Luca Philo Portfolio

PORTFOLIO

Academic Portfolio 2020/21 Luca Philo 180297708 Stage 3 Weaving in Wallsend

CONTENTS PAG Illustrated Reflective Diary

Framing Studio Introduction |10 Wallsend Deconstructed |16 Studio Position |30 Initial Site Strategy |35 Brief Declaration |53

Testing Reflection | 54 Process |62 Key Design Moves |73 Post-Review Revisions |77 Thinking through Making |80

Synthesis Reflection | 84 Theoretical Stance |86 Wallsend Strategy |92 Building as a Tectonic Demonstrator |94 Technology Integration |101 Final Drawings |108 A Renewed Civic Centre Walkthrough | 113 Building Centre - Walkthrough

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Cultural Bibliography Thematic Case Study Reports |135

Bibliography + References

Appendices Group Thematic Case Study Report - Full Construction Sequencing Integrated Construction

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amended work after review

new work after review

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illustrated, diary

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REFLECTIVE DIARY Stage 3 presented unique opportunities and challenges; a result of both the expected and unexpected conditions of this academic year, which has encouraged my personal growth both as a student of Architecture and more widely as a pro-social designer.

The year began as our Dissertation studies intensified and we delved further into our elected research fields. Through hands-on experience as part of a case study working collaboratively amongst a growing group of local green-space practitioners I began to witness the potential of socially minded Architecture to create opportunities for transformation within communities. This undoubtedly influenced my decision to select the Weaving in Wallsend studio, led by Luke Rigg, Sophie Baldwin and Kieran Connolly.

The studio deals with urban commons theory – a relatively young research field based on the understanding of the ‘common’ as a social regime for managing shared resources and forging a community of shared values and purpose (Dellenbaugh-Losse, Zimmermann and de Vries, 2020. p.35).

Encouraged to adopt a clear position as an advocate of prosocial theory, our studio attempts to unpack the conditions and requirements of resilient Civic Architecture. I have elected to explore Etienne Wenger’s social-practice theory - Communities of Practice (Wenger, 1999) as a vessel within which to explore commonalities between Peoples and Architecture.

Our initial studio objectives began to frame the concept of the ‘common’ through the lens of relatable architectural precedents. I chose to study the ‘moment’ encounter of climate-action protest group Extinction Rebellion. On reflection this interest demonstrates a growing desire to explore modes of Architecture born from undefined space - use and misuse – spaces born from an inherent D.I.Y energy in the Community. Having unpacked Wenger’s Communities of Practice during Dissertation studies I began to re-frame my position on the role of the architect during Brief Exploration exercises - at this point the level of interrogation remained elemental and related through the act of ‘master planning’ in Wallsend.

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6 The introduction to atelier d’architecture autogérée framed my early means of representing a desire to empower the Community through selective interventions on site. Concepts of Wenger’s Communities of Practice, born from acts of - ‘making, learning, negotiating’ (Wenger, 1999) - in the Community, further contributed to a developing brief. On reflection – this was the pivotal exercise of Framing and helped to cement my studio position. My consequent advocacies and brief development were a distillation this exercise - an attempt to map potentials and opportunities to create resilient Community Architecture in Wallsend through the nurturing/ exposing of competences in the Community – and would be further interrogated as my brief developed.

The Theory into Practice has integrated significantly in the conceptual development of this project. The essay began by further unpacking of what it is to be in ‘common’ space – and whether this realm is born from demarcated spatial boundaries or commonalities between people. In this sense I continued to further unpack Wenger’s “making, learning, negotiating” in order to understand the ‘active-reactive’ practices of forging community.

Rapidly recognizing that my formal, reductive modes of representation were unsuited to exploring the indeterminate realm where practice is “performed, enacted” (Petrescu 2012 p.56) - I looked towards the work of Perry Kulper, seeking tools to Map and Design within this space. It is my belief that true commonality is ‘lived; sensed – in this location’ (Philo, 2020, p.6) On reflection, this study clearly marks the progression of my pursuit to articulate thoughts and desires rooted in a pro-social agenda, present in the earliest Framing outputs. Influences of Kulper’s ‘chromosomal structure’ drawings helped test new methods to explore connections and commonality in Architecture - reflected in the material, tectonic and spatial arrangements of my emergent graduate scheme.

‘Chromosomal Structure’, as seen in arc3014, Theory into Practice

7 Compelled further by my critique Wallsend Forum: a display of traits of modernity which fail to cater for a diverse community - in the pursuit of order and the ridding of the ‘contingent’ - I chose to reflect upon my altered position on what is to be ‘common’. I aligned with Petrescu’s view: common spaces founded from a participative (D.I.Y) energy must embrace ‘conflict, rebellion, disorder’ (Petrescu 2012 p.50). This is surely increasingly pertinent in a World facing rapid urbanisation and pressures of climate change .

The celebration piece begins to plot these cumulative thoughts in an emerging spatial relationship where the contingent elements of an architecture are the connective tissues between disparate spaces and ‘bundles of practices’ (Mallo, Tardiveau and Parsons, 2020).

This work underpinned my progression into Synthesis with a growing proposal for a contemporary Building Centre markedly different to nearby contexts and overtly expressing sustainable building practices and technologies.

The Professional Practice module aligned with the graduation project at a point where social and spatial concepts were coming to realisation. Most significantly Section 3.2 - Implications to the reputations of Architects and the ethical obligations to sustainability – encouraged me reassess my scheme in wider local and planning contexts.

On reflection, this exercise further contributed to the distillation of purpose-led specialisms in the building programme for the benefit of the wider retrofit community. Understanding details of existing and future housing requirements cemented the building’s purpose and clarified the requirement for a building typology markedly juxtaposed with what exists in the Forum – in part connected to the rebuke of previous failed renovations and as a clear statement in favour of sustainable building technologies and practices. Here, the project reached a point of conceptual maturity required to carry through to technical and graphical realisation in Synthesis.

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“Participation is performative - it is to collage ones collage into another collage” At Testing Review, a quality of my scheme inherently affords a large proportion of ‘multi-use’ space. A concern grew that my project lacked the required tectonic depth and resolution to fulfil the emerging narrative of a Sustainable Building Centre. The technology module was a significant and vital undertaking and afforded me the scope to invest in processes of detailed design to carry ideas of participation and sustainability from conception to realisation. Indepth research and analysis into Design for Deconstruction (DfD) for the studio specific section helped to distil my social and sustainable concepts in plausible detail. Within this space ideas of a Building Centre as a tectonic demonstrator – built into, built off-of and changeable over time were assessed and realised in an approach to building structure, systems and skin that could be adapted, constructed, and de-constructed suitably within a growing circular building economy. Adapting a formative BRE DFD assessment methodology framed this view through the lens a growing research field and contributed to solidifying this core concept in the scheme.

The opportunity to work within the collective scope of four additional modules this year has significantly supported my growth as a learner – maturing as a designer capable of navigating conceptual and detailed design-development. Testing new means of self-expression afforded me the scope to return to detailed design creatively, as a means to advance the quality and maturity of my graduate project beyond a point I was previously capable.

framing reflection

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The Framing process has painted a broad picture of Wallsend, full of possibilities for temporary and permanent intervention. Early studies of ‘urban commons’ framed my view of common spaces as places of interaction, provocation, collaboration and progress. Places of intensive use - and misuse. Themes of the temporary, public and private, existing competence and objects of the everyday emerged.

My site reading focused heavily on the materiality of the Forum and it’s periphery contexts - the material manifest and it’s condition proving an active voice in the tale of a fading Shopping Centre and civic ‘Forum’.

Ideas of plastics and plasticity, layering and synthetics focused my initial views on commercial interests in the site. Ideas of cooperation between D.I.Y practitioners in the community developed in response to the negative commercial associations. Thoughts on the role of ‘urban commons’ in sustainable urban development manifested in a site strategy focused on marrying commercial, residential and community requirements in a Centre-for-all.

Producing celebratory works on strategy, programme and brief narrowed my focus to some early project objectives for permanent and temporary intervention.

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STUDIO INTRODUCTION: URBAN COMMONS

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The Weaving in Wallsend studio deals with urban commons theory – a young research field based on the understanding of the ‘common’ as a social regime for managing shared resources and forging a community of shared values and purpose (Dellenbaugh-Losse, Zimmermann and de Vries, 2020. p.35).

The studio aims to explore civic space – the potentials for a shared domain within a rich and complex community narrative. We are asked to re-frame our understanding our roles as architectural designers – positioning ourselves as advocates of socially-driven change: “This is not so much a bottom-up approach but one from the middle” - “where lines and points gain their speed” (Petrescu, 2012, p.55) Our brief is to retrofit a declinding civic Centre. Wallsend Forum – a mid-20th Century shopping precinct - outwardly reflects a recent history of economic decline. Despite it’s ‘Forum’ connotations coined by property investment corporation New River Retail - the local centre often fails ot meet civic requirements in the locale. How might contemporary modes of ‘urban communing’ and architectural intervention support positive social interactions in Wallsend?

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studio work: Rituals of Civic Life © left to right: Danny Bennet, Milly London, Lorand Nagy, Peng Yin, Zoe Ingram, Dk Noor Ameerah Pg Kasmirhan

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RITUALS OF CIVIC LIFE

photographs of the backyard bike shop, Newcastle

INHABITATION STUDY

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EXPLORING URBAN COMMONS

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Climate Crisis group Extinction Rebellion, Oxford Circus, 2019 The future is upon us. This celebratory piece explores the architecture of protest. By studying the ways in which protest groups temporarily inhabit spaces opened some interesting themes at the beginning of the framing exercise.

Key themes emerged, including: permanency, objects of the everyday, dissent and misuse. In terms of ‘urban commoning’, the theme of ‘misuse’ presented as an interesting line of enquiry. How does architecture of misuse manifest differently to architectures of intended or prescribed activity? Themes of misuse opened avenues to explore public and private relations in the urban common.

I have employed techniques of layered drawing and collage to explore these key themes, paying special attention to opacity, distinction-of-line, tone and texture to convey relationships between themes.

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WALLSEND

WALLSEND DECONSTRUCTED:

Wallsend has experienced both the rapid growth and steady decline associated with many Northern, sub-urban areas throughout the radical social and technological developments of the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries. The proximity of the River Tyne brought rapid industrialisation and echoed the formation of ship-yards which would become famous for their size and output.

Following the decline of Britain’s heavy industry in the 20th Century and shifting global economies - Wallsend at present suffers from a withdrawal in local growth often associated with de-industrialisation.

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WALLSEND DECONSTRUCTED: A CELEBRATION OF LIFE AND DEATH Celebrating the rich and complex history of Wallsend, from a vibrant and leading ship building industry to decline and economic recession, unemployment and the foundation of co-operatives and workers movements.

Local Landmarks - Group Site Map 1:500 © adpated from social and economic group work

Communities’ competences are embedded in tacit, “implicit and largely historically-culturally specific”

Mallo, Tardiveau and Parsons, 2020 p.50

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Key Green Space and High Street

Residential Housing Stock

Industrial Units

Road Network Wallsend and Willington Quay, Local Plan 2017 Wallsend Local Plan Strategic Policy Area

River Tyne

Enterprise Zone Town Centre Boundary

Primary Shopping Area Employment Land

Wallsend Ward

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Wallsend Forum

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Beginning to de-construct the urban fabric of Wallsend and the Forum: understand thresholds, civic connections and locations of opportunity.

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Primary Shopping Area 1:200 © adpated from urban/physical group work

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WALLSEND: MICRO

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I’ve noticed people rely more on items of the everyday here. Plastic and material objects share the load of newly bought products from Home Bargain, Card Factory and Boots. I think of circular processes of production and consumption, and potentially re-use. From a seated view I see consumption in excess. Production is out of sight, but not out of mind. The colours, materials and synthetics of mass manufacture techniques stain the shop fronts and shopping bags of passers-by. I feel I am sitting amongst similar broken circles of production, consumption and potential re-use. How might my architecture or interventions stitch these broken elements into a whole?

Sit on benches or under awnings.

Walk with prams or Zimmer frames, their mobility oftentimes assisted.

Retail is screaming. 50%! Free. Extra Free. Glass emblazoned with slogans absorbs my eyeline.

Moments of exchange are frequent and not long lasting.

Exchanges are made amidst clouds of vape smoke; necks crane as they holla to a friend across the herringbone plaza floor. Conversation is had, exchanges of voice or material are made, and journeys are continued on with. Elements of the civic landscape: cold steel benches, bright waste bins, tired canvas awnings and peeling advertisement boards offer fleeting ‘moments’ of commoning in this unexpected urban arena. How might these fleeting moments be strengthened and lengthened, I ask? Clearly, the plaza is a buzzing threshold of inhabitation.

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Considering the micro level: observing patterns, objects, modes and materials of inhabitation to build a deeper understnading of the site.

THE NATURAL PALETTE

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1:2500 Site Map showing routes of mapping, concentrated on the material palettes that make up Wallsend

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The natural palette exists mostly on the periphery brown emerge amongst the paving stones, tarma presents within the threshold zones: around the F 3

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THE RETAIL PALETTE

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y of its neighbours. Elements of green, burnt orange and acs and vehicles - often expectantly. This palette often Forum, in Dees Park.

