Colin Rogger Portfolio

Colin Rogger 170795171 GITM Stage 3 ARC3001 documents: Page 2 – 94 – ARC3001 Portfolio Page 95 – 127 – ARC3001 Thematic case study booklet in full

Table of contents /1 Illustrated reflective report.

4-7 /2 Framing. 8-71 /3 Case study. 72-75 /4 Testing. 76-131 /5 Synthesis. 132-173 /6 Cultural bibliography. 174-179 /7 Figures and references. 180181 /8 Appendix. 182 - 183 /9 Fin. 184-185

- New or edited work

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My journey

Sand dune experiments at home

/1 - Reflective Report.

“It makes not sense to think that an organism stands a chance of survival independently of the survival of its milieu; the milieu is a precondition for the organism’s development; … If we frame the organism-plus-milieu as a ‘unit’ as Bateson suggests, then it is impossible to define it neatly as having clear form, or limit.”

Andrew Ballentyne.

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My time as a ghost in the ghost in the machine studio has been a rollercoaster of a journey. Considering this, I have enjoyed and grown at every step along the process.

The systemic design approach, which is central to the studio, seemed to be a completely new approach to design to me. This made the first stages of the project a real challenge. I began the process thinking of systems separate from site, from user and even from architecture. It took me a while, through the personal perspective projector task, or the mapping of the systems on-site, or even some of my theory research into a systemic design approach until I realised that systems thinking was not that different to what I had done the previous two years in my architecture studies.

What was crucial in this realisation was understanding that the systems oriented approach is functionalist, un-dogmatic, and design-orientated – allowing for a deep engagement with systemic interrelations.

Figure 1.

Interrelated, focused and site specific.

The integration of the professional practice module helped me rationalise the project. It made me think of the impact on a wider context, how it sits in local redevelopment schemes and allowed me to develop an understanding of how a building is build safely and efficiently.

The insight into cost factors in terms of structural and material decisions was challenging, as I wanted to create a design which was sustainable and using materials that are cheap, safe and sustainable.

In terms of the climate emergency, my building took inspiration from reusing construction elements as well as being efficient with the building footprint. The professional practice module really helped me focus on these elements by considering that way I can design to minimise waste.

Thinking ecologically naturally also considers sustainability in response to the ongoing climate emergency. Due to the readings such as ‘The ecological thought’ or the plastic bag video, I knew that the coastal dunes and its diverse, lively ecosystem was something worth protecting. Aiming to nurture the system back to health my scheme was developed around the perspective of what is best for the moving, living, communicating and beautiful sand.

These first stages of the design process, the period of framing the project onto the site, the architectural context as well as the social context was a crucial time to help focus my design. The plethora of systems available is demonstrated by the variety in responses of the ghosts to the studio brief.

The integration of tech came at a crucial moment for me. It was during the testing and synthesis phase, where I had just reminded myself of the value of sketchbooks, quick sketches and tracing paper. I was drawing version on version of my floor plans, over and over again.

I struggled to find a system, or a set of systems, which resonated with me. Retrospectively I can observe a journey, where I went from social systems, to care systems, to nature, to war in the dunes and eventually to sand and convalescences. Although I hadn’t noticed it at the time, the interconnectedness of the systems I was analysing took me from a wide range of unspecific systems, to a specific one, which would begin to take form through a design intervention.

I thought I had it nailed down, until I began trying to fit a roof structure over it, and there were pillars shifted everywhere and in each rotation.

Without this integration the floor plans would have remained clunky, inefficient and unstable. The investigation of fire safety as well as structural properties of my scheme was crucial.

The readings by JG Ballard helped throughout this process to maintain a critical and questioning eye when considering systems and Redcar.

Additionally, the reading ‘The ecological thought’ resonated particularly with me. Through the seminar sessions I began to develop an understanding of what it meant to think ecologically. This let to a crucial shift in my design perspective. I began considering other elements of systems as the users, defining perspective and user-centricity. Through the readings and my systems investigation, the sand became the hero of my design. The reading once more made me approach the traditional humancentric nature of design critically.

What I found particularly difficult was bridging the gap between system, site and an architectural intervention. Mapping the system onto the site, considering how it relates to its surroundings and what patterns it leaves was something I did not manage to explore until the thinking through making task.

Getting my hands on sand, experimenting with it. Inspired by the work by ecologicstudio, to think ecologically while designing an intervention to engage with the sand system, as well as tourism through convalescence I set myself the challenge of:

//Being a grain of sand; it lets you see things from a perspective you otherwise would never have. By engaging the dune system, the sand becomes part of the design process. The way it sways in the wind, reacts to water, or leaves traces informs my design thinking.

Having some experience with human-centric design, I combined what I found being a grain of sand with the concept of a convalescent retreat. I had bridged the gap and set the brief for my scheme.

A lot of my scheme rested on civil engineering principles, including tunnelling and sheet-piling. This meant that this technical integration allowed to understand the details of my scheme and the way it would look, work and what sort of spaces could be created. Looking at ventilation and heating and light, meant that (with the help of quick sketching) I was able to make the appropriate changes to my design, and create an overall more rounded and complete design intervention.

I was quite impressed with my ability to change my design quickly and ruthlessly at times. This dynamism was a crucial in developing the current scheme. I had come from not knowing how to use systems to design, to designing 10 different sketch schemes in 10 minutes.

I am proud of the final project that I get to present as a result of my work throughout the past year. It is a successful integration of the 4 aspects of Stage 3. I have successfully developed a scheme using the systems design approach, while designing for user-centricity, interconnectedness and systems thinking. I have used the principles of designing out from a system, whilst creating an environment which harmonises two crucial systems on a site which works for both the sand user, and the tourist user. The theory into practice integration, the concept of system oriented design as well as user-centricity played large roles in my developed as a designed.

I have integrated the professional practice surrounding the principles to consider when designing and delivering the scheme. This has meant that non-crucial design elements that were superfluous were found out and streamlined. Furthermore, the sustainable focus of the scheme was supported by the cost and time efficient requirements of a client. In terms of technical integration it helped again iron out some issues in my design, whilst also providing a platform to understand the scheme, the spaces and the atmospheres created.

Please enjoy this visual story of my scheme from a system to project.

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Thinking bigger than earth-bound and human-centric allows us to transcend the reality in which we live.

Timothy Morton.

Early Beginnings

The various systems explored in our studio

Framing.

The framing part of the year was challenging but fun for me. I took the chance to explore a huge range of different techniques, did in depth research and understood a site better than I ever had before. I investigated various human systems and explored their relationships with nature, with each other and with architecture. What I found most interesting and contributing to my development was exploring the way that we view architecture and systems. The approach, to me, seemed human-centric, although Morton had taught me not to think like this. I wanted to explore all these systems using a new lens, and so I combined this with the climate crisis aspect of the design brief. In this time, I explored a range of representational techniques, which was an issue later on, as I had lost sense and place in all my different research and methods. However, in later stages of framing, and the other parts of the year, as well as in this portfolio, I successfully discovered the link between everything I did. In terms of aesthetics and in terms of the content.

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As a studio focused around systems-oriented design, as a studio, we developed a key list of terms to understand what were focusing on. We established this early on to help understand the idea of a system, and clarify how we would investigate, encounter and work with them. We also developed a manifesto, which outlined a set of rules and principles by which all the ‘Ghosts’ would design. I kept these in mind throughout the whole process.

Key terms glossary/ User - any entity that engages with the structure, human or not, as the plastic bag is in the film User centric - designed with the user at the centre Circular economy - not linear, nothing gets wasted or deteriorates, everything feeds into each other Scale - considering large and small scale, wider and close context Sustainable tourism - travelling with a low carbon footprint Ecology - engaging approach with what is around us, with nature Tangible - can be seen Intangible - hidden Interconnectedness - everything is linked to everything, everything affects everything Dynamic - moving, alive, fluid Augment - change the look of, alter Disruption - to interject and change something Nurture - to take care of, creating an environment for growth Project - looking ahead and planning for the future Adapt - being flexible and ready to suit technologies and systems appearing in the future.

Evolving - changing, growing, developing.

System - a series of interconnected signals and receptors communicating with each other. They grow, live and are all around us, within us and in our future.

Figure 2.

System design - designing around a system, with a system and in a system. The is a springboard which defines and influences the design at every stage.

Portraits of the 2020/21 Ghosts

/2 - Ghosts, an Introduction.

GITM

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Manifesto/A Ghost’s project for Redcar should...

1. Consider User-centricity in the Ballardian world, one where the protagonists experience forms the nucleus at which the architecture is designed; protagonists spanning human, animal or even non-living entities.

2. Stimulate a circular economy as our hope for better future. Renewable energy sources which lose their value as little as possible, get an opportunity for ‘’second life’’.

3. Consider scale from the international through down to the darkest corner, non-pluralistic design enriches the theory that we must design unique to place to create more emotive architecture - individuality is intriguing.

4. Utilize and re-merge the legacy of a seaside town taking into account the rise of ‘staycationing’ to bring a new vision of sustainable tourism to Redcar

5. Manifest itself in ecosystems of all scales. When considering ever-changing systems one must take into account Timothy Morton’s ‘ecological thought’ by considering the environmental effects of rapid industrialization, living habits and large scale globalization

6. Work with both tangible and intangible systems together. The tangible is obvious, its presence is seen and felt by all who come across it. The intangible is often obscured, slightly out of reach. With persistence, its presence is revealed.

7. Tether together complex systems and connecting objects, places and people to one another nurturing interconnectedness at all scales

8. Consider a concept in which the architecture can be dynamic, a method in which engages the user, harvesting energy and movement.

9. Change the systems in place by augmenting, disrupting, nurturing and projecting in order to improve their functioning by cultivating distinctive concepts which challenge their significance in the presence and future

10. Consider that modernity and technology are intertwined, as great infrastructure dies due to new technological means we must address the politics of its nature; Design must transcend time, adapt and become usable within the future technological world?

11. Develop an understanding that design is a constantly evolving and intertwined process which fails to be categorized under a singular notion. Taking C.J.Lim’s layered cake as an important model for the future technological world, as time has continued in the Anthropocene a wider network of systems co-exist - it is a more complex world.

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elderly man at Franz’s elbow remarked in a slow patient voice. “I even heard they might be able to get a tree. It’ll be the only tree in the whole county.” “That is what they always say. At a dollar a foot promises are all they can waste space on.” Set in a dystopian and fully commercialised world, Ballard plays with ideas of a world without nature. The abstract dystopia portrayed seems laughably foreign. The quote is something that makes me smile. But upon deeper reflection it fills me with worry. Some of the traits of Ballard’s world already have traction in our society. We are distancing ourselves from nature.

Questions of functionality, referencing modern architecture, are also interesting. Free space is non-functional space. This shows an extreme disregard for any sort of nature or ecosystem. This is what I encountered with the dune system in Redcar. No one cares that it is there or that people are trampling it, its just the way of getting to the beautiful seaside. A big part of this is control. This plays a role in Redcar as it does in the concentration city. Parts of the south gare are privately owned and this means that the council has no chance to intervene.

Overall the reading was striking but surprisingly relateable. It helped me understand the value of free space, and working with what is there, investigating it down to its core, to find what makes it special, and go from there. This is something that resonates with the idea of systemic design.

Concentration city

In Redcar - a towering monolith, a shrine to industry

Figure 3.

The Ecological Thought/ is a fascinating book that engages in questions of ecology.

Morton explores the concept of interconnectedness which is something that seems unavoidable in discussions about systems. The author highlights what nature has become, something to be consumed, and how humans are too self centred to see or understand that. What this reading highlighted to me is the immense need for control that humans embody. Every last fibre of a human seems tied up in trying to control everything around them. This is what ultimately ruins a relationship to nature.

Morton also explores the concept of thinking big, meaning global rather than local. Thinking as big as possible allows us to transcend the reality we live in. “Give us nowhere to stand and we shall care for the earth.” Morton describes a mesh of interconnectedness, with holes, without a centre and with a dynamic shape. When one edge moves, it ripples and effects everything. This is something I am eager to explore in my work and have done so already. Something that makes it hard for us to see this is seeing too much at once, google earth. We loose track of the small things. I have to engage with the small, and think big.

Ecological thought - some prints I found at an abandoned train station the way to Redcar

Interestingly, the plastic bag can also be paralleled with some of the visitors to the Redcar beach.

Isolated, on their own and coming seeking an escape. The seaside is their chance (as the plastic bag believes as well) to escape. However, unlike the fate of the plastic bag, my scheme aims to meet the people coming for an escape halfway, providing them with a healing and serene experience, facilitated by the surrounding dunes.

This reading was extremely helpful in developing my ideas of perspective and alternative usercentricity.

Plastic bag film

In Redcar - everything and everyone ends up at the sea

Insight into some readings done

Watching films such as the Plastic bag short movie/ provided me with some valuable insight into coastal pollution, as well as the perspective of seemingly inanimate object. Narrated through the point view of the plastic bag, we experience the world plastic bag centric. This usercentricity from the perspective of not only humans was something which was a reoccurring theme throughout my whole project. I focused on the sand perspective, looking at how it moves, how it compounds and how it forms dunes.

Figure 4.

/2 - Readings that inspired me.

The Concentration City/ “They say they’re going to build gardens and parks for us,” an

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171.7 million annual recreational visits to beaches in the UK

This is not one of the nicer beaches around here. It always seems to be covered in seaweed that smells horrible every time the tides goes out. There is also loads of rubbish on the beach that has either been left by people who don’t take there litter home with them or that has been brought in by the tides.

Newmarskeman.

334,000 nights of overnight tourists annually

S​ and dunes and the related habitats are remarkably rich in wildlife. Amongst those in Redcar and Cleveland, South Gare and Coatham Sands support a wealth of flora, birds and invertebrates.

Redcar & Cleveland council.

Approximately 130,000 visitors to the Redcar beach annually

As a young girl I used to visit Redcar often and have fond memories. We found it so dirty. Shops boarded up thousands of cigarette ends on the pavements. - oh and don’t mention the beach!!!! Don’t go there until its been cleaned up!!

Joy D. Redcar steelworks behind the dunes - data from the Redcar local plan, quotes from tripadvisor

48% of visitors to Redcar & Cleveland travel to the sand dunes of South Gare beach.

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Figure 5.

/2 - Where is the studio based?.

Introducing Redcar

Historic atmospheric sketch of visitors on the dunes.

Site map

Redcar/ Redcar is a small coastal town to the east of Middlesbrough. Just south of the Tees-mouth the town has strong industrial and naval ties. The former SSI Steelworks

recently shut down in 2015, which sit just on the outskirts of the town. The population of Redcar consist of hard working manual labour employees, many of who lost their jobs when the steelworks shut.

1910 map showing the man build coatham sands and some of the industry beginning to develop

© Landmark Information Group Ltd and Crown copyright 2020. FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY.

Dec 17, 2020 14:30

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Colin Rogger University of Newcastle

Projection: British National Grid

The town is connected on a train line to Manchester, Middlesbrough and Saltburn by the Sea. It is frequented by tourists who come to enjoy the seaside air, take walks on the beach and visit local historic sites. The town is well known for having a museum containing the world’s first life boat. On average the town receives around 1.8 million tourists annually, which is just a fraction of the 13.30 million in a catchment zone of 120 minutes drive. The council have proposed and outlines holes in the development which could be filled to allow a greater income form tourist activities. Additionally, the promotion of stay-cation opportunities, especially considering a time like Covid19, where outside facilities are highly sought after, the area could benefit from local tourist facilities. Interestingly, day tourists spend only around 125 pounds on average, which is 25% less than average. This highlights the need for tourist facilities around the sand dunes, which draws 50% of all tourists, to provide the area with a greater economic benefit.

