Selected Portfolio Tori Ellis
Contents
1.
Reperforming Retains Stage 6 Thesis
2.
Window For Change Stage 5
3.
Vienna Swapshops Stage 5
4.
Rice Road Hub Urban Design
5.
Urban Design Blog Reflective summary
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Reperforming Retains Thesis Project Brief
Belfast Excavations studio began with critically examining the artistic objects of the Troubles. Through rediscovering these and their associated memories, the studio aims to uncover the engrained, repressed layers of the city, which will allow an architecture which fosters a better future development, but one which respects the past, creating the latest layer to the city’s palimpsest. The events of the Troubles are very recent in the city’s history, but in many places have been quickly physically erased, however this does not mean the memories of the atrocities have disappeared. Unearthing the suppressed history of the city, beginning from the Troubles archive objects, allow links to previous history, which can be used to better inform future proposals. Amid the desire to avoid dealing with any overarching issues and complex dilemmas of the past, the apparent ease of demolishing historical traces, replaced with generic cosmopolitan development, is appealing to the city of Belfast, whilst trying to define a more palpable heritage. However, whilst destroying this heritage to create more appealing, profitable spaces, the loss of cultural heritage is irreversible. Lefebvre describes the splendour and durability of monumental spaces, measured using sound and non-visible relationship qualities which provide
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people with a total body experience, overcoming social phenomena whilst reflecting society. Superficial development threatens to ruin what makes a place special and actually hinder future development, whilst preventing the healing process from fully occurring. Although the memories of Belfast’s past are still raw and very varied, the importance of retaining a memory of the past and it’s impact on the future through the built environment which is held within the realms of abandonment in Belfast remain vital. I personally chose to investigate performance artwork of the time, now held on the online archive. This method of documentation feels too reductive for such evocative and layered pieces, influencing the decision to collate a set of characters which reperform in the city and hold the collective memory of peoples everyday lives of the Troubles, framed in the context of present day. Through repetition of performance art periodically over consequential years, via architectural objects, the project aspires to address the melancholic nature of the city centre and repressed undertones, providing framing devices in which to look at the impact of the Troubles still within the context of the city today, to inform the future development.
Project Intro
Reperforming Retains is a city wide public installation, performed by 10 characters, each encompassing one performance artwork of the Troubles in Belfast city centre. The characters remain dormant upon the coffee table top, until activated, before roaming the city centre, reperforming the pieces in the modern day context, evoking spaces of memory and giving back to the vacant community of Belfast.
Date: Annually J6th May - 31st August The vacant city centre is split into 48 quadrants. The performance will reoccur annually until all quadrants have been documented through reperformance of the architectural objects
Time: 18:00 - 06:00
Location:
Belfast City Centre
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Performance Site Plan 1. Actus 2. Columen 1.
3. Sanatio 4. Persona 5. Dirrumpo 6. Libero 4.
7. Piaculum 8. Parma
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9. Cartus 10. Cessatio 3.
5. 8. Crochet Lady – Crochet Chair / Shade Woman – Shades of Text / Identity Card Man – Identity Card Unit
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John Hejduk’s work, Victims, based in Berlin, similarly created a series of architectural characters which are built at certain times, in which people have one-to-one interactions. The site masterplan above is one possible configuration envisaged by Hejduk. Partial ambiguity allows for interpretation and activation as desired by the city and citizens. Each architectural manifestations is a character involved in the whole set, of which all, some, or none, may be erected. His work has been a key influence for developing this thesis project.
Project context
Performance Art in Northern Ireland
Performance art was an art form particularly repressed during the Troubles as the Northern Irish Arts Council would not support art that was popular with mainstream society, or controversial. This makes the work from the time even more impressive as not only were they physically and emotionally enduring, they were politically and socially loaded, in such volatile contexts. Current ritual rhythms awakened in the city
Target
Art is not a mirror it’s a fucking hammmer
Healing Wounds
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Naming the dead
Conviction
Kincora
Men of Ireland
A public execution
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Hanging
Cathartic mapping of embodied energy around the city from archival objects in relation to their locations within the city
By continually reperforming the pieces over the 48 year cycle the intention is to retain the still prevalent memories of the last Troubles through continuous repetition as the architectural objects unfurl and roam through the city. By creating spaces for memory continually, the trauma of these memories will be forced to be engaged with and continuously retain the dangers of the past. The hope is that memories will continue to be relived as the time frame between the events increases. The continuing reoccurance of events with a rhythmic temporality of performance, in such a repetitive cycle forces, creates a ritual to engage with the melancholic nature of the city at present.
