FMH
P O R T F O L I O III
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FMH
FAITH MARY HAMILTON
STAGE III PORTFOLIO N E W C A S T L E 1
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Legacies of Modernism
Contents
Studio Tutors Elizabeth Baldwin Gray James Longfield
Illustrated Reflective Report 12
Studio Members: Anna Volkova Abbey Hawkins Anastia Ciorici Anna Moncarzewska Elsie Lam Eric Zheng Faith Hamilton Huyen Anh Do Karen Leung Kenny Tam Oliver Harrington Patricia Prayogo Rodrigo Domingos Shirley Zhu Sofia Turner Sophie Tilley
Primer 16 Staging 54 Case Study 88 Thinking Through Making 168 Realisation and Refinement 176 Thinking Through Making Workshops 322 Illustrated Cultural Bibliography 336
With thanks to my fiancé Dylan McKenna-Redshaw, my personal tutor Martyn Dade-Robertson and my studio tutors, Elizabeth Baldwin Gray and James Longfield.
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Legacies of Modernism
Theory
Scale
Volume
Popular criticism of modern architecture focusses on the prevailing images of an identifiable aesthetic, however, by developing a sophisticated understanding of the social and spatial processes which underpinned the emergence of modern movements, I am to contend with their complementarities and differences. There were a series of confluences in thought and design which intersected and diverged in the emerging modern movement, however this exploration will be anchored specifically by a particular focus on the writings and buildings of Le Corbusier. To catalyst my own theoretical position, by undertaking close readings of two keys movements of modern architecture: early European Modernism and the later British manifestation of Brutalism, I am to contend with the legacies of modernism through a series of analytical and propositional spatial exercises.
Projection
Civic
The project is heavily ingrained in theory and explores the role of such as a driving force in the formation and realisation of an architectural project. By engaging with the contemporary legacies of modernist ideas and construction in the North East of England, I am to establish a critical position which will feed into the generation of a new design proposition for one of these locations.
PHOTOGRAPH OF STUDIO
By studying and adopting the processes that created them, I am to develop a spatial awareness of scale, volume, and projection, to push beyond standard notions of style into an understanding of the modern project.
To ground my own theoretical position, I am to address the contemporary relevance of these intrinsically linked movements, through a continuation of their conflicted emergences.
Legacies of Modernism studio group and tutor at the Primer Exhibition.
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‘Architecture is a plane for human activity. It is not one which inflicts or is dominant, yet one which foregrounds the human figure above all else.’
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Illustrated Reflective Report III
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Illustrated Reflective Report ‘Architecture is not just about function, it is about many other things, form, light, structure, shadow, smell and so on. Architecture is a phenomenological experience, which evokes all 7 of the users’ senses.’ (Hamilton, 2020) As a continuation of the conflicted emergences of the linked movements of the studied 20th century theorists, I contended with my own legacy. My project is heavily ingrained in theory and explores the role of such as a driving force in the formation and realisation of an architectural project. Popular criticism of modern architecture focusses on the prevailing images of an identifiable aesthetic, however, through a series of analytical and propositional spatial exercises, I was able to develop a sophisticated understanding of the social and spatial processes which underpinned the emergence of modern movements. There were a series of confluences in thought and design which intersected and diverged in the emerging modern movement, however my exploration was heavily anchored specifically by a particular focus on the writings and buildings of Le Corbusier and the theory and writings of Alison and Peter Smithson. By engaging with the contemporary legacies of modernist ideas and construction in the North East of England, I established a critical position which fed into the generation of a new design proposition. My main objectives were to design a modern building, with sustainability as the leading objective, but also a building which commented on all the theoreticians of the modernist movement. 14 350
A building which whilst owning its own identity, was reflective of the wider area of Peterlee; futuristic yet overtly aware of such a historically industrial New town. ‘Architecture is a plane for human activity. It represents humanity, human beings and their interconnections with one another, it is not a dominant form of architecture nor one that tries to inflict on the human being, yet one which foregrounds the human figure above all else’ (Hamilton, 2020). Throughout the portfolio my own theoretical manifesto is ever evolving, influenced by the theoretical readings and investigations taken throughout the year. It seemed inappropriate and non sensical to me, to include my resulting manifesto as a part of the primer section, towards the beginning of the year. It seemed more appropriate to weave this throughout all the sections, to illustrate the theoretical journey I took during my architectural education. Although my feedback from the Primer Review suggests that my manifesto at that moment was ‘not yet clear how well you have grasped the theoretical ideas or formed your own opinions/positions on them’ (Longfield and Baldwin Gray, 2018), I ‘continued to re-work this’ by extending my engagement throughout with the role of theory and idea as driving forces in the formation and realisation of an architectural project. I hope that this demonstrates the layered traces of memory held within my creative process: within the materials and constructions methods I chose to employ, whilst also questioning their contemporary applicability.
As a studio, Legacies of Modernism derived a process, studying theorists and their theories, looking at other artists and architects, exploring their layered traces of memory held within the materials and construction methods, synthesising their ways of working and then translating this into method and understanding of architectural design and representation. I developed an understanding of volumetric, planar and grid design, a way of drawing which comes from the understanding of the theory and representations of Alison and Peter Smithson, but, the introduction of Virtual Reality into this process is my own legacy. During Covid-19, our real lives and our virtual lives have never been more interwoven. Integrating Virtual reality into architecture.
In lockdown, I adopted Virtual Reality, not only to fulfil my design work, but also in my personal life, as a way of staying connected with the outside world. In architecture, I use Virtual Reality throughout all the different stages of design: from site analysis, to testing out iterations of design in Virtual Reality, to experiencing detail models at 1:1 scale. These tools are novel, but the innovation and application of them into my design process is one of original exploration, taking you way beyond the realms of typical architectural representation. My project is not just about gaming and Virtual Reality, yet about the idea of representation in the age of Virtual Reality in architecture. In Legacies of Modernism, we focussed on designing from the detail out, instead of typical architectural design which works down in scale from the master planning. I explore these imaging techniques throughout the entire portfolio, even in the detail and experiment with the idea of the virtual and the real, the projected and the material.
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Early European Modernism
The Legacy Modern architecture is considered to constitute a radically altered approach to design which emerged in response to the rapid industrialisation of Europe in the early 20th Century. Artists and architects sought the irradiation of the old spirit, The Individual, and pursued the embodiment of a new spirit, The Universal. Modernist groups such as The Bauhaus and De Stijl emerged with a new energy. Through a series of close, analytical and propositional exercises, I was to contend with the legacy of early European modernism.
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De Stijl An architectural-theoretical approach is crucial to my design thinking. Architectural theory and a critical awareness of contemporary and historic design is integral to the design process. In order to sharpen my awareness and understanding of architectural movements, I began by studying De Stijl. ‘‘De Stijl’ Manifesto I 1. There is an old and a new consciousness of the age. The old one is directed towards the individual. The new one is directed towards the universal. The struggle of the individual against the universal may be seen both in the world war and in modern art. 2. The war is destroying the old world with its content: individual predominance in every field. 3. The new art has brought to light that which is contained in the new consciousness of the age: a relationship of equality between the universal and the individual. 4. The new consciousness of the age is prepared to realize itself in everything, including external life. 5. Tradition, dogmas and the predominance of the individual stand in the way of realization. 6. Therefore the founders of the new culture call upon all who believe in reform of art and culture to destroy these obstacles to development, just as in the plastic arts, by doing away with the natural form – they have eliminated that which stood in the way of pure artistic expression, the logical conclusion of every artistic concept.
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7. The artists of today, all over the world, impelled by one and the same consciousness, have taken part on the spiritual plane in the world war against the domination of individualism, or arbitrariness. They therefore sympathize with all who are fighting spiritually or materially for the formation of an international unity in life, art, and culture. 8. The organ De Stijl, founded for this purpose, seeks to contribute towards setting the new conception of life in a clear light. The collaboration of all is possible by: Sending in (to the editorial board) as a proof of agreement the (exact) name, address, and profession. Contributions in the broadest sense (critical, philosophical, architectural, scientific, literary, musical, etc., as well as reproductions) to the monthly magazine De Stijl. Translations into other languages and prpogation of the views published in De Stijl. Signatures of the contributors: Theo van Doesburg, painter. Robt. Van’t Hoff, architect. Vilmos Huszar, painter. Antony Kok, poet. Piet Mondrian, painter. G. Vantongerloo, sculptor. Jan Wils, architect.’ (De Stijl, 1922)
Collection of work from De Stijl movement by Theo van Doesburg. Top left - Counter-construction, 1924. Above left - Construction in Space-Time III. Top right - Construction in Space-Time II. Above right - Construction in Space-Time I.
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Construction in Space-Time III by Theo van Doesburg, 1924..
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Oil painting exploring the use of colour in Construction in Space-Time III by Theo van Doesburg.
Axonometric drawing scaled from the original Construction in Space-Time III by Theo van Doesburg, exploring scale and insections of planes.
Free-hand line drawing of Construction in Space-Time III by Theo van Doesburg, exploring extensions of planes and concept of scale in Phenomenology.
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Theo van Doesburg
Constructions in Space-Time III
Planar + Grid
In the early 20th Century, Theo van Doesburg, the founder of De Stijl, began by exploring three dimensional spaces in axonometric projection. By observing van Doesburg’s Construction in Space-Time III, I took three spatial languages: Volumetric, Planar and Grid and built models inspired by them. By merging abstract painting and the spatial constructions of De Stijl into the generative process of conceptual architectural design, through model building and axonometric analytical drawing, I am able to refine my own design thinking and skills, with a true appreciation for the spatial complexities and scalar variations of the modern work produced.
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Volumetric
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Volumetric + Planar + Grid
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Theoretical Manifesto
De Echte Stijl In previous manifestos, it is written ‘there is an old and a new consciousness of the age’, well I propose to you instead, not an old nor a new, yet the correct consciousness of the age. The correct one is directed towards both the individual and the universal, the struggle between such will cease to exist. Instead, we will see throughout the entire world, both the individual and the universal prosper in a paradise of such a correct age. A constructive doctrine which is aimed at a future aesthetic. An aesthetic which will not fail like those previous, yet where both form and function coexist in harmony, both with equal weighting in a design’s realisation.
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Left - Final model exploring all three languages: Volumetric, Planar and Grid and the theme of scale: perception and disstortion. Right - Composite drawing of photograph of final model and layered pencil drawing, exploring the orthogonality and rigidity of the grid language.
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Multiple details of the final model exploring all three languages: Volumetric, Planar and Grid. Left - Detail of all three languages and how these spaces engage with each other in both harmony and discord. Top right - Detail exploring light and dark, contrast, shadow and brightness within the spaces. Above right - Detail of the containment of the grid spaces whilst exploring opportunities of flexible, collaborative spaces.
Multiple angles of the final model exploring all three languages: Volumetric, Planar and Grid.
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Art and Architectural Theory The Influence Through an exploration of the relationships between art and architectural ideas in addressing space, I have drawn connections in terms of spatial exploration between these two modes of working: 2D drawing and 3D modelling.
Layered plan drawing of all ‘floors’ in my final model.
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The relationship between the abstract axonometric paintings of Theo van Doesburg and Gerrit Rietveld’s Schroder House as a product of the De Stijl movement, offered a point of reflection and way of developing my own design.
Axonometric projection of my final model.
Composite drawing of layered plans and axonometric projection of my final model.
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Composite drawing I.
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Composite drawing II.
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El Lissitzky
Prounenraum In 1923, El Lissitzky occupied a small square space at the Greater Berlin Art Exhibition. In contrast to traditional exhibitions of hanging paintings, El Lissitzky installed new Proun compositions with reliefs on the walls, creating a three-dimensional Proun space.
Prounenraum by El Lissitzky, 1923.
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Top - reconstruction of El Lissitzky’s 1923 Prounenraum, 1971. Above - Axonometric Projection of the Prounenraum installed at the Greater Berlin Art Exhibition by El Lissitzky, 1923.
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Legacies of Modernism
Proun Room As a studio, we designed our own Proun Room, alike El Lissitzky, installing painted timber planes with reliefs, creating a four-dimensional Proun space. The exhibit is a recreation of moments from our final model as details interacting with the human scale. Our proun room was to serve as an exhibition for the Primer celebration.
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Sketches of Proun Room. Left - Plan sketch of installation detailing layout, scale, projection, groups and views. Right - Sketch detailing interactions between planes and the projection.
Section of Proun Room: functionally a stand and container for the projector, formally a recreation of a moment in my final model as a detail interacting with the human scale. Top left – Diagram outlining the moment taken from my final model. Above left – Initial sketch of the Proun composition detailing dimensions. Right – Photograph of final composition.
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Studio Manifesto
Film Production The Primer culminates in the declaration of a holistic theoretical manifesto, comprising of both the visual and the written, which distils my understanding of the ideas engaged with through the analytical readings and exercises. This provides me with a set of theoretical critiques and spatial tools which I am able to utilise in the develoment of my own design proposition. In parallel with this, as a studio we developed a group manifesto, a combination of our individual manifestos, for some a continuation of conflicting emergences, and others a reactionary contrast to the ideas of the modernist movement.
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Film strip showing stills from the final film directed and produced by myself and my sub-studio members: Abbey Hawkins and Kenny Tam.
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The Bauhaus
‘The old schools of art were unable to produce this unity; how could they, since art cannot be taught. They must be merged once more with the workshop. The mere drawing and painting world of the pattern designer and the applied artist must become a world that builds again. When young people who take a joy in artistic creation once more begin their life’s work by learning a trade, then the unproductive ‘artist’ will no longer be condemned to deficient artistry, for their skill will now be preserved for the crafts, in which they will be able to achieve excellence.’ (Gropius, 1919) Alike the students of the Bauhaus, we sought the unity of all the arts in order to achieve a holistic architectural project. Through a series of close, analytical and propositional exercises, in a variety of media: axonometric projection drawing, modelling, photography, videography, compositional installations, graphic design and product design we were able to explore this thesis. As a part of the Primer project, as a studio we collectively designed and produced clothing to not only celebrate our work, but to also raise money for the studio field trip.
Sample print design for the Legacies of Modernism T-Shirts.
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NCL08 LEGACIES NCL08 NCL08 LEGACIES LEGACIES OF OF MODERNISM OF MODERNISM MODERNISM PRIMER PRIMER SHOW PRIMER SHOW SHOW 12/11/18 12/11/18 12/11/18
NCL08 LEGACIES LEGACIES NCL08 NCL08 LEGACIES OF MODERNISM MODERNISM OF OF MODERNISM PRIMER SHOW SHOW PRIMER PRIMER SHOW 12/11/18 12/11/18 12/11/18
Product Design
Top - T-Shirts for sale at the Primer Exhibition to raise money for the Studio Field Trip. Above - T-Shirts on display at the Primer Exhibition.
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Primer Exhibition
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The Primer Exhibition
The Primer Exhibition was an opportunity for all of the studios to showcase their work and to celebrate the diversity in the range of projects and creative processors. Work was finished to a finalised standard which could be exhibited to the rest of the school and the general public.
The Proun Room designed by Legacies of Modernism served as an exhibit for the Primer Exhibition, including the development of the three dimensional models, two dimensional axonometric drawings, the T-shirts, the film and both the individual and the studio manifesto.