The retail palette is layered and brightly coloured. The colours are often marred, sometimes heavily - a result of their synthetic quality. The retail palette is frequently changed; moved, layered, built into and over. The palette does not adhere to any co-ordination.

ALLSENDFIT FOR

THE RESIDENTIAL PALETTE

THE FORUM PALETTE

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The residential palette consists of browns, reds and greys. The palette is mostly undefined; lines are blurred where colours have layered throughout history. Grey and green overtones dominate brighter colours in the palette.

The Forum palette consists of greys, blues and browns. The palette is heavily overtoned; dullness a predominant feature, as concretes and renders fade

RFIT FOR RETR R

THE MALL PALETTE

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and brick and tarmac fall under shadow. A cold palette is broken by glints of light from metal civic infrastructure and anti-architecture.

The Mall palette consists of whites, browns and marbled colours. Bright coloured shop fronts of blue, red and green break the homogeneity. The palette is brightened by ample daylight; colours are clearly faded and exposed.

RO RETROFIT RETROFIT

1:2500 Forum Location: a ‘Civic Hub’

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WALLSEND FORUM: A CIVIC HUB?

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How can my site intervention positively respond to public infrastructure-use in Wallsend, not disruptive but constructive?

The plaza adjascent to the East entrance exists within a key threshold in the site, the entrance between street and Forum contexts. The intervention must positively spill onto the plaza it neighbours.

Advertisment and branding associated to retail are an early interest in this project. The process’ of design and manufacture, and communiction of brand message could be a interesting means to explore a civic-minded brief.

Vacant spaces, non-human spaces, should be transformed with accessibility in mind.

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STUDIO POSITION/SOCIAL PRACTICE THEORY

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Étienne Wenger - Communities of Practice Etienne Wenger’s social theory on collective learning – coined Communities of Practice – has informed this graduation project from start to finish. Framing the earliest line of enquiry into the formation of urban ‘commons’ based on a shared understanding of what it is to live in a ‘shared’ domain– common space has been inextricably linked to community praxis. Wenger’s social theory is based on three pillars: the domain, the community, and the practice. Through collective practice commonality between people is forged; It is my belief that within this shared domain true ‘common’ inhabitation is formed. Wenger characterises Practice as the art of ‘making, learning, [and] negotiating’ (Wenger, 1999, as cited in Mallo, Tardiveau and Parsons, 2020, p.167) Daniel Mallo, Armelle Tardiveau and Rorie Parsons introduced new perspectives on this theory in their essay: Design activism: catalysing communities of practice. This essay voiced the generative capacity of the ‘Architect’/urban curator in catalysing ‘existing competences’ in the Community as part of place-making exercises.

“SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE “SHARE

“Communities of practice can give rise to social innovation, which emerge through the interaction between practitioners and particular elements of practices” (Mallo, Tardiveau and Parson, 2020, p.104)

Mallo, Tardiveau and Parson further frame Wenger’s Communities of Practice as a space for an ‘engagement in action, shared knowledge and negotiation of enterprises’. Reflecting on wider studio themes of urban commoning and climate-action, this line of enquiry has framed my studio position as an advocate of social empowerment, focusing my brief on tapping into Wallsend’s ‘shared repertoire’ - the routines, words, tools, ways of doing things, stories, gestures, symbols, genres, actions, and concepts deeply embedded in Wallsend’s community identity (Wenger, 1999).

This has formulated in a brief that aims to align social and climate agendas in an attempt to learn from Wenger’s social theory on Community and place-making. The Centre for Construction Excellence and Building Retrofit considers the rich culture of making, creating and D.I.Y in the North-East and aims to respond to the pressing requirements for suitable and sustainable housing in the 21st century.

ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE” ED REPERTOIRE”

“SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE” “SHARED REPERTOIRE”

“SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER “SHARED REPER

Full Thematic Case Study in Appendices

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AGROCITE: ATELIER D’ARCHITECTURE AUTOGÉRÉE Explorations into aaa’s social practice helped frame early considerations of brief and sustainability objectives. Petrescu and Petcou champion a similar concept to Wenger’s ‘shared repertoire’ - demonstrating these concepts in practice in Agrocité, a urban agriculture iniative in Paris.

Critical Spatial Practice

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AgroCité- Critical Spatial Practice © Charlie Kay

CITIZENS” OMOTE INNOVATION HN THE REACH OF CITIZENS” OMOTE INNOVATION HN THE REACH OF CITIZENS” OMOTE INNOVATION HN THE REACH OF CITIZENS” OMOTE INNOVATION HN THE REACH OF CITIZENS” OMOTE INNOVATION HN THE REACH OF CITIZENS” OMOTE INNOVATION HN THE REACH OF CITIZENS” OMOTE INNOVATION HN THE REACH OF

CITIZENS” “PROMOTE INNOVATION WITIHN THE REACH OF CITIZENS” “PROMOTE INNOVATION WITIHN THE REACH OF CITIZENS” “PROMOTE INNOVATION WITIHN THE REACH OF CITIZENS” “PROMOTE INNOVATION WITIHN THE REACH OF CITIZENS” “PROMOTE INNOVATION WITIHN THE REACH OF CITIZENS” “PROMOTE INNOVATION WITIHN THE REACH OF CITIZENS” “PROMOTE INNOVATION WITIHN THE REACH OF

CITIZ “PROMOTE WITIHN TH CITIZ * “PROMOTE WITIHN TH CITIZ “PROMOTE WITIHN TH CITIZ “PROMOTE WITIHN TH CITIZ “PROMOTE WITIHN TH CITIZ “PROMOTE WITIHN TH CITIZ “PROMOTE WITIHN TH 33

INITIAL SITE STRATEGY

I decided to approach my site strategy working in axonometric view. I began to collage elements of my site strategy in terms of the activities, considering with significance ‘circuits’ of re-use and pedagogy, ultimately to support production and consumption both on and off site.

I began by loosely mapping periphery areas. I mapped potential interventions in blue, red and green - considering residential, commerical and natural zones respectively.

Once mapped, I began to collage strategic elements of interest, namely: renewable energy infrastructure, demonstration and teaching areas, public art and retail infrastructure and case-study retrofit homes.

Within the Forum, I considered potential programme strategies in response to these periphery elements, attempting to establish circular structures within the community. This strategy includes: a civic-led community retrofit programme and teaching, retail space, co-work and community consultation areas and associated hospitality and re-use workshops and demonstrators.

The early stage site strategy attempts to explore potential patterns of use, re-use and co-building across the Wallsend Community. The centre must showcase and advocate for sustainable retrofit practice.

The centre should facilitate pedagogy and co-building within it’s immediate residential and retail contexts.

The following pages zoom in on specific elements of the strategy to clarify association, aims, and project advocacies.

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01. DEMONSTRATE and Advocate to IMPROVE Utilising existing green spaces on the periphery to demonstrate and advocate for renewable energy infrastructure Residential plots suitable for retrofit are the connecting tissue between green spaces in the community Accommodate positive inhabitation of the spaces, built for the community not for the technology

02. REUSE SHOWCASE AND TEST Utilising the nearby residential and commercial contexts; processes, technologies and methods to sustainably transform buildings are showcased in teaching spaces, retail spaces and community workshops Building resilience in the community is key: community consultation and representation is central to the strategy

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03. FACILITATE PRACTICE AND PEDAGOGY Patterns of production in reused and recycled materials dissolve into nearby contexts, with immediate residential and retail buildings as demonstrators Spaces for temporary practice spill out into the immediate context

04. CO - BUILD + RETROFIT Relationships between co-operators and retail stakeholders should be nurtured with positive interventions for all

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Community Energy England, 2021

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“new report advocates ‘bottom-up’ approach to retrofit as effective way to meet the carbon neutral challenge”

Newcastle City Council

highlighting leading examples of domestic retrofit policies and initiatives from local and combined authorities across the UK.

guidance and agree. help.”Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: “It is The government’s plan to insulate England’s draughty homes is faltering because builders and Green campaigners installers are failing to sign up, leaving thousands of households unable to access the £3bn critical that the chancellor guarantees financial support over years, not months. The governgreen home grants. ment’s manifesto commitment of £9.2bnbackstage should be made good on in theatre full, without delay.”

Alan Tierney, 34, who worked at the Lowry in Manchester

for 16 years is one of those involved. “What we have done so far I would never

Offering up to £5,000 – or £10,000 for those on low incomes – for energy efficiency measures There are also concerns that the scheme is insufficient in its present form. imagined – fitting windows, insulating walls and the loft, putting in floors … it such as insulation and heat pumps, the scheme is intended to help people save on gas and is really an interesting and rewarding ” said: “We know that demand for the electricity bills and cut carbon emissions, as well as creating thousands of green jobs. It was Ed Matthew, associate director of the E3G work. thinktank, unveiled in July as part of an economic rescue package for the coronavirus pandemic. green home vouchers has hugely outstripped the capacity of industry to respond, resulting in huge frustration for scheme thousandshas of households who want take advantage of the scheme. GlassThis The fledgling no government ortocouncil backing, although According to government data, only 1,174 installers have signed up to the scheme, which start-is no surprise as the insulation industry almost collapsed after public funding was slashed. ford hopes that once politicians realise its multiple benefits – from helping ed on 30 September, while more than 36,000 householders have applied for the grants, which What is needed is government commitment to continue and expand this programme, turning people back work to reduced emissions it into the UK’s Nointo 1 infrastructure investment priority.” – they will support it. will be available until March. w Green campaigners are growing increasingly concerned about the scheme, which is so far the Economists andthe thegovernment government’s statutory climate advisers, the Committee on Climate This year introduced a £3bn green homes grant to kickstart UK’s only policy measure aimed at a green recovery, despite Boris Johnson’s pledge to “build Change, set out in May a variety of “shovel-ready measures” that would reduce greenhouse retrofitting in the UK, but the scheme has run into trouble as builders andgas back better”. The prime minister is expected to unveil a 10-point plan for reaching net zero emissions, make the UK more resilient to the impacts of climate breakdown, and create huninstallers have so far failed to sign up. emissions within the next fortnight, but it is expected to miss out many of the potential “shov- dreds of thousands of jobs. These include: investing in renewable energy; setting up a national el-ready” green projects economists have said would create jobs and shift the UK to a low-car- network of electric vehicle charging points; building out broadband capacity; maintaining and Andrew Glassford, Alan Tierney and andrestoring Charlienatural Bakerfeatures discusssuch their handiwork. bon economy. building new flood defences; tree-planting as peatland.

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Andrew Glassford, Alan Tierney and Charlie Baker discuss their handiwork.

Households wanting to take advantage of the green home grant must find an accredited install-Labour has set out proposals for a £30bn economic rescue that would include building an elecPhotograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian er to do the work, but many are reluctant to invest the time and money needed to gain accredi- tric vehicle charging network, a national nature service to focus on conservation and bringing Charlie Baker, who runs Red Co-op, met Glassford through the Labour for a tation. The short duration of the scheme means they fear being left in the lurch when it closes. forward flood protection schemes. Ed Miliband, shadow business secretary, said: “We need to Green New He the hasgreen beenrecovery designing and show through the Deal powercampaign. of example how can act. ” constructing sustainable buildings for more than 30 years, said it was crucial retrofitting was propThe Federation of Master Builders (FMB), which represents many of small building firms expected to deliver the energy efficiency improvements, said its members were put off by the Theerly government this week unveiled greenby jobs taskforce, aimed creating 2m jobs bywith 2030. supported for the long aterm government andatlocal authorities, complexity of the accreditation process.

A spokesperson said: “We are taking every opportunity to build on the UK’s fantastic track funding, certified training and regulation. record for tackling climate change as we build back greener from the pandemic.”

“The green homes grant scheme is a positive step forward but it is not enough … In its current “We can get our homes to zero carbon but we have to build consumer trust, a form, many builders are concluding that the scheme does not merit them committing the level much more adept supply chain together with the patient finance, rather than of investment needed,” said Brian Berry, the FMB’s chief executive.

Andrew McCausland, the director of Wirral Property Group, spent about £6,000 and an estimated 160 hours of unpaid work to get his team accredited. He felt the process was worthwhile given the size of his business, but said smaller firms could find it more of a challenge.

Ahas number of many theatre workers who lost jobs when thevarious coronavirus “It taken me days to work through thetheir requirements of the certifyingcrisis and accrediting bodies and arrange suitable insurance cover – the whole process has been very forced live venues to close are retraining to insulate and upgrade homes as part time-consuming for meclimate to navigate, ” he said. “I would advise other builders to only get inof the fight against breakdown. volved if they have dedicated administrative support on the payroll.”

boom and bust funding that doesn’t got far enough,” he said.

Baker said a recent report submitted by Red Co-op to the West Yorkshire combined authority showed how the region’s housing stock could be taken to zero carbon with no cost to the public purse other than helping train the workforce.