Performance artworks within the city
Please keep the door shut because they tend to come in and slaughter us
Ilka Theurich discusses in her essay 6 how, as in physics, energy is transferred from one state to another, it can never be lost. Therefore when a performance occurs the energy of the landscape influences the artiste and vice versa. Consequently, the sites where the ten performances occurred, contain residual energy, repressed in matter, which the architectural manifestation seeks to interact with, as the next layer of city palimpsest evolves.
In 1919 the Irish War of Independence began between the IRA seeking independence from Britain and British forces. In May 1921 the British Government were forced to separate Ireland, thus creating Northern Ireland. 49 years later the British Army were deployed to Northern Ireland in response to violence which became known as the Troubles. Unresolved disputes, social deprivation and economic turbulence fostered unease and hatred, which simmered throughout the city until being released in 1968.
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Original performances and routes
Jeremy Deller’s ‘Battle of Orgreave’, reenacted the 1984 Yorkshire miners strike. It raised interesting questions regarding the time period required, for sufficient distance to elapse from violent, extreme, original events, before they can be safely restaged. The events of the Troubles are still raw, therefore the dialogue between observer and object will continually change over time. Therefore the city centre is split into 48 quadrants. One will be surveyed, studied and documented during each year of the performance until the whole city centre has been categorised. As the cycle finished a year shorter than the first troubles period, the possibility is suggested for a breaking of the cycle of reoccurring violence in Belfast.
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1919
1968
2017
Mapping the city
Spaces of memory
‘By discussing performance art work after the event, do we become performers of the piece if we engage in it in another time or place?’ 13
From the reperformance embodied mapping laid out in crit one, below, the transects were again condensed to be held within the coffee table. The 1:200 architectural objects sitting upon the new site map at a city scale and 1:1 of the coffee table. The objects thus relating to the context of the city through reperformance and also directly engaging with the audience as they are placed upon the table top and roam.
Rebecca Schneider
As the city continues to address the aftermath of the Troubles, the direct relationship to the Troubles is changing. Freud distinguished between the conscious phenomena of mourning and unconsciousness melancholia.14 This pensive sadness lingers over the city, yet what has been lost is hard to fully quantify. Only over an uninterrupted time period are people able to fully mourn and complete the grieving process. Continuous repetition of the distressing events the artworks tried to recognise, aims to allow, hope to be instilled into these places. Only over time and continuous repetition, may the melancholic constraints of individuals and the city be acknowledged and potentially tackled. As Schneider discusses if linear history has no distinct beginning or end, there may be a possibility of revolving along the linear track of time. This is not just settling for nostalgia, if this implies only a melancholic attachment to loss, where there is no return to now, but to the desire zone of experiencing the ‘past as a gestic, affective journey through the past’s possible alternative futures.’ The installation maps out the city through the medium of reenactment. Rubbings, found objects, sounds and images were all collected whilst reperforming the artwork routes. Through creating the installation, a spatial relationship of the central city can be inferred, simplifying each performance to a items which represent it. Collating this information is a ritual itself, reenacted once more to create the installation, the first of many for these objects, conveying the ambience, atmosphere and relationship of the sites.
Map created from found objects, rubbings and site photos, creating a memory of recreating the experiences of the performances through Belfast, in studio 12
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Mapping the city
Oppression and surveillance Unease to daily life
The main city centre was a target for paramilitary attacks, particularly car bombs. It was then decided to encircle the city centre with a series of checkpoints and security personnel to perform searches on pedestrians and vehicles. During the Troubles Belfast city centre was monitored by a series of checkpoints restricting access to certain times for pedestrians and vehicles. Bags searches on entering the city centre and then once again in shops, buildings taken over by military personnel and queuing to visit the shops, all became the norm. Despite all of this, everyday lives had to continue, in this unnerving and unfamiliar situation. Tasks you take for granted such as going to the shops for the lastest fashion item, were no longer an ordinary experience.