Studio leaflet designed to handout at the Primer Exhibition, introducing who we are and what we stand for.
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Proun Room threshold, experimenting with planes and the interaction between these and the human scale.
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Photographs of Primer Exhibition. Top - Painted timber planes with reliefs on the walls, exhibiting the final composite drawings. Above One - Interactions between the threshold plane and volumetric language of the composition. Above Two - Proun Room composition. Above Three - Interaction between human scale and the Proun Room. Above Four - Interaction between Volumetric, Planar and Grid languages of the Proun Room.
Images of my final model in the exhibition. Top - Detail of my final model, exploring the disstortion of scale between the composite model and the gridded, planar elements beyond. Above Left - Film projection onto my final model and the planar elements of the threshold. Above Right - Detail of the final film projected onto my model, exploring the use of colour on planar elements.
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Holistic photographs of my final outcome for the Primer Exhibition, demonstrating the interactions between different medias, both physical and digital.
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Studio Manifesto
Architecture should start from nature because nature provides the infinite possible variations of light, temperature, and noise. Modernism somehow becomes a new standard for capital city but the buildings might only provide a unique appearance with terrible circulation and interaction for the users. With all the colours available to us, to paint your walls white is an insult. Beauty in architectural design lies in the careful thoughtfulness of the mundane. An aesthetic which will not fail like those previous, yet where both form and function coexist in harmony, both with equal weighting in a design’s realization. Architecture is gradually turning away from the arbitrary and picturesque, the capricious and disorderly, and is turning towards constructive necessity and mathematical order. The correlation between modern architecture and art lies in the same principle of following a grid that constructs a form, evolving into a geometrical composition for a purely functional space.
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‘Exploring the infinity ‘and ‘it is what is inside that counts’. Art and architecture should have a close relationship to each other but they should not be emerged, as in architecture, ‘form follows function’. Whilst foreforming the body as a social unit has brought necessary change to our design practice, it’s mechanization has come at the inexplicably detrimental erasure of its multiplicities. I urge you to consider an architecture that holds function above form. Architecture finds itself in every bricks, tiles, sculpture, book and painting. Function should be capital and bold. Art may seem to be lost in this modern period where form is followed by function, the strive for beauty is deceived by profits, uniqueness is replaced by generic. There should be no boundary in architecture. Architecture of modernist era has a strong political language to it and idea expression. Art in any of its form is a true form of political expression and manifestation.
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Le Corbusier
Five points towards a new architecture ‘1. The supports. 2. The roof gardens. 3. The free designing of the ground-plan. 4. The horizontal window. 5. Free design of the façade.’ ‘1. The supports. To solve a problem scientifically means in the first place to distinguish between its elements. Hence in the case of a building a distinction can immediately be made between the supporting and the non-supporting elements. The earlier foundations, on which the building rested without a mathematical check, are replaced by individual foundations and the walls by individual supports. Both supports and support foundations are precisely calculated according to the burdens they are called upon to carry. These supports are spaced out at specific, equal intervals, with no thought for the interior arrangement of the building. They rise directly from the floor to 3,4,6 etc. metres and elevate the ground floor. The rooms are thereby removed from the dampness of the soil; they have light and air; the build-ing plot is left to the garden, which consequently passes under the house. The same area is also gained on the flat roof.’ (Corbusier, 1926)
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Field Trip
Paris
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Notre Dame
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Left - Photograph of Notre-Dame de Paris. Right – Starting sketch of the view in Notre-Dame de Paris.
Top left - Internal view of stain glass window, exploring the theme of the craftsman and the artist. Top right - Photograph of the scale model on display within the Notre Dame, exploring the theme of scale. Above left - Detail of threshold in the scale model within the Notre Dame. Above right - Internal view of stain glass window, exploring the theme of light and dark.
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Maison La Roche and Maison Jeanneret
Photograph of me inside the Maison La Roche, in Paris, on the balcony connecting the art gallery to the villa.
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Photograph of the external façade of the art gallery in the Maison La Roche.
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Left – Sketch of the external façade of the Maison Jeanneret, in Paris. Right – Photograph of the external façade of the Maison Jeanneret.
Left – Photograph of the profile of the external façade of the Maison Jeanneret. Right – Sketch of the profile of the external façade of the Maison Jeanneret, showing the flow of people in the private and public entrance, and exploring the experience of the horizontal strip window.
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Multiple photographs of the internal experience of the Maison La Roche. Exploring the windows and the ramp entrance to the art gallery. Including a sketch of the ramp, exploring public and private access and directed routes throughout the building.
Split experiential photograph of the ramp entrance to the art gallery in the Maison La Roche, exploring the movement of people.
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Multiple photographs of the lighting inside the Maison La Roche and the Maison Jeanneret, both artificial and natural.
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Multiple photographs of the Pilotis at the Maison La Roche and the Maison Jeanneret, exploring the interactions between these and the floor plan, where they are in harmony or in discord.
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Photograph of the atrium, linking both the Maison La Roche and the Maison Jeanneret, exploring the multiple access routes of ramps, stairs and connecting balconies.
Multiple photographs of the roofscape of the Maison La Roche and the Maison Jeanneret, exploring the green roof and balcony to be enjoyed in the summer months of Paris.
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Le Corbusier Studio Apartment + Foundation
Photograph of the external façade and entrance to the Le Corbusier Studio Apartment + Foundation, in Paris.
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Multiple photographs of the studio in the Le Corbusier Studio Apartment + Foundation.
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Detail photograph of the material used in the studio of the Le Corbusier Studio Apartment + Foundation.
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Multiple photographs of the custom furniture designed for the Le Corbusier Studio Apartment + Foundation.
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Multiple photographs of the internal spaces of the Le Corbusier Studio Apartment + Foundation, exploring the living room, kitchen and staircase.
Photograph of the bespoke door designed for the Le Corbusier Studio Apartment + Foundation.
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Multiple photographs of the bespoke bathroom designed for the Le Corbusier Studio Apartment + Foundation.
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Villa Savoye
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Left – Leaflet from the Villa Savoye, in Poissy. Top Right – Sketch of the site plan of the Villa Savoye, exploring the organisation around the axonometric plan and the experience of the person and their motor vehicle. Above Right – Photograph of a group discussion in the kitchen of the Villa Savoye.
Multiple photographs of the external facades of the Villa Savoye, designed ergonomically around the size, shape and turn of the wheel of the motor vehicle.
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Multiple photographs of the access in the Villa Savoye, exploring the ramps and staircases designed throughout, including a quick sketch of the main ramp in the entrance area.
Multiple photographs of colour and the Villa Savoye. Including how light enters the glass above the main entrance, the greenery used on the green roof and two paint samples, showing the original paint colour and all the renovation stages in the colour palette.
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Multiple photographs of the internal spaces in the Villa Savoye. Including the bespoke bathroom, kitchen and a window in one of the bedrooms.
Multiple photographs of the dressing room in the Villa Savoye. Exploring the use of colour, light and windows in the space.
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Multiple photographs of the bespoke kitchen in the Villa Savoye, exploring views through and connectivity of the space.
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Multiple photographs of the main living space in the Villa Savoye, exploring open plan living and connectivity to nature.
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Case Study
Villa Savoye
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C. Site
Location The Villa Savoye, also evocatively known as “Les Heures Claires”, stands in Poissy, a small town in the Yvelines region, bordering the river Seine. It lies over thirty kilometres west of Central Paris. The residential district that accommodates the Villa Savoye is located on a hilltop position from where it commands breath-taking views of the river Seine as it weaves its sinuous thread through the landscape. Such is complimented by the form of the Solarium, which hints towards the houses’ wider context and place. The form of such also offers protection for the user from the wind, and offers a place for contemplation, rest and a space to escape the city below. Of recent urban development, this quiet neighbourhood also houses a school named after Le Corbusier. The school surrounds the site of the Villa Savoye, interrupting her views of the breath-taking landscape. Villa Savoye is hidden from the street, only a monumental millstone wall can be perceived, running along the southern edge of the site, crowned with treetops which hint at the grounds beyond.
Site Plan showing the wider context of the Villa Savoye and its location in relation to Poissy train station and Central Paris.
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Site Plans showing the site analysis. Including sun path, wind, route through the site, views from the Villa Savoye and views of the Villa Savoye.
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C. Site
The Approach
Promenade Architecturale
The approach to the Villa Savoye is extremely controlled by Le Corbusier. Following his ideas on the ‘Promenade Architecturale’, the site is designed so that one approaches the building from one prescribed route, the house has no ‘front’ but a definite approach facade. After following a little gravel path through a dense glade, one first glimpses the Villa Savoye from an opening in the woodland.
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C. Site
Nature A relationship between nature and man is prevalent throughout the design of Villa Savoye. From design concepts to colour use – the threshold wall between the ground floor gardens and the interior space is painted green.
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Top - Found Objects I. Above - Found Objects II.
Top Left – Photograph of a tree located on the site, at Villa Savoye, Tree I. Top Right – Lead rubbing of Tree I. Above Left - Photograph of a second tree located on the site, at Villa Savoye, Tree II. Above Right – Lead rubbing of Tree II.
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C. Site
This relationship with nature and the site continues throughout the entire design. Consistently blurring the lines between the exterior and interior through the use of his strip windows, Le Corbusier controls the view of the user by framing such with a window frame.
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A Series of Framed Views I.
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A Series of Framed Views II.
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H. Structural Strategy
Five points towards a new architecture 1. The supports. 2. The roof gardens. 3. The free designing of the ground-plan. 4. The horizontal window. 5. Free design of the façade.
The Supports Roof Garden The Free Designing of The Ground Plan The Horizontal Window Free Design of The Facade Pilotis - Primary Beams - Secondary Floor Slabs - Tertiary
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Exploded Axonometric showing the structural strategy reasoning.
Floor Plans showing the order of structure.
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‘At times, these Pilotis are in harmony with the other elements of the building, at other times they are afflicted with them.’ (Hamilton, 20202).
H. Structural Strategy
Pilotis
Pilotis At the Villa Savoye, ‘the earlier foundations, on which the building rested without mathematical check, are replaced by individual foundations and the walls by individual supports.’ The Pilotis are spaced out as specific, equal intervals, with no thought for the interior arrangement of the building. As a result, these Pilotis are at points, in harmony with other elements of the building, yet at others, they are afflicted with them.
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Left – Photograph of one of the Pilotis at the Villa Savoye. Right – Exploded Axonometric of the structural strategy, showing the beams and Pilotis used at the Villa Savoye.
Multiple photographs of the Pilotis at the Villa Savoye, exploring their harmony and discord.
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A Modernist Walk
Newcastle
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Brutalism
Newcastle Following the two World Wars, the potential of modern architecture was entirely embraced by infamous politician T.Dan Smith and Chief Planner Wilfred Burns to enable and represent: a renewed civic vision, technical purpose and social agenda. Ambitious plans for the centre of Newcastle were proposed, along modernist lines in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Brutalism was never just an architectural aesthetic, it was a political concept, an attitude and political weapon, governed by a particular idea – no architecture, nothing, is too good for any ordinary person. However, after decades of neglect from local councils, Brutalism’s buildings are now either ‘icons’ or ‘eyesores’, ‘fine for the Barbican’s stockbrokers but unacceptable for the people who were always intended inhabitants.’ (Hatherly, 2010)
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New Brutalism started to emerge as a more muscular, socially charged movement. It was positioned in part, as a reaction to the reduction of early modernism to a ‘mechanistic and technocratic’ functionalism which lacked any acknowledgment of place and social milleu. It was a socialist concept, driven by humanism and governed by a particular social idea architecture had a social responsibility. New Brutalism was a political sensitivity, holistically bringing together both the social and material choices which were made. New Brutalism described this through the use of materials and structures as a political decision, as well as an aesthetic.
Multiple photographs taken on A Modernist Walk around Newcastle, exploring the ambitious, brutalist plans for the centre of Newcastle in the 1950s and 1960s.
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Top – Photograph of Mea House, showing the interaction between the old and the new. Above – Detail of Mea House, exploring the tectonic qualities of the building.
Multiple views of Cuthbert House, exploring material qualities, scale and human interaction.
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Alison and Peter Smithson
New Brutalism New Brutalism started to emerge in Great Britain during the early 1950s. The shifting positions of its main propagators, Alison and Peter Smithson, sought to combine modern architecture with a multiplicity of tendencies within British culture; looking backwards to previous theories and practice in order to build the future. The Smithsons defined New Brutalism as laying emphasis on the material qualities of architecture and the importance of the human figure and their interactions between one another. This related to their ambition to redesign the system of relationships between the everyday, domesticity, labour and the larger society. In short, it was a different ‘way of life’ that was behind the Smithsons’ project for New Brutalism. New Brutalism was to denote an ethos of uncompromising honesty in architectural materiality. Everything was honest, everything was left as found (Smithson, 2001), so if it was brick, it was just bare brick, if it was concrete, it was just bare concrete. The built form describes this through the use of materials and structures as a political decision, as well as an aesthetic.
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New Towns
North East England In the North East of England, after the first world war, one could identify both an urgent need and an opportunity, occasioned by postwar reconstruction and the construction of the Welfare State, ‘to demonstrate architecture as a public service.’ (Summerson, 1959) The notable work produced in the first fifteen years or so after the war altered irrevocably the national meaning of architecture. The potential of modern architecture was entirely embraced to enable and represent: a renewed civic vision, technical purpose and social agenda. Local practice Ryder + Yates developed a strikingly regional expression of Brutalism, influenced by Le Corbusier, (with whom they had worked in the 1940s) and his Five Points Toward a New Architecture. New towns were developed to not only provide a place for the minors to live but also a place for them to create their own community. The Peterlee Development Corporation was established in 1948, under the direction of A.V. Williams with the Russian modernist architect Berthold Lubetkin directing the design.
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History of Industry
Ryder and Yates Industry was the fundamental concept of a ‘New Town’, the development of Killingworth and Peterlee not only provided a place to house the minors, but also a place for them to work. Designed to attract new industries, they provided an opportunity to bring together radical modern architecture, employing the new technological society. Killingworth New Town was first proposed in 1959 by Northumberland County Council as a means of regenerating a former area of coal mining, it was developed in the 1960s under the guidance of Roy Gazzard. Ryder + Yates subsequently designed a series of industrial buildings in Killingworth for the Northern Gas Board.
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Peterlee New Town was first commissioned in 1948, by the Peterlee Development Corporation. However, after Berthold Lubetkin’s original masterplan for Highrise of flats were rejected as being unsuitable, the project lost momentum, thus artist Victor Pasmore was appointed as Director of Urban Design. Pasmore worked with other architects to develop the 300 acre Sunny Blunts estate in south west Peterlee. Both New Towns have a strong history of industry, from railways to toy making, industry was prevalent. Yet today, Killingworth and Peterlee’s legacies are mixed, with a significant decline in industry. My site analysis looks backwards in time at their legacy to develop my own legacy, looking towards a new industry, a future industry.
Top – Panoramic photograph of the old Ryder + Yates’ office on Northumbrian Way, Killingworth. Above - Photograph of Norgas House, Killingworth by Ryder and Yates, 1965.