Just to the north of the town centre is the south gare. A dynamic dune ecosystem with copious wildlife. From here there are views out towards the SSE Wind turbine farm a few miles into the ocean. Historically the town was always a population destination, especially in Victorian times, for tourists. The south gare was constructed artificially in the early 20th century. Whilst possessing a dynamic sand dune ecosystem, the site has been under strong control by the industrial firms that own the land. Moving away from this, parts of the site have become a SSSI site, a conservation area as well as tourism facilities like a golf course.

An image of the seafront, showing limited and unused tourist facilities 19

Area 1

As a studio we split the site into a range of slices. These were divided and investigated individually to create a combined site model with a large breadth and depth of site understanding and knowledge to develop projects from. Here is a link to the animation of this site model.

It shows all the contributions of all the studio combined into one celebration model

Section slices of Redcar

Figure 6.

Area 2

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Area 1

Mapping systems.

The old boating lake, not as popular as it used to be

While investigating the site, trying to highlight and discover all the tangible and intangible systems was a challenge. Starting in 2D, and later developing this in 3D I got the chance to develop my digital skills and created my first 3D diagrams. Embodying system driven design in this first was set the tone for the rest of the process.

The idea that everything was interconnected, that one thing related to and uncovered another was something that took a while to get my head around. In the ecological thought, Morton explores this phenomena in terms of ecology. A single ripple in one area can have enormous knock on effects elsewhere. Similarly, large scale industrial intervention in Redcar, or a leisure centre can have impacts on the smallest of things.

Site 1 for analysis

The first area that I focused my research on was near the centre. It is located on the boundary between the urban centre and the natural environment/industry. The site presented a range of areas, ranging from tourist at the beach and the boating lake, as well as residential buildings further inland, a park and a higher education college. The site showed traces of activity, of economic prosperity and tourism, but these seemed withered with time. The facilities present were run down and occupied by locals using them not as intended. The big “green” located between the boating lake and the residential buildings is completely neglected and run down. Due to the diversity of the site, the systems identified and investigated are diverse and many. They range from tangible tourist facilities, like a surf shop, to intangible social systems.

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Levels of analysis

Traditional site section showing the buildings on site and the slope of the site (1:2500)

The diagrammatic site analysis of systems. Brown is intangible, blue is coastal systems, green is natural systems and black is human systems

An abstract mapping of a user journey through the section.

Key: Blue - Water Yellow - Sand Black - Tourist Green - Nature Light Brown Commercial Brown - Residential

To analyse the systems on the site I developed three different site sections. The first one was a traditional one, to garner and understanding of the types of buildings, their heights, their relationship to each other and the context, as well as the integration of nature. Following on from this I attempted to map all the systems identified using symbolic abstraction.

These are categorised into natural, human, coastal and intangible systems. This highlighted the diversity and interconnection of systems. It also identified key areas along the site, like tourist to residential. Using this information I created an abstract experiential section. Here I categorised the areas into their use, mapped the route of a user through the section, with common activities along the way as well as footfall estimations.

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Going 3D

Hand drawn analysis of my 3D section slice

A close up of my 3D systems model. It shows an event hosted at the local college, whilst also highlighting surveillance by security cameras

Another close up showing the urban area, with fire, pedestrian, lighting and many other systems show.

Moving into 3D, adding one more dimension, meant that the interconnectedness of systems expanded further, spanning larger areas and incorporating more and more intangible and tangible components. Tourism also started show distinct patterns. People seem to some extent predictable, and even if they are sweeping generalisations, some can be accurate when exploring systems on a site. When it comes down to it they are often controlled at a large scale, and that is something that we struggle with. As explored by Morton, thinking big is a way of decentralising yourself. The human nature is extremely egocentric and with that lens systems remain hidden, and their true benefits and the true interconnectedness of everything remains shroud.

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The graph above the model shows historic, present and future footfall estimates as a way to understand the use of space and the interactions of systems.

Section slice with all the systems mapped on

For the model I mapped various systems into various dimensions. I mapped some historical ones, coming from the old fire department on site, some modern ones with the college, some tangible ones like lighting, routes and buildings, and some intangible ones like footfall, hub catchment area or services.

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/2 - Modelling a chosen system

Taking a step back from the digital, I created some pop up models to demonstrate some of the systems I found on site. I chose to demonstrate a social system through a multiplication effect. I also explored the system of plant growth in a pop out model.

I combined some model making skills with filming and editing skills. I created two pop up models which are controlled by a user pulling or pushing certain aspects. The motion then resembles a detailed process of a chosen system. This helped develop an understanding of what a system is and how it may look, how we interact with it and how it interacts with other systems.

The QR codes are a link to a recording of the models.

This pop up model was built to show the community interaction and the spread of information as well as disease such as Covid19. Using the effect of multiplication, I explored the way that a single point can expand and exponentially increase, creating a tightly knit web of community. This reminded me of the mesh as explored by Morton. A ripple in one part of this mesh disrupts all other parts. This highlighted the way that systems interact with each other.

https:// youtu.be/ CF0QNKbEWRE

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This pop up model was built to show growth of a plant over time.

Although very simple, the model helped me gain awareness of the complexity and dynamism of natural systems. Below the surface these organisms are living, breathing and communicating with various parts of any ecosystem. The way that a plant is routed into a site, taking nutrients from it whilst also providing a service and benefit in return was something that inspired my later work of integrating and nurturing nature whilst nurturing a human user.

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Area 2

Mapping systems.

The steelworks over some sand dunes, a constant reminder of the industrial past of Redcar The idea of linearity is something quite interesting to me. I think that we always think in terms of cause and effect, but rarely do we follow that trail to the last effect. An interesting anecdote from a discussion in a seminar about the Morton reading, was that the word “away” is a fictional concept. We throw things away, give it away and believe to be rid of it. However, because nothing is linear, the trash we threw away will in some way or another come back to us. In the same way that Newtons first law states that energy cannot be destroyed or created, a cause and its effect never disappears, it merely transforms.

The following pages show first a causal loop diagram which explores the fire safety system in Redcar. It was amazing to see how many rabbit holes one could go down, and how many new things came to mind every few minutes. Following this a second 3D section is modelled digitally. However, I have begun to integrate a fourth dimension, time. Looking at the site and how it changed over time in regard to one specific system. In this case, the system of ‘conflict’. Conflict with nature, with others, or with technology.

Site 2 for analysis

Thinking about the short story by Ballard, the concentration city, the idea of linear and rigid thinking can have dystopian outcomes. Not being able to imagine or experience “free space” seems something that is presented to the reader as an absent Utopia. But when you take a closer look, we are not too far from the commercialised high rise spaces that Ballard describes. Therefore, thinking in circles and exploring interconnectedness can allow us to remain open and dynamic to adapt to our environment. We truly begin to integrate into a system.

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Causal loop diagram showing the fire safety system in Redcar This causal loop diagram exercise just solidified my understanding of the complex and interconnected nature of systems. One point led to another, and to another, back on itself and further into a dynamic range of processes, causes and consequences.

The aforementioned incident

Figure 7.

A close up of a historic fire involving a hotel

A model showing a beach-hut being set on fire.

Although I did this task on fire safety, I was still able to link it to various themes, including ones that emerged as my focus later on. My design stemmed from some of the principles identified in the diagram, like mental health, public facilities in Redcar, the industry and tourism.

Thinking about networks also started some thoughts on integrated between systems.

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Going 3D

A line drawing version of my site, showing the various time periods of slices stacked onto of each other.

A coloured version of the future site analysis, showing conflict of recovering from pollution, overfishing, The WWI section showing the fog of war, battleships and Zeppelins flying over the area. rising sea levels, job uncertainty, lack of training, and many others.

Once again, moving into a 3D realm helped understand the systems in more context and in more depth. The site spans the beach, the dunes and the steelworks. Although the site seems dynamic in the present, it has undergone extreme change over history. Therefore, for the 3D modelling I explored the site over various time periods, observing how the system changes over time. The system being conflict, it moved from fighting natural elements, like constructing the south gare peninsula, to WWI and WWII being fought on the beaches, to the modern challenges of unemployment as a result of the steelworks closure, and future job uncertainty, pollution and recycling.

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A link to an animation showing model details: https://youtu.be/SjJJPXtL3ps

Adding an element of time meant that the systems analysis became more grounded in the fabric of the site, becoming one with the ground on which we walk today, fully harmonised with memories. I also uncovered some of the few structures built in the dunes at this stage. There are still traces of them nowadays, with explorers visiting the WWI pillboxes that are slowly sinking into the sand dunes. This was a big inspirations for my design later on.

Historic slices of the site

The in depth historical analysis of systems on the site uncovered some special anecdotes, of particular record breaking fishes being caught, ships going under, Zeppelins appearing on the horizon, bombs detonated, sea mines, break ins, and many more.

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The Zeppelin falling, illustrated - https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teessidenews/redcar-seafront-shelter-arson-attack-9794465

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Figure 8.

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PPP wearable experience

The fighter pilot and a friend - https://ivormarkman.wixsite.com/photojournalism/ Lt-Ian-Pyott-dso

One of three experiences, depending on the moment

One of three experiences, depending on the moment

Adding one new dimension to the mix, a user perspective. Using the WWI conflicts as a springboard I decided to explore this system through the eyes of a fighter pilot who shot down a Zeppelin over Redcar. Looking at the moment that a user interacted with a system demonstrated the need for a deeper understanding of the systems around us. Looking at that moment from an external perspective opened my eyes to so many interesting and fascinating details, that were most certainly missed by the real person.

The tasks on the following pages follow my process of investigating the character and the incident, to then create a wearable device which allows any user to immerse themselves into the system. I created an animation to demonstrate the experience the user has when interacting with the system of war.

This task was valuable to develop and understanding of how systems interact with everything around them.

Having understood the interconnectivity of systems at this point, this allowed me to understand the way that systems are perceived and interacted with by users and other systems, which opened an alleyway to nurture this interaction and test various ways to provide a user with an experience of a system. This task was human centric, although I attempted to consider the perspective of other systems on the human user at the same time.

Figure 10.

//2 - Considering user perspective.

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A piece of the Zeppelin - ibid.

One of three experiences, depending on the moment 41

Description of events/

NAME: LT Ian Vernon Pyott, DSO DOB: August 31, 1895 POB: Port Elizabeth, South Africa FAMILY: Father, John Pyott of Scotland, a talented baker working in South Africa after leaving Scotland due to health issues. Two older brothers EDUCATION: University of Edinburgh PROFESSIONAL CAREER: 1914 - Citizen’s Training Association Machine Gun Class (He was described as keen and efficient After a broken arm he intended to join the B A Heavy Artillery, 1915 - Joined the RFC where he completed three months of flying school and later posted to 36 Squadron’s ‘A’ Flight and was based in Seaton Carew.

In Seaton Carew and at the Redcar aerodrome he was assigned a Royal Aircraft Factory BE 2c, No 2738 INCIDENT REPORT: DATE: Around 22:30, on Monday November 27, 1916 ENEMIES ENCOUNTERED: A German Zeppelin, the L-34 commanded bz Max Dietrich. The Zeppelin had a length of 148 meters, a diameter of up to 16.5 meters.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EVENT: LT Ian Pyott flew solo to reduce the weight on his aircraft. This meant he was in the air for hours, and was able to search for the aircraft spotted by the Hutton Henry spotlight. Pyott’s account dictates: I was at 9,800 feet (3 000 m) and the Zepp seemed a few hundred feet below me, I was aiming at his port quarter and noticed first a small patch become incandescent where I had seen tracers entering his envelope. I first took it for a machine-gun firing at me, but this patch rapidly spread and the next thing the whole Zepp was in flames, there appeared a crimson ball of fire, which rapidly increased in size. A minute later we recognised the glowing skeleton of an airship falling in flames.

FURTHER ACTION: Praised by his colleagues and greeted with great applause LT Ian Vernon Pyott took advantage of a careless mistake by the German Commander and eliminated a threat to the industry and people of Teesside. His heroic actions and bravery were rewarded by the awarding of a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order “in recognition of conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty connection with the destruction of an Enemy Airship” by King George V at Buckingham Palace. Celebrated for his fête he was entertained by millionaires as well as the Lady of Londonderry. While being entertained by the Lady of Londonderry, her tiara fell into the toilet and needed to be retrieved.

While she was attempting this she got stuck in the toilet bowl and needed to be pulled out. The niece of the Commander eliminated, Marlene Dietrich, held no grudge against LT Ian Vernon Pyott

Animation of PPP

https:// youtu.be/ SiZYoBiCFGk 43

/2 - Focusing my scope.

One system

Patterns in the sand

Sketch of sand dunes

Sand grain movement

Moving on I was going to focus on one specific system, and develop something on from there. I picked to go with the sand dune system in the area. I came to this choice after looking at the pillboxes scattered around the south gare. I also managed to visit the site and was enthralled by the tall marram grass, and the wavy landscape.

Sand dunes have immense biodiversity and are the most dynamic landscape in the UK. They are formed when sand is blown across the beach and collides with grass, a stone or something else which stops the grain. The sand piles up until the angle becomes too steep, and the sand rolls down the back, until the next dune is formed with the next gust of wind.

Sand dune movement means that sand grains are constantly communicating and interacting with each other.

This is the interconnectedness that Morton is talking about. The beautiful movement of the sand creates these peaceful troughs. These sometimes go so far down, that they reach the water table. These valleys are peaceful, sheltered, and safe places. Some birds decide to nest in the marram grass on the dunes. This appealed to me, and I wanted to explore the sand dune systems further, in particular in conjuncture with medical tourism and convalescence. I thought that if the sand grain finds a moment of rest behind the dune, so could a person Inspired by the systems investigation, sand and sand dunes would be the focus of my work from here on out.

Modelling sand dune formation

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At a closer scale the Redcar dunes are connected to Manchester and London by train lines, and are a tourist hotspot for visitors coming to the coast. The beach runs along most of the coast. And is the one of the main aspects of Redcar tourism.

Maps to help situate the Redcar dunes in a wider context

A mapping task looking at the distribution of sand dunes along the coast of the United Kingdom. Starting at the wider scale, the grey dots represent a coastal sand dune found. Although they look numerous, these dunes are under constant threats from the sea and land alike. The ecosystems are quickly disappearing in place of golf course, residential developments as well as rising sea levels.

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Analysing and mapping sand dune systems

To further understand the system of sand dunes I did a lot of reading and research. Some of the research is shown above in my modelling. From there I began to map out the process of dune formation as well as the numerous threats to this process. The intricate process was fascinating, highlighting interesting details such as: The sand grains float, bounce and fly across the surface, in 3 types of aeolian movement; the sand builds up against objects until a critical angle of 33 degrees; When this angle is achieved the sand tumbles down the back of a dune, creating a musical humming noise; The sand travels from dune to dune, communicating and sharing sand. Understanding how sand dunes work is crucial to engaging with them in a sustainable way. I began to think through the vision of sand, considering all the intricate details of it and the dunes.