£3bn green home grants scheme faltering just weeks after launch

“If we do this right it is dignified, long-term employment that improves people’s homes and living conditions and addresses the climate crisis – it hits all the buttons, it just needs to be properly organised, thought through and comDale Chadwick, an owner of a building firm, gave up in the face of the complexity, despite Stage fulfilled hands,the technicians and from theatres and live venues across Man- mitted to.” having requirements forjoiners other accreditation schemes. chester and the north-west are using their skills to retrofit homes in the region, “We are a TrustMark registered company, andand haveupgrading completed anheating independent inspection Retrofitting is recognised as a key plank in the fight to reduce emissions and installing insulation, fitting windows systems. on joining the FMB,” he said. “However, further and more extensive competency checks are avoid some of the worst impacts of the climate emergency. Experts say it has required which were not possible to secure within the timeframe. I’m a huge advocate of inthe potential not only to make homes more liveable and sustainable but also The scheme was set up by Andrew Glassford, 29, who had worked as a sound vesting in training and upskilling, but the scheme is not fit for purpose in its current form.” engineer before the pandemic hit. He said: “I am really proud and pleased with create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Builders andhave insulation installers experience of a previous government scheme such what we achieved, justhave for bitter the fact that I have been able to get my friends aswork the green deal which was abandoned five years ago, leading to the loss of tens of thousands One study this week found that retrofitting homes across the north of England that is meaningful, that helps them but also helps tackle the climate criof jobs in the sector. Since it was scrapped, there has been no government incentive for housewould create 77,000 jobs and boost the local economy by almost £4bn a year. sis.” holds to undertake the costly work of better insulating their homes. The industry has stagnated as a result.

Glassford set up the Retrofit Get In initiative in September when he joined

Gary Olsen, director of Create For You (Developments), said a in longer term assurance from forces withtheRed Co-op – a cooperative that specialises retrofitting buildings. the government would make a big difference: “Retrofit accreditation is not something that can So far about a dozen former theatre workers have been employed but he hopes be gained quickly, and therefore we will not be able to do so before March. If the scheme were to expand the programme and establish a formal training scheme for unemextended, we would be more likely to get involved,” he said.

ployed theatre staff.

Berry has called on the government to bring forward the £9.2bn of spending pledged in the Conservative manifesto forinsulating home energy efficiency, and to cutaVAT on insulating home improvements “We have had people the loft, removing floor, walls, to 5%. putting in a bay window,” he said. “They have done all sorts of things they

would not necessarily have thought they have the skills to do with a little bit of

Manchester theatre staff use skills to upgrade homes after Covid layoffs Taylor, 2020

: NEWBRIDGE STUDIOS, NEWCASTLE

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Cariol Square, Newcastle

Subsidised rates

Community offerings 24hrs reductions access events input STUDIO MEMBER £60 - £150/m training mentoring exposure community workshop gallery venue hire 24hrs reductions access events input HOT DESK MEMBER £25/m training mentoring exposure community workshop gallery venue hire 24hrs reductions access events input ASSOCIATE MEMBER £30 - £60/yr training mentoring exposure community workshop gallery venue hire

Not included in package

bookshop

cafe

bookshop

cafe

bookshop

cafe

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The Gatehead temporary residence expands NewBridge Collective’s workspace capacity.

“an artist-led community supporting the development of artists, curators and communities through the provision of space for creative practice, curatorial opportunities and an ambitious artist-led programme of exhibitions, projects, artist development and events” The NewBridge Project, 2019

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EARLY CONCEPT SKETCH

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I’ve elected to produce a hand drawn and Photoshoped animated site section, expanding on my selected themes and exploring them more deeply by animating and inhabiting ‘imagined’ spaces and activities.

The drawing was produced after the careful production of a site section with an understanding of tectonic construction.

The drawing considers spaces of work, hospitality, community, demonstration and sustainable advocacy.

An abstracted perspective view was chosen to help emphasise elements of hierarchy and verticality in the site strategy.

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INTERVENTION STRATEGY: FRAMING

pink highlights show the existing mall, central to circultion and activity

red dotted line depicts suggested secondary reflected circulation vein

yellow highlights show ky thresholds that require intervention grey highlights depict the two key zones of the project’s programmatic strategy

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UTILISE AND EMPLOY QUALITIES OF LI MA 48

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REGENERATE THE PEDESTRIAN APPROACH

IGHT AND OPENNESS IN THE EXISTING ALL 49

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RENEW OPENINGS BETWEEN MALL AND MARKET

BE SYMPATHETIC TO AND BORROW FROM WHAT IS THERE TO CREATE WHAT IS NEW

photomontage of Wallsend Market: Market stalls stand mostly closed. Artificial grass fails to break the vastness of the shallow room.

Here; interventions both temporary and permanent must nurture the existing appetite for independent, small-scale production and retail.

MOMENT

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The site strategy at its core supports patterns of making in the community. Efforts in creating produce countless possibilities for many stakeholders in the community, including but not limited to: profit making, brand exposure, sustainable advocacy, retrofit, social cohesion, place-making and support networks.

This ‘moment’ study attempts to explore an aspect of the strategy not yet thoroughly critiqued. In order to advocate sustainable retrofit and energy-use, the strategy must provide work spaces for ideas of re-use and production to be tested. Such spaces will benefit from existing community competence.

However, another approach considers the potential of temporary residences for local groups associated with sustainable practice. An example group being community-focused NewBridge Project.

Temporary OSB and Timber-frame elements are erected in neglected spaces of the Forum. Seen (right) is the corridor leading from Mall to Car Park. Historically significant motifs remain, such as the marbled floor. These spaces are imagined as threshold zones, dissolving into areas of circulation and temporary inhabitation.

photograph of passageway between Mall and Market - a reflection of the ‘moment’ view

relationships between the community and Forum stakeholders are nutured through shared spaces, for the retrofit of shops

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THE BRIEF The brief drawing attempts to summarise aspects of site strategy explored throughout the framing stage. The drawing attempts to provide hierarchy to the project themes, and displays initial thoughts on verticality and openness. Finally, the drawing aims to evaluate relationships between users, activities and space - not in isolation, however, but to be understood in reflection with my other celebratory pieces.

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it needs to advocate for the re-use and recycling of objects of the everyday, as creatively as possible

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it needs to demonstrate sustainable practices for all, utilising interactivity - this should nurture local relationships

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community consultation is really important, and should be central to the programme

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eating builds a community - it should provide social and hospitality space for programme volunteers and independent shoppers alike

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it must sustain and substantiate the fragments of independent commerce which remain, this should be done with a view to the produce of sustainable creative practices it must have to resources and infrastructure to wholly facilitate it’s sustainable agenda, not at the expense of the user but at the expense of the scheme

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it must nurture positive relationships

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it must be as low-impact as possible, existing within the rules of sustainable practice it advocates

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it must invite nature and light in - dissolving boundaries whilst being safe and secure

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Testing Reflection

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The Testing phase began by reflecting upon my brief and position towards social practice theory exploring further a brief focused on cultivating a community domain, both for public use and to support a growing residential retrofit initiative in Wallsend – using the retrofit of the Forum and it’s future purpose as a sustainable Building Centre as a means to overtly advocate for the use/adoption of sustainable building practices.

Themes of Wenger’s Communities of Practice were carried through as a means to consider what it is to be in ‘common’ space and how contingent elements of architecture might be a means to connect people and the spaces they inhabit through the shared endeavour of community practice - the tools, infrastructure, devices, and structures of the everyday and D.I.Y inhabitation of space. At this point – design ideals of resilient Civic Architecture born from Communities of Practice and a light-touch to the existing Forum structure converged, facilitated through developed understanding of the conditions, limitations and possibilities of the site and wider context through further research and digital construction.

Fundamentally, the Testing Phase saw the growth and development of my critical spatial practice – particularly through the exploration of the “boundaries and procedures of my own discipline(s)” (Newcastle University APL, 2020), culminating in a celebration piece following Theory into Practice which begins to synthesise my conceptual theories and strategic design moves in a connected plan. Endeavouring to advocate towards the sustainable objectives of limited demolition and retrofit, I have worked to develop design tools/principles required to articulate my design objectives, theories of ‘urban communing’ and objectives to internally and externally celebrate sustainable building technologies. This work culminates in an integrated plan based on the intersection of two dominant planes intervening on site, breaking into the existing Forum plan creating new means of inhabiting existing space and new thresholds between hives of activity.

Following Testing review – additional work begins to explore material choices and the Centre’s civic approach, recognising the buildings central position and relationship to the Forum as key to achieving wider civic and climate objectives. Through a succession of testing sketches, sketch models and digital massing – a threshold between the Building Centre, existing Marketplace and community plaza aims to address the schemes civic approach and accessibility. Furthermore – taking influence from the emerging Professional Workshop roof scape – this new entrance will act as a land mark and place-maker in Wallsend, helping to realise the requirement for a juxtaposition between new (sustainable) and old building typologies on site.

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WALLSEND HOUSING: FIT FOR RETROFIT

66.9% housing stock 25% flats/ maisonettes 8.1% bungalows

North Tyneside Council, 2019

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“Improving the energy efficiency of dwellings and modernisation of stock is an important driver to improving the quality of existing stock” n

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North Tyneside Council, 2019

“The Council should continue to consider mechanisms for bringing private empty properties back into use”

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STRUCTURAL EXPLORATION Utilising existing Plans, Sections and Elevations to develop a detailed digital model of Wallsend Forum. This exercise was pivotal to my understanding of the structural layout and existing spatial conditions on site – informing and understanding of the key site limitations and defining early strategic design moves

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R T E R

F R O T I F F T O R I R R F O R T F O T E I F T R F T O I R F R O T F T E I T R I F T F O I R R F O T I T F T F E I T O R I F F O R R O T I T F F E T O R I F R O R T R O T E I T F R F E T O R I R R F R T O T E I F R F T O I R R F O R T F O T E I T F R I F T F O I R R F O T F T E I T R I F F O R F R O T I T F T F E I T O R F I R F O R R O T T I F E F T R O I R F R T R O T E T I F R E F T R O I R F R O R

O R T

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F T I F T R F I T F O I R F R O T T I F T E F I T R O F I F O R R O T T I F E F T R O F I F R O R T R O T E T I F R E F T R O I F R R T O T E I F R F T O R I R R F O R T F O T E I F T R F I T F O I R R F O T F T E I T R I F T F O I R R F O T I T F T F E I T O R I F R F O R R O T I T F F E O R IT R T E

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INITIAL DESIGN MOVES

I began sketching into the existing Forum based three initial design principles – a point of central incision, two intersecting axis and a light-touch approach. I started to draw to intersecting axis centred on a central courtyard in-place of the existing Forum plant tower.

The emerging strategy in plan aims to mimic Segedumum way, almost inverted, beginning to consider alternate means of circulation within the Forum that might improve footfall in the Marketplace.

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PLANAR ADJUSTMENT DEVELOPING A DESIGN TOOL

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1. A scalar element is introduced at a 70% angle as a dominant design tool and intervention principle, acting as a interface (surface) of community interaction between an active community and a dormant civic landmark

2. a defining massing element to break into the existing structure with presence and allow the infiltration of natural light and new ideas

3. a tool with which to interrupt the structural grid and create new destinations within existing spaces/volumes

4. a response to criticisms of aspects of the Forum’s bolt-on Modernity and treatment of the ‘contingent’

5. Thus becoming a defining motif of the new schemes integration between new and old, and a foundation place marker for significant thresholds in plan and section

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STITCHING INTO WHAT IS THERE

Using two intersecting planar elements I begin to stitch internal and external programme into and around existing divisions in the structure, considering the perforation of planar elements as a spatial strategy to connect disparate elements. I began to imagine the planes as fundamental to the building scheme, drawn onto, builtinto and out-from over time. Similarly, the two axes begin to plot the relationship between what is public and private.

PROGRAMME IDENTIFICATION

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Professional Workshop

67 Launchpad rooms

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Consultation space Meeting Rooms and Lecture Theatre Co work space Outdoors chill out zones, Courtyard

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Teaching Space Thresholds to Marketplace and Segedumum way Cafe, kiosk Kitchenette Eating Area 3

Launchpad rooms Consultation space Meeting Rooms and Lecture Theatre

User Groups

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Concstruction and Retrofit Specialists, Tradespersons

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the Public, Working Groups and Start-Ups, Building Technology Innovators

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D.I.Y ethusiasts, Retrofit practictioners and Wallsend’s homeowners

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STITCHING INTO WHAT IS THERE

Applying the principles of a tilted planar element and two intersecting axes, a series of initial plans begin to explore these design conditions within the immediate context of the Forum plan. Ideas emerge to open the concrete frame structure to natural light and new ideas. Green spaces are deployed as an integral part of a comfortable working environment and as a device to bridge between what is old and new.

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STITCHING INTO WHAT IS THERE

Iterations in the roof scape began to fuse the new planar elements with the existing orthogonal structure – aiming to delineate between the incision of the central courtyard and the verticality of the Northfacing Professional Workshop. This further aims to frame the journey between what is public and private.

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KEY DESIGN MOVES

This series of consecutive design moves demonstrates the fundamental relationship between what is existing, what is demolished, additions and new strategies of the scheme.

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Following the incision and addition of planar elements, ‘light’ CLT elements are added to the load-bearing concrete to create new programme to the East and North.

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STITCHING INTO WHAT IS THERE

The first stage massing outcome begins to imagine a Building Centre nestled sympathetically into the existing massing of the Forum and Peoples First Centre, regenerating Northern and Eastern entrances, and opening new thresholds between Segedumum Way and the Marketplace.

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POST TESTING REVISIONS

Creating a destination - mimicking the Professional Workshop form to create a new threshold for the Building Centre and incorporated Market entrance. Considering means to celebrate the existing against the new, tectonically, and materially.