Top - Photograph of the Engineering Research Station, Killingworth by Ryder and Yates, 2019. Above - Photograph of the Engineering Research Station, Killingworth by Ryder and Yates, 1967.
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South West Industrial Newcastle - 22 Miles Estate
Easington
Peterlee
Developing A Civic Building
Peterlee ‘Urbanism is the framework within which Architecture and the other plastic arts must be integrated to perform once more a social function. This integration will be achieved through a synthesis of effort contributed by architects, painters, and sculptors working in cooperation in the true communion of a single team.’ (CIAM, 1952)
Horden
New Brutalism was a political sensitivity, holistically bringing together both the social and material choices which were made. It was a socialist concept, driven by humanism and governed by a particular social idea. Architecture had a social responsibility. Alison and Peter Smithson thought that architecture could make better society (Smithson, 2016). In Peterlee, there is a significant issue with unemployment, as a result of a decline in industry, particularly within young people, my design aims to target this, to create significant social change and improvement. Shotton
CENTRE FOR VIRTUAL REALITY
Thornley 118 350
Hartlepool - 9 Miles
London - 261 Miles
Castle Eden
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Victor Pasmore
An Experiment in Total Environment After Berthold Lubetkin’s original masterplan for Highrise of flats were rejected as being unsuitable, new designs were submitted by Grenfell Baines, drawing inspiration from the Garden City principles. However, after the project lost momentum, artist Victor Pasmore was appointed as Director of Urban Design. Pasmore worked with other architects to develop the Sunny Blunts estate in south west Peterlee. Here, the planning of the entire roadscape of the masterplan is in direct conflict with the natural landscape, instead of following the picturesque theory, the roads run perpendicular to the natural contours of the land. This ideal is something which I intend to follow in my design, with the programme site of the building running perpendicular to the river. Community was the fundamental concept of a ‘New Town’, the development of Peterlee not only provided a place for the ex-minors to live but also a place for them to create their own community. This concept of ‘community’ was not just an ideal but was also physically represented
represented in the masterplan and the relationship between the masses in this. The houses stand in relation to each other and in relation to the site much more than standing alone, for themselves – a community of forms is shaped. At Peterlee, spatial continuity and a ‘community idea’ were stressed by the representation of the building as a component, not a monument: reviewing ‘the idea of architecture in the 1950s’ from the immediate vantage point of 1960, one of the emerging figures of British architecture in the 1950s, Peter Smithson wrote: the ‘new architecture’ presents an ‘idea of the building as a component and not as a monument’; of ‘building towards the community idea’. (Smithson, 1960) In a similar vein, particular significance was not to be sought or found in the individual building designed by the individual architect so much as in the whole material environment – in the types of structure and equipment involved and the incidence of those types; in the relationships of building to building, building to street, space to space.
The site plan of housing at Sunny Blunts estate showing the clustering of units within a rolling landscape, 1966.
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Facade Studies
An Absense of a Clear Front or Back During the master planning at Peterlee, spatial continuity and a community idea were stressed by, amongst other things, the absence of a clear back or front to many of the houses. ‘Wherever one stands, all the housing looks related both to a plan and to the way people actually live’ (Architects’ Journal, 1961).
Façade Study of the housing in the South West area of Peterlee, exploring the colour pallet used and showing the absence of a clear front or back.
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Peterlee
The Social and Economic Neighbourhood
top 10% most deprived within
‘Of all New Towns, Peterlee promised the most but achieved the least’ (Harwood, 2015).
ranked
the
n a t i o n a l l y . Employment and Education Deprivation In Peterlee, there is a high amount of unemployed people, many families are into their 3rd generation of unemployment. According to the 2011 consensus, of the 17,325 people of working age, 2460 of those were unemployed. At 14.2%, this is over three times the national average of 3.9%. There are several reasons for this: a decline in the welfare state, a lack of funding into the North East from the private or public sector, cuts to funding for youth groups and educational programmes and a decline in industry. Since the 1980s the area has witnessed a period of major economic restructuring with the decline of the mining industry. According to the 1981 census, 53% of all males’ jobs were in coal mining, these pit closures devastated the local community in terms of unemployment and the loss of the social fabric that had held the community together. Peterlee has seen an entire decline in industry: textiles, manufacturing and heavy engineering. However, in the late 2010s, with the opening of the VBites manufacturing factory, the New Town saw a complete shift in ‘the emphasis on attracting a diversity of employers… to build on the success of the existing industrial estates.’ (Peterlee Town Council, 2019). 124 350
The proposal looks backwards in time and history to build upon the existing industrial estate, to create a new industry, a future industry for Peterlee, it will create employment, provide education and housing and also create economic growth for the area. From the years 2010-2015, there was a 0% increase/decrease in population, however, there was a decrease of 4% in the population of young people. Discussing the socio-economic situation of Peterlee on a site visit to the Apollo Pavilion, I discovered that this is due to the employment and education skills and training deprivation in Peterlee. According to a local government official, ‘all the young, bright and motivated people leave the area, they leave to go to university or to find employment elsewhere, usually in London, as they are unable to find jobs in their own place – Peterlee’. My Goal is to target this demographic, to provide the choice to the young, bright and motivated youth of Peterlee, to live and work in their place: providing housing and services, income, employment and education skills and training wealth. The proposal will not only offer these opportunities to the young people of Peterlee, but also to any young people within the wider context of the North East and provides them all with the opportunity to return to Peterlee, once completing their studies at a university.
46.1% of the population are experiencing income deprivation 60.8% of the working age population are experiencing some form of
employment deprivation
37.7% of the population are experiencing education deprivation 67.5% of
the population are experiencing
health deprivation
P o p u l a t i o n
2 7 5 0 0 .
63% of 27500 = 17325 14.2% of 17325 = 2460 Therefore:
2460 people are unemployed.
Graphic showing the socioeconomics of Peterlee.
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Antisocial Behaviour
Where did the young people go? Completed in 1969, the Apollo Pavilion was the centrepiece of the Sunny Blunts housing development of Peterlee. At this time, the New Town was run by the Development Corporation, a government quango. However, in 1978, the housing stock, including the Apollo Pavilion, was handed over to Easington District Council. Their main responsibility was housing and thus, the pavilion became a low priority and soon fell into decline. Local residents complained about its appearance and the fact that it had become a centre for antisocial behaviour, even suggesting it should be demolished. By this time, the Apollo Pavilion had become a social space used by youths, to hang out, graffiti, smoke and drink – ‘a social problem!’ The council removed the staircase and added greenery, using the sculpture as a giant plant pot. In 1998, the Apollo Pavilion Community Association was created in order to protect the Apollo Pavilion, ‘a free and anonymous monument’ (Wilson, 2004), a social sculpture - architecture of the welfare state. Subsequently in 2020, one can see a restored sculpture, with stairs re-fitted and concrete
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cleaned and restored. But in 2020, where are all the young people? Living in a world where it is becoming more and more easy to escape the reality and enter the virtual world, we have a whole new ‘space’ – cyber space. Young peoples’ attention has become more focused on their social media persona, their Instagram accounts, and how they are perceived online and less about their flesh and blood, physical experience of the world. In the gaming world, you can be whomever you want to be. You may be a geeky 16-year-old in reality, but in the gaming world, you are a beast whom everybody fears. This is seen as a problem; we are becoming more and more detached with reality and the space around us. However, I propose a design which will exploit the need to ‘escape’ reality as a way of re-engaging young people not only with one another, but also with reality, place, the built environment and their phenomenological experience of the world.
Top – The Apollo Pavilion, photographed in the late 1970s, showing the antisocial behaviour which had appropriated the sculpture. Above - The Apollo Pavilion, photographed in 2020, after the restoration.
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Peterlee
Sunny Blunts Park
Local Public House Site Proposal
Peterlee Town Council
A New Industry For Peterlee The centre for virtual reality will be situated in a central location between the six towns and nestled next to the Apollo Pavilion, Castle Eden Dene and the Sunny Blunts estate. It will have strong links with its surrounding context as seen in the map opposite. It is closest to the town of Peterlee which is known for its historic mining industry. The proposal builds upon the existing industrial estates and will create a new industry sector for Peterlee, noting the development of industry in Peterlee, the proposal will create employment, provide education and housing and also create economic growth for the area of Peterlee, elevating Peterlee up to the leading industrial capital of the North East. With the close proximity to Horden railway station and Peterlee bus stops, new access routes through the site have been explored to directly connect the centre to these. There is the potential for the centre to not only be utilised by students from the nearby Easington Academy,
Easington South West Industrial Estate
Peterlee
Horden
Newcastle Shotton Thornley
CENTRE FOR VIRTUAL REALITY Castle Eden
Hartlepool
Castle Eden Dene
Dene Community School and St Bede’s Comprehensive School, but also by any student across the north east who may want to attend the centre’s workshops and celebratory cultural events.
CENTRE FOR VIRTUAL REALITY Apollo Pavilion Sunny Blunts Estate
Site for the Centre For Virtual Reality within the local context.
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Garage
Initial Site Exploration
Industrial Residential Commercial Community
Context and Constraints
Apollo Pavilion
Sun Path There are no physical obstacles which shade the site from any direction, there is a building on the west boundary, but this is a one storey garage. However, in the winter, the low north eastern sun and the residential estate and forestry to the south will limit achieving maximum light. Overheating could potentially be an issue in the summer, if extensive glazing is used on the south east façade, however, with proper ventilation, this could be exploited for heating water. Prevailing winds Common wind pattern is south westerly. However, the site sits on a sloping site, which is below the level of the surrounding area to the south west. Winds from other directions are not unfamiliar but occur less often.
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Noise Noise from the roads (Oakerside Drive and Sunny Blunts) is minimal as these serve only the residential estate surrounding the site. Depending on the program, the noise pollution from the local public house may pose an issue. There is general noise from children playing on the nearby park and any sports matches at the Sunny Blunts park. As a result, rooms must be arranged appropriately. There is some sound from the river, which proposes a tranquil sound of water flowing down the waterfalls to the south of the site.
Top – Photograph of site, looking down from the north boundary. Above - Photograph of site, looking up from the south boundary.
Exploring physical constraints of the site which may affect the placement of particular programmes. Top Left – Site plan, showing building use of the surrounding context. Top Right - Site plan, showing the noise levels around the site. Above - Site plan, showing site analysis, including: wind, sun, landscape, ecology and contour lines.
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Victor Pasmore
The Apollo Pavilion After Lubetkin resigned in 1950, A.V. Williams recognised that the project was losing momentum and thus appointed Victor Pasmore as consulting director of urban design. Pasmore’s brief was to consider both housing and landscape as a holistic concept. Working with the plan as an artistic composition of buildings within the landscape, on the edge of Sunny Blunts estate, in 1969 Pasmore designed a sculpture of interlocking, volumetric, concrete forms. Pasmore was anxious to allude to the advances in human knowledge and aspiration the Apollo space mission then symbolised, thus he named the abstract sculpture after this, the Apollo Pavilion. The pavilion was the centrepiece of the Sunny Blunts estate, however the legacy of this has always been one of contention. In 2003, the Apollo Pavilion Community Association was established, consisting of residents who were concerned with restoring the pavilion. Their aims were to use it as a focal point for creative and artistic activity, which would engage and involve local people, particularly the young. My design proposal will enhance and build upon this goal.
Site plan showing the viewpoint of the photograph on the opposite page.
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Top Left – 3d model of The Apollo Pavilion. Top Right – Detail of The Apollo Pavilion, showing materiality. Above Left – Detail of The Apollo Pavilion, showing the texture of the restored concrete. Above Right – Photograph of The Apollo Pavilion.
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Texture map of the materials used on the Apollo Pavilion, using lead rubbings and photography.
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Panoramic photograph of the Apollo Pavilion in its context within the Sunny Blunts estate, Peterlee.
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Wider Context During the closure of the Fisher Price Toy Factory which caused ‘the loss of 250 jobs’ (The Independent, 1997), the production was ‘switched to Italy where toy output was more in line with modern youngsters’ demands…The Peterlee factory specialised in making bigger toys which were considered less fashionable with children’ (The Independent, 1997). Physical Infrastructure
South West Industrial Estate
A19 Connecting Peterlee to both London and Newcastle in the direction of the arrows shown, the A19 is a motorway-style road which runs parallel to and east of the A1 road. The major road (B1320) connects Peterlee directly to the A19, and the minor road (Passfield Way) connects south Peterlee to the A19.
Newcastle - 22 Miles
Blunts Beck The site sits directly on the river Blunts Beck. Running through the site and through Castle Eden Dene, the beck links up to the river Castle Eden Burn, which connects directly to the North Sea. Historically, this was used to bring produce into the New Town and across the North East.
London - 261 Miles
CENTRE FOR VIRTUAL REALITY
South West Industrial Estate The industrial estates serve Peterlee its rich history of industry. At the North West of the site, is the South West Industrial Estate, across the years, hosting companies such as Fisher Price and PepsiCo and from 2018, VBites. This is something which I hope to build upon, designing a future industry for the future of Peterlee.
Site plan showing the compression of physical infrastructure within close proximity to the site.
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B1320 Passfield Way
Blunts Beck
Top – Photograph of Blunts Beck which connects directly to the North Sea. Above Left – Photograph of the South West Industrial Estate, showing the existing industrial infrastructure. Above Right – Photograph of Passfield Way which connects south Peterlee to the A19 in the direction of London.
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Pedestrian Route
Site Access
Bus Route Bus Stop Major Road Minor Road
Exploiting Location Existing Carpark – The car park at the north west boundary to the site creates a new entrance to the Apollo Pavilion. This provides the opportunity to reduce the overall environmental impact of the construction of a new building, by negating the new construction of a carpark. University, Sixth Form and Schools – The centre is going to serve the young people of Peterlee and across the North East, so it is beneficial to be in close proximity for the students to engage with the centre’s activities and events.
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Top – Photograph of the main access to the site at the northwest boundary, this would be used by the general public, in cars, on bikes and on foot, entering from Oakerside Drive. Above Left - Site plan, showing the viewpoints of the photographs. Above Right - Photograph of the minor access to the site at the southwest boundary, this would be used by the general public, on bikes and on foot, entering from the Apollo Pavilion or the Sunny Blunts estate.
Services Access
Exploring the site access, showing vehicle, bike, and pedestrian access and routes. Top Left – Site plan, showing pedestrian and bike routes through site. Top Right - Site plan, showing the bus route and bus stops near the site. Above - Site plan, showing the major and minor roads near the site, indicating the services access to the north west of the site.
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Site section showing the urban grain and surrounding context.
Multiple photographs showing the materiality of the surrounding context and the different dwellings around the site.
The Urban Grain
Materiality At the Sunny Blunts Estate, dark brown brick dominates the residential buildings. Towards the north, one can see a different style of housing, with a different volumetric design and planar elements of the façade, here, a light grey brick is used. Surrounding the Apollo Pavilion, the same dark brick is applied, however, in certain daylight, these bricks appear to be bright red. In keeping with the concrete used on the volumetric design of the Apollo Pavilion, I intend on using concrete as the main construction material.
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Water
Blunts Beck The site is a sloping green area located at the top of the Sunny Blunts estate in New Town Peterlee. Nature has a strong presence on the site: nestled next to the famous Apollo Pavilion, Blunts Beck and near to the Castle Eden Dene. With the numerous waterfalls and wildlife presence, it truly is a place of serenity.