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To develop a better sand dune system, where the ecosystem was not being threatened I developed a set of principles, interventions and techniques to avoid this form happening. This meant that the loss of biodiversity was reduced, having a positive impact in regards to the climate crisis. What became most crucial in sand dune protection was stability and formation. Sand builds up against solid structures and is often reinforced by a network of roots from marram grass. These principles were ones that informed key design decisions later on in the process, as this is the way to nurture the sand dune system. I attempted to consider all these interventions from the perspective of a sand dune, remaining aware of the sand and human perspective. This diagram shows a summary of a plethora of investigation.

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One site

Traditional site analysis focusing on aspects that impact sand dune ecosystems.

Analysing various points within the chosen area.

Redcar sand dunes

To pick an area I undertook a rigorous site analysis. I investigated the wind patterns, the movement of dunes over time, the sun exposure, the location of access points, the location in regards to industry and the town, as well as most degenerated sand dunes in the area. This coincided with footpaths walked by tourists which meant this area was also appealing to the tourism industry. Within this larger area I began to investigate the benefits of various locations along the dunes, although the choice of site was still unsure and changing later in the project. What I found was that the site was quite narrow, most times it was bridging various starkly different systems. Industry and ocean, golf course and SSSI, fisherman’s hut and town.

The site proved to be dynamic in more ways than just sand.

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A time line showing important events in the development of the south gare sand dunes.

In this time line I explore how the sand dune system has changed or been challenged over time. Interestingly the sand dunes are completely man-made, but they are still being destroyed constantly. A golf club in the links was founded in 1887 which is a seaside development that harms the dunes. The war, with the battery guns and the pillbox also meant a lot of the wildlife was either trampled or even bombed. The slag works, followed by the steelworks brought destruction to most of the bran sands area.

In the 2010s some schemes began to support and nurture the Redcar dunes. Since 2013 there is a yearly beach clean up.

Also in 2017 used Christmas trees, after Christmas, were planted in the dunes to help stabilise them and buff them out.

Projecting into the future there will be a sustainable dune system that is being nurtured. It is not being fixed. As Morton says, we have to accept where we are, be aware of that, and try to nurture and work with the ecology to let it grow.

Nurturing the landscape and engaging with activities that allow the landscape to directly give back to the people is the vision for coatham dunes. The development must provide an environment for the healthy repair of the destroyed sand dunes, a more natural intervention than using foreign fauna. Additionally, it must be most sustainable, long term and multifunctional, providing not only a tourist attraction, but also a service to those in the area and some jobs.

A concept image about the safety and shelter the dunes provide from the windy beach, almost a sanctuary

System x Site

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Mapping the convalescent system onto dunes

In an attempt to begin spatialising the system onto the site, I explored the use of various thresholds, over the top of the dunes. Starting at the coast you step over the first dune, and are met with arrival spaces, and activity pods. These become more communal after the second dune, and after the third dune you enter a structured retreat and rehabilitation space, with pools, galleries, treatment spaces and a spa. The next dune you step over takes you to a link back to the city, potentially referencing the old wind train that was used on the south gare. This task made me begin to mass out the system and see how it might work spatialised onto the site. This would provide foundation for the formation of spaces around the sand and human retreat systems.

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Abstract mapping of the system on site

This is a more abstract spatialisation of the system onto the site. I abstracted the process of the sand dunes into tubes of water, running from the ocean. These are interconnected and run in various directions, collecting and depositing at various stations (as the sand might in the wind). This then combines in a central space, where the dune is build up, rising up and becoming taller, before it begins to topple and is blown out with the wind onwards to the next hurdle. This begins to show traces of a human going through a regenerative healing process, where they go from being funnelled and flushed in by the stresses of the everyday, and exit rejuvenated, bigger, in control and free, floating in the wind onto the next hurdle.

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User interface design

Protagonist.

A person doing Yoga in the dunes, connecting with the sand, grounding their stance, taking in the movement sand and using the grass and dunes shelter.

What it is like to walk through the dunes.

A series of sketches showing the approach of a user to a pod hidden in the dune, followed by the activity inside and the visual connection back to the dunes and the ecosystem, watching the birds nesting in the dunes.

Focusing in on the user perspective dimension of the systemic analysis, I explored the perspective of someone coming into the system to do yoga, to watch some birds and to wind down. I visualised their journey and experience in sketches and began to model how architectural spaces might begin to form around the function.

I was drawn to quite, solemn and dark spaces in which the user would feel safe. I imagined a solid exterior, broken by a silk curtain weaved interior, which provides the user with a warm hugging atmosphere.

The following are explorations of a user moment of when they meet a system. The human user meets the sand dune system when they step away from the beach over the first dune. They are immersed into a new world, a sheltered, separate world where they are safe to explore relaxing activities.

I tried exploring the movement of the user, and how that relates to the sand dune system. I tried to sketch and abstractly draw the user experience. In the drawing the user is show meditating under a sand dune - the kind of experience I am trying to recreate.

Following on from this I modelled the space in sketchup and looked at the atmospheres and experiences the user had.

A person doing Yoga in the dunes, being buried under the sand, being surrounded by sand, being fully immersed and one with the sand system.

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Identifying protagonists /Alfred 68/Male/From Redcar/Former Steelworker/Always lived here For Alfred this retreat would provide a sanctuary, a place to visit, to travel to, something to see. The activity pods would mean that he has a new experience to see each day, giving him time to explore his passion for birdwatching. /Gina-Wilbur-Tanya 32-40/M&F/From Manchester/Full time employees/on vacation The three had been saving up for a bit to escape the city and have a trip among friends to the coast. They are looking to escape the daily monotonous process of work, by having a unique and relaxing experience, away from the bustle of the city. /Trina 12/F/From Middlesbrough/Student/weekend trip Trina has been struggling to make friends at school and is feeling under a lot of pressure. Her mom decides to come spend the time with her daughter in the retreat where she can feel safe and happy, having a good time. /Lewis 22/M/From Middlesbrough/Student/After uni surf trip Lewis loves coming to the beach for some surfing on the waves, but recently his calves have been hurting. He comes to the retreat some light physiotherapy so he can continue on doing what he loves. /Darlene 25/F/From Middlesbrough/Full time employee/A break Darlene has been suffering with SAD and has been finding it difficult to work from home, which she shares with her roommates. She needs an escape to have some time to herself, to be close to nature and to have some change in her routine.

Who engages with the system, and what do they look like?

The elderly travel

as part of convalescent medical tourism to the coast, connecting to nature and receiving treatment

The tourist/

getting away from everyday life toward nature

The overwhelmed person/ getting out of their head and away from it all

Personifying the grain of sand and drawing comparisons shows that at various stages throughout the grain of sands movement inland, it experiences what each of the protagonists explored here will experience in the scheme. Exposed and cold on the beach, dynamic and free on the back of the dune, sheltered in the grass, social with the other grains and older with time.

The athlete/

coming to recover from injuries and training, a chance to feel rejuvenated

The everyday/trying to get

away from the damn cold wind on the beach, get away from being stuck indoors, alone, because of Covid, a chance to escape 63

First attempts at modelling the activity on site

A user interface drawing. This is from the perspective of a hallway running from an activity pod towards the supposed next level of sand dune. This early concept for a space shows how it sits within the sand, and curves and adjust to the shape of the sand dunes. The sand beings to settle onto of the user’s vehicle for engaging with the sand. The pod acts as the user’s vehicle for engaging the sand dune system, they watch the sand, see the wildlife, feel and breath the fresh air, and watch the sand move all around them. They move through these spaces experiencing an connection with the sand in terms of changes in altitude and emotion. They are sheltered when in the pod space, before rising up on top of a new dune, and descending into the next sheltered valley. From this I developed an idea of how movement in, through and around dunes would be a crucial design element later on.

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I also rendered the textures, with the outside being textured concrete while the inside is lined in silk. This references the hard and soft nature of sand, being a solid crystal but flowing in elegant and smooth waves, like silk or water.

More attempts of modelling activity on site

Various shots of a model of one of these spaces. I tried breaking it down into its components and seeing what kind of spaces were being created. There are some perspective shots of the user engaging with the system.

It shows how the louvres allow specific views out from a sheltered space, to the wind blowing sand all across the landscape. The user can see the grass flowing in the wind, the birds nesting and the same communicating with each other.

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Redcar : Framed

Framing A collage I created highlighting the different systems that we all looked at as a studio

Show.

The framing show was a chance to celebrate the diversity of the studio. We all explored different systems, different sites and a hugely dynamic form of representation. The framing experience was a chance to understand what it means to be a system, how they work and how they can begin to inform design decisions. Focusing on systems at all times means that the design is fully integrated into the site, with the user, with the wider context and with sustainability. This process has led to the development of a brief surrounding the combination of two systems, and two users. The sand, moving in the wind, trying to form dunes to provide a shelter for biodiversity, and a ‘tourist’ coming to the coast looking for convalescence, as they did historically. The two meet and nurture each other towards their respective goals.

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Figure 11.

The framing presentation as it was held. A manifesto was developed and we showcased a wide range of student work, to provide and insight into our design approach and progress over the first months of this project.

As a studio we developed a manifesto, a set of themes, by which we were going to operate as designers. We did a lot of different site analysis tasks to understand Redcar through a systems thinking point of view, as well as through various different perspectives and from different angles. For this review we were celebrating the work of the studio to date and explored the best of each of the tasks. We arranged our presentation around the main themes of the established manifesto, and linked the systems and the different analysis methods together through some key principles such as user, place and systems. From looking at other students work and celebrating our own, I learned a great deal about representation as well as Redcar. As a studio we presented a range of media from digital ones like videos, to sketches and models.

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/3 -

“I like the idea of the buildings “having weather”.

Peter Salter.

Case Taken from CASE STUDY

Study.

Walmer Yard

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Taken from CASE STUDY

This case study task involved investigating the Walmer Yard case study from Peter Salter. The strongest inspiration I drew from it was the representational style. Through his sketches I learnt the importance of atmosphere, spatialisation and dynamism. I was exploring the climate side of the scheme, and developed an understanding for all the stages for embodied carbon to infiltrate the process, the importance of a choice of site, the importance of ventilation and lighting as well as considering user comfort. This inspired me to later on decide on a site which was derelict and on the crossroads of different systems, where it could act as a knot, tieing everything together. I also decided to re-use material right out of the ground of the site, using the sand as a major design element. I also was inspired by Salter’s bespoke drainage system and the atmospheres that are created in Walmer Yard.

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/4 -

At this point “the systems oriented designer (me) is … less concerned about hierarchies and boundaries of systems and more interested in looking at vast fields of relations and patterns of interactions.”

Birger Sveldson.

Testing.

As I had mentioned already, naturally, the testing phase is where my design really took off. It went from concepts and broad ideas, to drawing many versions of many different plans, sections, atmospheres, and elevations. I made sure to have an early version of my plans ready. What I realized quickly was that it was almost impossible to develop a good design around the shapes of sand dunes without creating an accurate site map and model, I had to spend a big amount of time doing this manually. It was worth the effort, as I was able to produce plans after plans. My building really came together in the plans as the section is quite simple. However, I neglected the sectional design as well as the massing design, as I only had a good massing model by the technical reviews. This was an issue for the design, which was highlighted in the technical report. My walls were clashing, the layout seemed inefficient, and I wasn’t doing my work justice. It was important that I kept going and considered all the design aspects, including the sections, the elevations, and perspectives. Once I was able to do this, the design really came together.

Towards a design

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/4 -

Picking a site

Establishing a site.

This was the first site that I started work on. I quickly realised that it sat in the middle of the SSSI zone, meaning that it was untouchable. Furthermore, the site was too devastated on the one side by the steel works, and too far on the other from the sand dunes.

When visiting the site I found these strange holes in the ground, like mole hills. I still do not know what they were, but this was the first time I thought of the idea of submerging something underground. The sand dunes way or growing over things, and the earth’s movement in the area, the man built peninsula and all of the history just made it seem right. I learned from the environment in terms of sheltering plants and animals through topography, and applied that to the human users as well.

Site map with my scheme in it

I switched to this site closer to the city. This meant that the site sat on the crossroads between various axis, aligned with the road and was equidistant to most of the main landmarks in the area. It was the new core, bridging various systems in the area, creating harmony and nurturing interconnection. The image above shows that it sits on this cross roads. The image to the right highlights the site map showing how it relates to the surroundings.

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Site analysis

This site analysis highlights the importance of the contours on the site. There is an ungulating landscape, that is constantly moving up and down, creating valleys and peaks throughout the whole landscape. It shows the crossroads once more, as the site sits right in the middle of various areas, like the golf course, the industry and the SSSI as well as the ocean. The circles highlight the reach of the dunes, how there are separate ones that combine to create a dynamic landscape. The yellow highlights the sun path, showing that the building has a large south facing facade. The wind blows from south to the north, meaning that build up will be occurring from both sides, the sand coming from the beach on the north east, and some soil and sand sediment from the river to the south west. This map also shows main pedestrian and vehicular routes.

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Environment on site

In terms of sustainability my scheme aims to bring a low energy area of ecotourism where visitors can enjoy nature and its healing qualities, whilst respecting and watching the sand as it grows around them.

A map showing all the desire lines walked

Figure 12.

Considering the environment on the site, my project aims to reverse some of the harm done by humans in the area, and create an environment in which sand dunes and the associated ecosystem can thrive. The beach is littered with rubbish, drainage pipes and dead coral, being washed up from the polluted sea. Additionally, you can see the developments on the dunes, including housing just behind the first layer and the steelworks, which are encroaching on the space of the dunes.

To avoid this meant I designed a structure which sits in the dunes whilst also encouraging dune formation around it. The image on the fight also highlights the issue of people walking all over the dunes. The black paths are the desire lines of visitors, who travel across the dunes in any way they please. There is no signage, no order. This trampling of the grass and loosening of the sand around the sand dunes is dangerous and causes dune erosion. With the current rate of sea level rise, the bottom right maps shows that by 2050 most of the peninsula may be underwater, and the biodiversity which is there lost. To combat this, my scheme aims to provide the user with an experience of the dunes, by controlling their movement and guiding them through a safe and determined route. This can be winding and twisting, but not just any where they want.

This is common practice on many beaches where there are signs and gates to stop people from trampling everywhere.

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Site photo 1

Site photo 4

Site photo 2

Site photo 5 I visited Redcar. On a gloomy Sunday in October, I got on the train, changing in Darlington to head on the east bound train to Redcar. After Middlesbrough the train was immersed in a sea of industry. Pipes everywhere, train tracks, roads, lorries, smoke from chimney stacks and huge pieces of land. I got out of the train at the station, headed through the old, derelict main station and headed straight for the coast. There it was, the first glimpse of the steelworks. I didn’t even pay much attention to the town, but my gaze was drawn to the massive towers, rising above the nature and the coast. I walked towards the big landmark, over bridges, past factories, on a busy road, not much of a walking path really. I got closer and closer, but the fence didn’t quite let me get into the steelwork site.

Following the road, I took a tangent and ended deep in the marram grass of the sand dunes. I was lost in them, catching glimpses now and again of the steelworks, or the wind turbines, but I was in a different world. I felt safe, at peace and happy in that tall grass, surrounded by nature.

Site photo 3

One of the many site photos I took and shared with the studio upon a trip to Redcar.

Impressions of Redcar

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/4 - Establishing a brief.

