Reuben Jones 3 stage
BUILDING - UPON - BUILDING
PORTFOLIO
Stage 3 Academic Portfolio Reuben Jones - 160062445 Building-upon-Building 2019-2020 Centre for Heritage and Preservation of France
Work done since review marked.
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Studio Outline
Reflective Summary
Charette Week
Primer
Fieldtrip
Staging
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Thinking Through Making
Synthesis
Cultural Bibliography
Appendix I - Case Study
Appendix II - Final Drawings High Resolution
Illustrations and Bibliography
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Building upon building is a design studio with a focus on Preservation and Restoration of historical architecture. Our work this year has taken as its focus the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Following a devastating fire in March 2019, that destroyed the cathedrals roof and its spire, various different approaches for the cathedral’s future were proposed. Should it be rebuilt like for like? Or should a modern alternative be found? Our studio has spent the year examining all of these arguments, with the aim of providing our
own individual proposal for Notre Dame. In relation to this the brief challenges us to design a National Centre for Heritage and Preservation of France, a building typology we must define and design, that will sit in close relation to the cathedral. We have also been closely examining the work of Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, the man responsible for the 1844 restoration of Notre Dame, critically analysing his approach so that we might better understand what it means to restore and preserve historic architecture, and what significant and lasting effects this can have on our modern cities.
Satirical Cartoon of Viollet-le-Duc and his Notre Dame Proposal, by Eugene Giraud.
Building-upon-Building 4
reflection 5
Jean Nouvel’s Cartier Foundation, the topic of our Case Study. (See Appendix II)
Claiming desks on the first day of the year,
An element of the year I found continually challenging was developing a theoretical idea into a physical design. I really enjoyed studio discussions about the nature of restoration and preservation but when it came to a design, I initially struggled to translate Theory into Practice. The ARC3015 essay helped me begin to develop how a drawing could be used in subtle ways to convey a point, even, as I explored through Raphael Moneo’s drawings, something as subtle as drawing to the edge of the page to imply the design exists beyond the confines of the white space. More significantly though, what the essay, and also the Case Study Report encouraged me to do, was to research how other architects translated their design theories into real buildings, and then use this to help me develop my own ideas and work. Consequently, I feel effective research and reference to precedents has been a skill that I have learned this year, and that has benefited me far more than it has in previous years. Through critical analysis of precedents, I feel I have been better able to define my own position in relation to our studio brief, and then use those precedents to help develop my designs, and finally the way I represent my work.
Third year has played out to be the most challenging but also most rewarding year of my undergraduate study. I have loved having the opportunity to spend a whole year developing a single scheme in detail, and have found Building-upon-Building to be the most engaging and stimulating work I have yet done. The learning curve has been particularly steep this year, the challenge of designing such a large building and in relation to a structure so revered as Notre Dame was daunting. However, the ambition of the project provided me with creative opportunities, and chances for design exploration that I feel have significantly increased my ability as a designer, particularly with regards to responding to context.
Refelctive Report 6
Rafael Moneo’s Merida Museum contextual axo. Please see ARC3015 for more information
. The effects of COVID-19 were unforeseen, but also highly significant in providing me with learning opportunities. Whilst lockdown had adverse effects on my work, due in part to my isolation over the entire period, it also spurred me on to develop my representation methods for the better. Prior to lockdown I had never used AutoCad, or Sketchup, and had almost no experience on Adobe Illustrator. The change in circumstances forced me to re-evalute how I represented my designs, and encouraged me to move away from hand drawn final pieces, towards CAD drawings. Whilst this caused me some anxiety at first, the change has been overwhelmingly beneficial to my work. It has allowed me to streamline my work-flow, and spend more time honing the details of my project, instead of having to slavishly draw and redraw basic elements each time I altered the design. I feel this change is most evident in my outputs for Realisation and Synthesis. The fundamental elements of the design are fairly similar, but for Synthesis my building had evolved, thanks to my drawings, into a much more coherent and specific response to the demands of the site. I feel that drawing the site in a significant level of detail was really beneficial to my project, and helped give me a far greater appreciation of the context itself, and the role context plays in design.
Refelctive Report
Left Top Site Elevation, Realisation review. Left Bottom Site Elevation, Synthesis review (see page 52)
This change in the way I work was also very beneficial when it came to thinking about technology, as it allowed my drawings to be far more accurate than they might previously have been. Technology became a very significant aspect of my design because the structure of my project is so intrinsic to my design concept. The challenge of how to make a temporary structure like scaffolding permanent without losing the essence of its appeal occupied a lot of my time. By approaching technological and structural requirements as intrinsic to design, and not simply an afterthought as I had in previous years, I feel my design has become far more resolved and coherent
Although I feel that there are still an innumerable quantity of alterations, developments and changes to my design and drawings that I would like to make, I find that reflecting on my design capabilities at the start of the year, and comparing them today allows me to appreciate how much I have learnt in a single year. The result being that I feel I have managed to generate an ambitious project, that addresses both theoretical and practical problems, that responds to demanding site context and technical considerations and that encapsulates how much I have learnt since beginning my architectural studies.
Below My design detail for a scaffold like steel frame
Right The Final day of me degree
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Charette 8
Crown
Old bunting
Ruff Collar Mesh netting
Our Charette explored fast fashion and the wasteful nature of modern clothing industry. It challenged us to make garments out of rubbish, and then to display these in a show at the end of the week. A variety of materials were used, including different kinds of paper, coffee sacks, an old bike and waste from the other Charette groups.
Ermine
Tailors off-cuts
Royal Mantle Protective netting
Orb
Our group decided to use material off cuts, gathered from tailors around the city. With this we created satirical take on royal attire. The aim being both a quip at regal garments, but also an attempt to elevate the rubbish we had found, and give it new potential and meaning.
King James I
Process
We took inspiration from a variety of sources, this image of James I upon his coronation shows all the elements we attempted to reproduce .
We used discarded chicken wire to give the garment its shape. Onto this was knotted the various scraps of material. This method gave the garment more volume than we would have been able to achieve otherwise with the amount of material we collected. This also reflected the way ermine tails often hung off royal clothes
A royal mESS 9
At the end of the week we held a show to show peoples responses to the task, we curated a runway show, as well as small displays on how and why we had chosen our specific materials and approaches.
Charette exhibition 10
Primer provided an introduction to the history of Notre Dame and the Ile de la Cite. We were tasked with investigating, documenting and finally presenting research into both Paris and Notre Dames history, analysing how intrinsically linked the cathedral is to the City. This research served to form a contextual foundation, into which we could begin to develop our own projects. Primer was mostly group work, and it afforded us a great opportunity to get to know everyone in the Studio.
primer
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We produced three models of Notre Dame for Primer. Two models were made of wire, one at 1:500 of the entire cathedral, a second at 1:200 of a single bay in section. These were intended to show the cathedrals structural composition.
Right 1:500 Massing Model Left 1:500 Wire Structural Model Below 1:200 Wire Structural Model
The second was a 1:500 model of Notre Dame as it stands today, constructed out of 3mm MDF, that fitted on a site model of the Ile de la Cite. Both formed part of an analysis into the structure and construction of the cathedral, with the aim of understanding why the cathedral was such an important architectural achievement in its own right.
Material Tests
Gaudi’s Rope Model For our Gaudi’s created Sagrada
We wanted out massing model of the cathedral to have as much detail as possible, to contrast it with the surrounding city masses. We therefore did multiple tests on the laser cutter with different materials until we found the best balance between structural rigidity and detail quality.
structure model we used weighted rope model for the design of the Familia as a precedent.
Cathedral Models 12
Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc was the French Architect who was responsible for the restoration of Notre Dame which began in 1844. The modern concept of restoration and preservation did not exist at the time. Instead le Duc’s goal was to restore the cathedral to a state in which it may previously never have existed, rather than choosing one historical moment to return it to. Thus he intended to restore Notre Dame as the ideal French cathedral, not recreate the original structure like for like. Le Duc’s interventions saved the cathedral from certain demolition, but his additions of the fleche, (spire) as well as a sacristy and new statutes were controversial, for they were completed in a style and fashion, that whilst Gothic in nature, was decidedly different from the surviving building.
Right Drawing by Viollet of his Spire design Left Viollet’s competition winning strategy for Notre Dame Below Portrait of Viollet le Duc
Pierrefonds
Viollet le duc
Prior to his work on Notre Dame, Le Duc was known for several other restorations, including that of Pierrefonds, a Chateau in Northern France. This like Notre Dame, was not a like for like restoration, but instead a redesign to create the ideal French castle. It subsequently became the inspiration for the Walt Disney’s Cinderella Castle
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By 1345 the cathedral was complete, the final phases of work saw the famous rose windows completed and installed in the transepts and west facade. As well as this the roof of the choir was reconstructed to be lighter, and the apse windows were elongated to match those of the nave.