This is something which I hope to emanate within my design, to ground the user in the site in which they create, to derive their identity, sense of belonging and place.
Water is of great significance to the site, not only is it physically present, but also formally, with the Apollo Pavilion functionally acting as a bridge after its construction, the remaining staircase serves to remind the user of its original purpose. On visit to the site, the formal experience of water, is one that is evoking of all the senses: the sight of the water flowing over the waterfalls and the peaceful and grounding sound this produces, serves to remind the user of the place in which they exist. Standing on the site, or in the VR experience of the site, one can close their eyes and still be aware of the presence of water.
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Top Left - Photograph of the lake at the end of Blunts Beck, looking west on the Apollo Pavilion. Top Right – Photograph of Blunts Beck, looking east on the Apollo Pavilion. Above – Photograph of waterfall at the Apollo Pavilion.
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Woodland
Castle Eden Dene At the south east boundary to the site, lies Castle Eden Dene. The woodland is a protected forest, classified as being of Special Scientific Interest and Natural Nature Reserve. Thus, minimal felling is needed to comply with guidance during the construction phase. The woodland is mainly comprising of yew, oak and ash trees. Due to the protected forestry status, it is not possible to locally fell the trees for use during the construction of the building, thus any imported timber will be ash, to remain sensitive to the surrounding environment. Formally, the elevation of the forestry neighbouring the site is something which I intend to represent in the elevation of the façade of my building. The long, elongated, organic and curved forms will also be in keeping with Peterlee’s industrial legacy, as the tree trunks also symbolise the form of industrial piping. This will not only be experienced formally, but also experientially; the material selected for the façade will include a textural sensitivity, like the lead rubbings I took during a site visit. A juxtaposition between the heavy and dense concrete and a subtle experience of soft texture will be achieved.
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Top Left – Lead rubbing of a tree on the site, showing the texture of the bark. Above Left – Multiple lead rubbings of different parts of the back on the tree, showing the texture of the bark on the trees on the site. Above Right– Photograph of a tree in Castle Eden Dene, Peterlee.
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Panoramic photograph of the Sunny Blunts Park, showing the site and its surrounding context, including the Pavilion.
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Integrating Virtual Reality into Architecture
Interactive Site Analysis Looking towards the future of Architecture, in a 21st Century setting, I used Virtual Reality as a tool in my site surveying kit. Using the Samsung Gear 360, I was able to capture the site in three dimensions, capturing visual, audio and spatial experiences. This innovative and immersive site analysis allows me to extend beyond the realms of typical architectural representation. I edited the footage using Gear 360 Action Director and Adobe Premier Pro and published the experience on YouTube – scan the QR code opposite, pop your device into a VR headset and travel directly to the site. This holistic and interactive site analysis allows me to revisit the site throughout the entire design process, from the comfort of my own home, reducing environmental impact and achieving the impossible during Covid-19. During these times, our real lives and our virtual lives have never been more interwoven, this engaging and original site analysis method allows me to bring the site to the studio, time and time again.
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These tools are novel, but the application of them into my design process is one of original exploration. The integration or VR into Architecture is not something which ends at site analysis, but a tool I employ throughout my entire design process. I wanted to explore what the technology could be used for in the future, rather than what it is being used for currently.
Multiple photographs showing the process of integrating VR into site analysis, showing on site captures, initial testing of content on site, postproduction editing of the immersive video and exploration of the final outcome.
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Programme Declaration
A Centre for Virtual Reality Matrix outlining the centre requirements, showing the connection of spaces and spatial requirements. Artist’s Residence
Services
Creative Studio
Visual Connection
Classroom
Spatial Connection
Atrium
Solitary Space
Study Room
Collaborative Space
Digital Studio
Multifunctional Space
Kitchen
Hi-tech Space
Services
Specific Ventilation Required
Toilets
Mechanical Cooling Required
Entrance
Heightened Fire Risk
Staff Office
Noise Sensitive Space
Admin Office
Loud Space
Controlled Lighting Required
Direct Sunlight Required
Experiential Space
Views Out
Darkness Required
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A Centre for Virtual Reality
The Concept In 2020, during Covid-19, ones’ real life and virtual life have never been more interwoven. This can present a set of problems as we are becoming more and more detached with reality and the space around us. However, I propose a design which will use the need to ‘escape’ as a way of re-engaging society in reality and place. My 21st century civic centre will be a regional performance centre, it will have space for ‘performance’ where people will come together and gather to watch the best gamers, but it will also have space for people to learn skills, learn how to game and how to navigate the virtual reality world. There will also be studio spaces for individual gamers who want to earn money from virtual reality and spaces for them to practice and rehearse. The holistic hub proposes the concept of a contained, sustainable cycle with three main elements: learning, meeting and creating. The centre requires ancillary spaces to support this cycle, including housing, for the industry professionals to live, and a plant room to host the massive number of servers required for a building of this scale and programme.
Diagram showing the concept of the Centre for Virtual Reality.
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The latter will also require, in addition, a subancillary infrastructure – a mechanical cooling system to cooldown the servers.
The Process of Content Production
Goals:
From concept to outcome, the process of content production ranges from private to public, at various stages. During the alpha testing phase, internal employees are invited to test the content, arising any bugs or issues with the content for further development. During the beta testing phase, industry experts, enthusiasts and influences are invited to the centre to test the content, arising any final issues with the content to be resolved ahead of the public release.
1. Economic growth for Peterlee 2. Create employment for people of Peterlee 3. Re-engage people with their physical experiences of the world 4. Sense of place 5. Community 6. Dissolved threshold between the interior and the exterior
Diagram showing the process of content production.
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Public
Public
Semi-public
Semi-public
Semi-private
Semi-private
Private
Private
MAIN PUBLIC ENTRANCE
RECEPTION
Direct Sunlight Required Collaborative Space OFFICES
Views Out
ATRIUM
CREATIVE STUDIOS
KITCHEN
ALPHA/BETA TESTING
EDUCATION WORKSHOPS STUDY ROOMS
DIGITAL STUDIOS
ARTIST RESIDENCES TOILETS
Schedule of Accommodation, approximate total area of 1528m².
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SERVICES
Diagram of the connection of space, showing the spatial requirements.
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‘ The
opening
employment
of for
The the
Vir tual people
Reality of
Centre
Peterlee,
will
create
create
the
economic
oppor tunity growth
for
of not
only the surrounding context but also the wider area of the Nor th East and commence the production of a new industr y, a future industr y, more in line with the modern youngsters’ demands. The centre specialises in vir tual reality gaming which is considered more fashionable with the youth’ (Hamilton, 2020).
A Centre For Virtual Reality
The Timeline The proposal is to construct an infrastructure for a future industry of Peterlee: Virtual Reality. The centre will be a hub for both education and industry of this sector, providing young people with the skills and knowledge needed to create and develop virtual reality content. The centre will not only offer employment to the people of Peterlee, but also provide economic growth for Peterlee and the rest of the North East of England. The scheme includes spaces for start-up creative businesses in virtual reality development: there will be one open and collective artist studio, as well as five smaller digital studios for software engineers, per company. The scheme also includes an education centre, including a collection of classrooms, study rooms and general school offices. The fellows of this education centre are the industry professionals. The intention is for the students to progress through their studies and after graduation, become employees of the companies.
This concept offers a sustainable cycle of opportunities for young people to learn and then teach, as well as run their own company. The proposal offers a sustainable program for the future industry of Peterlee. The centre includes a multi-functional atrium, which mostly acts as an informal meeting space for professionals, students and opportunities for the two to merge to discuss their creative ideas, work and learning. Throughout the year, the space will become more formal, booked out to host the alpha and beta testing of the content releases. In addition, a few times a year, the space will become the shop window for the companies’ product releases: software and hardware. The companies will invite guests to their launch event, where they introduce their new creation and invite the public to try out their latest invention. These events also offer the companies free advertisement, by inviting local social media influences, youtubers and gamers who then promote the event, product and company on their respective platforms.
Diagram showing the lifetime cycle of the Centre For Virtual Reality.
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Zoning
Initial Exploration The site is a sloping green area located at the top of the Sunny Blunts estate in New Town Peterlee, nestled next to the famous Apollo Pavilion, Blunts Beck and near to the Castle Eden Dene. The Sunny Blunts estate, the area in immediate proximity to the site, hosts a range of residential dwellings, attracting a large demographic of family residents. An educational, civic building situated at the entrance to the estate will serve not only local residents, but also visitors of the Apollo Pavilion. Public - Private Public Semi-public Semi-Private Private
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Civic Front The entrance to the site, directly from Oakerside Drive and Sunny Blunts Park provides both public vehicle and pedestrian access. As the most public boundary to the site, a civic front makes sense here, providing the users easy access to the centre. This road is also the only road which has direct access to the site, providing access to any services during the construction or upkeep of the centre. This road sits on a direct bus route from Newcastle and has bus stops along this road.
Private Front The entrance to the site, directly from the Apollo Pavilion and Sunny Blunts estate provides semiprivate pedestrian access. As the most private boundary to the site, a private front makes sense here. The private residential buildings surrounding the site suggest a programmatic organisation of residential and industrial elements in the centre. Access Car Access Services Access
Visual Connections Visual Connections
I intend for the centre to share visual connections with the Apollo Pavilion, the Sunny Blunts estate and the Castle Eden Dene. Formal Connections Formal Connections
I intend for the centre to share formal connections with the Apollo Pavilion and the Castle Eden Dene. Site plan showing initial zoning ideas, exploring public and private, civic and private front, access and visual and formal connections.
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Multiple iterations of the initial programmatic zoning and massing of the masterplan.
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Site section showing 2D programmatic relationships, influenced by Rem Koolhaas’ typography diagram for the Seattle Library.
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Theoretical Manifesto
‘Alike Theo van Doesburg in his Constructions in Space-Time, my interest in modern architecture has projected outwards in space and both backwards and forwards in time.’ It is easy to become dissociated from place, with the abstract concepts of Modern Architecture and in particular, the ideas of Brutalism. We as architects, too often are guilty of this. Brutalist character, an aesthetic which often divides opinion amongst us, for many is in fact not an aesthetic nor a movement, yet their identity, sense of belonging and place. Such emotions associated with home and place is something which I hope to evoke in my design. I am designing for Peterlee, for the people of Peterlee.
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04
Thinking Through Making III
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Thinking Through Making Week
Designing From The Detail Outward
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Detail Design
The Handrail The 1:1 detail model features an integrated handle for the staircases at the Centre for Virtual Reality. This sophisticated detail considers the handrail as not a later add on, yet an integral part to the construction of the space. The handrail is considered during construction as it is cast into the wall during the cast insitu poured concrete phase. The design of such, places the human form at the centre of the design architecture is a plane for human activity. After the Thinking Through Making Week, I developed the detail further and designed the handrail to be cast using a darker cement pigment, ensuring that it contrasts visually with the rest of the wall without causing high reflection, see the digital representation to the right. Alike Alison and Peter Smithson, Honesty to Materials was a key concept. At the centre, I intend for there to be a brutal honesty and phenomenological transparency to materials. Everything is to be left exposed: the mate-riality is truthful, they are the mundane and banal; they are not more than they are and the use of such humble materials is celebrated through their architectural honesty.
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Top – Digital representation of the handrail in situ, showing the change in material to distinguish the handrail from the wall. Above – Sketch of one of the staircases in the Centre For Virtual Reality, showing the handrail in situ.
Photograph of the final 1:1 detail model for the Thinking Through Making Week Exhibition. The model features an integrated handle for the staircases at the Centre for Virtual Reality. This considered detail negates the threat of clothing or belongings becoming stuck on the end of the handrail and at The Oasis, this will be featured at the average adult handrail height of 900mm and also at a second, lower height of 600mm for accessibility and children.
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Conceptual Exploration
‘Lift
your
eyes
to
a
new
horizon’
The Horizon Line In Legacies of Modernism, I was encouraged to design from the detail outward. Instead of starting from the Urban Grain, and working inward to the 1:1 detail, I began designing with the 1:1 detail and then worked outward from here, resolving moments in our design and then expanding on these. It was through this exploration of the 1:1 detail, during my Thinking Through Making Week, that I was able to develop a sophisticated concept for the entire design – The Horizon Line. The concept for the centre exploits the need to escape reality as a way of re-engaging the user not only physically with one other, but also phenomenologically with the tangible spaces surrounding them. Alike Victor Pasmore, the horizon line of Peterlee will act as a datum line for the centre. As the user navigates through the building, so will their experience of sense of place: grounded on a sloping site, wherever you are in the building, the user’s eye line is level with the horizon line of Peterlee.
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Achieving my main goal of evoking a sense of place, one is constantly reminded of the surrounding contact. This illusion, with its uninterrupted views, evokes an awareness of the realm in which the creators exist, grounding the user in the site in which they work. This also achieves two of my other main goals: to reengage people with their physical experiences of the world, and to dissolve the threshold between the interior and the exterior.
‘The landscape of Peterlee filters through the windows of The Oasis as a datum line’
Holistic photograph of my final 1:20 model for the Thinking Through Making Week Exhibition. Using film projection onto my final concrete model to explore the conceptual idea of The Horizon Line. Demonstrating the view out of a horizontal strip window, from the view of a sitting human: throughout the entire building, the horizon line of Peterlee will act as a datum line to the Centre for Virtual Reality.
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05
Realisation + Refinement III
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The Oasis
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‘People
spend
most
of
their
time
in
The
‘We can go somewhere, without going anywhere at all’
Ernest Cline
‘You can do anything, you can go anywhere’
Ready Player One Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, is a book which takes place in a future space, a dystopia in 2045, and it set between virtual reality and the real world. In the book, the main character claims ‘These days, reality is a real bummer, everyone is looking for a way to escape’ (Cline, 2011). In 2020, during Covid-19, this statement has never been more relatable. Living in a world where it is becoming easier, and necessary, to escape reality and enter into the virtual world, we have a whole new space – Cyber Space. People’s attention has become less about their physical experience of the world, and more about their interactions in the virtual. Whether that is conferences via YouTube, lectures via zoom or attending an architectural practice’s meeting in Virtual Reality, peoples’ attentions have shifted to how they socialise online. It was through reading Ready Player One, in the context of 2020, that I began to investigate Cyber Space and interrogate what social interactions now mean to humanity.
Oasis’
In the book, Ernest Cline writes ‘People come to The Oasis for all the things they can be’, in the gaming world, you can be whomever you want to be. This does raise some social issues, as people are becoming more and more detached with reality and the spaces around us, however, I propose a design which will use the need to ‘escape’ as a way of re-engaging people with reality and place. My Oasis is not only be about connecting people with one another, but also connecting people with the world around them. The design is a regional performance, educational and industrial centre. It has space for ‘performance’, where people will come together and gather to watch the best gamers in the North East. The centre also offers space for the users to practice and rehearse. It also has a space for ‘education’, where people will attend to learn skills, learn how to game and how to navigate the virtual world. As well as a space for ‘industry’, studio spaces where individual gamers or a collective, who want to earn money from virtual reality, will set up start-up businesses. A true civic building for the 21st Century.