Programme

Internal spatial layout The programme is split into various sections. As seen on the masterplan, the first space is a parking lot. Moving on from this there is the main entrance into the spa space. There is a reception, where you then move firstly into the changing and arrival relaxation zone, before accessing the treatment space if required. Moving on from this the user circulates through a large central drum and moves into the pool space.

Here there are further treatment rooms. When leaving the spa, along the walking route, there are also hotel rooms, glamping pods, activity pods and an outdoor ocean pool. The route loops you back to the start, through the central drum, along the sheet pile walls. The circulation is crucial as it takes the user on a journey through the dunes, starting at the steelworks, moving down into the magical landscape, coming out the other side by the coast before looping back.

The circulation is guided by steel walls which are harvested from the steelworks. There is also space for the exhibition of external dune sculptures which are scattered throughout the route, with a main space being near the entrance.

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Parti Site diagram/Masterplan Scale 1:500 1 Parking Area 2 Main entrance 3 Reception/arrival zone 4 Consultation/physical assessment 5 Tower 6 Pool/Treatment area 7 Overnight hotel accommodation 8 Overnight glamping pods 9 Activity pods 10 Ocean pool 11 Dune art exhibition space 87

Parti site map/masterplan

The programme is split into two main parts. Above ground is the preparation and arrival space, the convalescent part of the scheme. This is the medical side of things, with treatment spaces, consultation rooms, changing rooms and check in spaces. The drum, the central tower of the scheme, is used to circulate the user down into the underground ‘cave’, below the sand. Here, where the user is safe and shielded from the outside world, there is a bath as well as relaxation spaces. This is where the thalassotherapy aspect of the scheme shines. There is also an ocean pool along the route.

3D combination of the two programmes

Figure 14.

Figure 13.

Programme

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Approach view The user arrives from the city by bike or shuttle or car. They see the tall tower from afar, that draws them into the scheme. They get closer and closer, before driving past it, and walking back towards it on foot. Taking this long arrival route will allow them to fully grasp the landscape. The whole path is made wheelchair accessible with a panelled walkway. There are also sand buggys available.

Like I was drawn in by the steel factory, this tall corten steel tower draws the user in. It is interesting and invites the user to come experience it from closer. Although the spa space is accessible through entry at the reception, the route is open to all users who want to experience the amazing sand dune landscape, understand the dynamism of the south gare and escape the everyday.

The user experience was something that I wanted to explore. As this is a convalescent tourism location, the user will be coming from chaos in their everyday, seeking an escape. The user experience is crucial for this to be successful. This concept stems from the historic traces, the convalescent home, but also reflects on some of the early studies understanding the stress caused by the immense amount of systems around us. It also challenges the traditional notions of user experience of nature. As described by Morton, nature is not consumed, but more it takes point and shares with the visitor what it wants, how it wants and shines through as the beautiful environment it is.

View into Redcar

/4 - Establishing a concept.

#1 - User journey

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Using changes in lights and changes in height I can control the emotions felt by the user.

The shape of the dunes resembles a person laying on their side. The trough is where the soul rests, where peace can be achieved.

Using a narrative of experiences through which the user is guided creates a controlled experience. Thresholds are crucial.

View towards the town

The tall tower guides the users arriving through all the chaos of everyday life, and brings them towards shelter.

A view towards nature, with the sea as a goal.

To understand the user experience I used charcoal to sketch what I thought a user might go through when arriving and moving through the sand dunes. I used my own experiences as described earlier, to understand what it might feel like. Imagining coming from a busy week of, for a few days off, I am drawn in by a beacon in amongst all the stress. For me it was the steelworks, but the suggested tower of my scheme can act as this beacon of hope, once the steelworks are removed. Following this being in the sand dunes made me feel safe, in control, calm. I was fully submerged, deep into the dunes and away from it all. The user can escape into the dunes. Here they pass through gaps in the dunes, a series of thresholds, over one dune, onto the next. This reflects into the route that the user might take, before ending with a view towards the ocean, towards nature, in control, at peace and truly away from it all.

Understanding the user experience and mapping it meant that I could begin to draw some architectural themes from my concepts.

The tower, the thresholds the changes in heights, the views and the route

Abstract experiential section map

Experiential journey

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Some of the sand build up found near the site

The process of mapping the dunes involved manually identifying each point at each contour height across the whole site on google earth, and manually tracing these in autocad As a third concept, I explored the movement of sand. I wanted a building that took the dynamic energy of the sand on and would sink into the ground as the sand moved and enveloped it. The dynamic nature of the building would be informed by the traces left by the moving sand.

The foundation for this concept exploration was in some of the behaviour observed by the sand on site. It was collecting up against walls, leaving patterns around drain pipes, seaweed and rocks. I learned that sand communicates when it collides with other dunes. It moves and compiles, before splitting up and moving to a next dune. It even sings, when it rolls down the back of a dune. Although I did not experience that, I saw the sand floating in the slight breeze and the way it collided with marram grass. The sand dunes were growing, shifting and moving as I was standing in them.

Harnessing this energy, without destroying it by being in its way, was the inspiration to explore this movement, and find ways to nurture and encourage it.

To understand the movement and patterns of the sand, I undertook some sand studies and mapped the sand dunes and their shape and heights by hand using data obtained from google earth and my judgement of them as no contour map with this level of detail was available. Although this took a significant amount of time, understanding the intricate network of dunes allowed me to develop a scheme which is perfectly integrated.

Key: Pink = 1m, Blue = 2m, Cyan = 3m, Green = 4m,Yellow = 5m, Red = 6m, White = 7m, Black = 8m, Grey = 9m, Purple = 10m, Dark green = 11m

Mapping the sand dunes using contours

/4 - Establishing a concept.

#2 - Sand dunes

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Drawing with sand

A diagram showing some of the traces I found in the sand. Understanding these helped develop my understanding of the delicate nature of these dune piles, the way that the sand moved through, into and around them, and how different blockades along the way either helped the dunes form, hindered them, or made them find a different route. The sketching shows how the sand connects and creates a network of movement, where the dunes can communicate with each other and share their sand.

Contour map of the site

Above are some of the studies that I undertook using sand. I explored a range of sand textures and tested it with different hydration levels. I collated it into a sand pit and began blowing it as the wind would (with a hair-dryer) and seeing how it moved, how it pushed other grains of sand and how it built up against the walls of my sand pit. Following this, I undertook some more experiments, seeing how the impact of different objects in the sand would impact the way it moved. This helped me understand the way that the sand would interact with any sort of building. Piecing together some of these patterns, sketching over them and analysing them helped me understand the importance of height, of contours and of the way that the sand created paths and routes along which the wind would blow.

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/4 - Establishing a concept.

#3 - TTM - Nurture Stone from site

Small stone Stone from Small stone from site

Seashell fromSeashell site

Cardboard Cardboard piece and plastic Cardboard

Plastic tube near site Plastic tube

site

from site

from site

Graphite not Graphite fromnot site from site

Cork role in plastic Cork role

Sand paper Tissue p Sand paperblockTissue paper from s block

from site

Manufactured Plastic wood Manufactured block curved ruler

Cardboard in Plas piece A range of the and plastic curved objects and materials used to near see howsite the sand would build up.plastic These ranges from stoneswood that wereblock found on site, to fully newly manufactures blocks and plastics

Another experiential map, now draw in plan onto the dunes, showing the relationship between dunes and convalescence The way that the sand moves in the wind, how dunes are formed and how sand builds up is another crucial concept. The experiments below show different objects being placed in sand and seeing how the sand moves and interacts with them. The idea was to create a structure which allows sand to build up against it, and to nurture sand dune development. Using my experiments, I determined the ideal shape for the sheet pile walls I would use to be, to allow the sand to collect.

Using the information from the previous concept exploration, of how the sand moves, I tested the build up against various different types of structures. These ranges from natural to manmade, from sharp and edgy to curved, and from tall to short. These investigations, combined with the user experience, would then lead to the development of a scheme which suits both the formation of sand dunes, as well as the healing of the tourists visiting. These was a crucial step in understanding how to design from two different perspectives, thinking big and small, like Morton would argue, and finding a space where nature and humans can interact where there is a mutual benefit, rather than in a way as suggested in the Ballardian dystopia of his stories.

The mapping of data, showing the relationship between material, how natural it is and how well it functions in supporting dune formation

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Above are some images taken from the sand dune studies that I did. These were a key moment for me, as I realised that my walls had to be shaped in a way to create a bay for sand to build up. Providing a sheltered bay seemed the most effective, whilst natural surfaces tended to be better than smooth finished ones. This made me think of sheet piles, which would end up being my main external finished. Normally used to hold water or earth out whilst constructing, the sheet piles can be used to create any natural or organic bay shapes. Furthermore, they are ridged and corrugated in a way that sand can build up and grab hold, without slipping past. This is where my structure and my building began to take shape.

Edited from my technical report, this shows how the sand build up would occur over time against my scheme, slowly creating a dune landscape alongside the existing dunes

Taken from/based on TECH

Building up to something

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Before and after of the building being covered by sand

The way that the sand builds up in the bays created by my building was something which also reflected the dynamic nature of the crossroads which is the site. The sheet pile walls can be spread across the dunes, intermittently, guiding the user and tieing parts of the site together, visually and literally. The sand would slowly grow up and over, meaning that the structure would be providing structural support for the sand dunes. Even when the building is almost fully submerged, because of the nature of sand, a route will remain, for the user to enter the building, be in the submerged treatment spaces and experience the sand dunes as before. Additionally, the strong sheet pile and concrete tunnel (underground) construction will mean the building will stand strong and not move.

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Bending + controlling = Nurturing? (TTM) To further understand the way the sand builds up, and the use of sheet pile, as a thinking through making exercise I developed my project theme of a sand grain perspective view of my intervention. I modelled a pavilion that I developed at this stage in my design process and situated it on-site. To encase the structure and keep out the sand I rammed sheet pilling made of salt brick into the sand around the structure. These slowly dissolve over time allowing the sand to take over the structure. The salt material came to mind due to the thalassotherapy pools and the potential for salt-water extraction from the sea. Inspired by research at TU Delft this material has similar compressive strength to ice, meaning as a structural wall it can hold out sand. This idea of a melting sheet pile could be used to encase these pavilions.

Additionally, as with the WWII pillboxes existing on site, the pavilion will sink into the dune over the next 60 years. Once submerged it can structurally become part of the sand dune, supporting it from within.

This will further support the newly developed dunes, protecting them from erosion, Figure 15.

Pavilion 1

TTM

Pavilion 2

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TTM

The salt bricks are made of salt and starch mixed with water. This is then dried out. The salt bricks could be harvested locally and used for the scheme as they are water soluble over long water exposure. The salt brick demonstrates similar structural qualities to ice blocks. I also experimented with sand, starch and water blocks. The sheet piling typology comes from constructing in water, where the water (in this case the sand) needs to be kept out. Additionally, to not be harmful after submerged, the pod walls could be built using rammed earth which combines the local soil, some of the dried marram grass as well as some of the slag found on site. This avoids the risks of submerged concrete.

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/4

Concept to project

Iterative Similar to the earlier process of mapping systems through logos, before mapping them in 2D, then 3D and then in 4 and 5D, I used this process to develop my plans. I started by mapping the use of each space using a place hold. After this I developed a bubble diagram floor plan which would house the accommodation. I then began massing this into 3D, before smoothing it out and integrating it into the site. The site integration was an important step, as this meant tweaking orientations with the contours, exploring experience and understanding views. After this I began to develop the plans in section, considering a different perspective, before developing some experiential views to understand the user and sand experience.

What was crucial to the development of the scheme were the quick tests, but also the constant integration to site. I had to do all my sketches and plans and sections on site, as this was what was forming the structure.

This meant that the scheme was always integrated and working with the sand and the shape of the site. What I learnt from this process was that it is crucial that my structure will sit as a bridge between the upper level entry, and the bottom of sand dunes, before taking the user on a journey.

A summary of some of my sketching and testing work

process.

The iterative process was quite crucial in my design. Especially in plan, I went back and reworked them constantly, changing the design, sketching over, making many iterations, testing, changing and creating a final design. I also went through this process alongside the plans in section, massing and perspective.

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Development in plan Activity Pods

Looking back at the development process, one element which stays consistent throughout was the main circulation tower.

It was a key part which was inspired by the experiential map from earlier, as well as the surrounding site context. The tower was also the key moment where the user would circulate down through the sand dunes and out the other side. I experimented using two towers but ended up with one which would be the main circle point. In the middle are some of the sketches along the way from the first to the final plane. The lower row shows the refinement at the end of the testing phase, where I had begun integrating technology. Crucial for the shape was creating a grid on which the walls would sit. I also stuck to a rule of straight lines and specific radius’ (as seen in the second last one). This gave my structure some logic.

Office

Lobby Lounge

Fire stair Men's Changing

Women's Changing ROOM 1POSITION 2NAME 3MODEL 4CODE 5MANUFACTURER 6UNITS 8MASS 9NOTE

ROOM

Reception

2NAME 3MODEL 4CODE 5MANUFACTURER 6UNITS 8MASS

1POSITION

ROOM

1POSITION 2NAME 3MODEL 4CODE 5MANUFACTURER 6UNITS 8MASS 9NOTE

9NOTE

1POSITION 2NAME 3MODEL 4CODE 5MANUFACTURER 6UNITS

8MASS

1POSITION 2NAME 3MODEL 4CODE 5MANUFACTURER 6UNITS 8MASS 9NOTE

ROOM

1POSITION 2NAME 3MODEL 4CODE 5MANUFACTURER 6UNITS 8MASS 9NOTE

9NOTE

Courtyard

Office

ROOM

Waiting Room

ROOM

Sketches along the way

Cafe/restaurant space

Consultation

Laboratory

X-ray room

Storage and office

Physiotherapy centre

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... in section

Sketches along the way

In terms of the sectional developed there is a key focus on the circulating towers as mentioned. Important in section was focusing on the way that the structural system would work and inform the types of spaces created. The tunnel structure below ground meant that these spaces would be dark and quiet, whilst above ground you would be closer to the busy outside world. The last section (bottom-right) shows the final 1:20 long section I made. This was larger than the one submitted for tech, but doing such a long section really helped understand the scheme. Key here was the progression from left to right. Above ground you are in a semi-industrial space, with big views out to the steelworks, but also some smooth finishes. The drum is fully industrial with metal elements and walkways, whilst underground you are in a smooth sanctuary.

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The massing of my structure also went on a long journey. It developed from a set of spaces based on inhabitation to a fully clad finished scheme. Importantly the overall size of the scheme stayed consistent. The main spaces where never tall (apart from the tower) to hug the sand and not stand out and ruin the landscape. Additionally, a large part of the scheme is always submerged, whilst there is some above ground. The technical report meant that I begun to understand how the different layers of the structure would look, not just the external finish. Modelling it on site meant that I could see how the sheet pile walls would sit and engage with views to and from the site. The roof structure above ground was also developed in massing, having a dune-like wave shape. This creates divots in which the sand can build up onto of the scheme.

Sketches along the way

... in massing

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For the perspectives I developed them using three main approaches. I explored the perspectives in an abstract/cartoony form first, as this meant I could quickly test and experiment with internal finishes, roof heights, lighting, window placement, views, spatial organisation and circulation. Once this was done I developed some v-ray atmospheric renders, These allowed me to explore the role of the lighting and the materials in a more real version. This meant seeing how a space would feel, how the user would walk into a space and what they would experience. For this I tried out various lighting modes, at night, during the day, underground and above ground. Finally I combined the two to create final perspectives. I took the atmospheres from the v-ray renders, and combined them with the inhabitation of the concepts to communicate the complete user experience.