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Part of our Primer work involved researching and representing the history of Notre Dame and Paris, to demonstrate how changes that shaped the city over time also served to effect the cathedral. This was collated into a series of collages as orthogonal drawings, to give us a detailed time-line of Notre Dame’ s life.
Timeline
In 1163, Pope Alexander III laid the first stone of the cathedral of Notre Dame. The building, produced in a French variation of the Gothic style was worked on until 1190. By which time it’s choir, transepts and side aisles were completed.
18 02 12 50 Little in the structure of the cathedral changed until the counter-reformation. To distance itself from the minimal puritanical approach to church decoration adopted by protestants, Notre Dame was furnished with new altars and art that celebrated the wealth and power of the church.
17 50 1200-1250 saw the rest of the cathedral completed. Between the two phases is a small but visible difference in style, resulting from advancements in flying buttress technology that allowed the size of the windows to be increased, and the structure made more delicate
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1789 saw the French revolution break out in Paris, the Catholic Church was outlawed, and the cathedral stripped of all its ornamentation and religious decoration. In its place, an artificial mountain was constructed as part of a conversion that saw it transformed into a Temple of Reason. .
The Bourbon monarchy was restored in 1830. This led to increased interest in the buildings associated with the Ancien Regime. A competition was held of the restoration of the decaying cathedral. And was won by Jean-Bapiste Lassus and Eugene Viollet le duc.
19 45 Notre Dame survived both World Wars relatively unscathed, despite the Nazi occupation of Paris. Its windows and statues were either removed or protected with boards and sandbags. The cathedrals survival helped to mark it as a symbol of the French Nations endurance and struggle.
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Timeline
The period of 1852-1870 saw dramatic changes in Paris’ urban landscape under Georges-Eugene Hausmann. Around Notre Dame houses were cleared and streets widened to provide specific views of the cathedral. With most of his changes still present.
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In 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte had himself crowned Emperor in Notre Dame. In an attempt to align himself and France as the successor of Rome, he had the cathedral whitewashed and artificial classical columns made to encase the original Gothic ones.
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In April 2019 however, whilst repairs were being made the Cathedrals roof, a fire broke out, destroying the cathedrals roof and spire which in turn broke 3 holes in the central vaults. The damage led to much of the cathedrals ancient structure being comprimised. President Macron vowed to repair the vast structure in 5 years, in time for the 2024 Olympics
My Initial massing was rooted in a desire to re-frame the Cathedral physically with a
Above Sketch Plan, with maintained views in red Right Perspective sketch Below Seketch section
series of large solid forms that would obscure the cathedral from several approaches, and frame two famous views. Whilst the form and style of the building would change significantly throughout the year, the idea of re-framing Notre Dame would form the basis of much of my design work going forward. As would the utilization of the crypt museum
Quick sketches I sketched several different ideas for my massing, this exposed steel frame structure was an idea I discarded for Primer, but something I would come back to later and develop further. The method used for these sketches involved tracing the context from our massing model photos, a technique I would continue to use to contextualise my ideas
Initial Massing 16
Our Primer exhibition was designed around displaying and conveying all that we had learned and discussed about Notre Dame in the previous weeks. Just as we had been forced to confront and try to understand the cathedrals history for our work, so we designed the exhibition with the intention that it would force people to interact with our findings. Thus we used a principle staircase for the display, and placed our large collages in such a way as to obscure people route , forcing them on some level to interact and engage with the Notre Dame and Paris’ past.
Above Models and presentation video despayed for exhibtion Left Timeline display for exhibition Right Timeline display for exhibition
Franz Samsa
Anamorphic Collage
Our Exhibition was inspired by the work of Italian collage artist Franz Samsa, who creates large hanging collages that the viewer can move around and interact with.
We attempted to create an anamorphic hanging collage for our exhibition, that would form an arch framing Viollet’s image projected onto a window. However, due to the restrictions of the space this was unsuccessful , thus we changed our approach
Primer exhibition 17
The fieldtrip was designed to follow pert of the route of the Grand Tour, a trip taken by 18th, 19th and 20th Century gentlemen around Europe’s most famous cities. Viollet had taken a similar joureny to study famous buildings,. Thus in the same spirit we followed in his footsteps.
Fieldtrip 18
Notre Dame
Sadly we were unable to get near to Notre Dame, the Parvis and surrounding parks were all closed to the public. However, this only fed my ideas about the possibilities of including the public more in the restoration process.
Our field trip afforded us the opportunity to visit our site and explore the Ile de la Cite for ourselves. Beyond this we also visited many other famous works of architecture, many of which would have significant influences on my project in later weeks. Here i have picked out a few highlights, and included some of my thoughts.
The Louvre
I was surprised at how much i liked I.M Pei’s underground intervention at the Louvre, the underground spaces were equally as impressive as the palace above. The number of people, despite it being winter was hard to ignore however.
Sainte Chapelle
PARIS
Whilst we could not access the Cathedral, we did visit the saint Chapelle, which is of a similar era. This small but beautiful chapel was also significant as it’s restoration was carried out by a youngViollet before the cathedral.
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Cartier Foundation
The Cartier Foundation by Nouvel was our focus for the case study (see Appendix B). The buildings apparent simplicity and its location in a beautiful wooded garden made it feel totally unique amongst the many modern buildings we visited over the trip.
PARIS
Memorial to the Jewish Martyrs of the Deportation
We stumbled upon the memorial by Pingusson, by accident, it is a hidden building at the end of the Ile de la Cite. It was however, my favourite building of the trip, small and atmospheric, quiet and reflective.
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Rome was an excellent opportunity to satisfy my urge to see so much of the famous architecture we have studied for the last three years. We tried to go into every church we passed, and stop in every square. i stayed an extra day in Rome, and found i had more time to draw and get lost.
The Hertzian Library
Aventine Hill
We visited Navarro Baldeweg’s Hertzian Library early one morning. This private library is not open to the public and hides behind the doors of a mannerist palazzo. Not only did it have a spectacular view, but its tall glass atrium would inspire my own design.
I climbed the Aventine Hill to visit the Aventine Keyhole, on the way down i stopped to sketch this view of St Peters from a park overlooking the city
Rome 21
Theatre of Marcellus
I stopped to sketch the theatre because it seemed to so perfectly typify our studios title, a palazzo built directly on top of an ancient Roman Theatre. It made me wonder what would happen if someone were to propose a similar strategy for Notre Dame
Ruins
My favourite thing about Rome was the way you would walk down a street and catch a glimpse of an ancient fragment of a building that lay casually by the side of a road or in the middle of a square. This also made me think about Notre Dame’s crypt, which is currently so inaccessible.
Bramante’s Tempietto
I visited the Tempietto alone having heard so much about it, and was oddly overcome by how beautiful it was. There was nobody else there so i managed to sit for a longer period of time to sketch. It was very much worth the walk up the hill.
MAXXI
We visited Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI to see an exhibition on Gio Pointi, which i enjoyed a lot. The MAXXI surprised me, and i liked it more than i expected. Particularly the Staircases.
Rome 22
The staging project saw us begin to flesh out our individual responses to the site and brief. For my own work, this meant analysing the site in greater depth, researching around its key issues, and beginning to develop an architectural response. Primarily, staging helped me clarify the key issues my intervention would try to solve. Namely the relationship between Tourists and Parisians on the Ile de la Cite and the way these two groups interact with one another and use the island. Staging was also where I began to develop how my design might interact with Notre Dame and the historical context of the Ile de la Cite, looking specifically at our relationship with historical architecture.
Staging 23
My interpretation of the brief centres around the principle that architecture and heritage are not static objects fixed and preserved in time, but are ever changing. The 2019 fire at Notre Dame is therefore not simply a tragic loss of heritage, but a natural, albeit damaging stage in the buildings life. With the loss of some valuable heritage comes the opportunity to re-evaluate peoples relationship with the building, and redesign how this famous piece of architecture is integrated into the city and perceived by the people who inhabit it. In staging i began to establish my own perspective on these issues, and roughly plan a strategy from which a design could form Photograph of the 2019 fire
Brief 24
My site is located on the SouthEast end of the Ile de la Cite, in Central Paris. During the staging part of the project, my focus was nominally on the Parvis infront of the cathedral. Our visit to the Sorbonne during our field-trip prompted a great deal of discussion about the islands role in the city. Whilst geographically at the centre of Paris and central to the tourist experience, it is marginal in the lives of most Parisians. This divide between Parisians and Tourists prompted me to think about how the two sides of island life could be better integrated
Above Map of the Greater Paris Area, with the Ile de la Cite marked Left Site location on the Ile de la Cite
Site Location 25
My choice of site was informed by both its close physical proximity to Notre Dame, and the historical precedent for building on the site we had explored during Primer.