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PLAZA DEVELOPMENT

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THRESHOLD DEVELOPMENT

Using sketch models and the making process to re-construct an entrance that might display internal functions, create a destination and new frontage to the building. Exploring opportunities for celebratory thresholds, expressing principles of D.I.Y and Retrofit positively to the public.

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THRESHOLD STUDY: CO WORK AND GREEN SPACE CONNECTION

The Testing phase draws to a close with the exploration of key hospitality and working spaces – the bridge between the new scheme and the existing Shopping Centre functions – further adopting the slanting plane as a device to craft areas of inhabitation for eating, drinking, meeting, and working, within large open volumes making use of the existing concrete structure.

THRESHOLD STUDY: KIOSK AND MALL CONNECTIONS

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The Synthesis stage saw the refinement of the building programme in alignment with the creation of a large celebration piece – the Wallsend Masterplan – which aims to reflect the multiple societal interventions of this graduate project in context. Clearly, an association can be this drawing and early, exploratory Framing pieces, such as the ‘Site Strategy’. A progression in graphical maturity is evidenced here. This exercise was essential to consolidating project themes in advance of detailed design.

Synthesis Reflection

The detailed design of spaces was significantly guided by the Integrated Construction module. My Studio specific research into Design for Deconstruction – a construction methodology promoting the sustainable and economic use and recovery of building materials, uncovered a route along which I could synthesise sustainability, tectonic and social-practice theories in a cohesive and plausible detailed design strategy.

On reflection, this discovery was fundamental to project completion - describing a methodology towards building and systems design which would help frame this project’s clear response to building sustainability, tectonic-representation, materiality, and typology.

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My representation style has matured throughout this graduate year. Looking retrospectively towards styles present in Framing particularly, my graphicalpractice has clearly morphed with a desire to pursue concepts that felt outof-reach through traditional representation modes. Certainly, during Framing I struggled with articulating theories of the D.I.Y urbanist spirit which has become the lens through which I understood and could articulate theories of urban commoning. The continued attempts to explore this ‘other’ space are, on reflection, clearly present in previous works – from the earliest site readings (10), the initial site strategy (34) and moment drawings (50) - towards Theory into Practice (80) where new graphical tools helped me to work through these ideas and formulate relational tools to organise space. I attempt to reflect ideas that emerge from this space in Synthesis – in the material choice and interior architectural expression of renders through to the tectonic display in plan and section.

My Final representations aim to address the conclusion of the converging theories of Framing, Testing and Synthesis at macro and micro scales. The strength of the project’s technical resolution – a necessary qualification of the brief – is incorporated throughout scales. The Wallsend Strategy aims to work alongside the Spatial axonometric – two celebratory works that consider the schemes urban and civic offerings. As a cohesive body of work – these pieces aim to conclude questions of urban communing voiced in earlier exploratory works. The Final Project attempts to reflect my own position as an advocate of empowering the collective spirit of a community through subtle and considered architectural intervention – a social practice exercise in tapping into the ‘shared repertoire’ of a community and the art of place-making.

CONNECTING A PURPOSE-LED, DISPARATE PROGRAMME

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Synthesis begins with the detailed exploration of methods to connect a growing building programme, dispersed across the Forum site. How can the careful integration of technology help to fuse a disparate programme? How can the graphical analysis of socialpractice theories help discover agents of spatial connectivity?

RESEARCH

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Perry Kulper deals with ‘indeterminate’ architecture. His elaborate and often non-hierarchical cartographies demonstrate a mode of graphically plotting the relationship between architecture and its ‘contingent’ elements.

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Fernand Dinghy’s ‘Autistic Space’ Cartographies

“Kulper suggests a mode to deal with the indeterminate future, beyond the reduction of traditional architectural Representation.” (Philo, L,.2020 excerpt from TiT) Kulpers drawing style is particularly effective at drawing out relational sites of activity. This is particularly significant in this project to explore how commonalities shared amongst community practitioners – those ‘making, doing, negotiating’ (Wenger, 1999) in the Forum – might bridge and a programme otherwise defined by the reductive, orthogonal structure of the existing Forum.

Perry Kulper, Architect

Perry Kulper’s proto-formal drawings

A critique of Wallsend Forum – an expression of modernity that neglects the ‘contingent’ of architecture in preference of order – concludes that the new-built scheme should juxtapose this typology, thus furthering the architectural expression in favour of modern building techniques.

Jeremy Till, Architecture and the Contingent, Essay, 2005

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“The whiter the wall, the quicker it succumbs to dirt”

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THEORY INTO PRACTICE

In this celebratory drawing - a response to my research into graphic exploration techniques - I conclude with a drawing aiming to mediate between ‘informal objects, interests and desires and formal implications of material and space’. (Philo, L,. 2020, p.24).

I attempt to draw on my new modes of representation in the production of a ‘chromosomal structure’ (Kulper, P,. 2012). This aims to discover agents of spatial connectivity – structures which exist in the indeterminate realm of shared practice – such as sight, touch, and smell. I discover the potential for building systems and materiality to act as the vessels of these common elements across the scheme.

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PROGRAMME The final proposed programme aims to offer spaces for three user groups identified as part of the brief. The scheme has developed to integrate into the existing context of Wallsend Forum – with little demolition to the existing structure – forging new thresholds between new and old. The location of a central courtyard and open circulatory space throughout the deep plan re-creates the Marketplace as a connected, thriving civic domain.

Circulation Space Green Space/Hangout Professional Workshop/ Heavy

Launchpad Rooms CO-WORK Spaces Kitchenette/Cafeteria/Kiosk Reception Atrium/Entrances W.C

Teaching and Lecture Service/Plant Room

PUBLIC

PROFESSIONAL

D.I.Y ENTHUSIAST

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WALLSEND STRATEGY

This strategy drawing aims to depict the wider project strategy towards Wallsend – linking sites of action with the new-built scheme in context. Residential construction and retrofit projects are facilitated through a programme of D.I.Y makerspaces – coined ‘Launchpad Rooms’ - and support from the professional functions of the scheme orientated to the North. The masterplan depicts the upcoming construction of Wallsend’s new Health Centre, suggesting this as a likely site of interaction with the Construction specialists and tradespeople based in the Professional workshop. This vital long-term relationship in the community acts as a site of pedagogy and influence – to inspire a generation of D.I.Y retro-fitters in the North East.

Furthermore, the masterplan highlights areas of intervention in the civic domain – aiming to regenerate key sites of socialinteraction first recognised in exploratory exercises in Framing.

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BUILDING AS A TECTONIC DEMONSTRATOR This moment study begins to explore the inhabitation of the newbuilt scheme, and the concept of building systems and interior material expression as a method to connect people through the common elements of practice.

HM F H

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HMFH Architects, Inc HMFH Architects are a practice specialising in learning, living and working spaces. The firm’s award winning educational institutions have been particularly influential in this project – most notably in the confident and precise design and integration of building systems. HMFH deploy colour and scale adeptly in the design of their building services – often framing the atmosphere of interior volumes and suggesting a space’s purpose. The rationalisation of building services as a clear design statement clearly link to earlier explorations of spatial strategy in Theory into Practice and demonstrates a precedent to follow in the design of my project’s interior architectural expression and the integration of technology.

Precedent Images, HMFH Architects

LONG TERM RELATIONSHIP 96

* SHORT TERM RELATIONSHIP

BUILDING AS A TECTONIC DEMONSTRATOR The Launchpad rooms support short-term relationships in the newbuilt scheme: those who need the space and tools to develop and test ideas and collaborate with like-minded individuals in an inspiring working environment. The adaptable room layout is imagined to be inhabited by tech start-ups and innovators in building technology, taking advantage of shared resources and inherent ‘competences’ of their fellow community members to help further the implementation of sustainable building practices in the North East.

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LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP

* SHORT-TERM RELATIONSHIP

PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP DEVELOPMENT

The Professional Workshop has developed from a heavy-duty workshop offering access to more substantial machinery with quality North-facing light to a location in it’s own right – a Centre for facilitating long-term retrofit and construction projects that require expert knowledge and facilities. In this sense, the triple-height CLT volume above the existing car park ramp – now the location of a lecture space and gallery – is a vital institution in the advancement of sustainable building practices in the area.

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RAMP IN USE: LECTURE SPACE

CIRCULAR HOUSE

The Circular House was a demonstrator project erected in 2016 outside the Building Centre in London. Group partners: ARUP, The Built Environment Trust, Frener & Reifer and BAM aimed to test concepts of the circular building economy - the plausibility of economic and sustainable use and recovery of building materials in a new model for the construction industry.

In a wider context where the construction industry contributes to over half of the U.K’s landfill waste; a new strategy that promotes the intrinsic design of building elements, building components and systems for deconstruction and re-use is a vital progression towards sustainability objectives.

Circular House

Things (Possesions)

adapted diagram (© Smith, 2016)

Interior Partitions (Spatial Planning) Accessible Services and Systems

Structure Facade (Skin)

My new scheme aims to exhibit these key principles of sustainable construction, coined Design for Deconstruction – in a building and tectonic typology that overtly advocates for the adoption of these practices in the wider built environment.

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SUSTAINABILITY ASSESMENT: DFD

102 As part of the Integrated Technology module, an adapted BRE methodology provided the framework to assess the scheme against a series of Design for Deconstruction criteria. The Building scored averagely against BRE case studies, with a total score of 62.5%. This identified the building skin, roof structure and building services as key areas address during Integrated Construction.

As seen in ARC3013, Integrated Construction

DFD PRINCIPLES

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Design for Accessibility to components

Reduce building complexity and number of materials/components

Avoid adhesives and permanent fixings

Utilise mechanical fixings where possible

Utilise standard components and simplify connections

As seen in ARC3013, Integrated Construction

Avoid composite materials and divorce building layers

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PRINCIPLES: INTEGRATED

Demountable building skin/façade, deivorced from building structures.

As seen in ARC3013, Integrated Construction

Future-thinking structural design, allowing for the further expansion of renewable energy infrastructures.

Accessible building systems, integrated as tool of interior architectural expression.

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Dormer Window detail, designed with deconstruction, re-construction and future expansion in mind.

Standardised components, maximum simplicity As seen in ARC3013, Integrated Construction

Exposed, accessible connections, no adhesives

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PRINCIPLES: INTEGRATED 1:20 SECTION 1 C 1 D

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ARC 3013: 1:20 Section

As seen in ARC3013, Integrated Construction

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1. Roof and Parapet Junction A1. Aluminium Standing Seam Roofing 2. Waterproof Roofing Self Adhered Underlayment 3. 19mm Marine Ply 4. 300mm Pavatherm Wood-fibre Insulation

5. 300x85mm Engineered Timber I-Joists 6. Vapour Control Layer 7. 19 OSB Sheathing 8. 100x47 Timber Firring Strips to falls 9. 180mm CLT Roof Slab B 10. 100mm PIR insulation 11. Steel Angle Bracket 12. GALECO BZO Parapet Drainage Collector + Rubberised Flashing Jacket 13. Ductwork C1. Timber framed triple glazed tilt window units 14. 75x47mm Hardwood Soffit Fins 15. Zinc Flashing D1. Aluminium Standing Seam Roof 2. Waterproof Roofing Self Adhered Underlayment 3. 19mm Marine Ply 4. 250mm Pavatherm Wood-fibre Insulation

5. 250x75 3mm Steel C section (horizontal) 5. 19m OSB sheathing 6. 47x25mm Firring strips to falls 7. 100mm CLT Otae et quasperspit recto blaboria consequod ex eveles niet quate aperum rem fugitae ceatquae cupiene stibusdae pre lam is et audae. Delesse pliciet adi id es arum cusciet aliam volupta tempos el moluptaquam si dolum quae. Et autem abo.

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2. Mid Floor Junction and Dormer Window A-

3. Ground Floor Junction and Folding A-

1.50mm (d) Optima FC+ ACM cassette rainscreen panel system, 2. 1200x1200mm and 600x1200mm units, respectively; 3. 100mm Ventilated cavity

4. Rainscreen aluminium substructure (RAS), T-shape vertical

extrusions and hooks 5. Breather membrane 6. 125mm Pavatflex Wood-fibre insulation

7. RAS L-shape extrusions and Delrin isolation pads 8. Vapour control layer 9. 8mm Wood-fibre board 10. 125mm Pavatherm Wood-fibre insulation 11. 125mm Horizontal Steel C section 12. 140mm CLT Wall Panel 13. 10mm Steel Angle Bracket

1. 19mm Plywood 2. 13mm Fire resistant gypsum board 3. 150x90 8mm Steel Lintel (box section) 4. 20mm High density insulated block 5. 140mm CLT Wall panel

B1. 200mm in-situ Concrete Slab (Existing) 2. 10mm grouted edge 3. Joint Filler 4. Dowel and Delrin Sleeve movement joint 5. 19mm Plywood 6. 200x75mm Timber Lintel 7. 10mm Steel Plate 8. 10mm Steel Right Angle (inverted braced lintel) 9. 100mm PIR Insulation

B1. 100mm unbonded screed

2. 18mm UFH pipes at 200 centres 3. 200mm PIR insulation 4. (Existing) 200mm in-situ Concrete slab 5. 150mm crushed aggregate C1. 35mm paving stones 2. 20mm packed sand 3. 75mm unbonded screed, to falls 4. 150mm crushed aggregate 5. ACO threshold drain gutter 6. 200mm concrete

C1. Zinc flashing with drip edge 2. Hardwood Sill extension 3. Timber framed, triple glazed window unit 4. 20mm Highly dense insulating block 5. 8mm Steel Right Angle 6. 47x75mm Timber Plate x 2 7. 47mm edge strip 8. Plywood edge flooring

As seen in ARC3013, Integrated Construction

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CENTRE FOR BUILDING EXCELLENCE AND RETROFIT EMPOWERMENT

GROUND FLOOR PLAN 1:100

Regenerated North Entrance (Elton Street East)

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Main Entrance (Building Centre)

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Public Toilets

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Internal Entrance (Segedunum Way/Mall)

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Cafe Kiosk (Segedumum)

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Professional Workshop

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CENTRE FOR BUILDING EXCELLENCE AND RETROFIT EMPOWERMENT

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Professional Workshop mezzanine working/teaching

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Main Entrance (Building Centre)

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Kitchenette

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Open-plan Co-work space

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Reception/ Multi-use

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Launchpad room

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Outdoor Chill-out

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CENTRE FOR BUILDING EXCELLENCE AND RETROFIT EMPOWERMENT

A RENEWED CIVIC CENTRE The Centre for Building Expertise and Retrofit Excellence aims to bring energy and inhabitation back to previously dormant areas of the 20th Century Forum precinct.