Map showing checkpoint locations in central Belfast and the are surrounded by the ‘Ring of Steel’
The resting territories (white strips) of the dormant objects (black), in their respective quadrants, before activation and roaming the city to reperform.
Security Checkpoints around central Belfast to prevent violence 14
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Inhabiting vacancy
melancholic
City centre
By creating architectural objects of a domestic scale, the project aims to reconnect the city residents with the vacant centre, claiming it again as a place, for the people. Each object will respond to one artwork, housing the components and maintaining temporality, as in the original works. Components will lie in a dormant state for the majority of the year, until the ritual repetition occurs, having a specific function. The architectural manifestations are influenced by the movement of the performers, relationship to the site and spaces of the time, periodically when awakened. Whilst resting the parts will reside in some of the many abandoned plots, bringing vibrancy and joy into these melancholic and uncanny places. Some objects attach to the existing façades, permanently controlling the building whereas others break them down or unfold to create public spaces. The architectures transform and evolve as they roam the city, engaging with the melancholic nature and individual residents to create places which foster, hinder, challenge and question everyday life, but also provide places for conversation. As the performance artworks addressed social and political conditions of the time, the new architectures will also engage with them. As the performances occur over time, the form created from the dormant architectural elements will change to reflect societal conditions as they are reawakened for each performance. This project aims to reawaken places for the ordinary, mundane, daily ritual of lived experience to be liberated. Influenced by the Situationist’s critique of citizens lives degradation as a result of capitalism, and desire to facilitate individual expression from the pursuit of authentic desires, through first hand fulfilment in everyday experiences, the architectural manifestations aim to improve the quality of lives for individuals and society. Whilst creating temporary spaces of memory or replaying a memory, the architectural objects will give back to the city, providing public facilities which address the past framing the context, issues and essence in the present.
Mapping vacant plots within the city centre
Collage of disruption during the Troubles nad Vacnacy now left behind
‘The archive became a mode of governance against memory.’ 12 Richard Thomas Imperial Archive Typical central melancholic streets, populated with uncanny ghost buildings 16
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Remapping the city
‘If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even if in brief flashes, people showed their ability to resist, to join together, and occasionally to win. I am supposing, or perhaps only hoping, that our future may be found in the past’s fugitive moments of compassion rather than in its solid centuries of warfare.’ 16 Howard Zinn, ‘It is not about indiscriminately weaving sites of interim use into a context but also about making these gaps visible and activating them by means of freeing them’ Barbara Holub and Paul Rajakovics
A series of individual one to one spaces and larger communal areas create spaces for reflection and discussion, and evoke continuous revival of memory of the past, within the current context we are in. Influenced by the individual artworks the objects seek to reperform the everyday memories of individuals annually, rather than creating a distant,static memorial to continue these memories. As the objects roam the city almost physical connections are created to the past through the architectural forms, helping to retain the past, but in the context of now, which helps to re-imagine a future. These aim to address memory and the melancholic resonance through continuous ritual and repetition, continuing the never quite complete story of the Troubles. Each piece is constructed using a limited palette of materials, developed from the original work, with a variety of lifespans, to facilitate continuous evolution of the architectures each time the architectural objects awaken and unfold. Relationships between performer and spectator influence the construction of relationships between different elements.
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City site Objects opening up
Belfast’s façade of dormancy masks the underlying rhythms of the city which awaken periodically through the year in the city via the parades. These cathartic rituals, allow the release of emotion within the city, symbolised on both sides through bonfires and burning. The visceral manifestation of these is felt through the continuous beat of the drum, smell of burning and sound of footsteps marching. Reenactments and procession have been prominent in the evolution of ritual processes, particularly of healing over time. Rebecca Schneider discussed in Performing Remains, how nothing is ever completely completed, particularly once the subject of repetition and how each re-enactment slightly mutates each time, nothing can ever be exactly replicated. This provides an interesting architectural condition, to create something which can never be an exact replica, but a reinterpretation of what is passed on, passing on the past as past, not present. Reenactment can only select certain memories to be reenacted, so the architecture must reflect the chosen conditions to evoke or facilitate a range of memories to be addressed, for future healing. Whilst the archive has selected which memories will be recorded and remembered, the flexibility of the performing pieces which form aims to allow users to engage in a changing relationship with history over time. Each of the performance artworks holds a unique set of conditions evoked as they were performed, site specific, informed by the genius loci of each place. The architectures will become the lifeline of the city, residing in vacant plots, before infiltrating the city, giving a physical form to the city’s forgotten undercurrent of beats and pulses. Dependent on the individual acts, the tempos of the architectural expanses will vary, sometimes complementary, often constant and others conflicting.