‘Since everyone is here, this is where we meet one another, it’s where we make friends.’ ‘The Oasis to be connected with the world’ ‘The limits of reality are your own imagination’ ‘I only came here to escape the shitty hand that life dealt me, but I stayed…I found a cause, I found my friends…I found love’ ‘That was when I realised that as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only, the only place that you can get a decent meal. Because reality is real.’
Multiple quotes from the book Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, 2011.
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Victor Pasmore
A Community of Forms Community was the fundamental concept of a ‘New Town’, the development of Peterlee not only provided a place for the ex-minors to live but also a place for them to create their own community. This concept of ‘community’ was not just an ideal but was also physically represented in the masterplan and the relationship between the masses in this. The houses stand in relation to each other and in relation to the site much more than standing alone, for themselves – a community of forms is shaped. In 1961, Frank Dixon discussed the work of the design team as being one that extended beyond simply designing houses, moving instead towards the production of a community: ‘the houses no longer became something to be designed individually but merely elements in a unit to form a space enclosure of, in this case, 500 houses at a time.’ (Gazzard, 1961). Working with the plan as an artistic composition of buildings within the landscape, Pasmore arranged the housing by laying out scaled wooden blocks on the workshop floor. The houses were clustered, restricted in height to two storeys, to achieve a compact, urban density in contrast with the stark, open landscape.
The back gardens were completely omitted to allow the landscape to permeate between the houses. Together, the buildings and facades of the houses can be read spatially in the same way as one of Pasmore’s installations. Similarly, I explored the master planning of The Oasis using compositional exercises, employing iterations to develop a sophisticated final massing strategy. Alike the planning of the entire roadscape of the masterplan of Peterlee, The Oasis is in direct conflict with the natural landscape, instead of following the picturesque theory, The Oasis runs perpendicular to the natural contours of the land. I quickly discovered that alike the Apollo Pavilion, The Oasis needed to also act as a bridge over Blunts Beck, linking the green to the Sunny Blunts estate, and integrating the centre into the site in which it is located: experientially, as the user navigates through the space, they also navigate the sloping landscape through the use of level changes. The Oasis considers both civic and landscape as a total concept, contributes to the aesthetics of the Town and will create a community within a community through the collection and organisation of the programmatic elements.
Compositional exercises by Victor Pasmore, 1955.
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Compositional exercises by Faith Hamilton, 2020.
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Photographs of the 1:500 massing model exploring the final masterplan of The Oasis. Top left – Iteration I. Top right – Iteration II. Above left – Iteration III. Above right – Iteration IV, final massing of the Oasis.
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Proposal Declaration
A Civic Building For The 21st Century ‘Contrasting with the use and application of concrete by architects in the 20th century, The Oasis is a conflicting emergence of the ideas and approaches of the modernist movement. Notably across the North East, The Oasis in Peterlee proposes the ‘True New Brutalism’ and is an antithetical commentary of the ‘utopian’ architecture of the New Towns during the 1950s and 1960s. The Oasis, through its material, construction and detail, aims to declare the value of concrete in the 21st century construction industry and is an exemplar of its potential use and sustainability properties.’ (Hamilton. 2020) My project explores the relationship between art and architectural ideas in addressing space, drawing on the connections in terms of spatial exploration between these two modes of working. Developing from my work in the Primer and Staging phases, and the relationship between the abstract axonometric paintings and the design of the Schröder House of the De Stijl movement, Realisation and Refinement offered a point of reflection and a way of developing my own designs, by studying the influence of artistic composition on the design of Peterlee by Victor Pasmore and the wider theoretical thinking of Alison and Peter Smithson, which offered me a contextual reference point for my exploration.
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Connection to Context
Outlining Initial Intentions The site is a sloping green area located at the top of the Sunny Blunts estate in New Town Peterlee. The centre of Peterlee is a place of concentrated commerce, community, and industry. Due to excellent infrastructure and history of industry, the New Town is attractive to manufacturers such as VBItes. The Sunny Blunts estate, the area in immediate proximity to the site, hosts a range of residential dwellings, attracting a large demographic of family residents. An educational, civic building situated at the entrance to the estate will serve not only local residents, but also visitors of the Apollo Pavilion. The final massing arrangement acts as a bridge over Blunts Beck, and has a direct relationship with both the urban planning of the masterplan and the individual scale and form of the Apollo Pavilion.
Site plan showing The Oasis in context to the Apollo Pavilion, Castle Eden Dene, Blunts Beck and the Sunny Blunts Estate.
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Site plan showing The Oasis in context to the Apollo Pavilion, Castle Eden Dene, Blunts Beck and the Sunny Blunts Estate.
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Alike the entire roadscape of Peterlee, the masterplan of The Oasis is in direct conflict with the natural landscape. Instead of following the picturesque theory, the building runs perpendicular to both the natural contours of the land and also the river.
Site plan diagram, demonstarting the geometry of the masterplanning of the Sunny Blunts Esatae, Peterlee.
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Orthogonal gridded layout of masses in the master planning of the Sunny Blunts Estate. Perpendicular relationship between the Apollo Pavilion and the flow of the river.
Final massing site plan diagram, demonstrating the geometry of The Oasis and how this is determined by and links directly to the master planning of the Sunny Blunts Estate and Apollo Pavilion, Peterlee. Orthogonal relationship between the grid master planning of the Sunny Blunts estate and the final massing for The Oasis. Perpendicular relationship between the final massing which bridges the river and the flow of the river.
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‘Conflicting with the use and application of concrete in the 20th Century, by Corbusier, The Smithsons and architects alike, the Hanil Visitors’ Centre is an antagonistic emergence of the ideas and approaches of the modernist movement.’ Hanil Visitors Centre + Guest House
BCHO Architects The Hanil Visitors’ Centre and neighbouring Guesthouse of Chungbuk, Korea are situated by a cement and concrete plant and boarders a beautiful national park. The building is ‘an advocate for, and a demonstration of, the various ways concrete can be recycled’ (Ballard Bell and Rand, 2014, p. 64) and urges designers of the future to utilize the residual value from older buildings which are being demolished for new construction purposes. The centre displays a wide range of concrete expressions, including curving sculptural, crisp planar and smallscale fragmented elements. The centre aims to educate the user through their experience of the building, on the potential use of concrete, its sustainability properties and its place within the 21st century construction industry. Whilst also educational, the building acts as a celebrational piece of sculpture. The Hanil Visitors’ Centre holistically applies concrete, in every scheme of the building, from the structural strategy to the environmental strategy, to pay homage to the material’s properties, capabilities and value. This is something which heavily inspired and influenced the design of The Oasis; designing within a post-New Brutalist realm, in which concrete is viewed as an un-sustainable material, the Hanil Visitors’ Centre educated me on the ability of concrete to be a main construction material and the application of this in a sustainable and eco-conscious way. 192 350
Pre-cast Flexible-Fabric Formed Concrete Wall
Pre-cast Flexible-Fabric Formed Concrete Wall THK9 Manufactured Bracket
Cast-in-situ Concrete Wall
Cast-in-situ Concrete Wall
THK9 Manufactured Bracket
The juxtaposition of fabric shapes and texture subtly imprinted onto the curved shapes of the fabric-formed pre-cast concrete elements of the entry façade, onto solid concrete reminds the viewer that previous precedents with these two materials have never been so integrated. Detail of the structural build up of the Hanil Visitors’ Centre.
Top – Multiple photographs of the process of flexible-fabric formwork, 2009. Middle – Detail of the deep window reveals. Above Left – Photograph of the Entrance Façade showing the tectonics of the Hanil Visitors’ Centre, 2009. Above Right - Detail of imprinted fabric texture on concrete, 2009.
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Façade Development
1:5 Experimental Model Reacting to the site analysis and strategy, The Oasis’s design responds to the site-specific technological issues, constraints, and surrounding ecology. The facades of the main space, education and industry volumes formally resemble both the surrounding context of the tree trunks of the nearby Castle Eden Dene and the wider context of the industrial pipes seen in the factories across the New Town Peterlee. The process of using flexible-fabric formwork also provides a further connection to context by being cast on site. In order to develop this unique façade for the elevation, a design using flexible-fabric formwork has been chosen. The fabric-formed pre-cast elements are cast on site horizontally and then once cured, tilted up and secured to the cast-in-situ concrete building wall. The pieces are secured with metal brackets at the footings, at roof level and at the midpoint. Thus, the final pieces are formally determined by the site, the sloping landscape and the gravity of such. The liquid state of concrete during the construction process flows and cures in accordance with the site in which it is cast. So, although pre-cast elements, there is still a certain level of uniqueness of the façade, grounded within the site in which it sits. The concrete elements are generally 1m wide and up to 5m tall.
Above - Photograph of a tree near the site in Peterlee.
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Photograph of the 1:5 façade panel models, exploring the textures imprinted onto the material.
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Multiple photographs of the process of creating the 1:5 façade panel models. I began by casting a negative mould of the curved form and then built a box for this. I then used several materials to cast this form in plaster to study the textures subtly imprinted onto the façade.
Photographs of the material for the negative mould, experimenting with lighting and transparency. Left - Photograph of the material, exploring the material in the daytime, in day lighting. During the day, the façade is opaque, allowing no sight into the building and the activities occurring within. Right - Photograph of the material, exploring the material in the night time, in night lighting. Here, the façade becomes translucent, glowing luminous and allowing external sight of any movement of people within.
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Photograph of the 1:5 façade panel model, exploring the material in the daytime, in day lighting. During the day, the façade is opaque, allowing no sight into the building and the activities occurring within. However, externally, light reflects off the little members of glass within the glass reinforced concrete facade, creating a sparkling effect.
Photograph of the 1:5 façade panel model, exploring the material in the night time, in night lighting. Here, the glass members within the glass reinforced concrete, allow light to filter through. The façade becomes translucent, glowing luminous and allowing external sight of any movement of people within.
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Detail photograph of the texture imprinted onto the material after casting some packaging.
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Detail photograph of the texture imprinted onto the material after casting some packaging.
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Detail photograph of the texture imprinted onto the material after casting some packaging.
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Detail photograph of the texture imprinted onto the material after casting some packaging.
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Photograph of a collection of three of the 1:5 façade panel models. The materials cast, from left to right, are: Silicone, Silk and Cotton.
Photograph of a collection of three of the 1:5 façade panel models. The materials cast, from left to right, are: Wool, Polyester and Tissue Paper.
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Multiple photographs of the 1:5 façade panel models, experimenting with the different successes of casting using different fabrics during the flexible-fabric formwork process.
Photograph of some of the 1:5 façade panel models, exploring the different textures imprinted onto the material, from larger bubble wrap to smaller bubble wrap, against the background of silk.
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Detail photograph of the 1:5 façade panel model, exploring the texture of smooth silicone imprinted onto the material.
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Detail photograph of the 1:5 façade panel model, exploring the texture of smooth silicone imprinted onto the material and the curved form of the façade as would be experienced from the eye of the user.
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Detail photograph of the 1:5 façade panel model, exploring the texture of silk imprinted onto the material.
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Detail photograph of the 1:5 façade panel model, exploring the texture of cotton imprinted onto the material.
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Façade Design
1:5 Final Model Conflicting with the use and application of concrete in the 20th Century, by Corbusier, The Smithsons and architects alike, The Oasis is an antagonistic emergence of the ideas and approaches of the modernist movement. The juxtaposition of fabric shapes and texture, subtly imprinted onto the curved shapes of the fabric-formed pre-cast concrete elements of the façade, onto solid concrete reminds the viewer that previous precedents with these two materials have never been so integrated. The application of tissue paper to the flexible-fabric formwork process creates a finish which resembles the bark found on the trees in the surrounding forestry.
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Top – QR code to virtual reality experience of the final façade panel model at 1:1. Above - Lead rubbing of a tree on the site, showing the texture of the bark. This is something I wish to be experienced in the façade panels, not only the formality of a tree trunk, but also the subtle imprint of bark like texture onto the concrete.
Multiple photographs of the 1:5 façade panel final model, exploring the texture imprinted onto the material.
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Photograph of the 1:5 façade panel final model, exploring the material in the daytime, in day lighting.
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Photograph of the 1:5 façade panel final model, exploring the material in the night time, in night lighting.
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At the construction stage, industrial scale tissue paper will be used. At 1m wide, each roll fits into one piece of the flexible-facric formed panels. The tissue paper is crumpled up to create the bark like effect and then is flattened out again. The sheets are then bolted into the formwork. These bolts are seen in the final casting, left as small nodules, paying homage to the construction process of the concrete. Timber Formwork
Facade Construction
Metal Formwork Sheet Industrial Size Tissue Paper Formwork Attachments Concrete Panel
Flexible-fabric Formwork Unlike most pre-cast concrete elements, these pieces will be unique. Repetition is normally associated with economical precast concrete fabrication, because engineering analysis of element configuration is expensive, as is formwork presentation. However, these pieces only support themselves, so their engineering is less critical. The fabric-formed glass reinforced concrete elements are generally 1m wide and up to 5m tall, variations in element width and length will not be uncommon, given the advantages of the flexible formwork system. A permeable fabric is employed to improve the surface finishes and to produce higher-strength concrete by adopting a filtering action which allows air bubbles and excess water to bleed through the membrane. The Juxtaposition between the solid and impermeable exposed interior polished concrete and the organic and porous timber lamellas of the walkway as well as the fabric shapes and texture, subtly imprinted onto the curved shapes of the fabricformed pre-cast concrete elements of the
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Pre-cast Flexible-Fabric Formed Concrete Wall
external façade, onto solid concrete reminds the viewer of the potential of concrete to be seamlessly integrated with other materials.
THK9 Manufactured Bracket Cast-in-situ Concrete Wall
The deep window reveals, located along the facades of the education and industry blocks, not only provide the building with solar shading but also allows control over both views out and views in. The windows are 200mm wide and run from floor to ceiling. This allows for deep glimpses of the external environment, the site in which The Oasis is located, whilst also offering a degree of privacy to the internal world. The windows are smaller along the north facades to reduce heat loss. The windows are located depending on the internal floor plans, at semi-regular intervals, the windows personify a data line. Experientially, whether sitting, standing or moving around, they are a regular reflector of the programme of The Oasis, a visual reminder to the user of the centrum of the technology of which they operate.
Top – Diagram of the construction process of the concrete panels, integrating the industrial size tissue paper into the process of flexible-fabric formwork. Middle – 1:50 Detail of the deep window reveals. Above – 1:20 Detail elevation of the façade, showing the effect of the material and construction process. Exploring the effect of light during the night time, texture and the nodules left in the concrete from the construction process.
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Recycled Concrete
Gabion Walls The entire design of The Oasis is an advocate for, and a demonstration of, the various ways concrete can be recycled and urges designers of the future to utilize the residual value from older buildings which are being demolished for new construction purposes.