Right Series of three historic maps showing the site location Below 3D view of the Site
The site had largely been dominated by the old Hotel Dieu hospital, and the Archbishops Palace, with houses, shops and churches also present. The low density of buildings on this site today suggested a possible reason as to why this area of the island feels devoid of the dynamism that defines the rest of the city. Building here might thus reinvigorate the island
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Turgot Map 1734 My aim with this historical analysis is that by placing my building in relation pre-existing buildings on the site, i will be able to reintroduce a feeling if urbanism and density that has since drained from the island.
Historical precdent 26
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Sacre Coeur
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The Louvre
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Pompidou Centre
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Notre Dame
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Eiffel Tower
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The relationship between tourists and Parisians is complicated. Tourism is a significant contributor to Paris’s economy, but the quantity of visitors can overwhelm areas of the city. The Ile de la Cite hosts some of Paris’s most prized tourist locations, and as a result their presence on the island can feel overwhelming, which discourages Parisians from visiting the island. The discussion we had on our visit to the Sorbonne reinforced the sense that the islands focus on Tourism has alienated Parisians
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Douglas Pearce
Tourism
Site Visit
I read Douglas Pearce’s 1998 paper, ‘Tourism Development in Paris: Public Intervention’. Although it contained old statistics, it had useful insights into how infrastructure developments intended to benefit Parisians , if badly managed often lead to more tourists. This paper also highlighted how important Tourists are to Paris’s economy, even if their presence is disliked. (Pearce, 1998
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Despite our site visit being outside of peak tourist season, and much of the Ile de la Cite being closed to tourists as the restoration of the cathedral began, their presence was still significant. Notably people were crowded onto river boats, and congregated in packs, blocking pavements in attempts to get photos of the cathedral
2018 Aerial Photo of Ile de la Cite Right Layered plans showing the quantity of the islands surface taken up by civic institutions
Tourism is just one factor that has lead to the Ile de la Cite feeling isolated and peculiar from the rest of the city. Much of the changes introduced by Haussmann promoted the function of the island’s governmental role in the city.
Hotel Dieu (Hospital) Commercial Registry Court Police Prefecture
Consequently, where streets filled with high density housing and shops used to stand, today you find lower density civic buildings, such as the Hotel Dieu, a large hospital, or the Police Prefecture. The presence of these institutions result in the island feeling as though it lacks the social atmosphere that defines the rest of the city
Palais du Justic
1740 plan of Ile de la Cite
Rue des Ursins The North-East corner of the Ile de la Cite does still retain its high density medieval street plan, but there are still relatively few shops and cafĂŠs that might attract normal Parisians to the island.
Parisians 28
Right Current queuing system axo diagram Far Right Planned public circulation route via crypt museum
From my research and site visit i proposed that a key issue was the Parvis itself and the use of this space. Currently the cathedrals 12 million visitors dominate the square, queuing is unordered and the large space feels uncomfortably large and empty of anything other than people
My proposal utilises the Archaeological Crpyt Museum under the Parvis, expanding this and channelling tourists under the Parvis and up into the cathedral. Better tourist management I feel will enable the spaces to be enjoyed by other people and reduce the overwhelming tourist presence on the island.
Tourist strategy
The Louvre
Drafting Drawings
The Louvre Museum, and its extension by I.M. Pei was an important precedent for this design decision. Whilst the Louvre has become excessively commercial as a result of its extension, the basement design was a successful in organising how tourists related with both the Museum and its outdoor spaces. As well a providing an interesting modern intervention.
The current crypt museum (dotted line) is small and underutilised, my plan is to expand it, and create a museum that would, like out primer exhibition, walk visitors through the history of the cathedral, before the entered Notre Dame itself. This sketch was an early attempt at working out how these spaces might work
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Notre Dame Crypt Entrance Building Mass
Main Access Routes At this stage of the project my programme was still being developed. But my intention was for the Centre for Heritage and Preservation to act as public research institute, that would inhabit a series of volumes raised above the Parvis. This would introduce a more diverse range of people onto the island . At ground level cafĂŠs and bars would provide the Parvis with a more sociable atmosphere
Principle Site Axis
I planned to divide the square using my building mass, creating two smaller more comfortable squares, one which would have the crypt entrance and absorb most of the public functions. And a second that would allow people to enjoy the cathedral.
Creation of Two Squares Pompidou Centre
Centre for Heritage and preservation
We visited the Pompidou centre during our field trip and it was a significant precedent throughout staging. Not for its design, but also its diverse range of functions and attractions that , as outlines by Pearce made it as popular with tourists as with Parisians.
Sunlight 30
Right Sketch of frame allowing tourists to see restoration Below Axonometriv drawing produced after staging review - however, this demonstrates my initial strategy and concept for the frame at the time.
During staging I began to develop a concept for a series of walkways around the cathedral that would allow visitors to view and learn about the restoration as it happened. These walkways would allow visitors to get close to the cathedral and provide a new perspective on the restoration, as well as the city of Paris as a whole. At this stage i imagined a temporary wooden structure, but beyond staging this series of walkways would develop into a more permanent design move, that would shape the rest of my scheme.
Allmannajuvet Musuem
Cathedral strategy
No Entry Our site visit was particularly significant in informing this decision because upon visiting we were unable to get near the cathedral or see the work being done. Whilst this was likely due to health and safety, it made me consider that so often, restoration goes on behind closed doors, and that this was a missed opportunity for education of the genral public.
For the walkways around the cathedral i imagined something similar to the Allmannajuvet Musuem by Zumthor, because of its delicate, almost impermanent appearance. However, post staging my concepts around the walkway system developed and became more scaffold like, this buildings volumetric appearance remained significant though
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Thinking through making week afforded me the opportunity to develop the concepts discussed in my Staging review. This meant using the week to explore the scaffold like frame around the cathedral as the unifying element of my design. Thus my model developed into a concept model for my project at this stage. Two concrete cubes encased in a wooden scaffold like structure.
Process To construct the model I hand cut over 150 wooden dowels, due to worries that the concrete would break the wooden supports if they were too few. This worry about the structural properties of timber was one reason that, during the realisation project, i changed the material strategy of my project to a more lightweight steel system.
Thinking through making 32
The cube at the bottom on the base, rusticated and chipped represents the cathedral, surrounded by the scaffold. The second cube, smooth and polished, represents the centre for heritage and preservation, suspended in the scaffold. Whilst the materiality of my design changed over the year, this relationship was consistently at the core of my project.
Thinking through making 33
Synthesis 34
The feedback i received for staging marked a key turning point in my design process. I used it as an opportunity to reconsider what I had already learnt about the site and use this to develop more specific design goals. It was also apparent that i had been considering my strategy for the cathedral and the Centre for Heritage and Preservation as two separate entities. To change this I began to develop ways of unifying my scheme. This led to me re-examining the brief and scrutinising my own position on the cathedrals restoration to come up with a far more detailed strategy, upon which I was able to more comfortably develop site specific architectural responses, as opposed to vague massings.
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Redesign the squares and parks around the cathedral, as well as the tourist experience of Notre Dame. This will ensure that the island feels less dominated by tourists and will create spaces where Parisians and Tourists can integrate better, without either side overwhelming the other.
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Provide the means for education about both historical architecture, and the processes of restoration and preservation. This is aimed at redefining how our society relates to and perceives historic architecture and the processes involved in keeping it standing. That through this education, we might better understand revered monuments, and appreciate them as more than historical objects
Project Manifesto 35
Tourist Circulation
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Through the development of my programme i began to understand how the separate elements of my project might be unified into a single scheme. Fundamentally my scheme has three parts. The Centre for Heritage and Preservation, The Crypt and Cathedral Museums in the basement, and the Cathedral itself. I developed the idea that they all be linked by a continuous circulation route for the general public, the spaces in each zone could then be arranged in relation to this route.
Quick diagrams I produced large quantities of these quick sectional word diagrams, they were very useful for working out how the different spaces might relate to each other over the large site, and how best to connect different volumes.