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Events Programme Calendar of reperformance
Parma
Piaculum
Cartus
Dirrumpo
Columen
Libero
Sanatio
Persona
Actus
Cessatio
Date: 6th May - 31st August
Date: 6th May
Date: 18th May - 5th July
Date: 6th July
Date: 7th July
Date: 11th July
Date: 13th July
Date: 1st August
Date: 16th August
Duration 4 months
Duration 1.5 Days
Duration 48 Days
Duration 12 hours
Duration 18 Hours
Duration 1 Day
Duration 1 Day
Duration 2.5 Days
Duration 12 Hours
Date: Independent (opens dependent on clothes deposits continuously throughout the year) Duration Continuous
May
June
July
August
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Character: Parma
Parma is the first object activated during the reperformance. The ritual of 5th May Hunger Strike Parades awakens Parma. From the shadows of the residents in the East, it roams through the city centre. A wardrobe perhaps still filled with the belongings of the dead of the Troubles, waiting to be worn? For 4 months it inhabits the dangerous zone of the vacancy, the prime locations for blanket real estate development, which bulldoze the physical manifestations but never the underlying marks on the landscape. Much like Maclennan’s original work which confronts the dangers to everyday lives, Parma opens up to inhabit the vacancy of the abandoned plots, providing a sleeping pod for the homeless, making an essential bodily function possible, for the people now let down by the malfunction of society, culture and politics.
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Character: Piaculum
Piaculum is awakened. Also in response to the undercurrents of the Hunger Strike Parades. Nestled in the abandoned houses of Donegall Pass the object crawls along the streets, feeling the history in the soil between its tracks. At the site of vacancy, in the shadows of the Ormeau Baths, formerly erected for the poor people of Belfast to provide bathing facilities, the object unfolds. Smelling of tar, reminiscent of the former shipyards, and covered in feathers the objects opens up to provide a kitchen space for two people. Bringing together acts of catholic and protestant culture through the shared experience of food, the intimate setting also references a confessional chamber, potentially allowing people to come and make peace with the city’s current condition each year as it meanders through the streets.
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Character: Cartus
On 18th May, Cartus awakens. An unambiguous bin on the streets of Belfast. For 48 days it roams the city, reaching the quadrant in question each year. It opens up to register, photograph and record the city, carefully documenting the vacancy of the chosen quadrant. Based upon the use of bins as bomb devices and documentation of Naming the Dead on Ormeau Bridge in the original piece. Making them abruptly apparent to the citizens of Belfast, which created a constant remembering of the aftermath of the Troubles.
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Character: Dirrumpo
Once Cartus has documented the city, the reels are dropped off here to be played in the cinema which opens out to claim back the public realm. The innards of the building, a former cinema and office block, left abandoned, are abruptly severed from the structure to claim back the public land for the people. The facade unfolds, severs, splits and breaks away, capturing the light of adjacent street furniture and facades to play the vacancy from the specific quadrant onto the street, existing sculpture and back into the shadows of the building shell. With circulation removed the eye sees a structure it can’t inhabit, but the illumination offers a new way for it to be scaled. A popcorn machine, cinema screen and office chair, just some of the uncanny objects reeled out into the street, claiming the public land with the actual history, for the people. The object will forever take over the abandoned building, annually claiming back the public realm and preventing future development. The object is a reaction against the Spirit of Belfast sculpture, which portrays a new heritage and history onto the site, for promotion of the commercial development of the area.