Final combined renders

Atmospheric V-Ray renders

Abstract concept renders

... in perspective

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Learning from tech

Learning from tech, I explored the way that the structure and the design were going to combine. Interestingly, the structure did not add up with the design I had, so I had to become more logical and grid like in my design. The two worked hand in hand, with design allowing for an interesting tech proposal, and tech helping design along.

For the internal finish here, as I wanted it to be the sanctuary, I opted for a polished red Moroccan tadelakt screed. This meant that the colours matched the sheet pile, but was smooth and calming. For the sheet pile I used it structurally in the drum, with some insulation. To maintain the industrial feeling of circulating down in a large drum, referencing the steel works, the ramp used would be made using perforated steel walkways. This also provided interesting light displays below.

Above ground was more hybrid, therefore the sheet pile was used externally and the tadelakt internally. However, here it is grey and fits into the medical and convalescent theme, whilst referencing the industry. Large views out of the sand and the steel works, the nature and the ocean meant that this space was the perfect arrival, easing the visitor into the scheme. The sheet pile was a great choice, being able to act structurally throughout the building, being easy to assemble and to work with.

Taken from/based on TECH

What I knew coming into this was I wanted a tower, a tunnel and an above ground portion. I realised quickly that I also wanted three different moments of user experience. To achieve these two, I had to use three different structural systems throughout the structure. I began by exploring the tunnel system. This was using traditional structural engineering and creating a tunnel which would house all the underground bathing. This meant the walls had to be quite thick, and thus suitable far enough submerged into the dunes.

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Structural grid

The sheet pile construction process illustrated

In 3D

Some of the construction sequencing is shown here, focusing on excavation and sheet pile usage

The structural grid was also a key turning point for the development of the plans. Before tech, the internal walls were randomly placed and not in any order. The requirement for a roof structure, to cover the large spans meant that some walls needed to be structural. To avoid this, I wanted to use columns, but this didn’t work with layout. Therefore, when tech raised questions about the floor plan layout, I came across a new option to layer in skins of the outermost wall. Offsetting them inwards, these walls would provide layers to the structure. This meant that the span was reduced significantly with each layer. Additionally, I aligned the walls and re-drew the plans using the structural information and created a scheme which harmonised tech and design much better.

The tech report also allowed me to further understand the use and the role of sheet piles. I knew them from an engineering side, as they are often used to allow for basements, foundations and water structures to be built. I came up with a novel idea, to use them for inhabited space. This is rare and almost never done. However, after understanding the material, I realised that it can work structurally, as long as it is submerged far enough under ground. Additional benefits of the sheet pile include the ease of construction, the corten steel’s weather properties and its aesthetic. The sheet pile walls are not the best insulators and therefore needed to be extensively clad and finished internally. This also allowed for services to be hidden in the wall, meaning that the internal finish could be smooth and serene.

Taken from/based on TECH

The structural grid

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Environmental strategy

Sunlight entering the angled drum

Artificial lighting

A diagram showing the pool water system

A diagram showing the airflow

Some detail section views, showing some inhabitation as well as key design features.

Taken from/based on TECH

Another key lesson learnt was the way that services would work in the scheme. The role of artificial lighting was crucial below ground. I also integrated large angled roof lights to allow sunlight in below ground. These have to be frosted to maintain the privacy. Additionally, a large design decision was to angle the drum towards the south facing sun. This was to allow light in as deeply as possible. This change stuck with the design till the end, as it gave the drum a dynamic and unique look, making it more intriguing, more of a central focus point. The water system was also explored, considering the use of run-off rain and ocean water to farm salt and irrigate plants. Furthermore, the ventilation system also benefited from the roof lights in the tunnels. I had to use a mechanical ventilation system due to all the smells and moisture in the space.

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Taken from/based on TECH

1:20 detail section

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Figure 16.

... from PP

Local development plan

New images, concepts from PP

From professional practice I learnt a lot about the way that the building sat in its context. The masterplan strategy for the area was helpful in developing what type of intervention I would build and what key points I needed to look out for in terms of planning. I also learnt a lot about managing time, cost and design and realising when to prioritise. In terms of the planning legislation, I realised through this where the SSSI zone is, how far I can go into the land and what can be done.

This further highlighted the need for care when considering the environment. The masterplan on the right shows how the building snakes around these limits and uses all the space provided. I also was able to apply some of the sustainability principles and some of the safety considerations were relevant, like roof access and human access.

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... from precedents

The Enric Miralles work that inspired me

Figure 17.

The walls are based on the contours, and adjusted onto a grid, then connected by curves.

Barbara Hepwoth working with concentric shapes

Bone structure which was inspiring to me

Some of the key precedents are shown here. I used a lot of precedents, as I was combining a large range of structural techniques and a range of different spaces. One of the main precedents, from which I learnt a lot was the work of Enric Miralles. I based the decision on where to place walls in my floor plans using a set of rules he uses. Straight lines, and a set of radius’ to combine these. I took my own spin by adding three main drums, all of different heights. These were the focal points of the scheme and the walls grew like a web around these. The image on the right shows how I explored the use of contours and visitors desire lines to create my walls. This combined the knowledge from earlier on sand movement, and meant that the walls of the structure would work harmoniously with the sand. I began by mapping the contours, before tracing over and discovering how the lines wanted to fall. I combined these using three radius’, based on factors of 33%, the angle of sand dunes, to create a harmonious structure.

Another key precedent understanding was an investigation into bone structure and the work of Barbara Hepworth. I mentioned before that the structural system meant I had to rework the walls. I used some technique, inspired by the two precedents to create walls that were offset layer by layer inwards. The deeper you went, the more private the spaces.

The first wall creates cavities between the outside and the circulation space, in which the staff spaces are hidden. The next layer in is the changing and relaxation space. Within that even are changing rooms, a cafe and some sauna and steam room spaces. I also learnt from the UCCA Dune art museum when showed an example or a similar type of construction.

Additionally, the smooth textured finish internally, and the integration into the landscape were key lessons I learnt here.

I also had some inspiration from visual precedents, from artists and from renders, to inspire my own work. I used some figures from artists such as Maria Svarbova and David Hackney. The former demonstrated a beautiful peaceful relationship with swimming whilst the latter harnessed the magic of seaside fun and experiences.

This shows the layers of walls, some internal like the staff spaces, then the next layer of circulation,, and so on 129

Fosters UAE Milan 2015 pavilion

UCCA Dune art museum

A study model

UCCA Dune art museum

Figure 19.

Figure 18.

Enric miralles sketch

Style inspiration by Klaudia Radlinska

Style inspiration by Klaudia Radlinska

Figures used in renders by David Hockney

Figures used in renders by David Hockney

Style inspiration by Marcela Tamez

Figures used in renders by Maria Svarboda

Some architectural and some visual precedents

More precedents

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/5 -

Somewhere there’s free space and I’ll ride the Sleeper until I find it.

Will you lend me thirty dollars?

J.G Ballard.

Synthesis.

The synthesis period was a challenging one for me. I was faced with having an almost good design, but had many improvements coming off from the tech submission. Additionally, I had struggled to keep consistent aesthetics throughout my project and so my visuals were looking a bit disjointed. I had to spend most of my time refining and updating plans and visuals and tried to make them fit in with each other and the rest of the work as well as I could. Having struggled with portfolio assembly in both previous years, I was really spending a lot of my time on the layout, the visuals, and the final presentation. I believe I was quite successful in achieving a succinct project which celebrates my work well throughout the whole academic year.

The proposal

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The building sits on a route of activities on the South Gare peninsula. I linked it into a network of activities accessible by bike rental at the train station, or by coach service. The retreat will draw tourist from far and close, allowing for staycations, day trips or longer rehabilitation visits. The facilities will employ around 50 people full time, creating jobs and attracting tourists.

The integration into Redcar will work as it will create a new industry where the old one is being lost. It also resurrects some of the long lost seaside town energy, which once made Redcar so attractive to visitors. It will help in the re-branding and regeneration of Redcar.

The image on the right is an advertisement poster which will be exhibited in Middlesbrough, and at the train stations along the route to Redcar. This will remind the potential visitors of the good old days of Redcar, where visits to the coast and fun with the family were a huge priority. The design is inspired by postcards from the time, looking faded, light, joyful and liberated. The advertisement will be the first escape for the visitors, before they are brought to Redcar to experience the beautiful rejuvenating nature.

A poster at the Middlesbrough train station to draw visitors in

Welcome!

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On the left are some visuals of what the activity pods, the overnight glamping pods and other spaces along the masterplan might look like. These are individual spaces, which are spread along the route to the coast. These can be located using the masterplan to the right. It shows how the road and the sea are connected, how it balances relaxation and tourism with nature, and creates harmony in the heart of South Gare. The pods house activities that include bird watching, painting and yoga, whilst the glamping pods are the perfect sustainable holiday. The pods are fully self sustaining, with solar panels and water harvesting system, making them the ideal getaway in a pandemic, as we experienced it now, or just for a weekend to relax.

A roof plan showing the masterplan layout of the scheme across the dunes

Masterplan

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1:100 Floor plans

First floor

Ground floor 139

1:500 long site section with my scheme in it

This section shows the relationship between the scheme and its surroundings, and how it bridges the gap between nature and industry through its shape, its layout and its material and structural decisions. The section celebrates the drum, and the way that the scheme is sunk into the environment and integrated into the sand dunes.

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1:100 3D perspective section

This cuts through the drum, the unground space, the above ground sauna and steam room as well as the relaxation areas. It also shows some insight into the treatment spaces and gives an understanding of the circulation. It highlights how the sheet pile walls are used to guide the user through the experience, leading them from point to point. It also catches a glimpse into the art space in behind, where sculptures can be exhibited for visitors to enjoy on the walk. This are will be done by professionals or by the local school kids, who already engage in producing art for public areas.

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1:100 Northern elevation

This shows the north elevation, which does not get much sunlight. Disappearing into the distance is the Redcar station and the town. The user encounters this space when coming back after going through the experience. We can see that the sand has already begun building up on the structure, with it set to grow exponentially due to the dune formation supporting layout of sheet pile walls.

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1:100 Southern elevation

The southern elevation shows the sun-side. The drum is celebrated with views towards the coast. We can see the sand building up once again, with the roof being curved on over, to further allow for the sand to build up on the roof when moving through aeolian transmission.

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1:200 Section

This section shows a cut alongside the same length of the perspective section. We get a better understanding of the circulation through this section, as we see the hallways in the above ground space, the drum as well as the exits to the left and the entrence on the right. The underground space is also highlighted showing the movement going into the page.

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1:200 Section

This section shows the circulation again, but it also cuts through the courtyard where art could be exhibited. This is also a meeting space where people can wait for their treatments outdoors, or gather for heading on a walk into the dunes. This section shows the drum and how the roof is angled to allow as much sun as possible into the drum. It also once more shows how the walls guide the visitors through their shapes.

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1:50 Perspective section

This perspective section cut shows the main circulation coming from the hotel whilst also giving us a more indepth look into some of the inhabitation. We see lots of towels, people in bathing robs, and people relaxing, and exploring the dunes.

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Massing model

This massing model shows some of the build up of the sand over some time. It also shows the relationship to the surrounding site and how there are views and orientational connections to the sea out in the distance.

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These images are some material studies of what the sheet pile walls might look like, when the sand is built up against them.

The sand flows with the wind building up on the corrugated surface of the sheet pile. When the sand builds up higher and higher, strong dunes are formed, marram grass grows, and the habitat and the ecosystem is nurtured. I tried exploring the point of view of a grain of sand, when meeting my scheme. The sand grain bounces along the ground in the wind, approaching from afar. As it gets closer the sheet pile towers, and guides it into the bay. The sand collides and meets all the other grains of sand in the bay, before it rests onto of the pile, up against the sheet pile. From there the sand sits, waiting to be covered by millions of grains of sand to come, that all build up against the sheet pile. This is illustrated in a short film. https://youtu. be/rb-fRTEqb98

A film showing the experience of a grain of sand upon meeting the structure presented above

Sand/sheet pile modelling

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Serial vision route analysis

These visuals show the route someone might take from the approach by car in the top left to the circulation down the drum in the top right, the underground space in the bottom left to the activity pods along the route. This also shows what one of the visitors on this journey might look like.

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Main entrance approach

This view shows the first sight the user’s see when arriving to the scheme. The signs are suggesting to stick to the path to preserve the dune landscape. The sand is building up, the red sheet pile guides the user in and they begin their experience.

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Internal perspective

This is the main internal view, showing the above ground relaxation, the terrace on the outside as well as the sauna spaces, the textured wall finishes made by re-using sheet pile as boarding, and the atmosphere of the space.

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Additional internal perspectives

The view when exiting the spa space at the other end.You can see where the pool becomes an outdoor pool as well, with a boardwalk allowing for access by visitors.

This is the view of the underground space which shows some more inhabitation, the colour of the tadelakt finish, as well as the light play using artificial and natural lighting. It also shows where the pool is accessed from and some circulation.

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Exploring colours, material and use

As mentioned, these experimental sketch renders help understand the colours and the user of the space. We see how people circulate through the structure, how they interact with spaces and where they might rest, or engage with, see or touch parts of the structure.

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Exploring atmosphere and light

My main internal atmospheric render, which shows the above ground lounge during a sunset.Viewing over some lounge chairs, we catch a glimpse of some of teh sauna space. The sunset is particularly beautiful with this facade facing southwest.

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Additional atmospheric renders

Here are some more atmospheric renders showing a range of spaces. Some of them are the same as shown with the other perspectives above. The reason for these is to explore the atmosphere that the user may have, how they feel and help understand the journey they go through. Referencing back to my atmospheric mappings, we can see clear changes in the types of spaces. Th upper floor is open, light and has views out, whilst the top right image, showing the undeground space is dark, solemn and peaceful, for relaxation.

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/6 - Cultural Bibliography.

Give us nowhere to stand, and we shall care for the earth.

Timothy Morton.

Other things I did

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When looking at some architecture that inspired me, I practiced my sketching skills in my sketchbook alongside the whole year. This was a challenge I set myself to prepare a sketch periodically so that I could practice some skills I was unsure about. This helped me understand the range of representation techniques that are out there, and gave me some practice in the ones I liked. The style and the techniques were directly applied into my work shown in the portfolio above.

These sketches also helped me develop my artistic eye and my creative side in terms of representation. This helped me immensely when it came to miro board layouts, as well as the portfolio design.

Throughout the year I attended a large range of workshops. Some of them included a sketching workshop, some lectures from professionals on specific programmes as well as artist workshops. These were interesting in helping provide design, process and creative inspiration throughout the year. It also meant I could engage with others and share my work, my sketches or my photographs with others and receive constructive feedback on how to improve, and use those improves for my portfolio.

The artist and architect lectures were particularly interesting in giving me inspirations for technology, software and techniques to use.

I got some inspirations for diagrams, visuals and models from these.

Photography has been a passion of mine for a while, and the chance to escape from the indoors, go out into nature and capture images, in particular of the Scottish highlands, was an amazing experience. This helped me develop an eye for framing, lighting, and representation.