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Flexible-fabric formwork uses substantially less material than conventional formwork, making formwork preparation for The Oasis not only faster and less expensive but also less polluting as it produces little landfill waste. The wasted concrete slab upon which the fabric-formed concrete elements are cast, will be recycled in the gabion walls on the entrance façade: constructed using fractured concrete, placed inside rectangular cages of steel mesh, these too are installed over the load bearing cast-in-situ concrete building wall. This offers the entrance façade a different aesthetic to the rest of The Oasis. This design decision was made to not only provide the entrance façade with a different aesthetic to the rest of The Oasis but also for its environmental benefits: this both recycles and reuses the concrete used in the flexiblefabric concrete panels production whilst also reducing the overall carbon footprint of The Oasis by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide produced during the construction process. The aggregate is also locally sourced from the North east further reducing the emissions of the construction process.
Cast-in-situ Concrete Wall
THK300 Recycled Gabion Wall
THK9 Manufactured Bracket
Detail of the structural build up of the entrance facade.
Top - Swatch of the concrete gabion wall used for the entrance façade. Above - Axonometric of gabion wall cages.
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Scale 1:200 5m
10m
20m
ID OAKERS
E DRIVE
0m
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Scale 1:200 5m
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IDE D OAKERS
RIVE
0m
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Promenade Architecturale MEETING
TRAINING
Expansion and Contraction The Oasis’ design consists of two separate structures which are both independent from each other: the main buildings, concrete construction, which host the programme and the walkway, timber construction, which acts as the circulation space, acting as a portal, delivering the user to the different zones of the building. This walkway traverses all four buildings, expanding and contracting throughout: this provides a primary axis for The Oasis. At these points, the circulation space becomes the shared space where interactions happen. This experience happens in three dimensions, where there is the opportunity for verbal connections as well as the lateral movements within the space. The Oasis is a city, the walkway is the street and the individual rooms are the buildings which are linked by the ‘spaces left over’ by the walkway. Conceptually, from the outside, the walkway is read as a volumetric beam, a corridor which connects the spaces, but as soon as the user enters, one gets a sense of the planar elements hanging off the space. As the walkway expands and opens, there are opportunities for light through, a sense of activity and movement.
GATHERING
INDUSTRY
The permeable sheltered external walkway acts as a boundary between the external and the internal space. Softening the horizon between the reality and the virtual reality, this porous material offers views out and allows the external elements to penetrate the space. Since the walls allow light and air to enter the space so easily, they also create the feeling of being in a sort of time machine, being inside the futuristic spaces of the virtual world while listening to the industrial cityscape of Peterlee in the background. Diagram of the expanding and contracting circulation space.
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Parti Diagram.
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Scale 1:200 0m
5m
10m
20m
‘The Oasis is a city, the walkway is a street and the individual rooms are the buildings which are linked by the spaces left over by the street.’ 226 350
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Scale 1:200 5m
10m
20m
ID OAKERS
E DRIVE
0m
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Shelter for Roman Ruins
Peter Zumthor “Architecture is not about form, it is about many other things…The light and the use, and the structure, and the shadow, the smell” Shelter for Roman Ruins is a protective shelter for the Roman ruins found in Chur, Switzerland. There are three buildings each for housing one of the ancient Roman buildings. The Shelter for Roman Ruins is a collective museum with exhibits on the history of the ruins and models of what the originally buildings looked like. The foundations and parts of the walls are all that is left of the ruins and Zumthor frames these with a black sheet, placed behind to form a more solid backdrop for the old ruins against a new building. Zumthor creates forms that transcend the time in which they are built. Using the ruins’ form, Zumthor explores not how the buildings can recreate the past, but instead how they can incite feelings of warmth, tranquillity, and humility. The transmission of light, the warmth of the materials, and the vulnerability of the interior all serve to encourage introspection. Zumthor employs the use of a central axis,
this is something which I intend to manipulate at The Oasis. The shelter shows humility when compared to its surrounding, the simplicity of the wooden lamellas instantly conveys a sense of welcoming, without becoming ostentatious, acknowledging that this is not the main attraction of the site. From the exterior (in the daytime), the material allows almost nothing from the inside to be seen. In contrast (in the night-time), the interior is practically “glowing” from the light washing through material. The threshold at the Shelter for Roman Ruins appears to be ‘floating’, this invites the user up and off the ground level and the walkway acts as a time machine: the light and permeable timber of the lamellas allow the flow of light, air, sound and smell, they create a displacement of time, being inside the historical ruins while listening to the modern cityscape in the background. This is something which I hope to evoke at The Oasis. It is also here where we see an intersection of elements at the point of entrance, this too is something which I hope to achieve at The Oasis.
Multiple photographs and section drawing of the Shelter for Roman Ruins, 1986.
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Threshold Development
1:20 Sketch Model Emerging from my research of Peter Zumthor’s Shelter for Roman Ruins, I applied the design and modelling skills gained during the Primer and Staging phases to explore the idea of threshold. Designing ‘from the detail out’, I employed the process of iteration as a way of communicating idea to realisation. During the threshold development I examined intersecting volumes and planes as a key concept for The Oasis. The planar element of the concrete façade is interrupted by the volumetric walkway, the two elements intersect, yet, the rectilinear elements of the gabion cages do not align with the edges of the walkway and sit fragmented with one another. I manipulated spatial experimentation as a design tool for The Oasis, investigating the ideas of materiality, philosophy and tectonics to explore the juxtaposition of two materials: Concrete and Wood. The light and ‘floating’ timber walkway traverses the dense concrete façade, acting as a portal between reality and the virtual reality: the threshold sits above the ground level, inviting the
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user into the virtual reality. In addition to the threshold appearing to be floating, The Oasis employs a shadow gap, alike Le Corbusier at La Villa Savoye, this elevation of the building emphasises the idea of the alternative reality within. The main entrance façade is the gateway to The Oasis and the collision of the two materials signifies the exact moment where the two come together and meet. The deep recessed threshold exaggerates this by contrasting the user’s experience: the user leaves the open ground of Peterlee, travels through a space designed specifically to the scale of the human form and exits into a double-heighted concrete reception space, lit from above. The sketch model allowed me to test out my initial ideas and to iterate this to a final threshold model, moving my threshold design from concept to a refined and resolved declaration.
Photographs of the 1:20 sketch model exploring the threshold of The Oasis. Top left – North Façade view, looking in. Top right – Internal view, looking out. Above left – Sectional view showing the floor and wall build up as well as the ‘floating’ threshold. Above right – Perspective view showing the threshold traversing the concrete mass.
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Left – Photograph of the 1:20 sketch model exploring the interaction between two different materials: concrete and timber. Top right – Swatch of the material used for the entrance façade (recycled concrete from the construction phase of the fabric-formed concrete façade pieces). Above right – Swatch of the material and construction technique employed for the walkway elements (Ash Lamellas).
Multiple details of the 1:20 sketch model experimenting with planes and exploring the interaction between architecture and the human scale.
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Threshold Design
1:20 Final Model The Oasis exploits the need to escape reality as a way of re-engaging the user not only physically with other each other, but also phenomenologically with the tangible spaces surrounding them. Alike the Shelter for Roman Ruins, the entrance threshold ‘portal’ to The Oasis is lifted off the ground, inviting the user to enter up and off the earth, exiting reality and entering the virtual world. The entire building appears to be ‘floating’, the ground floor is in fact lifted entirely up off the ground, alike the Pilotis of Corbusier, hidden by the external cladding which stops 500mm above the ground level. This illusion externally determines a hierarchy of mass and space surrounding and including The Oasis, however, internally, with its uninterrupted views, evokes an awareness of the realm in which the creators exist. The Oasis’ design consists of two separate structures which are both independent from each other: the main buildings, concrete construction, which host the programme and the walkway, timber construction, which acts as the circulation
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space. The walkway provides a primary axis for The Oasis and is suspended from the main concrete structure. The main buildings are constructed first and then the modularised walkway elements are delivered onto site and fixed into position. The walkway appears to be ‘light’, juxtaposed with the dense concrete structure and is secured into place by steel rod ties which tie back into the deep concrete beam at the roof level of the main space. The walkway traverses all four buildings, expanding and contracting throughout. The contrast between the skylights used in the main structure which allow direct light to enter the space, compared to the wash of light from the timber-lamella walls of the walkway dictate the hierarchy of the spaces. During the day, the main spaces are the feature of The Oasis, whilst at night time, the glowing walkway becomes the central feature.
Photograph of the 1:20 final threshold model, exploring the profile of the threshold and tectonic intent. Experimenting with the juxtaposition between materials and the intersection between the ramp and the ground and exploring the interaction between architecture and the human scale.
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Photograph of the 1:20 final threshold model. The photograph explores the experience of the threshold during a clear morning in Peterlee and the interaction between architecture and the human scale.
Photograph of the 1:20 final threshold model, experimenting with weather and atmosphere on the site. The photograph explores the experience of the threshold during a foggy morning in Peterlee.
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Multiple details of the 1:20 final threshold model, exploring the tectonic intent. Here, the photos depict the relationship between the ramp and the walkway and explores the relationship between the ground and the threshold.
Multiple details of the 1:20 final threshold model, exploring the tectonic intent of the threshold. Experimenting with planes and volumes and the intersections between these: the juxtaposition of the organic timber walkway, with the solid recycled gabion wall façade. Showing the floor build up, shadow gap, and the final flooring finishes.
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Detail of the 1:20 final threshold model, exploring the tectonic intent of the threshold. Experimenting with the interaction between architecture and the human scale and exploring the relationship between the timber lamella walkway and the intersection between this and the internal floor. The lamellas continue integrated into the concrete floor, to show a sense of circulation through the space which goes beyond the detail of the threshold.
Multiple photographs of the 1:20 final threshold model, experimenting with planes and volumes. Exploring the interaction between lighting and the threshold, showing the threshold during the night time, in night lighting. Internally, the artificial lighting casts shadows onto the concrete planar walls of the reception space. Externally, the low-level spotlights cast shadows through the gaps in the lamellas and the profile of the bespoke ramp, onto the surrounding landscape.
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The Walkway
Axonometric Projection I explored the structural strategy in axonometric projection; complimenting my work on the relationship between the 2D axonometric and the 3D model in the Primer stage of the design module and subsequently throughout the entire design process. This offered myself a point of reflection and a way of developing my own design and was a crucial part to my design and decision making process, in the same way a model provides moments for consideration, exploration of design decisions in axonometric projection, offered me the opportunities for me to test out ideas and iterate. The walkway incites feelings of warmth, tranquillity and humility. The transmission of light, the warmth of the materials and the vulnerability of the interior all serve to encourage introspection.
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Above – Detail drawing of the connections between the lamellas and the timber structure of the walkway Right - Structural Axonometric of the walkway
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The Walkway
1:10 Final Model The concrete structure is separately conditioned and so will be fully insulated and weather tight. However, the timber walkway is a semiexternal space, although it is covered it is not weathertight. This space is designed to be a formal experience as well as functionally providing the circulation space. The permeable sheltered external walkway acts as a boundary between the external and the internal space and this porous design offers views out through the gaps in the lamellas. These gaps also offer space for the external elements to penetrate. The timber-lamellas used on the walls of the walkway incite an open, airy feeling, very different from what on expects when entering an enclosed space. The timber-lamellas allow the sounds from the natural landscape surrounding The Oasis to filter through but not at full volume. They also allow light to penetrate the space and air to flow through the space which is an essential part of the ventilation strategy of the conditioned spaces. Experientially, as the user walks through the space, their senses continually evoke an awareness of place: they hear the strong Peterlee
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winds, the sounds of the external environment and the gaps also offer glimpses of the surrounding landscape. When walking through the timber walkway, the user is aware of the external climate and interacts with light and shadow as the light passes through the ash lamellas: as a person travels through the space, their movement is also externally experienced through the movement of their shadow, this is particularly enjoyable during the winter months where it is darker on the morning and evening. The timber-lamella of the exterior walls of the walkway is a major feature that draws much of the public attention, both from inside and outside. From the exterior (in the daylight), the material allows almost nothing from the inside to be seen. In contrast, the interior is practically ‘glowing’ from the light washing through the material. Since the walls allow light and air to enter the space so easily, they also create the feeling of being in a sort of time machine, being inside the futuristic spaces of the virtual world while listening to the industrial cityscape of Peterlee in the background.
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Multiple photographs of the 1:10 final model of the walkway, exploring the lamellas and the gaps between, comparing the external privacy and internal views out.
Multiple photographs of the 1:10 final model of the walkway, exploring the experience of light and the lamellas.
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Photograph of the 1:10 final model of the walkway, showing the walkway lighting during the daytime.
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Photograph of the 1:10 final model of the walkway, showing the walkway lighting during the night time.
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Integrating Virtual Reality into Architecture
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Google Plant Room
Server Room A leading design principle is to leave the services exposed to sight, to respond to the architectural language of the building being an ‘industrial refinement’, alike the Google data centres, the services in The Oasis’ plant room are left exposed, this allows the system to be easily accessible, maintained and repaired. All of the other services to the rest of the building are located in the void created in the depth of the floor construction. The decision to keep hidden the rest of the services was for aesthetic design purpose, responding to the architectural language of the building being of a virtual reality, this allows the reveal of the central heart of the building (the plant room) to the user and pays homage to the ruling of the servers.
My design and decision-making process was significantly led by the building’s programme – a virtual reality and gaming hub - not only aesthetically but also technically: the substantial requirement of servers for a building of this scale and the subsequent issues which arise from this. For example the extensive requirement of mechanical cooling for these; instead of designing a mechanical cooling system, I employed heat recovery in order to not only cool the server space and maintain optimum temperature for the servers to function, but also to heat the rest of the building.
Multiple photographs of the Google Data Centers, 2012.
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Server Celebration
The Heart Whilst also educational, the building acts as a celebrational piece of sculpture. The Oasis holistically applies concrete, timber and water, in every scheme of the building, from the structural strategy to the environmental strategy, to pay homage to the materials’ properties, capabilities and value. When discussing the Put-Away House, Peter Smithson discusses the heart of the plan as the large-item store (2001), personifying the idea of century and periphery. The Oasis also applies this ideology: in the atrium, lives the digital heart of The Oasis - the large-item store, the server room. Both the structure of this space and the services are all left exposed to be celebrated! The glass ceiling allows views up into the seemingly ‘suspended’, separately conditioned server room, with full view of the services and the bespoke water-cooling system - clear, glass pipes with water running through, employing heat recovery as a way of not only cooling down the servers, but also as a way of heating the entire building.
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The extensive research of the environmental strategy, allowed me to develop a sophisticated understanding and knowledge of the importance of a technically lead design process, how these strategies can embody your entire design objectives and concepts and how these ideas are relevant to the entire building – these strategies can be employed throughout different scales of the building. This highly developed and innovative design of the liquid cooling system of the independently conditioned server space is something which is also applied at the 1:1 experience of the building – liquid cooling computers are utilised throughout the entire of The Oasis. This concept of the servers was fundamental and significantly lead the entire design process. The construction sequence is navigated by the requirements of the server space. This is due to the machinery needed to be on site to lift both workers and material and the risk of damage to the cladding if this were to be done after the tertiary elements are fitted.
Sketch detail for main space in The Oasis, considering natural and artificial lighting, and services, showing an awareness of the inhabited qualities the detail will generate, inspired by Renzo Piano’s sketch detail for the Menil Collection Gallery.