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Character: Columen
Seeing the illumination of the cinema light up the evening skyline, awakens the watch tower. Meandering through the streets between the previous checkpoints, the dance hall roams, activating the empty evening city centre. Based on the abandonment of the mourning process during the Troubles the device seeks to frame the lack of grieving in the city and clear denial of the past. The former Grand Hotel, a popular site for bourgeois (borschwa) socialising, then taken over by the British Army became a target for bombing in the city centre, quickly causing decline of businesses here and imminent danger whilst continuing with everyday life. The dancehall, with the chandeliers, orchestra and large lifts reappearing in the city, covered in barbed wire, blocks the street. Objects of previous lives abandoned but returning to their home, make the grieving of the current melancholic state of the city unavoidable.
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Character: Libero
On the 11th July Parma, the bin, deposits sound recordings which are played out from Libero, a pirate radio station. Overtaking an abandoned mill site set to become generic office blocks, in the city centre, the devices rolls out on tracks, emerging from the blacked out windows, held in tension by the ropes. The device gives a voice to the repressed city’s vacancy, ringing out across the city, the day before the 12th July parades, revealing the city to its residents.
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Character: Sanatio
In response to the 12th July parades the device roams the streets in search of vacant plots. Based on healing wounds using holistic thinking to overcome the troubles the device seeks to question the holistic thinking of the future development of Belfast. It records the city centre, environmentally, socially, and mentally, the undertones of the city particularly awakened in the parades. Only when certain parameters are reached will the object unfold to allow the books to be read, swapped, and taken. Residents are informed of holistic thinking, for a shared future and education is provided, educating the many poorly schooled in Belfast, granting them an alternative future. The object continually prints the conditions of the city, producing a newsprint canvas floating over the library, to inform the residents of the current conditions, still underlying in the city creating unease and difference, which if left unacknowledged may lead to violence once more.
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Men of Ireland John Carson 1980
The object hides within a vacant plot, opening up and rotating to unfold into 9 different forms, representing the 9 stereotypes of Irish men the artist perceived and explored. The differing forms created by mapping the 9 different movements through space created the resulting spatial configurations.
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Character: Actus
Based on the bomb disposal robot the object follows Parma, the bin, to the quadrant in question. Helically unravelling from the artists chest box, following the bodily movements of cathartic actuations, it breaks into the vacancy, removing a small portion and retaining it to create a physical manifestation and permanent memory of the vacancy, but also facilitate new access into the sites.
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Character: Cessatio
Unwanted clothes are continually deposited into the building. With each deposit the wheel rotates, winding up the curtain mechanism. When the weight of collected items reaches the required amount, the device awakens. Conveyors start rolling, hooks pick up clothes, the curtain continues to part, and the parasitic device opens up. Furniture scurries across the worn ground and clothes unfurl along reels of the structure into the vacant plot. Donated coloured clothes populate the clothes bank for the city, reperforming the artists actions. The black clothes separated out create 8 material pods within which the clothes are housed for the public. Controlled by deposits the structure continuously moves, ebbing and flowing as donations arrive and clothes are taken, an almost continuous state of flux between fully open and closed. This piece is continuous for life and therefore is on a separate time scale to the rest of the city performance.
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Window For Change Brief
During this semester the Minding The Gap studio has explored the potential for architecture to shape people’s lives, particularly those on the fringes of society, who have been marginalised by a particular social or physical situation who require care or rehabilitation back into society. The design project provides living accommodation for 30 residents and associated common facilities for the particular protagonist in need. Educational andtherapeutic facilities constitute the common facilities which aim to aid residents in their rehabilitation, whilst also foster social interaction between local inhabitants and activate new activities within the overall proposal. The proposal is based in East Ottakring, Vienna’s sixteenth district to the west of the city. Ottakring is one of the most densely populated parts of the city due to relatively cheap, extremely poor housing, making it one of the only parts of the city viable for immigrants to live. Consequently the population here is
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44% immigrant, which provides rich cultural diversity in the area but has also lead to segregation, exclusion and marginalisation between different societal groups. Similarly to the fragmented societal conditions, the gap sites chosen as the ocations for the interventions, display the physical disconnect within the city, particularly unusual in such an urban, developed part of the city. This project is a careful consideration of individual and societal needs, balancing the demands of particular internal spaces with external constraints. Ultimately the project strives to define a new live/typology which optimises outdoor space in response to social and urban needs. The new strategy to reactivate the fragmented urban site could then be used as a model for future urban interventions that initiate, connect and transform future developments within the city.