Programme 36
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My approach to minimise tourisms impact on the island and the cathedral, was to make their interaction with both my first priority, If this was well designed and organised, then the other requirements of the brief could fit around it. Instead of tourism overwhelming spaces never designed to cope with such large quantities of people. Thus i developed a route that would take tourists through a series of museums and exhibits underground, then up into the cathedral, then up onto a walkway to view the restoration and finally through the Centre for Heritage and Preservation
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Down Into Crypt Through Crypt Museums Up into Notre Dame Up onto scaffold walkway Down Scaffold around cathedral Into Centre for Hertitage and Preservation 7 Back Down to the Parvis
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Tourist Route
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Once a route had been decided, i turned to how this would manifest itself in terms of a design. Looking back at site photos led me to images of the cathedrals ruined scaffolding. In order to maintain buildings, scaffolding often shrouds historic architecture from view, it represents the reality of prizing built heritage, old buildings need repairing. It struck me that to change peoples perceptions of both the cathedral and the process of restoration, partially obscuring Notre Dame in scaffold like structure could force people to change the way we interact with the building, and the process of restoration itself
Right Photograph of the burnt scaffold , under which used to sit the cathedral roof. This photo was particularly poignant in my development around the public relationship with restoration.
Skin Deep
Scaffolding
‘Skin Deep’ by Catherine Slesser for the Architectural Review was a reading that had great significance in my project development . Slesser discusses the subversive aesthetic qualities that scaffolding has, and its role in temporarily reshaping the appearance of historical cities. The idea of using scaffolding to re-frame and alter peoples perceptions of the cathedral became central to my project.
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Right Final Design Massing. in context. Below Developed sketch depicitng my design for the Centre for Heritage and Preservation.
I developed massings in context using physical models, sketches and digital modelling. My design sees the centre for Heritage and Preservation as an extension of the walkways that surround the cathedral. A challenge was developing a building that referenced the language of scaffolding, but looked permanent when compared to the ancient cathedral. Crucial to my design is the way the building mass cuts the square in front of the cathedral in two , with the building raised to allow people to pass underneath.
Hill House
Carmody Groarke’s intervention that covers Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House was useful precedent that i referred to throughout the design process. Their design protects the building from the weather, until a resolution for its restoration is devised. Similarly to my project they used the opportunity to provides visitors with a new perspective on the buidling and its architecture via a circualtion route.
Massing 39
METRES
Rue Chanoiesse
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Rue de la Cite
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Rue d’arcole
My project develops the entire area surrounding the cathedral, creating a master plan ained at enhancing tourist appreciation of the site, and improving the spcaes for visitors. Due the importance of the tourist experience in my design, i have laid out the following pages in an order that walks you through the spaces as a tourist would experience them.
Realisation Site Plan
Contextualising my building through a site plan has been a consistent focus. My Realisation plan came too close to the cathedral, and appeared to smother it, so in following iteration i amended this relationship.
Site Plan 40
Pont de L’Archeveche
Pont de L’Archeveche
pont au double
pont au double
Rue de la Cite
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1 Crypt Entrance 2 Centre for Heritage and Preservation 3 Hotel Dieu 4 Notre Dame 5 Stairs Down to Crypt Museum 6 River Seine 7 Lift/stairs up to Scaffold walkway
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The sParvis in front of Notre Dame is the principle public space in my design. The buildings mass separates two smaller squares. One that takes the majority of tourist traffic in and out of the cathedrals tourist route, leaving the second free for people to enjoy without crowds queuing for entrance to Notre Dame .
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Square 1
Square 2
Centre for Heritage and preservation
Notre Dame Parvis 41
Right Atmospheric Perspective Collage of Crpyt Entrance and Parvis. View towards Centre for Heritage and Preservation
Tourists begin their visit in the Parvis, in-front of the cathedral. Here they enter into the Crypt system via an external stair. As i explored in Staging, this stair is located a distance from the Cathedral, so as to reduce crowding round the entrance and free up the Parvis for those wanting to enjoy the space.
Previous iteration
Memorial to the Deported Jews of Paris
Entering the crypt
This sketch shows a previous iteration of my design, where the crypt entrance forms a large above ground volume. However this would have interrupted the view towards the cathedrals west facade and been out of place with with the lightweight exterior of the rest of the design.
The memorial by Pingusson located on the South Eastern tip of the Ile de la Cite takes you through a series of atmospheric spaces located under the islands surface. None of these spaces are visible from the surface to interrupt the views of the city, the entrance it discreet but atmospheric, qualities i wanted to evoke
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1 Late Gallo Roman Ruins 2 Cellar of house on Rue Neuve Notre Dame 3 Foundations of Old Hotel Dieu 4 Late Antique wall 5 16 niches, for Viollet’s 12 apostle and 4 evangelist statues rescued from cathedral roof 6 Storage 7 Male Toilets 8 Meeting Room for Groups 9 Shop 10 Female Toilets 11 Cathedral Museum Entrance 12 May paintings Room 13 Museum to cathedral Restoration 14 Access up to Cathedral 15 River Seine 16 Promenade
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The basement is divided into three principle zones. A large vaulted chamber, that houses the museum to the archaeological past of the Ile de la Cite at the end of which is access up into the cathedral. Looking out over the Seine is a museum dedicated to the history of the Notre Dame Cathedral, and separating the two, a service core.
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Crypt plan 43
1 Notre Dame Parvis 2 Accessible floor level - raised off ground for minimal contact with archaeology 3 Late Gallo Ruins 4 Exposed Earth ground level
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It was my intention that the Crypt should reference medieval crypts through the use of a vaulted ceiling. Here though the columns are steel, supporting cast concrete vaults. The relationship between the new structures and the archaeology was a crucial one, thus i have imposed a regimented grid upon the old strucutures, to clearly define old and new.
Viollet’s Vaults
Crypt Museum
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Early iterations
. Much of Viollet’s theoretical work experimented on blending modern metal working and construction techniques with more traditional masonry structural systems. I wanted my own design to reference this work, creating steel framed vaults that employed a similar structural system to that of the building above ground, only also employing heavy concrete to provide a different atmosphere.
Versions of this section drawn early on in realisation inaccurately showed the crypts being much further below the surface and more dramatic, in reality they are relatively shallow, this was amended for the final drawings.
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The crypt museum was designed to be dark and atmospheric, in stark contrast to the design of the building a above. Roof lights have been placed strategically to illuminate points of archaeological interest, aided by pendant lights.
Plan iteration
Kolumba Museum
crypt museum
Earlier iteration of Crypt plan utilised a snaking walkway, similar to that in the Kolumba Museum. However, due the high numbers of visitors required to pass through the space at once, this system seemed impractical in my own design.
Zumthor’s Kolumba museum demonstrated a an atmospheric quality similar to what i intended for my own museum. Research into the construction also showed the micro-piling foundation system used to reinforce the ruins so that they could be built on, thus encouraging me to develop a direct relationship between the new structure i proposed and the archaeological remains
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The cathedral Museums labyrinthine layout was designed to take visitors on a walk through the history of Notre Dame, showing them objects related to the churches past and culminating in a display about the restoration. This new museum is intended to encourage people to interact with the history and story of the building and island, in an attempt to engage visitors and help foster an appreciation of the building as more than just an essential stop on the tourist trail.
Maze-like Plans
Primer Exhibition
cATHEDRAL Museum
This sketch was drawn during Primer as concept for my initial massing. I abandoned the idea of a maze-like structure above ground, but picked the idea up again for the basement, during synthesis, where the structure seemed far more appropriate and beneficial to my scheme
.The layout of the museum was inspired by our Primer exhibition, which forced people to interact with our research on the cathedral by placing the large collages in the peoples path. This idea that learning should feel like a process of exploration was an interesting idea i was keen to develop further
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From the Crypt visitors enter the cathedral via two staircases under the two towers. Here they can look round the cathedral as its being restored. Once people have finished exploring Notre Dame from ground level, they then exit out of the north transept where stair or lift access takes them up onto the scaffolding walkway. My strategy for Notre Dame involves a deliberately prolonged period of restoration, in contrast to the rushed 5 year plan currently in action. Once the structure is made safe, Notre Dame will be used in conjunction with the research facilities in the centre for heritage and preservation, to relearn and practice techniques and skills required for architectural preservation. This will allow for the education of craftsman and academics so that we might be better equipped to preserve other structures in the future.
Right Interior Atmospheric of Notre Dame during its restoration Below Plan of Notre Dame, extract taken from Site Plan
Notre Dame 47
Right Atmospheric showing scaffolding walkways and the Rose window in the North Transept
From the Cathedral, visitors can access up onto the scaffold walkways around Notre Dame. These aim to provide people with a totally new perspective on the Cathedral and its restoration, allowing the public to get close to details and structures that would never normally be visible. The walkway swings out away from the cathedral, affording views down the Seine and across Paris. These walkways are a really crucial component in trying to rehabilitate the public perception of Restoration because they provide the public with a window into a process that normally deliberatly excludes them.