Additionally, the close investigation of nature through the lens of my camera helped me understand the nature-centric point of view that I used as a main driver for my design. I gathered inspiration with my camera, whilst managing to also get a break and work on my artistic eye.

As RIBA student representative for the Newcastle university on the north-east RIBA council I attended various meetings. I also attended future architects meetings where activities and events were planned for members. We would discuss current matters whilst communicating between students and the RIBA on the experience of students throughout their studies.

This challenging year, studying from home, was an important moment for me to be taking part and contributing the student perspective and concerns. These meetings were informative and helpful, we organised some interesting events which I also attended and it helped me develop a stronger understanding of professional practice. (Useful not only for the PP module)

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Case studies that I looked at:

I got some inspiration from this project because it stood out to me as one I really likes. I learnt a lot from looking at the wooden frame roof structure, what kind of beams and columns this would mean. This helped when designing the roof structure for my building. Additionally, the double walled facade system was another inspiration when it came to hiding services in walls.

Naturally this precedent was of particular interest due to its unique response to the topographical challenges of the site. It sits on a slope so it uses stilts and extended concrete pillars to hold the ground level flat as it sticks out from the ground.

This was an interesting way of dealing with a dynamic landscape

This precedent relies heavily on its relationship to context. Interesting things I learned about this precedent was the way that it integrates and has become integrated into the structure after it was abandoned.This was something reminiscent of my ideas of creating something that supports nature after its no longer used

What I got from this precedent was the way that it strongly opposed certain values, while it advocated others through just the design.This was something which I wanted to do as well, develop a design that speaks for itself and perpetuates a message of respecting and nurturing nature.

Additionally, the visuals prepared by the students were some nice visuals that inspired some of mine,

What I found interesting with this precedent was the particular shape it had, sitting inside the courtyard of these various existing building. I had visited this site in person, and the way that it connects different spaces, different ages and different programmes is a unique response to a divided site. This was something that inspired the way I chose and dealt with the connections on my site.

Again the building having social responsibility to bridge various different parts of the community, and various structures was a perfect introduction to thinking about my buildings social responsibility to tie together such a damaged, confused and seemingly lost site. This precedent was quite different, but the approach was useful.

This precedent had an interesting response to considering context in terms of the history.

The delicate way it perpetuated the new, whilst respecting and slightly tapping the old was something that I wanted to apply to my approach to nature. I wanted to engage with it, but not ruin or replace it, but create a dialogue.

What I loved about this building was its playful nature.

The walkway to get up the building is something I had as part of my design for a long time. The way that the circulation works, and the use of the height of the building in an interesting way was something which I took on board and developed in my own way. I used the dune elevation changes to my advantage.

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/7 - Figures and References.

List

of

readings.

Alleyne, Allyssia. “Mária Švarbová Finds Beauty and Serenity in Socialist-Era Swimming Pools.” CNN, Cable News Network, 29 Aug. 2018, edition.cnn.com/style/ article/maria-svarbova-swimming-pools/index.html. archive/Mirrorpix), (Image: Gazette, et al. “The 70s Inferno Turned Hotel into Rubble - and Claimed Four Lives.” TeessideLive, 30 June 2019, www.gazettelive. co.uk/news/teesside-news/deadly-70s-inferno-turned-hotel-16486395.

Ballentyne, Andrew, Deleuze and Guattari (Oxford: Routledge, 2007).

Behance. “The Concentration City.” Behance, www.behance.net/gallery/16976969/The-Concentration-City.

Chris.twigg. “Pillbox S0010165, South Gare, Redcar.” Hidden Teesside, 30 Dec. 2017, www.hidden-teesside.co.uk/2007/01/14/pillbox-s0010165/.

Cm. “Drawings by Enric Miralles.” Architecture Walks and Tours in Barcelona, 13 Feb. 2018, barcelonarchitecturewalks.com/drawings-by-enric-miralles/.

Davidová, Marie, Generating the Design Process with GIGA-Map: The Development of the Loop Pavilion (FA CTU Prague, 2014) <https://systemic-design.net/ wp-content/uploads/2015/03/MD_RSD3_GeneratingtheDesignProcesswithGIGA-map.pdf> de Klee, Katie. “OPEN Architecture Completes UCCA Dune Art Museum in a Sand Dune.” Dezeen, 16 Dec. 2019, www.dezeen.com/2018/12/12/openarchitecture-ucc-dune-art-museum-architecture-china/.

“DURHAM. South-Gare Breakwater, River Tees. Breakwater, Antique Print, 1863.” Antiqua Print Gallery Ltd, www.antiquemapsandprints.com/product/durhamsouth-gare-breakwater-river-tees-breakwater-antique-print-1863?product=P-5-12559~P-5-12559. ecoLogicStudio, ‘Messina 2012: A Regional Proto-Garden’, in Systemic Architecture - Operating Manual for the Self-Organizing City (Oxon: Routledge, 2012) “Flood Map: Water Level Elevation Map.” Flood Map: Elevation Map, Sea Level Rise Map, www.floodmap.net/.

Gigantic Studios, Plastic Bag Short Film, 2015 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkbT50O7scc&t=39s> [accessed 10 February 2021] Gilbert, Marc. “HBBH_raw_LAF9481_adecom_adecom.JPG.” Adecom Photography, adecom-marc-gibert.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Maquettes-Architecture/ G0000JFW0EDD9Hco/I00007Y69JiMZpVg. Langdon, David. “AD Classics: Olympic Archery Range / Enric Miralles &amp; Carme Pinos.” ArchDaily, ArchDaily, 21 Aug. 2014, www.archdaily.com/539870/adclassics-olympic-archery-range-enric-miralles-and-carme-pinos.

List are

of not

figures used the authors

that own.

Figure 1. The various systems explored in our studio - Collage by me of each students drawings - pages 7, 9 and 69 Figure 2. Portraits of studio members - each student did their own - page 11 Figure 3.Visualisation of JG Ballard’s concentration city - https://www.behance.net/gallery/16976969/The-Concentration-City - page 15 Figure 4. Still from plastic bag short - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw - page 15 Figure 5. Historic sketch of South Gare - https://www.antiquemapsandprints.com/product/durham-south-gare-breakwater-river-teesbreakwater-antique-print-1863?product=P-5-12559~P-5-12559 - page 19 Figure 6. Group site model - page 20 Figure 7. Newspaper article - https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/deadly-70s-inferno-turned-hotel-16486395 - page 35 Figure 8. Zeppelin - https://alphabetilately.org/Yann/BK2DI.html - page 41 Figure 9. Pilot with friend - https://ivormarkman.wixsite.com/photojournalism/lt-ian-pyott-dso - page 41 Figure 10. Piece of the zepelling shrapnel - IBID. - page 41 Figure 11. Framing celebration - Group work - page 70 Figure 12. “Flood Map: Water Level Elevation Map.” Flood Map: Elevation Map, Sea Level Rise Map, www.floodmap.net/. - page 82 Figure 13. https://www.pictorialpast.co.uk/redcar-coatham-convalescent-home-the-chapel-old-postcard-by-sanbride-unused - page 86 Figure 14. https://www.australia.com/en/things-to-do/nature-and-national-parks/australias-best-ocean-pools.html - page 86 Figure 15. http://www.hidden-teesside.co.uk/2007/01/14/pillbox-s0010165/ - page 103 Figure 16. Extract from masterplan - https://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/resident/planning-and-building/local-plan/areagrowth/ Local%20Plan%20Adopted%20May%202018.pdf 124 Figure 17. From top to bottom, left to right: - page 126 https://www.archdaily.com/539870/ad-classics-olympic-archery-range-enric-miralles-and-carme-pinos

Lovelock,Yann. FROM BABYKILLER TO ART DECO ICON: Images of the Airship, alphabetilately.org/Yann/BK2DI.html.

Markman, Ivor. “Shooting Down of Zeppelin L-34.” Photojournalism, ivormarkman.wixsite.com/photojournalism/lt-ian-pyott-dso.

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hepworth-image-ii-t00958

Morton, Timothy, ‘Thinking Big’, in Ecological Thought (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2010) <www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvjhzskj> [accessed 10 February 2021]

https://depts.washington.edu/bonebio/bonAbout/structure.html

Poletto, Marco, and Claudia Pasquero, ‘Discussions on Systemic Architecture’, in Systemic Architecture - Operating Manual for the Self-Organizing City (Oxon: Routledge, 2012), p. 3

Figure 18. From top to bottom, left to right: - page 128

———, ‘Thoughts on Systemic Architecture’, in Systemic Architecture - Operating Manual for the Self-Organizing City (Oxon: Routledge, 2012), p. 3

https://www.archdaily.com/466874/milan-expo-2015-foster-unveils-design-for-uae-pavilion/52d57099e8e44ef8bf0000a2-milan-expo2015-foster-unveils-design-for-uae-pavilion-photo

Qingshan, WU, and NI Nan. “Cave-like Art Museum Is Buried in Sand Dunes.” New Atlas, 20 Feb. 2019, newatlas.com/open-architecture-ucca-dune-artmuseum/57268/.

Radlinska, Klaudia. “Render of Casa Poli.” Instagram, www.instagram.com/p/CEZdDJrpG3i/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link.

Redcar & Cleveland local council. Local Plan Adopted May 2018. May 2018, www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/resident/planning-and-building/local-plan/areagrowth/ Local%20Plan%20Adopted%20May%202018.pdf.

“REDCAR Coatham Convalescent Home, The Chapel, Old Postcard by Sanbride, Unused.” Pictorial Past - Postcards, Photographs and Prints, www.pictorialpast. co.uk/redcar-coatham-convalescent-home-the-chapel-old-postcard-by-sanbride-unused.

Robson, Dave, ‘Brown, Windswept and Dumped on the Sand at Redcar - but These Christmas Trees Have a Purpose’, TeesideLive (Coatham, 29 March 2017) <https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/brown-windswept-dumped-sand-redcar-12815970> Rosenfield, Karissa. “Gallery of Milan Expo 2015: Foster Unveils Design for UAE Pavilion - 1.” ArchDaily, www.archdaily.com/466874/milan-expo-2015-fosterunveils-design-for-uae-pavilion/52d57099e8e44ef8bf0000a2-milan-expo-2015-foster-unveils-design-for-uae-pavilion-photo.

Schumacher, Patrik, The Autopoiesis of Architecture (London: Wiley, 2010) Spherecontrolcenter. “Blog 1 David Hockney’s Pool.” Spherecontrolcenter, 2 Feb. 2015, spherecontrolcenter.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/blog-1-david-hockneyspool/.

Sveldson, Birger, ‘About Systems Oriented Design’, Systems Oriented Design, 2009 <https://www.systemsorienteddesign.net/index.php/sod/about-sod> ———, ‘Systems Oriented Design: The Emergence and Development of a Designerly Approach to Address Complexity’ (presented at the 2nd International Conference for Design Education Researchers, Oslo: Researchgate, 2013) <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319931083_Systems_Oriented_Design_ The_emergence_and_development_of_a_designer

https://www.dezeen.com/2018/12/12/open-architecture-ucc-dune-art-museum-architecture-china/ https://barcelonarchitecturewalks.com/drawings-by-enric-miralles/ https://adecom-marc-gibert.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Maquettes-Architecture/G0000JFW0EDD9Hco/I00007Y69JiMZpVg https://newatlas.com/open-architecture-ucca-dune-art-museum/57268/ Figure 19. From top to bottom, left to right: - page 129 https://www.instagram.com/p/CEZdDJrpG3i/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Ibid. https://spherecontrolcenter.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/blog-1-david-hockneys-pool/ Ibid.

“Sydney’s Best Ocean Pools - Tourism Australia.” Visit Australia - Travel &amp; Tour Information - Tourism Australia, www.australia.com/en/things-to-do/natureand-national-parks/australias-best-ocean-pools.html.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CARGnkrKkd2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Tamez, Marcela. “Render of Casa Estudio De Luis Barragán.” Instagram, 17 May 2020, www.instagram.com/p/CARGnkrKkd2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link.

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/maria-svarbova-swimming-pools/index.html

Tate. “‘Image II’, Dame Barbara Hepworth, 1960.” Tate, 1 Jan. 1960, www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hepworth-image-ii-t00958.

Washington university. Bone Structure, 20 Sept. 2001, depts.washington.edu/bonebio/bonAbout/structure.html.

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Early programme and user analysis prepared on a1 for the Redcar council The convalescent tourist

A. Primary spaces - Thalassotherapy & Glamping B. Secondary & Pods

-

spaces - Landing spaces & Cafe

C. Tertiary spaces

- Technical rooms & Staff accomodation

A wide age range, these tourists travel to the cost to reset and reconnect with nature. Most often looking to engage in physiotherapy or escaping from the everyday. These users will have come to the site for a specific reason, needing spaces to relax, reset, feel safe, and receive the relevant treatment. They will spend most of their time in the primary space of the Thalassotherapy bathing area.

Staff lounge

Delivery zone Garbage area

Storage space

Staff changing room Office

Pool maintenance

Plant rooms

Bike landing zone

Cafe

Landing zones

Lounge

Reception areas

Changing rooms

External gardens

Thallassotherapy pools

Activity pods

Glamping huts

Appendix.

Treatment spaces

The glamping tourist

MIRO board showing my throughout the

time line progression whole year

This tourist will be individuals or couples, or small families, coming to the beach as a stay-action type vacation. They will have booked a stay in one of the individual units in advance.

Each of these are self-sustaining and gives the user a chance to reset and enjoy some time away from home. These users will also take advantage of the activity pods scattered around the site.

The staff

Access

Electricity, Water, Heating The staff will arrive to the site everyday to manage, operate and maintain the facilities. These are mainly in the primary areas including the maintainenance of the baths, the provision of treatment, running of reception and maintaining the pods. The cafe is mainly self-service but still gets cleaned and restocked.

Lots of light/External Vs. Cave-like/ Burrowed

The passerby

183 The passerby will be looking for shelter from the wind and the cold, potentially to sit and have a meal or enjoy the view. Therefore they will take advantage of the shelter provided, and may venture over into the cafe. They do not stay long and do not require any extra facilities.

What a pod might look like

What a landing zone might look like

What a glamping hut might look like

Inspiration for the main thalassotherapy zone, various levels from burrowed into the sand to raised above it, with carefully framed views emphasising a journey

Mapping the movement of the users through the site

/9 Fin.

School of Architecture, Landscape and Planning Newcastle University Stage 3 2020-2021

The end

185

THEMATIC CASE STUDY

GROUP 3

ARC3001

WALMER YARD

18 DECEMBER 2020

Introduction

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Front Page Illustration - Courtayrd View

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Machine 3 Team Members Jessica Dunn User Jacob Hughes System Colin Rogger Climate Rashmi Jayasinghe Type Edward Salisbury Theory Edward Salisbury Introduction & Layout Colin Rogger Introduction & Layout

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PETER SALTER WALMER YARD

Introduction

After setting up his own practice in 1982, having before worked with Alison and Peter Smithson, Salter now has over 20 years of experience as a visiting critic and lecturer to UK schools of architecture and as a guest speaker at architectural organisations across the globe, he currently sits as the Professor of Architectural Design at Cardiff University having previously worked at the AA and UEL. In 2011 he was awarded the Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and in 2004 he received the Annie Spink Award, both celebrating contributions to education. His Thai fish restaurant also won the AJ/Boris Royal Academy award in 1991, after he spent time in Japan doing two commissions for International Expositions in the early 1990s.