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The Heart of The Oasis
1:100 Developmental Model, 1:100 Final Model and 1:50 Final Model The servers act as the heart of The Oasis, not only technically but also experientially. The servers are an integral part to the users engagement with the space: the overwhelming presence of the servers seemingly suspended above the main atrium, the humming of the machines as they continue to provide life to the function of the building and the sound of the water trickling thought the glass pipes above – the arteries to the heart of the building, working to cool the servers and keep them pumping life to the rest of the building. This frank expression of services and materials allows for an engaging sensory experience of the space, so that one is overtly aware of how the building lives.
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Photograph of the 1:100 plaster developmental model of the main space of The Oasis, exploring structure, light and public engagement.
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Photograph of the 1:100 3D printed developmental model of the main space of The Oasis, exploring structure, light and public engagement.
Photograph of the 1:50 3D printed final model of the main space of The Oasis, exploring structure, light and public engagement with the heart of The Oasis.
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Scale 1:200 5m
10m
20m
ID OAKERS
E DRIVE
0m
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Envelope Structure
Celebration of The Oasis The permeable sheltered external walkway acts as a boundary between the external and the internal space. Softening the horizon between the reality and the virtual reality, this porous material offers views out and allows the external elements to penetrate the space. This material decision was made not only for its experiential qualities but also as part of the ventilation strategy of the scheme. As the strong cold Peterlee wind enters through the gaps in the lamellas of the walkway, it exits through the other side, employing cross ventilation and is sucked through the wall vent, cast into the concrete and enters the main space. Experientially when walking through the timber walkway, the user is aware of the external climate and interacts with the light and darkness through the ash lamellas: as a person travels through the space, their movement is externally experienced through the movement of their shadow, this is particularly enjoyable during the winter months where it is darker on the morning and evening.
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The timber structure is attractive, and the surfaces will weather and become mosscovered over time, which will further enhance its appearance without detriment to the material and also situate the walkway even further into the site in which it resides.
Above - Upper Ground Floor Plan, showing the viewpoint of the detail. Right - Originally 1:20 detail of the envelope structure, submitted as a part of ARC3013 - Architectural Technology 3: Integrated Construction, improved based on feedback as a part of this portfolio.
Reinforced Concrete Concrete Wrought Timber Steel Wrought Insulation Glass Elevation of Glass DPC
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Water and The Oasis
Driving Concept ‘Rainwater can be harvested from roofs and hard-standing areas, then stored and treated for toilet flushing’ (Chudley, Greeno, Hurst and Topliss, 2011). The extensive roof structure area spanning The Oasis will be utilised to collect and re-use rainwater. During this process, the rainater is diverted from the integrated drainpipe, where it will be filtered for debris and treated to prevent from bad odours, the water is then stored in a tank located on the top floor of the atrium, within close proximity to the facilities where it can be pumped to the water pipes in the server room. ‘Water can store more heat than concrete, water has the capacity to store around four times as much heat as concrete’ (Heywood, 2012). On the upper most level of the atrium, on the south-east façade, there is a water wall, these glass pipes are filled with water and incorporate technology with design experience of the space. The cool water runs through the pipes behind the glazing and is heated from solar heat gain, this energy is then used to heat the rest of the building.
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This system is also used throughout the entire plant room – the server room. By harvesting the wasted heat energy produced by the servers in the main space, The Oasis employs heat recovery to both heat the entire building whilst also cooling the servers. The entire server space hosts a series of glass pipes, which cool water runs through: as the servers release copious amounts of heat energy, the cold water is heated and runs up and out of the room, through the glass pipes. This technical detail is also used in the gaming computers in both the industry and the education spaces. Liquid cooling computers are used throughout showing coherency from the technical detail to the entire building scale. The water used for this system, is recycled rainwater, collected using rainwater harvesting, on the roof of the atrium. Consequently, the water collected and the heat energy gained are separated using a heat-exchange: the hot air is then pumped through trench heaters in the floor, to heat the space, and the water is used for flushing toilets.
Drawing of the environmental principles of The Oasis, inspired by Le Corbusier’s drawing of the environmental principles of the Unité d’habitation.
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Gutter Collection
Filter Pump Cold Water
Cold Water In
Location of Heat Exchange and Rainwater Harvesting
Hot Water Out
Hot water Cold Water Product of Heat Exchange
Storage Tank Water pumped to piping system in server space and liquid cooling computers
Water Flow Cold Air In
Rain Water Hot Air Product of Heat Exchange
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1:50 Diagrammatic Section of the environmental system including a diagram of the liquid cooling computers. The highly developed and innovative design of the liquid cooling system of the independently conditioned server space is something which is also applied at the 1:1 experience of the building – liquid cooling computers are utilised throughout the entire of The Oasis.
1:50 Diagrammatic Section of the environmental system including diagrams of the rainwater harvesting system and the heat-exchange.
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Scale 1:200 5m
10m
20m
OAKER
0m
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Victor Pasmore
‘Lift
their
eyes
to
a
new
horizon’
White Relief Looking to his art for inspiration, in Pasmore’s Abstract in White, Black and Natural Wood 1951, a key element within the relief is a wooden lath that vertically divides the work to the right of centre and extends beyond the bottom of the main rectilinear support plane. As such, the wooden lath further integrates the work within its space: the wall upon which the piece is mounted becomes an additional recessed plane in the relief structure of the work. Such aspects amount to a dissolving of the edge of the work; it is not clear where the work ends and the space around begins. His artwork regularly achieved this effect of dissolving a straightforward point at which the work ends, and the surrounding space begins. At Peterlee, Pasmore’s brief was to consider both housing and landscape as a total concept, to contribute to the aesthetics of the Town and help the architects ‘lift their eyes to a new horizon’. This is something which I hope to achieve in my design, engaging the users of The Oasis not only with each other, but also with the immediate site and the wider place of Peterlee.
The Oasis exploits the need to escape reality as a way of re-engaging the user not only physically with one other, but also phenomenologically with the tangible spaces surrounding them. The permeable sheltered external walkway acts as a boundary between the external and the internal space. Softening the horizon between the reality and the virtual reality, this porous material offers views out and allows the external elements to penetrate the space. Alike Victor Pasmore, the horizon line of Peterlee, developing from my work in Thinking Through Making Week, acts as a datum line for The Oasis. As the user navigates through the building, so does their experience of sense of place: grounded on a sloping site, wherever you are in The Oasis, the user’s eye line is level with the horizon line of Peterlee. Achieving my main goal of evoking a sense of place, in The Oasis, one is constantly reminded of the surrounding contact. This illusion, with its uninterrupted views, evokes an awareness of the realm in which the creators exist, grounding the user in the site in which they work.
Abstract in White, Black and Natural Wood by Victor Pasmore, 1960-1961.
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‘The landscape of Peterlee filters through the windows of The Oasis as a datum line’
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Invited Guests
Building Users
- Social Influences and Industry Experts invited during the beta testing phase and the content release event. - Require seating, VR equipment and a space with good sound quality for audio and visual documentation.
People of The Oasis The concept of The Oasis is to have both students, fellows and industry professionals creating collaboratively in the one hub, sharing the virtual reality spaces, equipment and computers, as well as having their own space to appropriate and store work. The opportunity for skills sharing and industry growth between industry start-ups, experts and students is an advantageous opportunity, hosting learning workshops and classes. The Oasis employs a sustainable cycle: the industry professionals educate the growing youth in the education centre, once graduated, the students have the opportunity to open their own start-up in the industry centre, and the cycle continues. The plans are indicative of one possible organisation of space, with the capabilities for the users to divide the space up however they see fit – The Oasis will grow with its users. Privacy and separation are achieved when needed, whilst also accommodating for the need to blend within the one space (the atrium). In the atrium fellows and students will meet to discuss work, colleges will meet to have ongoing gaming
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competitions on their breaks and the room is bookable for important meetings and public events. Throughout the year, industry experts and social influencers will be invited to The Oasis during the beta testing phase, the atrium will become an ‘e-sports’ auditorium, where guests can explore the new release and compete with one-another, this provides the industry experts with the research and knowledge for any last minute alterations or glitches to fix ahead of the public release. Additionally, the general public will be invited to the biannual public release events, alongside industry professionals and social influencers. All events will provide economic growth to The Oasis and to the wider community of Peterlee and will provide the companies with advertisement for their new release, a mutually beneficial relationship with the social influencers sharing their experiences on Twitch, YouTube and Instagram. The general public will also be able to explore The Oasis at their leisure, to visit the server space and the bespoke water-cooling system, or to visit the viewing platform which allows views out to the famous Apollo Pavilion.
General Public - Invited to the public release event, able to explore The Oasis and the viewing platform, or attend a bespoke VR workshop. - Requires seating, VR equipment and accessibility requirements such as a Hearing Induction Loop. - Requires bar/cafe access.
Students - Able to explore The Oasis, attend classes and gain skills in VR. - Visits the main space on breaks to engage with students and fellows. - Requires access to computers, VR equipment, study pods and classrooms.
Software Engineers - Coders and Software Developers invited during the alpha testing phase. - Runs the workshops and classes in the educational centre. - Visits the main space on breaks to engage with colleagues and students. - Requires access to computers.
Creatives - Concept Artists, Game Designers, Product Designers, Writers and Fellows. - Runs the workshops and classes in the educational centre. - Visits the main space on breaks to engage with colleagues and students. - Requires access to computers.
Examples of people who will appropriate The Oasis and engage with the architecture, giving a brief description of their activity, the skills that they can offer and share, as well as the equipment they will require.
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Public Engagement
Circulation Circulation through the building from the main entrance on Oakerside Drive is a key concept in the design of The Oasis. The use of a central axis is employed in the walkway which traverses all four buildings. The walkway acts as a portal transporting the user from reality to the virtual reality, converging and expanding, delivering the user from place to place within the building. Additionally, the walkway acts as a bridge, which is beneficial as when entering from the main entrance, you enter on the upper ground level.
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Top - Internal Perspective of the main public space being used for a content release event showing the suspended server space and the bespoke water-cooling system. 1 - General Public route. 2 - Students’ route. 3 - Fellows’ route.
Above - Circulation through the building from the main entrance on Oakerside Drive.
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Parameters of Virtual Reality
Concrete Planes In virtual reality, the planar elements of the space act as the parameters for the virtual reality limits. In The Oasis, the rooms are left mostly empty, some rooms may have a gaming chair and table with a liquid cooling computer, for the coding spaces and virtual reality gaming which requires the power of a computer, for example the HTC Vive. However, others such as the Oculus Quest are standalone headsets which are completely independent of any infrastructure. When setting up a virtual reality headset, a person draws around their play space and a grid appears, this defines their play area in a room, in augmented reality. For a moment, the room is still visible and then suddenly the room evaporates, and you’ve been transported to some alpine log cabin somewhere. This is an alluring moment when you exit the reality and enter the virtual reality, you then begin your experiences.
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The concrete ‘walls’ are free of doors, acting instead as a set of various planes, sub-dividing the spaces into smaller virtual reality ‘pods’ without separating the spaces. This theory is not only applied in the education spaces but also in the industrial mass: the digital studios are also freed of the confinement of doors. Although the concrete planar elements subdivide the spaces, there is still a feeling of openness and connectivity between the five digital studios per company. This encourages interactivity between coders and software engineers whilst also offering the human a certain degree of privacy, with space to concentrate.
Top Left – Lower Ground Floor Plan, showing the viewpoint of the photograph and the render. Top Right – Photograph of the developmental model, exploring the planar elements and their interaction with light and shadow. Above – Render of the Lower Ground Floor industry spaces, exploring the planar elements, the real and their interactions with the human form and parameters of Virtual Reality, the virtual.
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Floor Plans
Development Following on from the series of analytical and propositional spatial exercises during the Primer phase of my project, I developed the floor plan to The Oasis using the generative process of conceptual architectural design. This walkway traverses all four buildings, expanding and contracting throughout: this provides a primary axis for The Oasis and is suspended from the main concrete structure. The concept is to have a volumetric walkway from which the planar elements are hung. As a continuation of the conflicted emergences of the linked movements of the studied 20th century theorists, I adopted their processes and techniques during my own design phases, encouraging introspection, and allowing me to hone my own design thinking and skills. By using 3D modelling, exploring the languages: Volume, Planar and Grid, iterating using spatial exploration by switching between the 2D and 3D, I was able to realise the 2D plan, encouraging me to lift my design skills to a new horizon – the output, a refined and resolved declaration.
Diagram of the expanding and contracting volumetric circulation space with ‘hanging’ planar elements.
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Multiple photographs of the 1:200 development model, exploring the interactions between volume, planar and grid elements, the intention is for most of The Oasis to be ‘doorless’ with merely concrete planes dividing up the spaces into smaller digital pods.
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Multiple photographs of the 1:200 development model, exploring the interactions between the volumetric and planar elements: the concept is to have this dominating volumetric walkway which traverses the entire building, expanding and contracting throughout, with several planar elements hanging from this.
Multiple photographs of the 1:200 development model, exploring the interactions between light and the planar elements.
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Photographs of the 1:200 explorative model exploring the plan of The Oasis. Top left – Plan view of the Lower Ground Floor. Top right – Plan view of the Upper Ground Floor. Above left – Plan view of the First Floor. Above right – Plan view of the Second Floor.
1:200 development plans of The Oasis. Top left –Lower Ground Floor Plan. Top right – Upper Ground Floor Plan Above left – First Floor Plan Above right – Second Floor Plan.
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Integrating Virtual Reality into Architecture
Testing out ideas in Virtual Reality Looking towards the future of Architecture, in a 21st Century setting, I used Virtual Reality as a tool in my design process. After exploring the 3D physical model to help resolve the 2D, I used Sketchup and Unity to test out different sketch designs at 1:1 scale. This innovative and immersive designing method allows me to extend beyond the realms of typical architectural design. I used the HTC Vive to view the designs grounded in the site. Virtual Reality provides me the opportunity to quickly and easily test out sketch designs and ideas, in real time, in the site, without wasting physical resources. I was able to sketch massing ideas, floor plans and layouts, organisations of space and aesthetic decisions and travel directly to the site through my VR headset. This holistic and interactive design process allows me to revisit, iterate and amend designs integrated into the site for which they are designed, time and time again, from the comfort of my own home, reducing environmental impact by not wasting resources and experiencing the design at 1:1 scale, as the user would in my
final building. These tools are novel, but the application of them into my design process is one of original exploration. The integration or VR into Architecture is not something which is merely limited to realisations of final representations of space, but a tool I employ throughout my entire design process. I wanted to explore how the technology could be used in the future, rather than what it is being used for currently.
Multiple photographs of me testing out sketch designs in Virtual Reality.
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Lower Ground Floor
1.
2. 1. Digital Studios
1.
2. Private Entrance
1.
3. Plant Room
2.
4. Apollo Pavilion 1.
2.
5. Sunny Blunts Estate
1. 3. 2.
4.
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1.
5.
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1. 2.
3. 4.
4.
5.
3.
Upper Ground Floor
1. Public Entrance 2. Reception
7.
6.
3. Staff Offices 4. Study Spaces
8.
5. Services Access 6. Courtyard 7. Kitchen 8. Main Space
9.
9. Central Axis
10.
10. Creative Studios
10.
11. Toilets
10.
11.
12. View Point
11. 10. 10.
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12.
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4. 1. 3.
1.
1.