Work Experience
Hertzian Library
Scaffolding walkway
During Summer I spent a week working on site restoring the stained glass windows at Keble College chapel, Oxford. This provided me with a unique perspective of the buildings windows and other details that you would never be visible from the ground. This encouraged me to design a similar experience for people at Notre Dame
In Rome we visited the Hertzian Library, which was redesigned by Navarro Baldeweg. Its roof terrace provided incredible views over the roofscape of Rome. However, this was private and not accessible to the public. Thus I intend my scaffolding to provide similar views over Paris, but be fully accessible to the general public.
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In my site elevation, the breadth of my scaffolding design and its role in uniting the different aspects of my project is most visible. This drawing, looking North from the Seine has been a crucial drawing throughout the project, because its demonstrates the diverse range of architecture and scales of building found on the island, from the large palatial civic buildings, the cathedral with Viollets interventions, and the smaller residential buildings at the far end. Via the scaffold walkway, visitors pass around the cathedral, sloping down towards the Centre for heritage and Preservation.
Viollet’s Drawings
Site Elevation
Development
To help accurately represent the cathedral, I used Viollet’s drawings for reference. The drawing shown was created by Viollet to depict how the cathedral would have looked before it lost it original spire. Achieving the right level of detail was crucial to representing my project, i felt a building that celebrates the cathedral must also celebrate its intricacies.
As a key drawing, the elevation went through multiple iterations and changes. Initially the scaffold resembled my Think Through making model more closely, with tall towers. This was replaced by a large volume for exhibitions in the realisation version. I abandoned having any rooms on the scaffold during Synthesis as their presence appeared to competitive with the cathedral.
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Above 1:500 elevation drawn for realisation review
elevation 1/3
1 Police Prefecture 2 Hotel Dieu 3 Centre for Heritage and Preservation 4 Cathedral Museum
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elevation 2/3
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Notre Dame Viollet’s Preservation Viollet’s Sacristy Public Walkway
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elevation 3/3 52
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Cathedral Museum Bar/Cafe Foyer Toilets Plant Room Library Access to Cafe Access to Education Centre Access to reading room Access to Viewing gallery Office Conference Room Private sitting room and cafe
Finally the public walkway enters the Centre for Heritage and Preservation, before descending back the Parvis. The Centre is designed to act as a research and education institute, open to the public, but also intended as a resource shared by Parisian universities, for architectural students and researchers . The Centre has a large public library devoted to architecture and architectural history and preservation. With the prolonged restoration of the cathedral, the Centre will act as a nucleus for the gathering and dissemination of knowledge surrounding preservation of historic architecture. It providess spaces for research and conferences, as well as having spaces dedicated to the education of schools and groups.
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Le Fresnoy
Centre for Heritage and preservation
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Tschumi’s Le Fresnoy was a consistently useful precedent from the realisation phase onwards. It’s scale and complexity combined with its varied programme made studying its spatial organisation very useful in designing my own. Its interesting and creative circulation system was also something i found exciting and was keen to work into my own project.
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Crypt Entrance Public Circulation Route end Female Toilets Male Toilets Reception Cafe/Bar Storage Plant Room Notre Dame River Seine
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At ground level i wanted the building to have as minimal an impact on the Parvis as possible, this would retain the feeling of a open public space, despite the presence of my design. Consequently all enclosed rooms were kept to a minimum, and the building was raised above the ground level on a series of steel columns. The building is then clad in glass, so that the interior spaces would blend into the external ones.
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Cartier Foundation
GrounD Floor Plan (b)
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Jean Nouvel’s Cartier foundation in Paris was a consistently significant precedent throughout my project. The transparency of the building, its lightweight appearance and its simplicity in plan were all elements i enjoyed upon visiting . This sympathetic approach to context was something i carried through to my own project . (See Appendix B for details)
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Reading Room Male Toilets Female Toilets Librarians Office Mixing Chamber Access onto Scaffold walkway Notre Dame River Seine
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Plan Development
Some elements of my plans remained consistent, such as the volume cutting the Parvis in two. However, this piece of process work shows my scheme before i developed the steel frame that surrounds the volumes. The three separate zones are apparent, but only as broad spaces, not specifically designed volumes.
third Floor Plan (C) 55
The Centre is designed a series of volumes, partly contained within a large single atrium space. These volumes divide up the specific functions of the building. There is a Public/education volume, a library volume and an administration volume. The volumes are then placed in relation to the public circulation route, depending upon the conditions and privacy they require. The spaces under and on top of these volumes then have public functions, with the space between volumes allowing for vertical circulation. Around the buildings structural external steel frame, wrap a series of publicly accessible walkways to allow visitor to enjoy views of Notre Dame and Paris
Massing Diagrams in Plan
Programmatic Section Diagrams
Right Plan of scaffold steel frame
Right Programme of Volumes
Right Plan of glazed atrium space
Right Program of void space
Right Plan of public and library volume in relation to other elements
Right Scaffold walkway diagram
Design DIagrams 56
Right Extract of Principle Section showing spatial variation under, inside, on top of and between the volumes, Below 1:200 section drawn for Realisation review
The design of the centre represents my design ethos for the whole project. The general public’s relationship with the spaces was considered first, and then around this the private and more specific spaces are articulated. This was intended to ensure that the spaces of the centre feel linked to the more touristic side of the island, but are not overwhelmed by it.
Process
OMA
Sectional development
Early sketch sections i drew were convoluted, buts retained a standard series of slab floor plates. As i developed my design i tried to break away from this system and began to think of the section more as a series of suspended volumes
Throughout realisation and synthesis i have found analysis of OMA’s early work, up to the Seattle library very useful. Their prioritisation of circulation and different ways of generating spacial relationships had a consistent influence on my project, and inspired the delvelopment of my section.
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Above First atmospheric of Crypt Entrance Right Atmospheric Perspective of Viewing gallery on third floor
The culmination of the Tourist circulation route is a viewing gallery positioned in front of the cathedrals West facade. This works almost as a pay off for tourists effort and interaction. At the start of their journey, the view of the cathedral is deliberately obscured by the buildings mass. Only by interacting with the cathedral history and its restoration are you able to achieve the best view of its famous west facade.
Site Visit
My intention was that providing a viewing gallery and a series of walkways above ground for the public, may relieve some of the pressure on the Parvis as the place to get a good picture of the cathedral, as we saw on the site visit. By raising spreading the tourist experience out across the site, and raising it above the ground, the square will feel less overwhelmed.
Viewing Gallery 58
The Site Section developed into the key drawing for my project. My intention was to create a drawing that demonstrated every aspect of my project at once.
Viollet’s Drawings
Full Site Section
Testing in Context
My representation style was influenced by Viollet’s drawings, specifically this Section of Pierrefonds. His drawings were often very complex and atmospheric, and always inhabited by people using the building how it may have originally been used. This attention to detail came to define my representation method.
The level of detail in my Site Section has resulted in it taking me several months of gradual work complete. However, this enabled me to gain a deep understanding of the detail and design of the cathedral. This has also allowed me to continually test my section and elevation designs in context, as more detail was added to the cathedral so my design became more detailed in response.
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Site Section 1/3
1 Police Prefecture 2 Hotel Dieu 3 Centre for Heritage and Preservation 4 Cathedral Museum
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Notre Dame Viollet’s Batiment du Personnel Viollet’s Sacristy Public Walkway
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Site Section 3/3 62
Right Extract from Elevation, showing cathedral and scaffold frame relationship
The scaffolding steel frame i developed is an essential structural element of my project, but also crucial for the role it plays in relating my design to its context. Inspired by the Cartier foundation, I used the proportions and dimensions of the scaffold frame to relate my scheme to the structural bays of the cathedral. For this aspect of my design i spent considerable time drawing different iterations in context. I decided on mirroring the structural bays of the cathedral, equating to 5.4m between each of my columns, whilst this equated to a lower density of columns than is often associated with normal scaffolding, this approach felt most appropriate because it served to frame the cathedrals windows and decorative elements instead of obscure them.
Below Line diagram showing relationship between horizontal and vertical lines of cathedral and scaffold frame
Principle horizontal and vertical elements in Notre Dame South Facade Vertical Lines of Scaffold Frame
Horizontal lines made by braces on scaffold frame
Vertical lines made by columns from scaffold frame.