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sSite Context
Ssite Context
Existing context
Pocket mannerhatten - Infill sites
Viennese typology
New entrance to be created, removing disused cinema
Overall site context
site AnAlysis Historical and governmental context One of a few gap sites vacant in Ottakring to be infilled Abandoned blocks to be demolished
Blank 3 storey wall to the north of the site to be built up against
Site analysis
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Abadnoned outbuilding demolished Abandoned outbuilding toto bebe demolished and replaced with new proposal Site along the Gurtel 53 85
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Design moves ConsiDeRing Context
AeRiAl vieW Separation of spaces by courtyards
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Private residential
Theatre and public realm
Final massing insertion into site
Punchdrunk - Immersive Theatre Teatro Oficina - Lina Bo Bardi
Facades directly adjacent to the site
Facades glazing and potential overlooking and overshadowing issues
Site floor plan
Key design themes
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single flAt BloCK
Ageing materials creating a sense of place
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Collection of single flats with the weathering copper windows and individual amenities
Scarpa’s gutter detailing
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Collection of single flats with the weathering copper windows and individual amenities
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ayering of material in materials to reflect the layering of programme into the site
Truss structure
Copper and timber weathering experiments
Copper and brick weathering experiments
First floor plan
Alvar aalto - Library space
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fACADe DetAils
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Iiso so construction ConstRuCtion detail DetAil
fACADe DetAils
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Materiality influenced by contextual materials
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TeChniCAl echnical seCtion section t
Technical t eChniCAl section seCtion
Backstage
Theatre space
Roof construction construction Roof 35mm larch larch timber timber cladding cladding panel panel 35mm fixed using using point point holder holder 150mm 150mm pre-oxidised pre-oxidised steel steel disc, disc, 12mm 12mm steel steel rod rod resting resting on on fixed 40/40mm steel steel angle angle 40/40mm double layer layer GPR GPR double 20mm weatherboarding weatherboarding 20mm breather membrane membrane breather 200mm timber timber roof roof battens battens with with insulation insulation between between 200mm 15mm plasterboard plasterboard with with skim skim finish finish 15mm
PRE WEATHERED WEATHERED LARCH LARCH PRE
COPPER COPPER
ASH ASH
OAK OAK
External cladding cladding External
Window and and Door Door Frames Frames Window
Internal timber timber finishes finishes to to aid aid acoustics acoustics Internal
Structural members members of of the the construction construction Structural
Roof construction construction Roof zinc standing standing seam seam roof roof and and extended extended gutter gutter fixed fixed to to timber timber boarding boarding and and zinc preformed steel steel preformed vapour barrier barrier vapour sheathing sheathing 200mm battens battens with with insulation insulation fixed fixed between between 200mm 50mm insulation insulation 50mm 12.5mm plasterbaord plasterbaord 12.5mm
Wall construction construction Wall 25mm vertical vertical larch larch timber timber cladding cladding 25mm 38 xx 25mm 25mm counterbattens counterbattens 38 45 xx 25mm 25mm timber timber battens battens 45 breather membrane membrane breather 200 xx 50mm 50mm timber timber frame frame construction construction 200 200mm insulation insulation between between timbers timbers 200mm vapour control control layer layer fixed fixed to to 11mm 11mm osb osb vapour 12.5mm plasterboard plasterboard finish finish or or internal internal ash ash timber timber panels panels for for acoustic acoustic insulation insulation 12.5mm set in in recessed recessed pattern pattern where where required required in in the the building building set Floor construction construction Floor 30mm timber timber floor floor boarding boarding 30mm 75mm screed screed 75mm vapour barrier barrier vapour 100mm insulation insulation 100mm DPM DPM 300mm concrete concrete foundations foundations 300mm 150mm hardcore hardcore 150mm
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ZINC ZINC
BLACKENED STEEL STEEL BLACKENED
EXPOSED BRICK BRICK EXPOSED
Surfaces with with which which water water interacts interacts -Surfaces roof and and gutter gutter roof
Connections between between the the tiber tiber structure structure Connections and vertical vertical and and horizontal horizontal planes planes and
Marks the the boundary boundary of of the the site site Marks