First Floor
1. Classroom 3.
2. VR/Game Testing Space 3. Toilets
4.
4. Double-height Space
2.
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Second Floor
1. Plant Room 2. Server Space
1.
3. Liquid Cooling System
2.
3.
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Lower Ground Floor
The lower ground floor will host all the digital studios for the software engineers of the technology companies. This floor plan shows one possible arrangement of the space and is indicative of five separate technology companies inhabiting the space. Employing flexibility and growth, The Oasis will grow with the companies and industry. Digital Studios Used by the software engineers to the technology companies, these spaces facilitate the development and creation of the software and hardware. Designed as darker, more solitary spaces, the pods are connected to one another through a series of openings, with the concrete, planar elements dividing the spaces, facilitating the sharing of information, skills and expertise between the engineers within the company whilst also achieving a degree of privacy for focused coding. Private Entrance Used mainly by the software engineers as an exit for smoking breaks, the private entrances also provide all industry workers easy access to the industry bubble, avoiding the need to take the longer walk from the main entrance, down the central access. The exits also act as necessary escapes in the event of a fire. Plant Room Used to power the building.
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Digital Studios
Private Entrance
Plant Room
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Public Entrance
Upper Ground Floor
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Public Entrance This public threshold acts as a terminal into The Oasis, inviting the user up and out of reality and into the virtual. The wooden walkway opens into the double-height concrete reception space. Reception This double-height space will greet visitors from the car park and bus stops which is the preferred entrance. This space contains a cast-in-situ concrete reception desk and cloak room. Visitors are greeted here and directed to their need. The user then leaves this space through the wooden exit terminal. Staff Offices Used by the fellows and admin staff of the education bubble for general day-to-day running of The Oasis. Study Spaces Bookable spaces for the students to study and develop their skills in Virtual Reality. There are two variations: computer rooms with study desks, liquid-cooling computers and printers and VR pods which host no furniture but the VR equipment. Similar to the digital studios, the study spaces are connected to one another through a series of openings, with concrete, planar elements dividing the spaces, facilitating the sharing of information, skills and knowledge between the students. Services Access Used for the delivery of catering equipment in the case of an event at The Oasis and the delivery of materials for any maintenance of the server space. Courtyard External space offering the users a place to pause and reflect, to perform yoga or meditation or to eat their lunch whilst catching some rays. The Courtyard offers view of the Blunts Beck, Castle Eden Dene and the Sunny Blunts Estate.
Kitchen Used mainly by members of the Industry and Education bubbles, the facilities provide a place to prepare and cook food or to grab a coffee throughout the day. Throughout the year the kitchen is also used to cater for the events: beta testing and launch events of content, both hardware and software. Main Space A multi-functional atrium, which mostly acts as an informal meeting space for professionals, students and opportunities for the two to merge to discuss their creative ideas, work and learning. Companies can also book out the main space to use as a meeting room for potential investors or corporate customers. Throughout the year, the space will become more formal, booked out to host the alpha and beta testing of the content releases. In addition, a few times a year, the space will become the shop window for the company’s product releases: software and hardware. Central Axis This buffer space between the external and the internal acts as a portal, transporting the users from reality to the virtual reality. This space is used as the main circulation space, by establishing a clear axis, controlling the major circulation running North to South, from public to private. At places, the axis expands and contracts, converging with the minor circulation routes running perpendicular. Creative Studios Used by the creatives to the technology companies, these spaces facilitate the designing and imagination of the virtual reality content. Designed as lighter, open, and collaborative spaces, the inspiring studios allow light in and long views out, grounding the artists in their surrounding landscape and context. This floor plan shows one possible arrangement of the space and is indicative of five separate technology companies inhabiting the space. Viewpoint The Oasis has a direct visual and formal relationship with the Apollo Pavilion. The viewpoint provides an opportunity for spectacle of both the Apollo Pavilion and the Sunny Blunts Estate. Sunny Blunts Estate The Oasis has a direct visual relationship with the Sunny Blunts Estate.
Reception
Staff Offices
Study Spaces
Services Access Courtyard Kitchen
Main Space Central Axis
Creative Studios
Toilets
Sunny Blunts Estate View Point
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Double -height Space
Toilets
Classroom
First Floor Toilets
Double-height Space The first double-height space opens up the reception, exaggerating the experience of the user from the enclosed entrance into the vast reception space. The contrast of space and light between the skylights used in the reception space which allow direct light to enter the space, compared to the wash of light from the timber-lamella walls of the walkway, dictates the hierarchy of the space. The second doubleheight space in the atrium, offers both views up towards the servers from the upper ground floor and views down to the main space from the first floor balcony. Classroom Used by the fellows and students as educational spaces running workshops, sit down classes and more active learning. Toilets Throughout The Oasis there are several toilet blocks which serve the people in that ‘bubble’. The water used to flush these is the water recycled using rain water harvesting, the byproduct of the heat recovery system of the server space and the waste product of the heatexchange.
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VR/Game Testing Space A multi-functional space, which mostly acts as an informal social space, for both professionals and students from the industry and education bubble alike, to meet and practice their coding or gaming. Used throughout the year, the space will become more formal, booked out to host the alpha and beta testing of the content releases. For the alpha testing, the content will be tested within the company and the company will then improve their releases based on this feedback. For beta testing, select industry specialists and enthusiasts are invited to The Oasis to test out the new release, this provides the companies opportunities to obtain true, unbiased feedback on their product, improving any final tweaks ahead of the public release. A few times a year, this space also becomes the shop window for the companies, the first floor balcony offers their guests the opportunity to test out the new content or product releases. Sunny Blunts Estate The Oasis has a direct visual relationship with the Sunny Blunts Estate.
Double -height Space VR/Game Testing Space
Sunny Blunts Estate
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Second Floor Plant Room
Plant Room Used to heat the building with the inclusion of rain water harvesting, water tanks, heat recovery system powered by recycled heat produced from servers and computers around the building. Server Space The services in The Oasis’ plant room – the server space - are left exposed, this allows the system to be easily accessible, maintained and repaired. The second-floor access is merely for maintenance and includes a ladder in case of a broken lift. Liquid Cooling System By harvesting the wasted heat energy produced by the servers in the main space, The Oasis employs heat recovery to both heat the entire building whilst also cooling the servers. The entire server space hosts a series of glass pipes, which cool water runs through: as the servers release copious amounts of heat energy, the cold water is heated and runs up and out of the room, through the glass pipes. This technical detail is also used in the gaming computers in both the industry and the education spaces.
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Liquid cooling computers are used throughout showing coherency from the technical detail to the entire building scale. The water used for this system, is recycled rainwater, collected using rain-water harvesting, on the roof of the atrium. Consequently, the water collected and the heat energy gained are separated using a heatexchange: the hot air is then pumped through trench heaters in the floor, to heat the space, and the water is used for flushing toilets.
Server Space
Liquid Cooling System
Sunny Blunts Estate The Oasis has a direct visual relationship with the Sunny Blunts Estate.
Sunny Blunts Estate
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Tectonic Celebration
1:50 Final Model The site is a sloping green area located at the top of the Sunny Blunts estate in New Town Peterlee. Nature has a strong presence on the site: nestled next to the famous Apollo Pavilion, Blunts Beck and near to the Castle Eden Dene. With the numerous waterfalls and wildlife presence, it truly is a place of serenity. The Sunny blunts estate, the area in immediate proximity to the site, hosts a range of residential dwellings, attracting a large demographic of family residents. An educational, civic building situated at the entrance to the estate will serve not only local residents, but also visitors of the Apollo Pavilion. The urban area in a wider proximity to the site hosts a range of public and private buildings, from commercial to community. Due to excellent infrastructure and history of industry, the New Town is attractive to manufacturers such as VBItes. The Oasis is an advocate for, and a demonstration of, the various ways concrete can be recycled and urges designers of the future to utilize the residual value from older buildings which are being demolished for new construction purposes.
Tectonically, The Oasis displays a wide range of concrete expressions, including curving sculptural, crisp planar and small-scale fragmented elements and aims to educate the user through their experience of the building, on the potential use of concrete, its sustainability properties and its place within the 21st Century construction industry. This is something which heavily inspired and influenced the design of The Oasis, designing within a post-New Brutalism realm, in which concrete is viewed as an unsustainable material, The Oasis aims to educate the user on the ability of concrete to be a main construction material and the application of this in a sustainable and eco-conscious way. Whilst also educational, the building acts as a celebrational piece of sculpture, and the building’s design is a manifestation of the programmatic scheme of the building, holistically applying concrete, in every scheme of the building, from the structural strategy to the environmental strategy, to pay homage to the material’s properties, capabilities and value.
Photograph of the 1:50 final envelope structure model, exploring tectonics and materiality at a detail and structural scale.
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Photograph of the 1:50 final envelope structure model, exploring tectonics and materiality in the daytime, in day lighting, with the high summer sun.
Photograph of the 1:50 final envelope structure model, exploring tectonics and materiality in the night time, in night lighting, with the low artificial light of the spotlight street lights surrounding the building.
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Theoretical Manifesto
True New Brutalism Contrasting with the use and application of concrete by architects in the 20th century, The Oasis is a conflicting emergence of the ideas and approaches of the modernist movement. Notably across the North East, The Oasis in Peterlee proposes the ‘True New Brutalism’ and is an antithetical commentary of the ‘utopian’ architecture of the New Towns during the 1950s and 1960s. The Oasis, through its material, construction and detail, aims to declare the value of concrete in the 21st century construction industry and is an exemplar of its potential use and sustainability properties. True New Brutalism is a social attitude, which pre-figures the human figure above all else, in representation and in thinking about architecture. Any space which you design is just a space in which some kind of social interaction takes place: architecture is just about establishing relationships between people (Smithson, 2016), True New Brutalism represents human beings and their interconnections with one another, it is not a dominant form of architecture nor one that tries to inflict on the human being, rather one which grows from this. Architecture is a plane for human activity.
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Thinking Through Making Workshops
‘Architects, sculptors, painters, we all must return to the crafts! For art is not a ‘profession’. There is no essential difference between the artists and the craftsman. The artist is an exalted craftsman. In rare moments of inspiration, transcending the consciousness of his will, the grace of heaven may cause his work to blossom into art. But proficiency in a craft is essential to every artist. Therein lies the prime source of creative imagination. Let us then create a new guild of craftsman without the class distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist! Together, let us desire, conceive, and create the new structure of the future, which will embrace architecture and sculpture and painting in one unity and which will one day rise toward heaven from the hands of a million workers like the crystal symbol of a new faith.’
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Alex Blanchard Encoded Material Processes
Multiple photographs of the Encoded Material Processes workshop.
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Multiple photographs of the Encoded Material Processes workshop.
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Rachel Currie Pattern Magic
Creating 3D voids and forms from 2D materials.
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Multiple photographs of the Pattern Magic workshop.
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Sophie Cobley Working With Wood
Multiple photographs of the Working with Wood workshop.
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Russ Coleman Introduction to Stonemasonry
Multiple photographs of the Stonemasonry workshop.
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Multiple photographs of the Stonemasonry process.
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Amy Linford Casting
Multiple photographs of the plaster casting workshop.
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David Boyd
Material Skills: Working in Virtual Reality The Material Skills: Working in Virtual Reality workshop was the catalyst for my creative and architectural thinking. The workshop was my first exposure to Virtual Reality, its capabilities and place in Architectural Design and Practice. The workshop heavily influenced my entire final graduation project. In terms of the programme, a virtual reality hub for the youth of Peterlee, the material and construction techniques and the environmental strategy. After the workshop, I furthered my learning of Virtual Reality and holistically incorporated these tools and skills throughout the entire design process. From Site Analysis, to testing out sketch ideas of my final design, I merged Virtual Reality with Architectural Thinking and my phenomenological experience of the design process. I believe that Virtual Reality should and will have a strong presence not only in Architectural Design but also in Architectural Practice. During Covid-19, our real lives and our virtual lives have never been more interwoven, and nobody is exempt from this.
Now, more than ever, Virtual Reality offers a solution to this, a way of bridging the gap between architect, design team and client. Using VR in site analysis, offers the opportunity for one member of the design team to visit the site, or even an architect from a twinned firm in the country or state of the site, without compromising the other member’s experiences of the site. One can visit the site from the comfort of their own study. In design, VR provides the architect with the tools to test out ideas, at 1:1 scale, without compromising the environment, through wasted modelling materials. I used the tools gained in the workshop, to not only test out sketch designs of the project, in the site, in real time, but also to experience any moments designed at 1:1 scale. This not only aids the architect but also provides the client with an opportunity to be more involved in the design process. They can experience design ideas and moments in the building from the comfort of their own office, by simply popping on a headset.
The opportunity for Virtual Reality to also be used as a representational technique has a plethora of benefits. The Virtual Reality Model replaces the model and final renders of the building, which usually offer an unrealistic representation of the final building, by use of skies which are too blue, or urban landscapes which are represented as mere white ‘boxes’. It offers the client the opportunity to explore final fixtures and finishings, with final lighting and environmental factors live, at the site. This switch saves on costly trips flying to the client for visits and reduces the large cost of these to the environment, as well as the save on materials for the physical models and drawings, which can be costly and waste precious material. The workshop not only influenced my Architectural Design Thinking, but also my wider Architectural Thinking. It inspired the hypothesis of my essay for Theory into Practice and also my thesis for my dissertation.
Multiple photographs of me exploring Virtual Reality, including a screenshot of my final graduation project in Unity.
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06
Illustrated Cultural Bibliography III
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Metal Work
Ring Making Workshop Developing my skills gained during both the Thinking Through Making Workshops and Thinking Through Making Week, I attended an extracurricular ring making workshop. The workshop educated me on working with silver and the creative processes involved in the production of a silver ring. This phenomenological experience was incredibly humbling and I used the ring to propose to my fiancé in Central Park, New York.
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Photograph of me with the metal during the ring making process. Photograph of me with the metal during the ring making process.
Multiple photographs of the ring making process.
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Life Drawing
The Human Form
Composite life drawing.
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Line ink pen life drawing.
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Coloured ink life drawing.
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Charcoal life drawing I.
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Charcoal life drawing II.
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Charcoal life drawing III.
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AiR.
RIBA NE Research Workshops
Tetra Chromatic Colour Vision
RIBA North East Research & Innovation Forum’s Interactive Workshops
AiR curate events featuring the work of artists in recovery from addiction and help those artists to promote and sell their work. They also promote abstinence based on 12 step recovery programmes and support all forms of recovery from addiction. After being invited to one of AiR’s exhibitions by artist Ross Coleman, I was educated on Tetra Chromatic Colour Vision and after experimenting with my own art and creative experiences, I discovered that I also had an extra dimension of colour perception which allows a particular interpretation of flesh tones, explaining to me, my long held fascination with life drawing.
Composition – PFW Wolf.
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Scan of the schedule for the RIBA North East Research & Innovation Forum’s Interactive Workshops, including some of my annotations taken throughout.
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GURU25
Interrogating Form: Creative and Cultural Participatory Practice
Scan of the front cover of the Guru25 Interrogating Form: Creative and Cultural Participatory Practice Methods Workshop.
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Multiple scans of my sketchbook containing notes taken during the Methods Workshop.
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Faith Mary Hamilton