CAD tests
I moved into AutoCad for iterations of my steel frame. I tested several different widths and width to height ratios. narrower structural bays would allow for thinner more delicate columns, but they obscured the cathedral too much. Thus i decided to mirror the structure of the cathedral, and provide a valuable link between the two structures.
Scaffolding - Context 63
The scaffold frame also served to relate my design to the wider urban context of the site. Our research for the case study on the Cartier Foundation by Nouvel was particularly significant here. Nouvel uses a glass facade, detached from the rest of the building to ensure that the continuous lines the boulevard Rapsail is maintained, as is stipulated by Parisian planning guidelines. I used the scaffold walkways to achieve a similar effect. The result is that whilst the tectonic qualities of my intervention are totally opposite to the surrounding buildings, there is a clear dialogue between their proportions. The walkways are also used to frame Viollet’s additions to the South facade.
Above Diagram showing scaffold frame relationship to context
Above Diagrame shwoing framing of the Batiment du Personnel and the Sacrsity by Viollet
Case Study
Two diagrams I completed for the case study on the Cartier Foundation had particlar significance. They demonstrate how Nouvel uses his glass façades to frame a listed tree., and relate to the facades of the boulevard. For more information please see Appendix II
Scaffolding - Context 64
The scaffold-like steel frame is at the core of my design scheme. As a result, it was essential that i develop my own design for this element and that it was not simply a standard steel frame, that i called a scaffold. To achieve this i analysed a series of different types of scaffolding, and chose to base my own design off a ring-lock system, because it seemed to typify the elegant simplicity of scaffolding, whilst also being transferable to a much larger supporting structure. My system results in a standardised set of pieces, with each vertical column having a series of intrinsic plates, onto which can be bolted up to eight braces and cross braces.
Right Series of details showing the combination of different braces applied to each column Left Extract from Third Floor plan. Here one of the eight places is used to hold the glass supports, allowing the vertical frames to be much thinner
Hill House
Whilst different structurally, Carmody Groarke’s intervention at Hill House encouraged me to use a vernacular construction system in my own project. Here they used as frame inspired by Pylon design in the area.
Scaffolding - Detail 65
P O
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-(Behind) Pile Foundation and Pile Cap -Sand Layer - 2x 2.6mm Bitumen waterproof membrane - 200mm Thermal insulation - Reinforced concrete ground beam - Structural Thermal Break (Aramatherm, 2020) - 6mm Steel RHS beam, 114mm wide x 202mm tall - Thermally broken window frame -Double glazing, 7mm safety glass, 12mm cavity, 7mm safety glass with solar protective coating
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- 56mm polished screed concrete - 152mm reinforced concrete - 4mm steel trapezoidal deck, with anti-condensation coating (TataSteel, 2020) - 50mm suspended sound insulating panels
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- Exposed, ceiling mounted ventilation, heating and electrical services
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- Sun Blind
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- Notre Dame Parvis Stone slab surface 52mm, to fall, 1:40 incline - Drainage and outdoor lighting cavity - Poured concrete
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- Thermally broken aluminium window frame - 8mm RHS beam - 2x 16mm gypsum based board - 50mm Thermal insulation
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- 95mm insulation - 2.3mm waterproof bitumen membrane - Aluminium flashing - Anodized Aluminium grate
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- 16mm gypsum based board - 6mm steel supporting bracket - Convection heater
- Circular Section 12mm steel beam - L section steel beam 9mm - 16mm gypsum based board - 2.3mm bituminous waterproof membrane - Drainage gutter - 2.3mm bituminous waterproof membrane - 16mm gypsum based board - 60mm thermal insulation - 8mm RHS beam
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- 65mm polished concrete - Polythene separating layer - 22mm composite wood board - Services space - Dust palliative coating - Acoustic insulation membrane (Rockwool, 2020) - 195mm poured concrete
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- Glass Roof light. 7mm toughened glass, 12mm cavity, 2x7mm safety glass, 1:40 slope for drainage
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- Aluminium flashing - Bituminous membrane - Thermal insulation - 6mm L section steel beam - 6mm RHS beam, with intumescent paint - Structural thermal break - 8mm RHS beam with intumescent paint
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- 3mm expanded anodized aluminium mesh - Stainless steel fixing clips - 13mm extruded ribbed aluminium sheeting - 24mm ventilated cavity - Bituminous waterproof membrane - 2x 13mm waterproof gypsum composite board - 124mm thermal insulation - 189mm reinforced concrete - Bituminous waterproof membrane - 124mm thermal insulation
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- 3mm plaster, painted white - 2x 16mm gypsum based plaster board - 280mm cavity wall sound insulation - 2x 16mm gypsum based plaster board - 2mm rubberised sound absorbing membrane - 50mm sound absorbing panels (megasorber, 2020)
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- 3mm expanded anodized aluminium mesh - Stainless steel fixing clips - Double glazing unit, 2x 7mm safety glass, 12mm cavity - 6mm RHS beam painted with intumescent paint - 8mm RHS beam with intumescent paint coating - Steel C beam
- Bituminous waterproof membrane
1:20 Detail
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- 2x bituminous waterproof membrane - 13mm waterproof gypsum composite board - 190-150mm Thermal insulation - Bituminous membrane - 156mm reinforced concrete - Open web steel i beam, 456mm tall (Rainham Steel, 2019)
Right 1:20 facade detail.
As noted by Slesser in ‘Skin Deep’ (Slesser 2017) the aesthetic appeal of scaffold is generated through the repetition of a few elements that give it a uniformity. When it came to cladding the volumes i chose an extruded aluminium mesh because it provided this sense of uniformity . It solid appearance from certain angles would contrast with the delicate steel frame, but also provide a permeability that would allow light into the inner spaces and provide views out.
New Musuem
SANAA’s New Museum in New York provided a valuable precedent for the facade design. It appears as a solid mass from a distance, but up close the permeablity of the extruded mesh is revelaed.
Facade design 67
My design intends to take full advantage of the site location, surrounded my historic buildings and beautiful architecture, by having a large amount of glazing. However, i did not want the building to read as a series of glass boxes. The perforated mesh facade allows people inside views out towards the city, whilst also affording those within a significant degree of privacy. The facade also helps differentiate the public glazed atrium, from the more private clad volumes.
Facade transparency
Hill House
Developement
Carmody Groarke’s intervention was again a useful precedent. The use of mesh provides the desired level of transparency to allow Rennie Mackintosh’s building to be seen, but only from certain angles. This allows the intervention to be sensitive to the original structure, but also helps clearly define it as more than a simple surrounding framework.
Initial sketches for Primer depicted my intervention as a solid masonry or concrete form. As my design developed, this heavy form felt too competitive with the cathedrals mass, thus something more delicate and lightweight was required.
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Summer Sun Angle Diagram
Winter Sun Angle Diagram
Solar protection diagram
The facade also plays an important role in environmental design. The combination of the outer atrium glass facade and the inner glass in the volumes, with the perforated mesh facade provide a significant degree of solar shading. This allows spaces such as the library, to be glazed where normally measures would have to be taken to protect the books. This system also allows the concrete floors thermal mass to be utilised for temperature regulation.
Environmental design 69
Thermal Mass diagram 1: During the day
Thermal Mass diagram 2: Night Time
Single span truss roof covers atrium, creating on single, large space beneath
Reinforced concrete floors provide thermal mass and bracing, but are not integral to the volumes stability.
Insulated wall panels and Glass are all a standard size. They can be changed as desired, should the internal layout be altered
Volume structure. This is designed to create column-less spaces with no load bearing interior walls. This allows for future flexibility should the requirements of the Centre change
My design consists of two different structural components. The volumes, which use a system of warren trusses for columnless spaces . And the scaffold frame, which relies on a repetitive framework used around the site. These are designed to create variations is atmosphere in different spaces.
Perforated extruded aluminium mesh forms the outer cladding of the volumes
Main Atrium Glass supporting structure. This design creates tall internal spaces that enclose the volumes
Steel scaffold Frame, continuous with the frame surrounding the cathedral
Emergency Escape Stair. These are primary aesthetic elements of my design, breaking up the facade and adding colour
Structural relationship 70
The final aspect of my project was based around landscaping the site, to create interesting and varied spaces that make the most of the islands unique position in the city. My intervention in the Parvis utilises our Primer work to show the historical past of the square, placing my design within the changing urban landscape of the Ile de la Cite. Thus i draw attention to my schemes place as just one of the many phases in the island and cities long history.