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Figure 1

Introduction

Figure 2

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Figure 3 - West Street View

Introduction

Beginning of Design Conception: 2003 Construction Completion: 2016 Area: 450m2 Residential Client : Crispin and Seb Kelly Associate Designer: Fenella Collingridge City: London

Colin’s Collage

Located in Notting Hill, Peter Salter’s first residential project in the U.K. is composed of four irregularly design houses surrounding a shared courtyard, accessed via an underground car park and coated steel gateway. Developed over 13 years the project seeks to embody Salter’s theoretical standpoints whilst acting as the home of the Bay light Foundation – a registered charity whose primary aim is to increase the general public’s understanding of what architecture can for its inhabitant. By using handcrafted techniques of constructing, it stands to test how we can feel more ‘at home’ by deploying traditional methods instead of digitally processed ones. Salter designed the houses for the client (Crispin Kelly), who had a formed a close learner relationship whilst studying under him at the Architectural Association, both enabling for what Pallasmaa describes as the re-attachment “things particularly from the lived and emotive context” . The scheme seeks to promote the re-integration of more monolithic forms of building back into our technological society.

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“I’m not expecting

lots of sun in these houses, I rather like the sort of moody and some might say dull rooms that you get.

Which the estate agent is not very keen on”

“How do you get

light in and how do you make the most of the light you get?”

– Peter Salter, Newcastle University Visiting Lecture, 28th January 2013*

Illustrations as one - Figure 7

Internal Photographs of spaces which test domesticity Internal photographs taken from all four houses illustrate the wide variety of material choices employed across the scheme, handcrafted carefully chosen finishes are revealed around each different corner of its programme, inspired

by Japanese design the user always steps up or down into the room.

Windows and small openings at varying heights are inspired by Minka houses allowing light to reach the shallow depth of room plans, creating a wide variety of alternating ‘moody’ experiences.

As people can come and book to stay the intent is for them to realise a new domestic setting, one where those people co-relate with the house around them, attracted by the rough finishes which once used to be a common quality in architecture. The only rooms in which lighter finishes are used are in those at the top of the structure involving roof lights, as a way of creating a stark contrast as those cross up through the threshold via the steel stairs.

Introduction 9

1:200 Plans Lesser Senses & Domesticity The user’s senses are central to Salter’s design, by using craftsmanship rather than technology the dwellings aim for the re-attachment of architecture from its context of the lived and emotive sense, irregular finishes and raw surfaces serve to give a deeper connection between dweller and architecture. Irregular non-gridded plans seek to show a journey, devised by Salter, which reveals and hides engaging materials as you pass through and climb up; extended circulation circa sight means that you encounter more and more throughout, offering a ritualistic and choreographed way of living. He subtly alters conditions and thresholds through material choice to change the feeling of semi-private to private domestic setting, encouraging sharing, a theme adopted by multigenerational living in Japan. Each house has a different layout and different material interior, Salter’s design is there to challenge the way in which we produce architecture, promoting the use of craftsmanship over technology.

Theory

Technology vs. Handicrafts Collage Autonomy & Innocence Dissimilar to modern projects it took 13 years for completion, Salter developed his drawings over a period of 6 years, beginning in 2003. His deep understanding and variance in using hand crafted materials fights against the modern way of producing architecture, reminiscing and promoting past methods of designing, he aims for innocence, working in ways that we used to – coming together as a larger group over multiple years with our hands to offer a building which has a deeper cultural prevalence. By taking more time and working with less perfect machine cut methods, his stance aims for buildings to gather an existential emotive grounding. The collage shows a character torn between living in a technologically formed world or one where the materials are only formed via craftsmanship.

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Figure 8 and 9

Figure 10

Ram packed Japanese Wall Collage & Kamiichi Mountain Pavilion Pre-cursor Japanese Influences Salter’s only manifested works are based in Japan dating from 1990, smaller scale works intended to investigate vernacular relations between craft and domesticity, where materials are prioritised to create more close experiences. Japanese Minka houses which demonstrate delicacy and strength mixed together; within these houses floor defines the space, as you step up into spaces material change marks the existence of a threshold (something which can be seen exactly in Walmer Yard). Internal patchworks are made by combining different clays and paper, something which is replicated in many of the bedrooms where white clay is used near ceiling heigh windows to reflect daylight deep to enliven dark corners or sections at Walmer Yard. The principle taken from the Japanese vernacular is its wearing of mixtures of materials, from the leaching of the clay or the revealing of the straw, Walmer Yard exemplifies this throughout where hand formed structures become more weathered. The collage demonstrates the change of colours and textures overtime if the exposed rammed walls in Japan. Scanned in pages from the external landscapes log show the Kamiichi rsting pavilion which uses the copper plating pattern illustrated in the collage opposite.

Figure 11 - Kamiichi Pavilion

Theory 11

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1:200 Plans Salter’s Way of Representing In our technological epoch hand drawn works tend to be continued as architecture becomes commoditized, capitalist concerns of tme and efficiency no longer allow for the practice of higher art. Demonstrating imperfection Non-CAD works often are seen as only partially correct, they are a dying art from which Salter looks to celebrate. His drawings reflect upon the methods of craftsmanship within the development, hand drawn, hand crafted thier imperfectness resembles the building’s and shaped materials from the interior and shared courtyard.

Although some incomplete, the drawings show a journey and control via iterations which take pleasure in the fact they are hand drawn.

Figure 13

D

“ arling, Vermilion Sands is Vermilion Sands. Don’t expect to find the suburban norms. People here were individualists.”

Courtyard Collage & Scanned in Page The Psychotropic House of Vermillion Sands agrees with Walmer Yard in raising sensory design questions; in many ways Walmer’s Yard is a real manifestation of a Ballardian standpoint, an architecture which is shaped by the Wengagement of the users sensors with the architecture. It is must be said that a ‘senso-cell’ house is not achievable in our current world, the houses cannot therefore be the exact same, however, like the senso-houses they put how we experience a domestic setting from inside at the centre of their ambition. Similar to Ballard’s views, Salter sought out a sense of uniqueness to it that draws the re-attraction of humans once they have already been, developed overtime and not outcast like those grand mansion mentioned in The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista. Those water coloured facades illustrate kinetic timber panels which have the ability to enable the buildings external mood to change. Salter states in his 2013 Newcastle University APL visiting lecture that the development aims to attract “people who live separate lives almost”.

Themes to take away from case study Sensory Design Technology vs. Handicraft Vernacular Craftmanship Choreographed Journey Sensory Design Figure 14 - Thousand dreams of stellavista page scan In

Construction over a long time

Theory 13

Systems Creating architecture within London typically requires the designing from the inside outwards, due to the tight spatial restrictions often imposed. In doing so, the design language is partially formed in relation to the site boundaries - the systems of the preexisting build landscape has an effect on the proposed building. In Walmer yard this appears to be the case, as the refracted lines seen in the site plan appear to reflect the irregular-shaped site boundaries - even though the general design language works in opposition to the surrounding architecture.

System

Figure 15

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Figure 16

Figure 17

Figure 18

Figure 19

Systems of both change and permanence exist within Walmers yard. The top image represents the idea that although the bold, in-situ concrete walls suggest ideas of an unchanging and ‘set in stone’ building, many aspects of the dwellings suggest change.

Dynamic systems include the constant flow of residents due to the short-stay style of residency, adaptable shutters, and revolving car park. Although the permanence may suggest positive qualities of reliability, could there be more done to accommodate the ever-shifting nature of its inhabitants?

Looking at the complex initially, we may assume the tightness of the dwellings in addition to the presence of a shared courtyard and garage would suggest a sense of community to emerge between households. However, there are many reasons which suggest otherwise, such as the client stating to have as much of the space as possible in private ownership. Furthermore, as residents filter inand-out of the dwelling regularly due to the short-stay style of residency, meaningful connections between households will be difficult to form. This isolated social system stands in opposition to shared housing complexes, such as Copper Lane in London, which uses a shared ownership typology where residents foster connections through the shared ownership of the complex and spaces within it.

System 15

Figure 20

Architecture or Art?

System

It may be easier to view the project as more of an artwork than a functional piece of architecture which seeks to address wider contextual issues. There are many issues facing housing, especially within London, which Salter’s creation arguably fails to address. Salter drew upon many design principles gathered through years of learning and teaching - however many of these features seem to focus on the ‘finer’ aspects of architecture, perhaps neglecting more contextual issues. This is supported through the website’s language when used to describe the project, highlighting aspects such as light, shadow, colour and materiality.

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The idea of the building’s purpose relating to an experience is also supported by the fact all proceeds would go towards the Daylight foundation charity - a charity which aims to help the public’s understanding of what architecture can do and how it can be experienced. Although directing profits to a charitable cause is admirable, it can seem that it enforces the notion that for the wealthy, it’s easier to see architecture as an experience or artwork, when for the less wealthy it’s more commonly associated with a need especially in a place like London.

System

Figure 21

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C

limate: How does the case study relate to it’s environmental / climate crisis context?

Figure 22 - A Map locating construction materials/A photo from Walmer Yard Above is a map detailing the origin and the production methods of the materials used in Walmer Yard. Included are the routes taken and the C02 emissions as a result of this.

In-Situ Concrete The structure mainly consists of load bearing walls and floor elements of in-situ cast concrete. To offset some of the carbon footprint caused by the production of cement, the architects replaced 35% of the cement with the coal energy powerplant by-product GGBS. This concrete is cast against reused wood in certain places, to amplify the graining effect. In others, a manufactured form-work material is used, which is made artificially smooth. This is a one use material and cannot be recycled.

Figure 23 - Black steel staircase and concrete cast walls

Black Steel Additionally, black steel, imported from wales and coated in bee’s wax (not vegan) act as party walls. Industrial scale bee’s wax is not ethically sourced.

Timber The timber for the Louvres and the Yurt is locally sourced. The Yurt is a timber frame structure, infilled with natural wool insulation, which has relatively low embodied energy being carbon negative.

Yurt structural exploration in section The second drawing highlights the timber Yurt and features a detail section and a construction detail.

Climate

In terms of relating to a climate crisis context, the structure takes only one active stance. The materials used are not sustainable and any thoughts on sustainability are superseded by aesthetic decisions.

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Figure 24

Figure 25 - A collage of a London wide context plan, with a site map at 1:11043 as well as a perspective view of the building from Walmer Road. Highlighted are the green belt and brownfield site location as well as crucial services in the immediate area

Figure 27- An annotated 1:200 plan showing how the basement space could be redesign to accommodate extra dwellings and a bike store

Climate

Figure 26 - An axonometric section exploring the tessellation of various building shapes and sizes, and how they communicate and interact with each other

Wider Context Re-using brownfield sites is a key principle behind plans for dealing with the increasing population of London. This provides an overall benefit to the environment since the alternative would have been for housing to spread south into a suburban setting, then requiring building to take place on green belt sites.

The site makes considerate use of a tight site. Using various building typologies, one of which is lowered into the ground to allow views into nature, made it possible for the four houses to take maximum advantage of the space. This is an efficient use of space, which is sustainable in regards to rising populations.

Each house has access to private gardens, allowing for nature to return to the site. Furthermore, a courtyard is created, and although it is made artificially, with wooden elements, the outside space allows for the buildings program to expand outdoors.

A criticism resides in the emphasis and focus given to the large parking garage. Having this amenity encourages users to drive, and this has an impact on the environment due to high CO2 emissions. There is no bike rack which further discourages more sustainable modes of transport.

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Sunlight Getting sunlight into the spaces was extremely carefully considered:

Figure 28 - Bedroom with the sunlight and the timber louvres

Figure 29 A sketch of an office space with some sunlight

- The ramp to the garage and the stairs into the courtyard act as a oculus which funnels light into the set back space.

- Smooth finishes to allow light to reflect (in particular the ceilings, cast against the phenolic form-work) - Louvres to reflect or deflect light (flexibility reduces reliance on artificial energy) - Slits in party doors, to allow sunlight into the hallways - Pieces of glass that act to magnify the light rays into the staircase -Glass lamps in staircase and Yurt - A clear hierarchy of openings, relating size to their function - Reflective finishes (gold and brass) on door hands and other small details - Roof terraces House one is double aspect, so it can take advantage of the whole range of the sun path. Houses two and three are single aspect meaning it relies on the reflected light from the courtyards. House 4 is so enclosed by the surrounding buildings, it is entirely lit from above, with skylights.

Efficiently harnessing the sun light reduces energy demand and connects people to nature, aiding the battle against climate change.

“B eyond the entry gate you’re led up a gentle set of steps, funnelled leftFigure 30 - A sketch of the courtyard with the sunlight shining into it

wards, through the dappled canopy of almost-touching overhangs; then suddenly the full extent of the courtyard opens up on your right, and the sun hits you again.”

- Quote from a journal article in AJ by Will Hunter

Climate

Figure 31 Collage of drawings showing how sunlight bounces throughout the rooms

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Figure 32 - Drain system with options to make it more circular and to recycle the water

“These

Figure 34 Axonometric drawing of the bedroom and bathroom Heating, Water, Ventilation When it comes to heating the structure performs poorly. The U-value of the structure is too high, at .35. To get this to the acceptable standard of the time, .20, each flat needs a wood burning stove. This is not as efficient means of heating as it requires a lot of wood, and releases contained CO2.

The thick concrete does act as thermal mass, but it needs to supplemented additionally by in-wall heating. The large number of openings allow for temperature regulation by the user. The sunlight provides some warmth, although the spaces tend to side more with a gloomy atmosphere.

When it comes to water the structure has no efficient means of water recycling. The drain system is sculptural and functional, one a basic level, but not in a considered, sustainable manner. The ventilation system in the building is manual. The openings allow air to be let in and let it flow back out. The use of Tufa block near the openings and in the bathrooms allows for the air to be filtered manually. In the bathroom perforated ventilation strips, as well as extraction systems allow for moisture to be drawn out from the bathroom.

In terms of the climate crisis this shows that the structure is not using its energy efficiently. Water, which is becoming a rarer commodity, is being waste, as is energy and wood in using the stove the heat the flats. This could have been avoided by using more efficient insulation methods, by using a concrete finish on top of an insulated timber frame structure. This would reduce the buildings footprint all around. The ventilation does however perform well and requires no energy.

Climate

over-sized gutters are designed so that you can hear the rain swoosh down the front of the buildings,” says Salter. “I like the idea of the buildings “having weather” - Quotes by Salter

Figure 33 - Heating with the furnace

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T

ype: How does Walmer Yard relate to other buildings of its type?

„ T

he project attempts to reinstate the sense of an interior found in the working mews and pubs that I recall from my childhood in the area, and tries to carry the intensity, the variation, something of the smaller scale of the locale,’ explains Salter. Each house has a particular geometry in its form and orientation, in a “push-mepull-you” arrangement that maximises the use of floor area across the development.“

- Peter Salter, Article by Architects Journal, January 2017

Type

Figure 35 - Axonometric of Walmer Yard portraying Salter’s ideas on designing at a domestic scale

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“T

hey are not like suburban housing,’ says Peter Salter, describing this scheme for a quartet of houses in London’s Notting Hill. ‘They are quite cellular, like pueblo dwellings.’ This really is speculative housing at its most conjectural; it defies ordinary categorisation and cannot be judged in conventional terms. It doesn’t relate to contemporary and urgent discussions around housing. It offers dense urban living, not to those whose budgets prescribe it, but for wealthier buyers. In that sense it is a stunning rebuke to the anaemic offerings for the rich elsewhere on the market. It should perhaps be sold not as expensive houses, but as an undervalued artistic masterpiece. ”

Figure 36- Domestic Living through geometry and form following human scale

- Article by Wallpaper* Walmer Yard is not an ordinary set of dwellings.