Through the curation of spaces for Communities of Practice to emerge, the energy of this newly inhabited space – the ‘making, enacting, negotiating’ will percolate into and out from the large planar CLT elements and infiltrate the marketplace and mall.

A new ‘Forum’ emerges: a place for genuine civic interaction and the expression of competences embedded deep within the Wallsend demographic.

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Enter from the Plaza and look across the paving stones towards the slanted planes marking the entrance.

Follow the corridor, past the Launchpad rooms with a view to the crafts within. Pause for a moment and look out to the courtyard.

Turn left to enter the Marketplace, or right for disabled access. To enter the Building Centre, move upwards across the CLT stair.

Enter through to the Reception space. Pass the Information desk and book a hot-seat, or collect the keys to a Launchpad room.

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Otherwise, enter via Segedunum Way, passing through the atrium towards the celebratory stair.

Follow the light - move up into the Building Centre via the stair or escalator - look above to natural light flooding the tall CLT ceilings.

Stop for a coffee or a chat amongst the columns, at the new Mall Kiosk.

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Follow the natural progression as you move along the slanted planes and throughout the co-work space. Look left and into the courtyard as you pass hot-desk work spaces.

Or take a seat with colleagues and work collaboratively on new projects and exciting ideas. Take frequent coffee breaks in the dedicated kitchenette behind, or book a slot in the quiet meetings rooms adjacent.

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Take the opportunity to explore events and activities in the renewed Enjoy the hustle and bustle of urban life, experiencing pop-ups, fairs Marketplace. Follow the stair past large openings towards the courtyard. and activities amongst a vibrant community.

Finish your break with a hot drink and some food from the canteen, looking out towards the Marketplace and the greenery of the courtyard.

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BUILDING AS A TECTONIC DEMONSTRATOR The Centre for Building Expertise and Retrofit Excellence addresses the growing pressures of urbanisation and climatechange – aiming to fuse civicfacing functions vital to social and economic growth in the region with a specialist focus on the retrofit and improvement of local housing stock. Through a dedicated, on-site destination of construction expertise - the Centre can act as a beacon and demonstrator of best-practice in sustainable construction in the region. Through this lens – Wallsend Forum is adeptly positioned to adapt and grow over time as functions and requirements of a civic building change with the community, the environment and technology.

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Enter from Elton Street towards the the renewed entrance, signposted by the large slanted plane of the Professional Workshop.

Take a look into the workshop, a large open space with fantastic natural light.

Move across the threshold and pass the lecture theatre to your left.

Look to your right to witness specialists hard at work, completing projects and facilitating research and pedgogy.

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Move upstairs and take advantage of the outdoors for a break and a hot drink before your meeting with industry specialists.

Walk through the the mezzanine level, where practice meets pedagogy facilitating taught sessions and flexible working environments

Move into a private office to discuss the progress of your retrofit project with specialists and advisors.

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A NEW CIVIC ‘FORUM’

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EMERGING ROOFLINE, NEW OPENINGS

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CENTRE FOR SUSTAINBLE BUILDING TECHNOLOGY, MEZZANINE FLOOR

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FORGING NEW COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE, CO WORK SPACE

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THE CENTRE FOR BUILDING EXCELLENCE AND RETROFIT EMPOWERMENT

The Centre for Building Expertise and Retrofit Excellence aims to address the need for a renewed civic ‘Forum’ in Wallsend, providing the spaces, expertise and collaborative environment necessary to foster new communities of practice in D.I.Y, retrofit and sustainable making.

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THE CENTRE FOR BUILDING EXCELLENCE AND RETROFIT EMPOWERMENT

The Centre for Building Expertise and Retrofit Excellence knits into the wider residential, commercial and eecological contexts of Wallsend. The Building’s markedly different vernacular aims to respond to a negative collective memory towards civic buildings in Wallsend - futhermore overtly celebrating modern, sustainable building typlogies, materials and systems.

cultural bibliography

132

SKILLS INTO PRACTICE Having moved location over the Summer – as a Family we needed some storage space with future ambitions for the creation of a ‘garden room’ styled workspace. Eager to put some skills to practice I constructed shuttering’s for pad foundations and oversaw the delivery of a re-cycled 20ft shipping container as a base.

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COMMUNITIES AND THE ART OF PLACE-MAKING

The Fens, Francis Pryor

While it isn’t really the main intention of the book, in a sense the whole narrative explores the causes and effects of human Architecture on a landscape from prehistory to the present day.

The need to create an environment in which to live and thrive, and the impact of that behaviour in terms of buildings and structures, agricultural and industrial economies and, in fact, the very cultural and belief systems of those generations of people develop symbiotically as the landscape is transformed, absolutely epitomising the architectural impulse.

THEMATIC CASE STUDY REPORTS

135 The Tai Kwun Heritage and Arts Centre in Hong Kong presents a clear precedent on how to sympathetically respond to immediate urban contexts. Many of the buildings on site represent a disappearing historical typology – the spatial and material arrangements of the new addition have influenced my approach to working within an existing, culturally significant site.

Performative

Assemble are less concerned about the finished result of their projects but rather the processes that led them to it. In member Jane Hall’s talk at the AA, she spoke about the importance of the construction site to the studio. It is seen by them as a space in itself to learn and create, with Hall describing the disappointment she felt upon the completion of the Cineroluem, as the construction of it was over. Assemble feel that the process of construction teaches the reality of an architectural project: “those four weeks building something together there was a much more formative experience than the 3 years of formal education”.

The ‘construction space’ in the Granby Four Streets projects was the streets themselves which allowed for them to be truly collaborative, with new projects continually developing throughout. Assemble’s renovation of the terrace houses on Cairns Street led to their creation of the Granby Workshop, on Granby Street, which initially began by designing products for the homes, including tiles and fireplaces. They were designed to reflect the values of the project, with the workshop continuing to make products, providing a longstanding creative outlet for the community.

Granby Four Streets Project

By Assemble

NANTES SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE LACATION & VASSAL

Creative Synergies Group 3: Question 01: Ehan Halimun Question 02: Ella Freeman Question 03: Xinrui Lin Question 04: Chao Jung Chang Question 05: Anna Toft

QUESTION 02 | LINK TO ACADEMIA

Ella Freeman

ARCHITECTURE - AN INSULAR ACTIVITY? WORKSHOP

Within the school all processes are integrated and run alongside each other. This can be shown by the workshop doors opening onto open public space. This was designed in an act to ‘break the conventions of education as an internal and insular activity’.7 The polycarbonate sheeting allows for the public to also see the activity happening in the workshop, creating connections between the city and the academia. This allows for the work in the school to have direct presence in the life of the city.

OPEN PUBLIC SPACE

7 Prewett Bizley, "Nantes Architecture School – Lacaton Vassal — Prewett Bizley Architects | Passivhaus | Retrofit", Prewett Bizley Architects | Passivhaus | Retrofit, 2020 <http://www.prewettbizley.com/graham-bizley-blog/2015/7/2/nantes-architecture-schoollacaton-vassal> [Accessed 11 December 2020].

1:1 SCALE MODELLING:

Figure 18: Photograph by Lacaton and Vassal

Figure 19: Photograph by Lacaton and Vassal Figure 15: Workshop Diagram

CONCRETE SLAB AND POST CONSTRUCTION STUDIOS SPACE AVAILABLE FOR MODELING

X2 90CM

The production of extra space more than doubled the project’s usable surface area, from 12,500 to 26,000 square meters.8 This space could then be used by the city and the school to accommodate 1:1 scale modelling.

The use of industrial construction processes has meant the building can take loads of 1 ton per square meter, 2.5 times the standard load bearing capacity.9 Like seen in the AA Visiting School, 1:1 scale modelling is seen to be an important skill to be integrated into education.

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Figure 16: Load Diagram

Figure 17: Modelling Diagram

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Ruby and Ruby, p.13 Ibid. p.46

This precedent links clearly with my studio objectives, demonstrating adeptly methods to knit inclusively with existing cultural and spatial conditions. Assemble’s ‘Make, don’t make do’ mantra aligns fully with my pro-social concepts of empowering the community through making and DIY-spirit. This reflects a key precedent for how these social theories can materialize through lowcarbon material use and ideas of the circular economy.

Used industrial construction methods to increase structural spans and open the ground floor for multiply uses. The space can be taken over for public use and has built in adaptability in mind. This industrial vernacular choice and orthogonal structural grid demonstrates the significance of pre-emptively designing for future use and expansion. These are key concepts brough forward to my own scheme.

136 CHING YEE JANE LI

CHING YEE JANE LI

TOWARDS A PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATION AND EMBODIED READING

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‘There had been no intervention on the site for 100 years…We had to find some way of owning it that would protect it for the future.’

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- Kieran O’Donohue, Director of Connemara West ‘Some buildings have savage histories. Histories that can leave a place in need of a kind of architecture exorcism, a project of redemption. In Letterfrack, life was overshadowed for much of the last century by a repressive industrial school at its heart.’ Since its closure in the 1970s, the village and the institution is being redesigned by the community to secure its future. O’Donnell + Tuomey, the architects who has long connection with Connemara, has look into to the site both practically and emotionally to provide positive conservation of the history in their design and at the same time giving it a modern and forward-looking identity, so that the proposed function and architectural design could combine to transform the outdated 19th century institutional building into an dominant educational resource for the 21st century.

STUDIO 8 CURATING THE CITY GMIT Furniture College Letterfrack, Ireland - O’Donnell + Tuomey Ching Yee Jane Li Jamie Ryan Bone Karolina Lutterova Yuen Man Cheng

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etterfrack was a poor and neglected area until the James and Mary Ellis settled there in 1849 and founded the town as a relief to the horrors visited on the locality during the Famine. Under Ellis’ goverance, the land had became a village with better living condition and vibrant social and educational development. However, when James Ellis’ health failed in 1857, he sold the land to John Hall, an advocate of the Irish Church Mission Society. Later in 1882, the Christian Brothers were asked by the Archbishop of Tuam to establish an industrial school at the site. The school opened in 1887, forming three sides of a square of 50 metres each direction, and was composed of three dormitories, aband room, five classrooms, kitchen, refectory, washroom and laundry.

The institution was built as part of a nationwide program of penal reform, providing skills training and discipline for children from the urban slums. The harshness and cruelty that became endemic in this system of incarceration is one of the social scandals of modern Irish society.

Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey, who were appointed to redesign the site, tried to learn more about the landscape forms, textures and colours, and the community’s needs on both practical and emotional aspects. Demolition was an consideration first came up, as the terrible background of the building had to be taken out of the village and be reconstructed, so that its clear and simple spaces could be free from the previous sorrow and allow a more positive and productive future.

However, after a series of public meetings the community thought that the building should be kept, as it was crucial to retain aspects of each different sides of the site’s history.

Nonetheless, the first move was to take away some of the forbidding formality of the school, along with the designs of dramatic view buildings, including the machine hall, furniture restoration hall, library and cafeteria, which are now completed and in use. They formed a second phase of development, a redemptive programme of subtraction for the previous building,

RESEARCH CONTEXT

COLLABORATION

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Fig 1 - A drawing done by Donnell and Tuomey during their visit in Letterfrack, illustrating the view from mountain and their first thoughts of design strategy.

- Tuomey

QUESTION 2

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

QUESTION 2

In Donnell and Tuomey’s design, the new furniture college for Letterfrack not only created a place for learning, but also a whole context for the story of Letterfrack and its people.

‘We don’t want to leave ghosts in the old building. We have to take the old building with us.’

After the reformatory closed in 1974, the Connemara West, a community-owned development organisation in County Galway has bought the site, with an intention to transform the site into a more positive future.

THEMATIC CASE STUDY

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Vision though the spaces

Structural Components

Ground Floor - Visual Permeability

Roots through the spaces

Visibility ‘Unaollcated’ Learning Spaces Theory/Research Spaces Practical Work Spaces

RD RTYA

The building has been designed with a deliberately open spatial programme that reinforces theCOU academy’s emphasis on collecctive learning. There are ARY multiple entrances, no central stairwells, and no corridors. Students and teachers have LIBR to traverse both vertically and horizontally through transparent OP KSH collaborative spaces, creating “an inspiring and communicative enrivonment”. (Bremmer).