Kalmar Stortorget
The Parvis
Caruso St John’s strategy for the Kalmar Stortorget in Sweden was a very significant precedent for my design of the Parvis. It was part of an urban regeneration that celebrated the squares role at the heart of an historic city . Its use of paving to organise space evoked a simplicity that if felt resonated with my projects values.
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1 Houses and Shops 2 Original site of Hotel Dieu Hospital
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I drew from one speficic era of the islands history, because i didn’t want overlapping surfaces to be confusing for visitors. The era i chose was the 1740 map, because this marks the era just before the significant urban planning of the 19th century , when much of medieval Paris still stood.
The Current Parvis The Parvis in front of Notre Dame currently has the outlines of some historic structures laid out on its surface. These were laid in the 1960s, after the crypt was excavated, however, they cover only the central part of the Parvis, where as i propse to resurface and level the entire area.
Parvis Design 72
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Brown Cobble Churches
Standard Cobble Majority of Parvis Surface
Cobble with Horizontal
Cobble with Vertical
White Cobbles
White Cobbles Civic or public buidlings
Homes and Shops
Polished Concrete
Centre for Heritage and Preservation
Precast Concrete
Cut Granite Sets Seating Areas
Footpaths
Reims Cathedral
Cobble in Paris
The Parvis in front of Reims cathedral by Ballan architects also uses the plans of demolished buildings to help define planting and different surfaces . The intention here was to reconnect the cathedral to its urban surroundings without constructing new buildings.
Prior to the 1960s the Parvis would have been cobbled, some of the streets around the cathedral, particularly in the more medieval Latin Quarter still retain these. It therefore felt appropriate to return the Parvis to this, as long as smooth paths for Wheelchairs are provided to allow easy movement around the site.
Floor surafces 73
Herringbone Granite Precessional routes
Garden in Plan. Extract from 1:500site plan
Behind the cathedral I intend to create a landscaped Cathedral Garden, that would provide a quite and more sheltered area away from the central tourist zone in front of the Parvis. I have used the space created between the scaffolding walkway and cathedral to develop a sheltered space that is intended to contrast with the more urban Parvis.
Cartier Foundation The Cartier Foundations garden was one of the most memorable parts of our field-trip. Its calm and secluded atmosphere was seemingly at odds with the busy boulevard that it sits on. I felt that a garden similar to this would be all the more powerful located so close to Notre Dame.
Cathedral Garden 74
Garden in elevation. Extract from 1:500 site section
The Ile de la Cite has a variety of public spaces on it, but they are generally formal and sterile. Inspired by the Cartier Foundations garden, i wanted to create a park that utilised the unique location next to the cathedral, and that evoked an atmosphere similar to a medieval cloister . One of calm and seclusion, despite its very central location.
St Dunstan in the East
Cathedral Garden
The Garden was inspired by the Garden of St Dunstan in the East, in the City of London. This uses the ruined walls of a bombed out church to create a sheltered green space that feels totally removed from the city. I wanted to use the scaffold columns to create a similar atmosphere
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1:500 site section
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Keble College Chapel Restoration. During the Summer I worked for a week for CJLdesigns, who specialise in designing and making stained glass windows and sculptures, as well as repairing and restoring existing stained glass and metal framed windows. This was the second year I have done some work for them, only this year I was on site at Keble College, Oxford, helping carry out repairs on the Chapel windows. This involved working on a series of 50ft scaffolding towers, replacing single quarries of glass, or installing newly remade sections of window. The experience was completely invaluable. It allowed me to spend long periods of time gaining a new perspective on an historic building; interacting with parts of the building never normally visible to the public. It was also exciting to be actively involved in the preservation of the building, and has given me a really useful insight that I feel has allowed me to better understand and relate to the brief of our studio this year. I feel this experience also gave me a greater appreciation of the time, effort and skill required to maintain historic architecture, and the sheer scale of the task that is maintaining our built heritage. Keble college Chapel from the Quadrangle
Small part of one of the Chapel North Windows. The approach to the restoration was more traditional, the measure of a job well done being that you should not be able to tell the difference between what had been repaired and what was original
Visit to the University of Pantheon Sorbonne Our field-trip visit to the Sorbonne University, and our conversations with Jean Francois Cabestan and his students was crucial to the development of my design project. We discussed the role of the Ile de la Cite in the lives of Parisians, and the relationship people wo live there have with Notre Dame. The insights gained were invaluable, and in some ways conflicting with the media coverage of French reactions to the fire, as the consensus seemed to be that the cathedral was not really a part of the daily lives of Parisians as it may once have been. Furthermore, these conversations also confirmed that the Ile de la Cite itself has little to no role in people’s daily lives. With some even saying they actively avoided it due to the tourist congestion. Thanks to these discussions when we returned to the UK I began to develop my ideas about the Parisian/Tourist relationship and how the public interacts with the cathedral. Both of which are at the heart of my work this year.
Cultural Bibliography 77
Andy Groarke’s Small Talk Lecture In March, Andy Groarke from Carmody Groarke gave a lecture on his work at Newcastle, organised by the student run initiative, Small Talks. This was very fortuitous as I had been researching their intervention at Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House for my design project. Hearing him speak gave a very interesting insight into the project that I would not have been able to gain through reading alone. Some of his responses to questions were quite surprising, and this helped me clarify my own position around making an intervention on an historic building. He was very keen to emphasise that their intervention was not permanent and that they were not trying to have a lasting impact upon the existing building, despite no known solution existing for the structural problems plaguing the building, and no date having been set for the structure’s removal. This made me question the appropriateness of my design and encouraged me to look critically at my own work, as I did intend to create a permanent structure. Groarke also elaborated on the integration of local pylon design into the structure of their intervention, this encouraged my to pursue a design for my scaffolding frame that directly referenced a scaffolding system.
Cultural Bibliography 78
Appendix i 79
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Appendix iI 92
High Quality Drawings
1:500
SITE
BUILDING
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ELEVATION UPON
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BUILDING
METRES
1
5
10
Zoom
hOTEL dIEU
MONVILLE BRASSERIE ESMERALDA
Depuis 1959
1:500
SITE
BUILDING
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SECTION
UPON
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BUILDING
METRES
1
5
10
Zoom
Etage 3
etage 3
etage 2
Etage 3 hOTEL dIEU
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MONVILLE BRASSERIE ESMERALDA
1475
Noel Bellemare 1525
Charles Beaubrun 1670
Vincent Van gogh 1886 Pieta - Notre Dame Altar Nicolas Coustou 1725
sebastian bourdon 1643
Michele Cornielle l’ancien 1644
Aubin Vouet 1632
Vincent Van gogh 1886
Jacques BLANCHARD 1634
Chambre des mays
94
Depuis 1959
1:500
SITE
BUILDING
-
PLAN
UPON
-
BUILDING
METRES
1
Rue d’arcole
Rue de la Cite
Rue Chanoiesse
10
rs
leu
ux f
ia Qua
5
Rue Chanoiesse
Petit PONT
Petit PONT
Zoom
Pont de L’Archeveche
95
Pont de L’Archeveche
