurich by Sergison Bates

Honour Oak Housing in London by Walter Segal

Figure 3 - Alt Erla’s Swimming Pool, available at <https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/05/17/ImagineVancouver-Quality-Housing/> FIGURE 18 - Photograph of Robin Hood Estate, designed by Peter and Alison Smithson, accessible at <https://perunanuovacasaitaliana.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/haworth-tompkins-appointed-to-workon-robin-hood-gardens-redevelopment/> FIGURE 19 - Photograph of Robin Hood Estate, designed by Peter and Alison Smithson, accessible at <https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/10885/how-the-ruins-of-a-brutalist-london-estate-endedup-at-the-venice-biennale>

Cité Maniefeste in Mulhouse, France by Lacaton and Vassal Apartment along a party wall in Swtizerland , Herzog and de Meuron.

Dawson’s heights in East London by Kate Macintosh

FIGURE 20 - Photograph depicting the Smithson’s ‘streets in the air’ in Robin Hood Estate <https:// municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/robin-hood-gardens-poplar-presence-dignity-and-a-bitgrim/> FIGURE 25 - Treehouse Co Living, available at <https://www.dezeen.com/2019/08/12/treehouse-coliving-bo-daa-seoul-concrete/> FIGURE 26, 28 - Output from ARC 3013 Integrated Technology Module FIGURE 27 - Alexandra Road Estate, available at <https://www.cktravels.com/alexandra-ainsworthbrutalist-estate-london/> FIGURE 29 - Dujardin Mews, available at < http://karakusevic-carson.com/work/dujardin-mews>

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDIX CIRCULATION SITE ANALYSIS

Anon, ‘Area Information for Cruddas Park’, StreetCheck, 2011 <https://www.streetcheck.co.uk/postcode/ ne47qy?fbclid=IwAR1kgE9kQA3C9UGHHx70ROzZHESRckl9A2Ft5CtyLnCf_isdfNhbq6hg8eY> Anon, ‘Row over ‘street in sky’ estate’, BBC News (2008) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7281156.stm> Joscha Flender, S. Horizontal Living in Vertical Buildings: How Ground-Dwelling Communities Can Thrive in High-Rise Buildings Schittich, C., 2013. Designing circulation areas. Berlin: DETAIL. Modi, S., 2014. Improving the Social Sustainability of High Rises. CTNUH Journal, (<https://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/ download/828-improving-the-social-sustainability-of-high-rises.pdf>).

National Housing Federation, 2021. [online] Available at: <https://www.housing.org.uk/news-and-blogs/news/1-in-7-people-inengland-directly-hit-by-the-housing-crisis/ national housing federation 2019> [Accessed 1 June 2021].

Schittich, C., (2013) ‘Designing Circulation Areas’, DETAIL Smithson,A ,Smithson,P. 2004, From the House of the Future to a House of Today, ed. by Dirk Van Den Heuvel, Max Risselada, and Beatriz Colomina. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.

Wood, Jessica, ‘Creating Better American Cities: A Study of Circulation and Common Spaces of Public Housing’ (Architecture Undergraduate Honors Thesis, University of Arkansas, 2017)

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BEFORE AND AFTER CIRCULATION DIAGRAMS

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TESTING SITE PLAN

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TESTING HOUSING FLOOR PLANS

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TESTING PODIUM FLOOR PLANS

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TESTING HOUSING FLOOR PLANS

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TESTING PODIUM FLOOR PLANS

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TESTING PODIUM PROGRAMME

PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION TO THEMATIC CASE STUDY

Aggie Barber

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GROUP CONTRIBUTION TO THEMATIC CASE STUDY

GROUP CONTRIBUTION TO THEMATIC CASE STUDY

Edward Bousfield

Olivia Ewing

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GROUP CONTRIBUTION TO THEMATIC CASE STUDY

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