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AND ORY , to be finished with a ceramic tile design competition open The design team have intentionally left parts of the building unfinished named ‘white spaces’ THE ING FUS to any student, which was held and judged by the institute. After the winner was announced, 1,400 tiles were handmade in the ceramics department (further contributing to the ‘autonomous concept’ and themes of sustainabiity). The competition not only benefited to the character of the overall design, RD but is also provided a unique opportunity for students to work on a real project, exemplifying the institutes focus on student creativity and further blurring RTYA COU itsv relationship between theory and practice.

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- Interior architect Anne Dessing ‘White Spaces’ - After

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‘Theory and practice are directly linked, like a metaphor for the creative process.’

- Pauline Bremmer

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GERRIT RIETVELD ACADEMY AND SANDBERG INSTITUTE

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The entire building, and the ground floor in particular has been designed with an open adaptable functional layout that reinforces both the schools and the Alumni-led design teams philsophy. Conventional allocation of facilities has been rejected, in lieu of a ground floor layout with no affinity to specific departments. Instead, the facilites are intended to be used by anyone, providing different types of workspaces where teachers and students alike can meet to discuss, show, make work and exchange ideas.

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The Fedlev Team Composition - Ven Diagram

Cara de Jonge’s design was chosen by the jury, and is displayed on show along with the the runner up designs of Katri Paunu and Ziynet Hidiroglu. Not only does this reinforce the insitutes celebration of student creativity, but it also serves as a metaphor for sustainable and local design. “The Gerrit Rietveld Academie is doing it self: building its own building.”

Stimulating a more informed collective miind

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The first noticeable change in the site is the entry into the area. The once rigidly straight path leading from the village to the front door is removed (Fig 2), and the symmetry has been shifted with the axis changing into a curved line in the site, forming a softer, more circuitous approach (Fig 3), the new forecourt upon entry opens up the enclosed form of the courtyard plan, which has effectively helped with changing the atmosphere of at first sight.

On the other hand, the architects were interested in creating aspects of character and atmosphere for buildings in conserving the sense of place and different approaches had been carried out to these senses in the furniture college. They wanted the building to embody the spirit of the endeavor that the people who used the building were involved in, and some of the ways they tried to work with was by considering material, texture and color in buildings. At the same time , the context of Letterfrack had provided a particular opportunity with its significant landscape that the building is situated in.

Besideds, there are also old buildings around the site that have their own character and atmosphere, in order to link and combine them with the new college, the architects not only looked at the forms in the landscape but also at the colors and the textures. For instance, they collected stones and shells on the local beaches, and making them part of the issues to introduce for the definition of the place. They started to work more with materials which are self-colored to relate to the colours and textures of the landscape, for instance a render for the walls of the building which uses the colors of the stones instead of painted, the color comes from sand and the shells are in the aggregate of the concrete as well as the building. Other external materials like Irish green oak andterne coated stainless steel are also used. Having this kind of color and texture has close linkage with the original landscape, it registered the passage of time in that the buildings weather naturally because they’re not painted rand they’re not coated so they change in time (Fig 5).

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The GMIT Furniture College presents a clear precedent for culturally and environmentally sympathetic retrofit design. This precedent aligns with some making activities in my scheme and represents the adaption of existing spaces and their contingent histories for positive community interaction and growth.

Wallsend’s tumultuous history is arguable also a sensitive site to work within. O’Donnell and Tuomey’s careful interpretation of context represents a key precedent to follow in this regard.

The Gerrit Rietveld Academy and Sandberg Institute demonstrates the precise use of structure to increase academic permeability, through the maximization of columns to reduce the number of opaque structural walls. The case study demonstrates how the sympathetic approach to structural and spatial organisation leads to a strong feeling of collective working with visual connections between practices.

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THE PAUL MARSHALL BUILDING

MICHAEL ZHOU

Tree one structure

The concrete-framed structure mainly constructs the whole building. Still, within its frame, there are a number of integral steelwork elements called 'tree-like' structure that not only achieve the desired architectural vision but also to maintain slimmer structural profiles.

In the completion of the building, all of the steelwork will be hidden from view. By using this tree-like structure, the Marshall Building could create the open-plan areas that providing another experience in the building rather than using standard column structure. At the same time, this tree-like structure evenly transfers substantial loads to the foundations. There are two kinds of tree-like steel structure in the building called 'Tree one' and 'Tree two'. Both of them is similar in size and providing similar solutions and purpose to the building

GRAFTON ARCHITECTS

VISUALITY GROUP | CURATING THE CITY

Figure. Tree-like structure

Figure. Interior space of the building

Figure. Construction photo

Although both of the 'tree-like structure' are similar in the size and providing similar solutions and purpose to the building, there are still have some differences between tree one and tree two. The structure of tree one is supported by a column, stemming from the first floor through a secondfloor void, and supports the third floor. 'Tree one' which constructed in six pieces - a base plate, central node and four branches.

Figure. View of Great Hall

Once the steelwork was installed, the entire tree was encased in concrete.

And then Whole building will present into one visual structure language concrete language, although using two different structure. The purpose of this tree-like structure is to create a more public and open space, mainly on the ground floor that makes group floor area becoming to be a welcoming space.

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Figure. One of the tree nodes is lifted into place

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The Paul Marshall Building represents the precise use of externally facing structural elements to create an open plan and a celebratory atmosphere.

Grafton Architects create large open spaces utilsing a network of steel and timber trusses – leading to large open atriums that demonstrate the buildings tectonics externally.

This concept is adopting in my own building as a means to advocate sustainable building practices explicitly.

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Design Interventions

Fondaco dei Tedeschi

“Through the Fondaco dei Tedeschi renovation, the people of Venice have been given the opportunity to experience one of the most historically relevant Venetian buildings once again, and in its entirety.”

Venice

The addition of a large wooden terrace is achieved by removing two of the original roof panels, offering visitors spectacular views of the Grand Canal.

The circulation inside and building is significantly changed with the addition of previously absent public vertical circulation (providing access to all levels) and two new entrances to the heart of the structure.

System of new openings

“Change is the only constant in life”

Think Corner

Ground floor circulation

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Sculptual Skylight Design

Architects’ Theory Materiality The newly carved, timber-clad entrances and large glazed walls open towards the street. Inside, all paths lead to the former inner courtyard, decked and dressed up with raw concrete and lit by quadrilateral skylights. The abundance of wood-panelled nooks and crannies that have been scooped out in the walls add to the warm, lounge-like ambience, inviting visitors to sit down, stay for a lecture, and encourage to explore the place. The maze of pathways comes together at the wooden staircase, which aids orientation and further enhances unique style of the architecture with its spectacular visual and material presence.

As a whole, the building adds a strong sense of place and presence of materials to the modern age, which is refreshing.

Facade The founding design principle for the new Think Corner was to use large windows to open the street level to the surrounding city. The windows let passers-by see inside Think Corner and invite them to come in.

The location of the campus area provides a prominent setting for the renovation. The materials of the façade – natural stone and plaster, are chosen to connect Tiedekulma into the surrounding site.

Encouraging Interaction with the Public The skylight design is commonly used in JkMM’s architecture design. In Amos-Rex Museum, the skylight creates a public space in the rooftop where the visitors can skate and sit on the sculptual skylight structure.

Provide Openess of the Space The high leveled skylight let the natural light projects wider and distribute evenly into the space. The sense of height create by the skylight provide openess in the space, such as for public area and study space in think corner.

Enhancing Human Comfort and Health Several studies show that natural light can improve mental health and physical health. In the study space, natural light can improve the concentration and working efficiency. Therefore, skylight design is ideal for study spaces and JKMM has widely used it in their design.

Skylight Structure The skylight in the piazza design in a sulpture-like structure. It provides natural light into the double height open study space.

Aleema Aziz Ollie Buckland Ming Chi Leung Jessica Male Wesley, Ming Chi Leung

Axonometric showing changes

Wesley, Ming Chi Leung

The Fondaco dei Tedeschi is very closely related to our studio themes – demonstrating the careful demolition and addition of an existing shopping mall structure to open what is already there once again for public viewing and benefit. The addition of vertical circulation elements was key to providing access to the upper extents of the existing structure.

I have adopted this key design intervention as a means to knit me new scheme into the existing Forum building creating new thresholds that aim to improve the users experience of what is old and new.

Think Corner demonstrates the strength of adhering to simple design principles in the pursuit of contextually relevant design.

The multi-use educational building creates comfortable working environments through the adoption of large swatches of timber and bright openings to street level – reimaging street level thresholds.

Here, the deployment of large incisions in a rectangular form has been a sufficient guiding principle to rationalise a cohesive scheme.

This design approach inspires my pursuit of principle design tools in the creation of my initial massing and plan sketches.

bibliography Mallo, D., Tardiveau, A. and Parsons, R., 2020. Design activism: catalysing communities of practice. Architectural Research Quarterly, 24(2), pp.100-116.

Newcastle University, Architecture Planning and Landscape, 2020, Weaving in Wallsend Studio Brief

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Petrescu, D., 2005. Losing Control, Keeping Desire. In: D. Petrescu, P. Blundell-Jones and J. Till, ed., Architecture and Participation, 1st ed. Routledge, pp.43-46.

Petrescu, D., 2007. Altering Practices: Feminist Politics and Poetics of Space. 1st ed. London: Routledge.

Smith, S., 2016. The most advanced reusable building yet. [video] Available at: <https://www.arup.com/perspectives/the-circularbuilding>.

Taylor, M., 2020. Manchester theatre staff use skills to upgrade homes after Covid layoffs. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/22/manchestertheatre-staff-upgrade-homes-covid-layoffs-retrofitting-scheme>.

Communityenergyengland.org. 2021. People Powered Retrofit. [online] Available at: <https://communityenergyengland.org/news/ people-powered-retrofit-new-report-advocates-bottom-up-approachto-retrofit-as-effective-way-to-meet-the-carbon-neutral-cha>.

Dellenbaugh-Losse, M., Zimmermann, N. and de Vries, N., 2020.

The Urban Commons Cookbook. 1st ed. pp.8-16.

Harvey, F., 2021. £3bn green home grants scheme faltering just weeks after launch. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https:// www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/14/3bn-green-homegrants-scheme-faltering-just-weeks-after-launch>.

Till, J., 2005. Architecture and the Contingent. In: D. Petrescu, P. Blundell-Jones and J. Till, ed., Architecture and Participation, 1st ed.

Routledge, pp.43-46.

The NewBridge Project. 2019. The NewBridge Project. [online] Available at: <https://thenewbridgeproject.com/>.

Wenger, E., 1999. Communities of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

REFERENCES

Page 11: Studio Work: Rituals of Civic Life: © Danny Bennet, Milly London, Lorand Nagy, Peng Yin, Zoe Ingram, Dk Noor Ameerah Pg Kasmirhan Page 12: Photographs, The Backyard Bikeshop,. Accessed here: [online] Available at: <https://www.business-live. co.uk/enterprise/backyardbikeshop-award-gatesheadquayside-16915487>., Backyard Bike Shop. n.d. [online] Available at: <https:// www.backyardbikeshop.com/ cafe>.

Page 15: Poster, The Future is upon Us, accessed here: The Dots. n.d. Extinction Rebellion Posters. [online] Available at: <https://the-dots.com/ projects/extinction-rebellionposters-355646>.

Page 18: Site Map 1:500, Local Landmarks,. adapted from: social and economic group work © Elosie, Max, Jeyhun, Zoe, Ameerah, Kelly Page 20: Map, adapted

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from North Tyneside Local Plan, 2017, accessed here: My.northtyneside.gov.uk. n.d. [online] Available at: <https:// my.northtyneside.gov.uk/sites/ default/files/web-page-relatedfiles/North%20Tyneside%20 Local%20Plan%202017-2032. pdf>.

(Fall 2010) : Rensselaer | Architecture. [online] Available at: <https://www.arch.rpi. edu/2010/10/kulper-perry/>.

Page 88: Chromosomal Structure: Authors own. Philo, L., 2021. As seen in Theory into Practice

Page 30: Front cover, Communities of Practice, accessed: Newcastle University Library

Page 95: Precedent photographs, HMFH, accessed here: HMFH. n.d. What We Create - HMFH. [online] Available at: <https://www. hmfh.com/what-we-create/>.

Page 32: Front cover, Altering Practices, accessed: Routledge & CRC Press. n.d. Altering Practices: Feminist Politics and Poetics of Space. [online] Available at: <https://www. routledge.com/AlteringPractices-Feminist-Politics-andPoetics-of-Space/Petrescu/p/ book/9780415357869>.

Page 101: Precedent photographs, Circular House., Arup. Accessed here: Smith, S., 2016. The most advanced reusable building yet. [video] Available at: <https://www. arup.com/perspectives/thecircular-building>.

Page 32: Drawing from Thematic Case Study, Agrocité, © Charlie Kay

Page 102: Graph, DfD assessment: Authors own.

Philo, L., 2021. As seen in Integrated Construction

Page 86: Photograph, Perry Kulper, accessed here: Arch.rpi. edu. n.d. Perry Kulper Exhibition

Page 103: Icons, DfD Principles: Authors own. Philo, L., 2021. As seen in Integrated

Construction Page 104: Renders, principles integrated: Authors own. Philo, L., 2021. As seen in Integrated Construction Page 104: Image, Exploded Dormer Window: Authors own.