pont au double
pont au double
Rue de la Cite
1:100 METRES
1
5
10
CRYPT SECTION
CRYPT
PLAN
1:200 METRES
1
5
10
20
GROUND FLOOR 1:200 METRES
1
5
10
20
THIRD
FLOOR
1:200 METRES
1
5
10
20
Page 4. Enrique de Teresa and Rafael Moneo, ‘Merida Museum Axonometric Drawing’, Drawing Matter, September 1980, <https://www.drawingmatter. org/sets/drawing-week/stan-allen/> [Accessed 17th February 2020]. Page 8-9 Paul Van Somer, ‘James VI & I’, Royal Collection Trust, 1620, < https://www.rct.uk/ collection/404446/james-vi-amp-i-15661625nbsp> [Accessed 14th June 2020] All Photos taken by Adam Blacknell, October 2019. Page 12 Gaudi’s Rope Model Photograph Antoni Gaudi, ‘Rope and weights model’ Blog Sagrada Familia, <https://blog.sagradafamilia.org/ en/divulgation/the-sagrada-familia-repository-ofother-gaudi-projects/> [Accessed 1th June 2020] Page 13 Portrait Photograph Felix Nadar, ‘Portrait of Eugene Viollet-le-Duc’, Wikimedia, < https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:F%C3%A9lix_Nadar_1820-1910_ portraits_Eug%C3%A8ne_Viollet_le_Duc.jpg> [Accessed 14th June 2020] Theoretical design for Notre Dame Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Viollet -le-Duc, ‘ Conjectural view of the Completed Front’, RIBApix, 1864, < https://www.architecture.com/ image-library/RIBApix/image-information/ poster/cathedral-of-notre-dame-ile-de-la-citeparis-conjectural-view-of-the-completed-frontwith-intended-s/posterid/RIBA17730.html> [Accessed 14th June 2020] Pierrefonds Castle Viollet-le-Duc,’ Castle of Pierrefonds’, Wikimedia,1870, < https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Castle_of_Pierrefonds,_as_ restored_by_M._Viollet-le-Duc.jpg> [Accessed June 14th 2020] Spire Design Drawing Viollet-le-Duc, ‘Notre Dame Fleche’ from ‘Compositions et dessins de Viollet-le-Duc’ , Antiquariat Schreinberg, 1884 < https:// schierenberg.nl/product/69206> [Accessed June 14th 2020] Page 17 Exhibition Photograph, Collage Photograph and Process Photograph all by Yew Zhi Xuan Franz Samsa Collage Franz Samsa, ‘La terra e piatta’, Instagram , October 2019 < https://www.instagram.com/p/ B3PiBhjFVhJ/> [Accessed June 14th 2020] Page 26 Notre Dame ablaze Photograph No known Photographer, ‘Notre Dame Fire reveals Global Safety Lapse’, Insurance Journal, December 2019 < https://www.insurancejournal. com/news/international/2019/12/23/552753. htm> Accessed 14th June 2020
Page 28
Page 52
3D satellite image Google Earth, ‘Ile de la Cite, Paris, Google Earth Pro, [Accessed December 2nd 2019]
South Elevation Viollet drawing Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, ‘Notre Dame South Elevation’, flickr, < https://www.flickr.com/ photos/7448869@N03/47848901172/> [Accessed 14th June 2020]
1550 Plan of Paris Truschet et Hoyau, ‘ Plan of Paris 1550’, Wikimedia, 1550 < https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Plan_de_Paris_vers_1550_color.jpg> [Accessed June 14th 2020]
Page 62 Pierrefonds Section Drawing Eugene Viollet-leDuc, ‘Pierrefonds Castle Sectional Drawing’,The Eye of Faith Vintage < https:// theeyeoffaith.com/2014/01/28/style-wise-eugeneemmanuel-viollet-le-duc/> [Accessed 14th June 2020]
1740 Plan of Paris Unknown cartographer, 1740 Plan of Paris’, The Green Box < https://www.laboiteverte.fr/ historique-des-plans-de-paris/> [Accessed June 14th 2020]
Page 68
1821 Plan of Paris Unknown Cartographer, ‘1821 Plan of Paris’, The GreenBox << https://www.laboiteverte.fr/ historique-des-plans-de-paris/> [Accessed June 14th 2020]
Hill House Photograph John Dehlin, ‘Carmody Groarke, Hill House Box’, Design Curial , < http://www.designcurial. com/news/hill-house-box-by-carmodygroarke-7357219/> [Accessed 14th June 2020]
Turgot Map of Paris Michel-Etienne Turgot, ‘Turgot Plan of Paris’, Wikipedia, 1734-36< https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Turgot_map_of_Paris>
Page 70 New Museum Photograph Chistian Richters, ‘Museum in New York’, Detail Inspiration 2008, < https://inspiration.detail.de/ museum-in-new-york-103395.html?lang=en> [Accessed 14th June 2020]
Page 32 Pompidou Centre Photograph Unknown Photographer, ‘Pompidou Centre’, Tiquet, < https://www.tiqets.com/en/ paris-attractions-c66746/tickets-for-centrepompidou-p974349/> [Accessed 14th June 2020]
Page 71
Page 41 Skin deep Photograph Roger-Viollet, ‘Acrobatic scaffolders working on Notre Dame Facade’, Skin Deep< https://www.architectural-review. com/essays/skin-deep/10022765. article?search=https%3a%2f%2fwww.architecturalreview.>[Accessed 14 June 2020] Page 47 Viollet’s VaultS Drawing Viollet-le-Duc, ‘Entriens sur l’Architecture’, Archineering, < http://archineeringtalk. com/?p=69> [Accessed 14th June 2020]
Hill House Photograph John Dehlin, ‘Carmody Groarke, Hill House Box’, Design Curial , < http://www.designcurial. com/news/hill-house-box-by-carmodygroarke-7357219/> [Accessed 14th June 2020] Page 74 Kalmar Stortorget Plan Caruso St John Architects, ‘Stortorget, Kalmar 1999-2003’, Caruso St John Architects < https:// www.carusostjohn.com/projects/stortorget/> [Accessed 14th June 2020] Page 75
Page 48 Kolumba Museum Photograph Laurian Ghintou, ‘Kolumba Museum’, Archdaily, < https://www.archdaily.com/900189/peterzumthors-kolumba-museum-uses-local-materialsto-reframe-historic-experience/5b72c2c1f197cc6fff 00014e-peter-zumthors-kolumba-museum-uses-local-materials-to-reframe-historic-experience-photo> [Accessed 14th June 14th 2020] Page 49 Primer Exhibition Photographs by Yew Zhi Xuan
List of Illustrations 100
Photograph of Parvis from tower Unknown Photographer, ‘ Parvis Notre-Dame’, Wikidata, 2011, < https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/ Q2720522> [Accessed June 14th 2020] Page 76 Photograph of Reims Cathedral Parvis José Ignacio Linazasoro, Thienot&Ballan Architectes, Square and Distribution of the Environment of the Cathedral, Reims, Linazaroro & Sanchez < http://www.linazasorosanchez. com/?portfolio=2008_plaza-catedral-dereims&lang=en> [Accessed 14th June 2020]
Abram, J., et al., (1999) Tschumi Le Fresnoy: architecture in between. New York: Monacelli Press Barthes, R., (1997) ‘The Eiffel Tower’ in Leach, N. (ed. )Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory, ,(London: Routledge, pp. 158- 172 Futagawa, Y. et al., (2004). Global Architecture, Document 80, OMA, Toyo Ito, Norman Foster 1st ed, A.D.A Edita: Tokyo. Jameson, Fredric. (1997) ‘Is Space Political’, in Leach, N. (ed.) Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory, London: Routledge, pp. 224-255
Jencks, C., (2005). The Iconic Building: The Power of Enigma, London: Frances Lincoln. Koolhaas, R. (1994), Delirious New York: A retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan. New York: Monacelli Press. Marquez Celcilia, F., et al., (2005). OMA/ Rem Koolhaas 1987-1998. Madrid: El Croquis
Allen, S., (2019), ‘Stan Allen on drawing with Rafael Moneo, Madrid 1984’, Drawing Matter) <https://www.drawingmatter.org/sets/drawing-week/stan-allen/> [Accessed 14th February 2020]. Cousins, S., RIBA Journal. (2014). ‘Strabourg’s Curtain Wall.’ RIBA London. [30/04/2020] https://www.ribaj.com/buildings/strasbourg-scurtain-call Detail Inspiration., (2014). ‘Architecture School in Strasbourg’. Detail Inspiration [online] 1. [30/04/2020] https://inspiration-detail-de. libproxy.ncl.ac.uk/architecture-school-in-strasbourg-108990.html Detail Inspiration., (2012). ‘Celtic Museum on the Glauberg’. Detail Inspiration [online] 12. [30/04/2020] https://inspiration-detail-de. libproxy.ncl.ac.uk/celtic-museum-on-the-glauberg-106111.html
Moneo, J R., (2010) Rafael Moneo: On 21 Works, ed. by Laura Martinez Guerenu, London: Thames & Hudson.
Detail Inspiration., (2008). ‘Museum in New York’. Detail Inspiration [online] 10. [30/04/2020] https://inspiration-detail-de.libproxy.ncl.ac.uk/ museum-in-new-york-103395.html
Powell, Kenneth., (1999). Richard Rogers: Complete Works. London: Phaidon, 1999.
Pearce, D., (1998). ‘Tourism Development in Paris: Public Intervention’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol25, 2. pp, 457-476.
Schank Smith, K., (2018) Architects’ Sketches: Dialogue and Design, Oxford: Architectural Press. Thomas, H., (2018) Drawing Architecture, London: Phaidon Press.
Slesser, C., (2017), ‘Skin Deep’, The Architectural Review. [Online] https://www.architectural-review.com/ essays/skin-deep/10022765.article?search=https%3a%2f%2fwww.architectural-review.com%2fsearcharticles%3fqsearch%3d1%26keywords%3dskin+deep> [Accessed 14th June 2020]
I have included in my bibliography books and articles i did not reference specifically in my portfolio, but that have particularity informed my thinking though the year.
bIBLIOGRPAHY 101
102