The housing scheme explores various ways of domestic living. Salter had many influences in designing Walmer Yard including Japanese architecture. The yurt shaped buildings are uncommon to most form of dwellings. The attention to detail is another important aspect where they designed furniture specially for the housing. The dwellings allow people to experience a type of living that is unconventional and allows them to explore their senses. Geometry and form are used with meaning in Salter’s houses from curves to rigid forms. Each space has its own narrative which flows from one space to another.

Figure 37 - Geometry and form Inspiration from the Japanese Montain Pavillion

Figure 38 - Attention to detail for user experience between one of the living rooms and the communal courtyard

Type 23

Attention To Detail Through Materiality Materiality played a key role in forming spaces that were unique. Salter’s material pallete consists of rather odd types of materials put together in a harmonious way. Steel , clay, concrete and timber were among the most prominent materials used to create these spaces. The lacquered finish of the wardrobe doors and the wax finishes are some of the techniques to go out different textures for the occupent to feel the mystery of the dwellings.

“

T

here is sprayed lacquered resin and in some instances you can’t tell the lacquer colour – which is an indigo colour – from the steel. Steel is black, the lacquer is blue and the two things start to merge and you can’t tell the form. These are curved forms just like the bathrooms are curved.”

- Peter Salter, Walmer Yard Journal

Figure 40 - One of the bedrooms of the four houses: Inspired by the Japanese Minka houses, Salter brings in the combined materials that evokes the sense of awareness as you step into a space and knowing that you arrived into a different space.

Figure 39 - Interior of an entrance to a bedroom that portray the combination of materials used by Salter Figure 41 - The clay and straw walls of one of the Yurt Spaces with its sculptural lights

Type

The straw on the dark clay walls glistens when the light reflects on the straw dust giving a warm tone to the space.

24

Light and Shadow Lighting was a key concept apparent through Salter’s four houses. How the light gets into these rooms is quite important. Most of the light is from the top ranges of windows, which spreads light on the ceiling and the ceiling then reflects the light into the interior of the room.

Figure 42 - Photograph of one of the staircases: Some spaces like the bedroom and the staircase have a sense of gloominess to them where Salter took inspiration from a bedroom in Venice. He wanted to take the same way of how the light bent around the wall, to be present in all the houses. The controlling of light in the rooms gives the room a sense of intimacy and privacy where every corner is a mystery.

Figure 43 - Living room area in house 3, the lightest house of all. Another example of how Salter uses geometry to bring in natural light in various forms.

Some spaces have more light in them while others are more darker. It is evident that each house has different spaces.

Figure 45 - The light across the clay walls of a bedroom: Figure 44 - Light and Shadows from horizontal windows of themaster bedroom in house 2

White Clay is used above Brown clay to bring in more light from the long horizontal windows into dark corners of a room

Type 25

“Maybe architecture isn’t actually about the walls, and the floors, and the roofs; but it is more about everything that moves through those things. The time, and the light, and the people...”

- Neil Mclaughlin

... the User.

User

Figure 46 - Own Drawing, sketch of photograph by Jim Stephenson

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Peter Salter’s design of Walmer Yard is centralised around the senses of the user. The design of the building, as architectural photographer Jim Stephenson described, has a choreographic nature to it; The user narrates the spaces as they venture through the structure, unlike a typical mass housing project. This was communicated even at the earliest stages of the project, as seen in Figure 48, Salter’s initual drawings communicate a juxtaposition of lines and curves interacting with each other to create an almost poetic composition. A unique choreography of lines creating an experience for the user, unlike no other.

Figure 47 - Trace of Peter Salter’s Axonometric drawing. Colour added to show the range of different materials alongside the range of architectural lines and geometrics.

The building itself should be described as overwhelming, in every sense. The layers of colour, material, light and structural depth is ever changing as the user ascends through the rooms.

Salter used a combination of new, old and non-standard materials, selected for fitness for purpose rather than ease of construction, convenience or cost.

This resulted in a wide range of materials being welded together, all with a specific purpose, which created a space of not only functional convenience but of aesthetic rawness.

User

Figure 48- (Collective) Photography by Jim Stephenson and Hélène Binet. Chosen to show depth of different materials used throughout the building, both interior and exterior.

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Figure 50 - Still from video created and shot by Jim Stephenson.

I chose this image to sketch out as I thought it was a key visual in showing the success of the design intensions in a visual form. It shows one of the house’s kitchen space and has been created to allow as much natural light as possible to flood in. This is a great example of user centric design as the kitchen is a fundamental part of a dwelling and so to make it an appealing space to work in, with as much warm light as possible, is incredibly beneficial to the user.

Figure 49 - Own drawing showing a user in one of the dwelling’s kitchen space, preparing a meal. Image based on photograph by Jim Stephenson (figure 50).

Salter’s perspective drawings often include the user within the space he is illustrating. As seen in figure 51, he also uses colour to portray the tones of light flooding into the space. By using figures in his drawings, it brings an aspect of scale and function into the spaces, in which without the user, would look empty. It subsequently shows how even in the initial stages of designing the space, Salter was visioning how the space would be occupied by not only physically beings, but also the natural light and the atmosphere this would create.

User

Figure 51 - Peter Salter drawing, illustating the user within one of the master bedrooms

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Figure 52 - Trace of Peter Salter drawing, showing the same kitchen space.

Figure 53 - Own drawing of figure 49 in the style of Peter Salter.

Figure 55 - Drawing focused on one of the main staircases in Walmer Yard. The colour and tone contrasts dramatically to the warm light found elsewhere in the building.

Figure 54 - (Collective) Photography by Jim Stephenson

The building creates an atmosphere in each of its spaces in which the user can sit and stare and be taken elsewhere, they can have a truly unique experience in every space. This is due to the building being in continuous movement, the light changes the space constantly. Every hour, every day, ever season; telling a new story.

The tone of light created is also key in analysing the user’s experience as each room radiates a different temperature, whether it be a completely different colour or the slightest change in shade, it plays a significant role in ensuring the user’s experience is part of an ever-changing movement. As seen Figure 56, the cool tones of light enabled by the cold materials gives this staircase, an aspect in which is typically a simple and purely functional space, a unique persona in which entices the user to enter.

The placement of the furniture can also be interpretated as a user of the space, especially when it is assembled in a specific manner for the architectural representation.

When architectural photographer, Jim Stephenson, was capturing Walmer Yard it was (and still is) unoccupied, and so to manipulate the shots he composed objects in such a way that hinted to user occupied spaces yet with the absence of any physical human beings.

User

Figure 56 - Own drawing of a chair within Walmer Yard.

Figure 57- (Collective) Photographs by Jim Stephenson. Showing how the user can be shown through objects in architectural representation.

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As seen in figure 58, the light occupies the spaces within Walmer Yard as if it was the user. Due to the cleverly designed window placements, the light is able to dance around the space and by doing this creates unique experiences for the physical user constantly. The positioning of the windows also creates gloomy areas of the space, a key feature Peter Salter wanted within the project.

Figure 58 - Stills from a video shot by Jim Stephenson, showing the light flood into the room

Every detail of Walmer Yard has a purpose, Salter managed to develop a threshold, a stair, a window or a ceiling from a practical necessity into a particular moment in existence, with its own possibilities for making connections between the human and the physical. For example the windows inside this bedroom are particularly placed at different heights to allow light into the dwelling at specific times of day.

User

Sitting in bed.

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Figure 59- Trace of a Peter Salter drawing, showing the bedroom space and highlighting the 3 different window heights

Laying in bed.

Standing height.

System

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BIBLIOGRAPHY & ILLUSTRATIONS Introduction: Illustrations Cover - Image from, https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/nov/20/ walmer-yard-london-peter-salter-review Figure 1 - Image from, https://walmeryard.co.uk/team/ Figure 2 - Own drawing Figure 3 - Image from, https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/walmer-yard-by-peter-salter-four-independent-yet-intimately-related-houses Figure 4 - Own drawing Figure 5 - Own drawing Figure 6 - Edited from Digimap Figure 7 - Images from, https://walmeryard.co.uk/photography/ and https:// architizer.com/projects/walmer-yard/ Theory: IllustrationsFgiure 8 - Own traced and edited drawing from, https://www.architecture.com/ awards-and-competitions-landing-page/awards/riba-regional-awards/riba-london-award-winners/2017/walmer-yard Figure 9 - Own drawing Figure 10 - Own drawing Figure 11 - Images from, https://entirelandscapes.space/Kamiichi-Mountain-Pavilion Figure 12 - Own traced and edited drawing from, https://www.architecture.com/ awards-and-competitions-landing-page/awards/riba-regional-awards/riba-london-award-winners/2017/walmer-yard Figure 13 - Own drawing Figure 14 - Image from, https://www.pinterest.co.uk/ pin/661395895250914498/ Systems: IllustrationsFigure 15 - Own traced drawing from, https://orca.cf.ac.uk/49330/1/Salter%20 four%20houses%20in%20London%20REF.pdf Figure 16 - Image from, http://comparelli.com/walmer-yard/ Figure 17 - Own drawing Figure 18 - Own drawing Figure 19 - Own drawing Figure 20 - Image from, https://www.economicshelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ftb-house-price-to-earnings.png Figure 21 - Own traced and edited drawing from, https://ro.pinterest.com/ pin/545991154805512052/

System

Climate: Extra Bibliography-“Exploring Peter Salter’s Walmer Yard.” Haworth Tompkins, Lovers, 17 Sept. 2019, www.haworthtompkins.com/process/walmer-yard.

-Salter, Peter. Peter Salter: Drawing Walmer Yard. Piano Nobile, 2016.

-Baylight Foundation. “Home.” Walmer Yard, Daylight Foundation, walmeryard.co.uk/.

-Beardsell, Peter, et al. Peter Salter – Walmer Yard. Circa, 2019.

-ORCA. “Four Houses in London, a ‘Back-Lot’ Development, an Example of Packed Urban Dwellings in Which Privacy, Quietness and Defensible Space Are of Strategic Importance.” ORCA. -Hunter, Will. “Walmer Yard by Peter Salter: ‘Four Independent Yet Intimately Related Houses.’” Architects’ Journal, 12 Jan. 2017, doi:https:// www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/walmer-yard-by-peter-salter-four-independent-yet-intimately-related-houses.

-Dean, Corinna. “Property of the Week: Peter Salter’s Interlocking Walmer Yard Homes.” The Spaces, VF Publishing, 22 Nov. 2016, thespaces.com/ peter-salters-interlocking-walmer-yard-homes/.

-AASchoolArchitecture. “Peter Salter - The Walmer Road.” YouTube, YouTube, 28 Sept. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3d6nhnBVk0.

IllustrationsFigure 22 - Own drawing Figure 23 - Image taken from, https://www.pinterest.ie/ pin/317151998756497648/ Figure 24 - Own traced and edited drawing from the book, “Peter Salter: Drawing Walmer Yard” - Piano Books Figure 25 - Own collage including a digimap map, an original drawing and original anotations as well as my own traced drawing from, “Peter Salter: Drawing Walmer Yard” Figure 26 - Own traced and edited drawing from, “Peter Salter: Drawing Walmer Yard”

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Figure 27 - Traced drawing by Edward Salisbury with own drawing overlayed and own anotation Figure 28 - Image taken from, https://walmeryard.co.uk Figure 29 - Own drawing Figure 30 - Own traced, edited and collaged drawing from the book, “Peter Salter: Walmer Yard” - Circa Press Figure 31 - Own traced and edited drawing from the book, “Peter Salter: Drawing Walmer Yard” - Piano Books Figure 32 - Own traced and edited drawing from the book, “Peter Salter: Drawing Walmer Yard” - Piano Books Figure 33 - Anotated image from, https://domstayandlive.com/properties/ walmer-yard/walmer-yard-by-peter-salter-copyright-jim-stephenson-2019-10/ Figure 34 - Own traced and edited drawing from the book, “Peter Salter: Drawing Walmer Yard” - Piano Books Type: Extra Bibliography-https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/walmer-yard-by-peter-salter-four-independent-yet-intimately-related-houses -https://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/peter-salters-walmer-yard-is-awork-of-poetry -https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/nov/20/walmer-yard-london-peter-salter-review IllustrationsFigure 35 - Own traced and edited drawing from, https://walmeryard.co.uk/ drawings/ Figure 36 - Own traced and edited drawing from, https://www.pinterest.co.uk/ pin/550776229422506626/ Figure 37 - Own traced and edited drawing from, https://walmeryard.co.uk/ drawings/ Figure 38 - Image taken and edited after from, https://walmeryard.co.uk/journal/ Figure 39 - Own traced and edited drawing from, https://walmeryard.co.uk/ journal/ Figure 40 - Image taken and edited after from, https://walmeryard.co.uk/stay/ Figure 41 - Own drawing, Image taken and edited after from, https://walmeryard.co.uk/photography/ Figure 42 - Image from, https://www.themodernhouse.com/journal/walmeryard-notting-hill-field-work-crispin-kelly/ Figure 43 - Image taken and edited after from, https://walmeryard.co.uk/stay/ Figure 44 - Own drawing Figure 45 - Image taken and edited after from, https://www.themodernhouse. com/journal/walmer-yard-notting-hill-field-work-crispin-kelly/ User: Extra Bibliography-https://walmeryard.co.uk/journal/zoomedin-festival/ -https://youtu.be/HXN-B2mvfik IllustrationsFigure 46 - Own drawing based on, https://clickclickjim.com/project/248/walmer-yard-london-peter-salter-and-fennela-collingridgex Figure 47 - Own traced and edited drawing from, Figure 48 - Images from, https://clickclickjim.com/project/248/walmer-yardlondon-peter-salter-and-fennela-collingridgex and Helen Binet Figure 49 - Own drawing based on, https://clickclickjim.com/project/248/walmer-yard-london-peter-salter-and-fennela-collingridgex Figure 50 - Image from, https://clickclickjim.com/project/248/walmer-yard-london-peter-salter-and-fennela-collingridgex Figure 51 - Image from, https://www.archdaily.com/800485/walmer-yard-peter-salter/583df2d2e58ecefe3700011c-walmer-yard-peter-salter-sketch?next_ project=yes Figure 52 - Own traced drawing from, https://www.archdaily.com/800485/ walmer-yard-peter-salter/583df2bde58ecefe3700011b-walmer-yard-peter-saltersketch figure 53 - Own drawing Figure 54 - Images from, https://clickclickjim.com/project/248/walmer-yardlondon-peter-salter-and-fennela-collingridgex Figure 55 - Own artwork Figure 56 - Own drawing Figure 57 - Images from, https://clickclickjim.com/project/248/walmer-yardlondon-peter-salter-and-fennela-collingridgex Figure 58 - Image from, https://clickclickjim.com/project/248/walmer-yard-london-peter-salter-and-fennela-collingridgex Figure 59 - Own traced drawing from, https://www.archdaily.com/800485/walmer-yard-peter-salter/583df2c7e58ecee67900005b-walmer-yard-peter-salter-detail?next_project=yes

System

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