Philo, L., 2021. As seen in Integrated Construction Page 106: 1.20 Technical Section, Elevation: Authors own. Philo, L., 2021. As seen in Integrated Construction Page 134: Front Cover, The Fens, accessed: Head of Zeus. n.d. [online] Available at: <https://headofzeus.com/ books/9781786692238>.

All other photographs, drawings and illustrations are authors own.

appendices

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FULL THEMATIC CASE STUDY REPORT

Agrocité Introduction Agrocité was initiated in 2008 by Constantin Percou and Doina Petrescu from Atelier d’Archiecture Autogéreé (AAA). Originally located in Colombes, the project moved to a new site in 2018 at Gennevilliers to make space for a car park proposed by the local council. The scheme is part of the R-Urban citizen ecological transition strategy, which has been developing a series of local, ecological and civic facilities around urban agriculture, shared use and social solidarity since 2008. The Agrocité consists of a building made from partly recycled materials which is surrounded by plots dedicated to market gardening, individual plots, collective plots for the Agrocité kitchen and educational plots. It is a civic place open to all residents and associations dedicated to enivronmental and collective practices.

AgroCité atelier d’architecture autogérée Contents

ACROCITÉ - THE AAA

ELOISE LITTLER

THEORETICAL POSITION 4. How does the case study relate to the Architect’s theoretical position / how does it explore their ideas / preoccupations?

Eloise Littler Question 1: How does the case study relate to the Architect’s theoretical position / how does it explore their ideas / preoccupations?

Peng Yin Question 2: How does the case study demonstrate advocacy?

Charlie Kay Question 3: How does the case study demonstrate critical spatial practice?

Luca Philo Question 4: How does the case study relate to its environmental / climate crisis context?

The Atelier D’Architecture Autogérée (aaa) is a collective practice, based in Bagneux, in the South of Paris. It was co-founded in 2001 by Constantin Petcou and Doina Petrescu. The practice is made up of architects, artists, urban planners, landscape designers, sociologists and students - however, most importantly they stress the need for resident participation at every stage of the design process.

The aaa aims to promote resilience, through schemes which function through civic participation. Based on citizen’s dynamics and local networks, projects offer local residents new opportunities, providing education and transferable skills. The aaa works through ‘urban tactics’, encouraging local resident participation and the self-management of disused urban space. ‘Micro-political acting’ is enforced, to make the space more accessible, and less dependant on a top-down approach. The methods by the practice contrast to other regeneration proposals, as they are usually run by specialist teams and facilitated by managerial structures. The aaa allows the architects, designers and planners to all take an active role as initiators, facilitators, mediators and work in civic partnership.

KEY WORDS USED TO DESCRIBE THE AAA’S DESIGN AIMS AND INTENTIONS

ACROCITÉ - THE AAA

ACROCITÉ - THE AAA

ELOISE LITTLER

R-URBAN

ELOISE LITTLER

- a framework centred around ‘civic hubs’ which allow communities to enhance their resilience through a range of interconnected initiatives.

CONSTANTIN PETCOU AND DOINA PETRESCU Constantin Petcou is a Paris based architect, who states that his work stresses the intersection between architecture, urbanism, service design and semiotics. Doina Petrescu is a professor at the University of Sheffield, as well as an architecture and design activist. Both described their role as activators - reinventing urban commons by focusing on political agendas as well as social and economic.

Awards: Zumtobel Prize for Sustainability and Humanity 2012, the Curry Stone Design Prize 2011, the European Prize for Urban Public Space 2010, the Prix Grand Public des Architectures contemporaines en Métropole Parisienne 2010, and has been a finalist at the EIB Social Innovation Tournement 2014.

NETWORKING R-URBAN NETWORK

• • •

Doina Petrescu’s book Altering Practices was formed after a conference in which architects were talking about the recent production of the diversity and difference of feminism within spatial practices. The book aims to identify the politics and poetics of the relationship between art and architecture, through pieces written by feminist architects.

PARTICIPATION • • R-URBAN PARTICIPATION

•

Allows citizens who choose to be involved to participate fully in the implementation of the strategy.

This includes everything from events and training activi ties, to running the hubs.

Citizens become the key agents to innovation and change, generating alternative social and economic or ganisations, collaborative projects and shared spaces, producing new forms of commons.

LOCAL ECOSYSTEMS

Petrescu describes her work as ‘collective reconstructions’ - referring to the ways of doing and un-doing, making and re-making space, according to ‘altered’ rules and values. She sees these ways and both poetic and political. She also highlights that the methods of ‘curating’ and ‘care taking’ within architecture can be seen as processes of reconstruction and reproduction. She sees this as bearing ethical and emotional charge, and states that kind of work is always associated with women.

• • • R-URBAN LOCAL ECOSYSTEMS

ACROCITÉ - THE AAA

Establishes resilience networks and initiatives in neighbourhoods through a variety of active individuals and local organisations, merged with civic support.

Networks increase the value of resourcefulness, produc es a more even power distribution.

Each hub is flexibly connected to small local networks as well as the larger R-Urban network - enables an open system.

ELOISE LITTLER

•

Generates local ecosystems of existing and new servic es.

Residents are encourages to buy local products, but also make their own products.

The spatial design processes of commons facilitates the hands-on activities of citizens.

Long term aim - development of socio-ecosystems at local, regional and international scales.

Advocacy-Client

A RESILIENT COMMUNITY In this drawing I have tried to visualise the community aspect of Agrocite. The practice cannot function with out each part - architects, urban planners, residents e.t.c. - all working together harmoniously. Through this shared collaborative process, they are able to create a scheme which revolves around participation and inclusivity. There is no hierarchy, everyone works together to create a resilient city.

Agrocite's clients are Columbus's 84,000 residents, but due to space constraints, they can only offer 60 venues for family use. The architects decided that 40 homes were appropriate because more land meant more difficult management. Their project is very popular. According to the director of R-Urban Studios, they said the waiting list for the project is long and rotating. While waiting for land allocation, residents need to regularly participate in collective life.

Catherine is busy baking cakes for the café. “It fills my free time, and you meet a lot of people. We learn from each other.”

Architects said, "It's not just a matter of farming "They hope residents can regard this land as an investment in their lives. And hope they can fully pitch in it.

Benoît is a local resident.

He said:“You see, here my daughter and I can grow our own vegetables, and we don’t use any pesticides. Organic fruits and vegetables are really expensive, so getting an allotment here has been nice.”

FIG.2 Residents' Feedback

FIG.1vv About 60 families can participate in the programt

Advocacy-Community Activities

Comments for Agrocite

Experimental Micro-farm In the shared garden, people can grow their favorite vegetables here. They can also breed poultry or bees in the backyard of the garden.

Architect's thought R-urban studio found that the social relationship between residents and the city is gradually disappearing through research on Columbus. They thought As architects, they have the responsibility to restore this connection by rebuilding largescale communities. After investigation, a shared garden was established on the open space in the suburbrns of Columbus.

FIG.3 Gardening

FIG.6 Constantin Petcou, Project Leader

Community Space

FIG.7 Constantin Petcou, Project Leader

Agrocite Feature

In community space, they usually hold group activities like market fairs. Residents can trade eggs and vegetables that they harvest at Agrocite.

Shared gardens have two features., First of all, the public space attributes of shared gardens can strengthen social bonds. Secondly, the unique ecological properties of shared gardens can change people’s lifestyles. For example, poultry farming, plant cultivation requires residents to spend more time in sharing gardens. In a sense, it encourage locals to focus on socializing.

FIG.4 Local Markting

FIG.8

Educational and Cultural Space

Agrocite is an agricultural centre built on a 3,000-square-metre plot in the heart of a social housing complex that includes an experimental micro-farm, community gardens, educational and cultural Spaces.Different areas have different social functions, and here the residents are the masters

In Educational and Cultural Space, they usually Organized workshops on gardening and cooking courses. Architects sometimes organized collective Governance sessions with residents to discuss development of Argrocite.

Poultry farming

FIG.9 Plant cultivation

Relationship Between Architects and Agrocite The project has attracted the attention of some people from all trades and professions. Some of them founded workshop to teach useful agriculture skills to locals. Others help agrocite set up its own community committee and realized self-management. As r-urban studio said, they are invisible architects. They created and managed agrocite. Then, they attracted residents to join, and manage with them together. At the end, they pulled out, and let the residents manage agrocite themselves.

FIG.5 Project Meeting

FIG.10 Communal cooking session in the “Agrocité” pavilion

Demonstrating Critical Spatial Practice Charlie Kay

Political Resilience Aware of the urgency of concerted action, R-Urban’s political ambitions with the Agrocité are to facilitate citizen engagement in order to achieve an ecological transition strategy. The plan is to use emerging practices that will change urban lifestyles in order to combat the ongoing global crises of global warming, air pollution, resource depletion, the collapse of biodiversity and the energy crisis.

R-Urban are calling on political, institutional and media decision-makers to support them in their collective endeavour and the site in Gennevillers is often used as an example in presentations delivered by R-Urban of how various solutions such as reversible and organic architecture can be used to preserve a habitable planet and a democratic society.

Schools Several universities and schools have made visits to Agrocité in order to learn more about the sustainable city of tomorrow.

Research

In the last collage, I dislocation the ground and the sky. And arranged Agrocite’s surrounding building irregularly. The aim is to show the relationship between Argocite and the surrounding context.

1

Agrocité provides a platform for exploration, action and research around urban changes and emerging social and political practices in the contemporary city.

FIG.11 workshop

Social Resilience The creation of Agrocité saw the collection of residents from all disciplines project leaders, activists, students and elected officials to discuss and reflect on the city of tomorrow. Residents have been a huge part of every stage of the Agrocité project from the construction and design of the buildings and planting of the gardens to the management of the café and the architecture workshop.

R-Urban’s intentions with Agrocité are to initiate and support civic dynamics of urban agriculture and to support cultural and educational activities. Regarding this, all citizens are required to invest in local collective activities that mix conviviality with the resilience of everyday life. This includes composting of organic waste, shared gardens, recycling and soft mobility.

As a place for teaching, learning and researching, AAA have set up an architecture workshop on site which helps promote AAA’s ideas of ‘urban tactics’ where they encourage the participation of inhabitants in the self management of abandoned urban spaces and the initiation of intervening practices that explore potentialities in contemporary cities.

Economic Resilience

Composting of organic waste Part of R-Urban’s approach is to reduce and reuse household organic waste. Residents are therefore encouraged to use the compost bins located on the site.

A meeting is held annually between members to discuss the project objectives, financing, accounting, possible economic models, the report of activities, the future collective manager and internal regulations. This allows them to take stock of the year and plan for the coming year. The idea each year is to “produce what we consume and consume what we produce”.

The results of the first year were very positive, the garden had developed particularly well, the collective organisation was well structured and the financial results were very encouraging. Enercoop provide 100% renewable electricity for Agrocité. They stand out from other suppliers because they are the only French supplier to go exclusively through over-the-counter agreements with small French producers of renewable energy. They also work together with renewable energy professionals and local communities to progress research in the field.

Shared Gardens Sixty individual plots and six large collective plots are available to all of the inhabitants in the district of Genevilliers to encourage sustainable food growth and social connection.

Crowdfunding

Collaborative and Circular Economy

The construction and maintenance of the site relies on crowdfunding which comes from the support of the local residents.

R-Urban’s ambitions are to promote an economy where residents work together to improve their collective lives and funds are used to finance necessary projects.

Food Growth

Soft Mobility

The plantations on the site are very bountiful and new plots and plants are constantly planted.

Vegetables and local agricultural products are sold at the markets regularly held on site.

R-Urban encourage residents to use non-motorized transport where possible to combat global warming and air pollution.

Recycling Part of the Agrocité scheme is to motivate all residents in the district to recycle in order to fight the ongoing crises of air pollution, resource depletion and global warming.

Reintegration Events and talks are often held at the Agrocité where residents from all walks of life are invited to participate, encouraging the reintegration of the local society.

3

Agrocité

G

WIN

GRO

Evironmental and Climate Crisis : Response LUCA PHILO

+20%

Agrocité Colombes was the first of three planned constructions within a housing estate in in Colombes, Paris. The East facing dismountable building functions “under the principles of economic and ecological circuits”. The construction, material choice, spatial and technical organisation are designed to fulfil the requirements of sustainable circular processes of production, consumption and reuse. These ‘urban tactics’ within Argocite embody the response of Atelier d’architecture autogérée (AAA) to the environmental and climate crisis’. By fostering an engaged, citizen-led ecological transition as part of circular economies, AAA provide the community the tools and architecture to combat urban pressures.

ON

CONSULTAT

OD

TOOLS

CIR

CUL AR ECO NOM

FO

Critical Spatial Practice

AGRICULTURE

2

IES

ORGANIC

ING

LL

PED

SE

AGO

GY

-20%

G

IN EAT

TEACH

IGN

DES

INHG

G

CO -

Growers, buyers, sellers, users and volunteers commit to “expand[ing] beyond a cursory participatory approach, as they invest their time exhaustively in the long-term trajectory of live projects”2. Promoting new, resilient ways of living within urban communities constitutes AAA’s primary response to the environmental and climate crisis’.

Doina Petrescu describes the complexity of the social arrangement in Colombes. In an area of high

4

1 “AID - R-Urban”, Architectureindevelopment.Org, 2020 <https://www.architectureindevelopment.org/project.php?id=463> [Accessed 11 December 2020].

2 Hélène Frichot, Catharina Gabrielsson and Helen Runting, Architecture And Feminisms (London: Routledge, 2018).

22

ILD

IN

COOKING

FUN

BU

FOUND MATERIALS

Fig.1 Another tenet of Agrocité, and all R- Urban projects alike, is to build ‘urban resilience’. Resilient social, economic and ecological networks are enabled by the architecture of Agrocité and the associated 1700m2 cultivated plot, including an “experimental farm, a community-garden and a pedagogical garden”1. Resilient practices fostered within the premises are sustained by a practicing community of engaged stakeholders.

DRA

ISIN

G -20%

ORT

NSP

TRA

Fig.2 unemployment and retirement, volunteers and self-employed workers make-up the majority stakeholders.

Where profit comes after participation, 20% of all profits made must be returned to a collective pot.

Doina explains, “[in this way] we produced a complex flow that was both ecological and economic, and circulated between the two units that were built, Agrocité and Recyclab”3.

3

Ibid.

Green roof and Green wall runoff water collected in below-grade tank via ducts

Compost water heater recovers and reuses the thermal energy produced by the compost during the biological breakdown process

COMPOST BIOMASS HEATER Additional water from City

Tap for crop irrigation Closed - cycle hydroponic system requires no drainage or top-up

HYDROPONIC GROWING

GREY WATER FILTRATION

Grey water recovery, biologically filtered tank

Grey water from building

HOT COLD

Runoff to soil

for irrigation of crops

Water collection tank

11. Publicspace.org. 2020. Works - Publicspace. [online] Available at: <https://www.publicspace.org/works/-/project/j281-r-urban-network-of-urban-commons> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

14. Celebration piece by author

13. Image accessed from: Ibid

12. Edited image by author, original image accessed from: “Flickr”, Flickr, 2020 <https://www.flickr.com/photos/r-urban/with/11306293386/> [Accessed 11 December 2020]

11. Diagram by author

10. Edited image by author, original photograph accessed from: “International Village Shop: Shops: R-Urban Shops/ Boutique Locale: Agrocite Two Day Summer Shop”, Internationalvillageshop.Net, 2020 <https://www.internationalvillageshop.net/shops/agrocite-summer-shop/agrocite-three-day-summer-shop> [Accessed 11 December 2020]

9. Edited image by author, original photograph accessed from: Ibid

Full of sawdust, low maintenance, long lasting, low-odour

10. the Guardian. 2020. Why Is A Paris Suburb Scrapping An Urban Farm To Build A Car Park?. [online] Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/11/paris-un-climate-conference-colombes-r-urban-urban-farm-carpark> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

9. R-urban.net. 2020. AGROCITE NEWS | Activity Categories | R-Urban English. [online] Available at: <http://r-urban.net/en/activity_type/agrocite-news/> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

8. AAA. 2020. Agrocité – Gennevilliers | R-Urban. [online] Available at: <http://www.urbantactics.org/projets/ agrocite-gennevilliers/> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

8. Edited image by author, original photograph accessed from: Ibid

Recovery of human waste for natural fertilisation

7. Edited image by author, original photograph accessed from: Ibid

SOLAR

7. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Doina_Petrescu3> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

6. Edited image by author, original photograph accessed from: Ibid

5. Edited image by author, original photograph accessed from: Ibid

Fig.14

6. Xximagazine.com. 2020. Constantin Petcou — XXI Magazine. [online] Available at: <https://xximagazine.com/ authors/constantin-petcou> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

4. Edited image by author, original photograph accessed from: Ibid

Reclaimed Windows and Doors

5. Lesactivateurs.org. 2020. Maitre Composteur – Module MC5 | Les Activateurs. [online] Available at: <https:// lesactivateurs.org/formation/maitre-composteur-soutenance-mc5/> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

3. Edited image by author, original photograph accessed from: Frichot, Hélène, Catharina Gabrielsson, and Helen Runting, Architecture And Feminisms (London: Routledge, 2018)

“promote innovation within the reach of citizens”

4. Facebook.com. 2020. Atelier D’architecture Autogérée. [online] Available at: <https://www.facebook.com/atelierdarchitectureautogeree/photos/a.108289982843661/108290059510320/?type=1&theater> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

3. A-i-d.org. 2020. Architecture In Development - News - 10 Examples To Learn About The Next Generation Architecture. [online] Available at: <https://www.a-i-d.org/news.php?id=89> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

2. Diagram by author

1. Diagram by architect, Urbantactics.Org, 2020 <http://www.urbantactics.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/schema-general-agrocite.png> [Accessed 11 December 2020]

Neutral and Inert substrate

Question 4: Environmental and Climate Crisis

5

4

2. Diagram by author : Ibid

3

1. Diagram by author

Fig.12

URBAN AGRICULTURE

Question 2: Demonstrating Advocacy

The devices are self-built with professional help, and sophisticated studies were carried out in response to the poor urban soil on site.

List of Figures

Runoff water collected from Green roof

AgroLab, as part of Agrocité, houses key prototype technologies central to R-URBAN’s response to the environmental and climate crisis’. “These micro-devices [are utilised] for power generation and food, water management and organic waste” realised in the use of “local materials and with simple technology”5. This methodology substantiates a key ‘urban tactic’ deployed throughout the R-URBAN scheme, to “promote innovation within the reach of citizens”6. Devices to re-use energy and water and produce rich fertilizers for growing are devised and built alongside to community, to demonstrate simple and accessible methods of sustainable practice.

Urbantactics.Org, 2020 <http://www.urbantactics.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/schema-general-agrocite.png> [Accessed 11 December 2020]

Doina Petrescu, Constantin Petcou and Corelia Baibarac, “Co-Producing Commons-Based Resilience: Lessons From R-Urban”, Building Research & Information, 44.7 (2016), 717-736 <https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2016.1214891>.

5 “AGROCITÉ”, R-Urban English, 2020 <http://r-urban.net/en/projects/agrocite/> [Accessed 11 December 2020].

6 Hélène Frichot, Catharina Gabrielsson and Helen Runting, Architecture And Feminisms (London: Routledge, 2018).

The Guardian. 2020. Why Is A Paris Suburb Scrapping An Urban Farm To Build A Car Park?. [online] Available at: <https://www. theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/11/paris-un-climate-conference-colombes-r-urban-urban-farm-car-park> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

Runoff reused 4

“Réseau Éco-Ville Solidaire – Bagneux.” AAA, 19 Sept. 2017, http://www.urbantactics.org/projets/reseau-eco-ville-solidaire/.

GREEN The timber platform base is elevated above ground level on steel screw piles (See Fig.9) . This elevated construction allows for sustainable services below. Equally, screw piles were chosen due to their low destructive impact in the ground beneath. This was particularly beneficial when the Colombes site was evicted and relocated to Generville.

The re-use of architectural salvage reduced building complexitiy, allowing for a civic-led maintenance programme. In addition, a combination of found and upcycled architectural salvage reduced the buildings carbon footprint.

Publicspace.org. 2020. Works - Publicspace. [online] Available at: <https://www.publicspace.org/works/-/project/j281-r-urbannetwork-of-urban-commons> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

Agrocité is constructed using a simple timber frame. Additional functional elements to enclose the building envelope are primarily recycled materials. Those that are not recycled are locally sourced to reduce economic and environmental costs associated with transport.

Key elements of the material response also include low-impact technologies, materials with a reduced carbon footprint and the use of familiar construction techniques. The justification for materials chosen is described in Fig.11.

Technical Devices LUCA PHILO

Petrescu, Doina, et al. “Co-Producing Commons-Based Resilience: Lessons from R-Urban.” Building Research & Information, vol.

44, no. 7, Oct. 2016, pp. 717–36, doi:10.1080/09613218.2016.1214891.

Screw Piles

Petrescu, Doina. Altering Practices: Feminist Politics and Poetics of Space. Taylor & Francis Group, 2007, http://ebookcentral. proquest.com/lib/ncl/detail.action?docID=308692.

Fig.4

Petcou, Constantin, and Doina Petrescu. “Co-Produced Urban Resilience: A Framework for Bottom-Up Regeneration.” Architectural Design, vol. 88, no. 5, 2018, pp. 58–65, doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/ad.2343.

Fig.11

Harvard GSD. GSD Talks: Doina Petrescu and Constantin Petcou, “Tactics for a Co-Produced City.” 2014, https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=4iREr7Xfam8.

OSB

“Gallery”, R-Urban English, 2020 <http://r-urban.net/en/gallery/> [Accessed 11 December 2020]

Fig.10

Agrocité

Frichot, Hélène, Catharina Gabrielsson, and Helen Runting, Architecture And Feminisms (London: Routledge, 2018)

Fig.9

The shed-like vernacular, recognisable to many, is a subtle environmental design tactic by AAA. The choice of low-skill construction methods of timber frame and cladding affords a community the ability contribute to civic-led construction, maintenance and retrofit, utilsing the existing competence in the community.

Similarly, the outwardly ‘dismountable’ architecture ensures emphasis on processes of building urban resilience, rather than explicit architecture related to locale.4 Straw Bale Insulation

Fr.wikipedia.org. 2020. Agrocité. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrocit%C3%A9#Petcou_&_Mugnier-Viret_2015> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

Fig.8 REDUCED CARBON FOOTPRINT

“Flickr”, Flickr, 2020 <https://www.flickr.com/photos/r-urban/with/11306293386/> [Accessed 11 December 2020]

Fig.7 FAMILIAR CONSTRUCTION

“Facilitating Resilience: Image”, Facilitatingresilience.Files.Wordpress.Com, 2020 <https://facilitatingresilience.files.wordpress. com/2013/11/03.jpg> [Accessed 11 December 2020]

AgroCite

Constantin Petcou and Doina Petrescu. http://bit.ly/2wWWlcf. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.

Stone Foundation and Retaining Walls Roof mounted Solar Panels

“Anqi Liu”, Facilitating Resilience, 2020 <https://facilitatingresilience.wordpress.com/student-projects/anqi-liu/> [Accessed 11 December 2020]

Fig.6 LOW-IMPACT BUILDING

“AID - R-Urban”, Architectureindevelopment.Org, 2020 <https://www.architectureindevelopment.org/project.php?id=463> [Accessed 11 December 2020]

Fig.5 REUSED MATERIALS

“AGROCITÉ”, R-Urban English, 2020 <http://r-urban.net/en/projects/agrocite/> [Accessed 11 December 2020]

Scaffold Boards

Bibliography

Fig.3

Agile-city.com. 2020. R-Urban, Colombes | Agile City. [online] Available at: <https://agile-city.com/agile-city-research/r-urban-colombes-a-sustainable-network-of-agriculture-and-building-processes/> [Accessed 14 December 2020].

Material Response Corrugated Plastic

Solar panels and Solar Water heater supply electricity and heated water during winter

DRY COMPOSTING TOILET Vent

Solid and liquid seperated to generate two types of fertilizer, and rich compost and leachate - very effective solution.

Green roof and Green wall runoff water collected in below-grade tank via ducts

TIMBER FRAME CONSTRUCTION

Two- types of highly enriched fertilisers are reintroduced to the allotments by volunteers

FERTILISER PRODUCTION

Fig.13

CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCING: ARC3013 1

2

Site Establishment

Demolition

Principal Contractors erect site offices and transport plant to site in preperation for demolition.

Excavators demolish the existing concrete plant and service rooms.

Concrete and blockwork are stored on site for future aggregate use.

3

Partial Demolition/Cutting Concrete Floor Slab

Retrofit Demolition specialists cut into the existing floor slab/beam structure to create openings for the courtyard, cores, CLT panels. Crushed concrete is stored for aggregate.

As seen in ARC3013, Integrated Construction

4

Trench Excavation

Excavators and specialist mini-excavators work within the existing structure to remove roughly 1m of compacted aggregate and earth in preperation for foundation formwork.

5

Pouring Strip Foundations

Concrete contractors compact aggregate before pouring a wet-mix concrete into the Strip Foundation formwork, utilising a system of Cement Mixers, Mobile and Boom Mounted Truck Pumps to deliver the mix accross the site.

6

7

CLT Wall Panel System

CLT Roof Slab

8

A long-reach crane lowers pre-fabricated CLT Wall elements into place on-site, bolting into pre-prepared steel fixing tied to the existing in-situ floor plate.

9

10

Engineered Timber Joists and Wood-fibre Insulation

Glazing

Cladding

Contractors fix secondary elements to the CLT structure, including engineered timber joists above the CLT Roof Slab, to provide structure to the Roof System for future PV and Green Roof capacity. A vapour-control-layer is

.

seamlessly adhered between 125mm Wood-fibre infills

As seen in ARC3013, Integrated Construction

Cranes lower pre-built, glazed timber-frames into place to be fixed into the Dormer window assembly. This closes the building envelope and seals the weather out.

The crane lowers pre-fabricated Roof Slabs into place, fixed on top of the Wall system using a system of steel connectors.

Optima FC+ hook-on ACM cassette panels attach to ‘helping’ hand hooks in the aluminum rainscreen substructure. Two self-tapping cladding screws fasten the top edge into the extrusion to complete the fixing. Opaque and perforated panels are applied respectively over window openings to shade interior spaces.