Wall construction construction Wall Oak and and steel steel flitch flitch plate plate construction construction comprising comprising of of truss truss and and column column fixed fixed into into Oak concrete foundations foundations and and existing existing brick brick wall. wall. (Only (Only the the steel steel the the meet meet the the ground ground concrete and brick, brick, timber timber will will not. not. and Copper framed framed sliding sliding glass glass doors doors fixed fixed within within roof roof build build up up Copper Sliding larch larch timber timber cladding cladding door door system system also also fixed fixed into into roof roof construction construction and and Sliding recessed into into concrete concrete floor floor finish finish recessed Floor construction construction Floor 30mm timber timber floor floor boarding boarding 30mm 75mm screed screed 75mm vapour barrier barrier vapour 100mm insulation insulation 100mm DPM DPM 300mm concrete concrete foundations foundations 300mm 150mm hardcore hardcore 150mm
integrated seCtion section integRAteD
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EnviRonmentAl nvironmental stRAtegies strategies e
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Cross ventilation- narrow plan and openable windows
Courtyard wtaer stimulates movement of air
Rainwater collection
Series of greenSolar roofsgain
Heated (red) and unheated (blue) spaces
Series of green roofs
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Vienna Swapshops Brief
The Fringe Olympics studio hypothesised the citizens of Vienna hosted an alternative games within the city, after voting against hosting a traditional Olympic Games. Although the traditional Olympic structure is failing to attract widespread enthusiasm on a global stage the underlying principles of the Games and power to unite people every four years is something extremely humbling in the pressures and woes of today’s society. It is this strength in the face of uncertainty I wished to explore. Vienna, Austria’s capital, situated in central Europe, is the birthplace of modernity and Hitler. Such a complex history has been carefully curated to be remembered, or repressed, by the city. The central UNESCO world heritage status district where crowds of tourists flock to see stately buildings frozen in time has little relation to the unease in the outer districts, caused by increased immigration concerns. Exodus, Rem Koolhaas’ thesis project, the studio text, introduced the idea of freedom by self imprisonment and voluntary segregation, two societies separated by one wall in the same city. Whilst a theoretical project based on the Berlin Wall, it links with the studio’s setting, the Gurtel, which sits on the old city walls. ‘Red Vienna’ is a period in Viennese history dominated by socialist government with a huge interest on providing for the people, something which Vienna still prides itself on. The Socialists were extremely forward thinking and their Workers’ Olympiad on 1925 aimed to use sport to give people strength to create a new world after world war one. After listening to George Monbiot’s lecture ‘Politics for a new
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age’ he discussed the importance of creating a new story which people can believe to actively facilitate the changes which we wish to see in today’s society rather than just complaining about the state of affairs. Guy De Bord’s theory of the derive was used to map the journey across the Gurtel, upon returning. For me, the most resonant memory was a poster at the Ottakringer brewery saying ‘Tradition Beginnt Heir’. The apparent sense of tradition and community here, how this diminished upon nearing the gurtel and although very different, grew again once leaving the Gurtel on the East city centre side. My project explores this idea of creating a new story for Vienna to tackle the issues regarding the global environment, capitalist system of economics, society, inequality and mental health through the Fringe Olympic programme, as the Workers Olympiad did. Within unease is an opportunity to develop a politics of belonging, unifying people and uniting individuals in one community. The challenge of reconnecting citizens with the traditions that created their cultural heritage, uniting individuals and communities in the area across the Gurtel barrier and using an architectural intervention to develop a new story for a forward looking Vienna is what this project then set out to explore. Vienna seeks to be on the global stage and this project strives to achieve this by developing a socially, politically and environmentally sustainable intervention which coexists with current users over the urban games period, and creates a legacy of social interaction and community of belonging.
Cultural Context
Industry and art within the city The divide of industry and art
Red Vienna, when the Social Democratic Workers' Party governed the country, is one of Vienna's greatest legacies. The changes between 1919 - 1934 had a monumental impact on the lives of the Viennese workers and the city.
OTTAKRING AND JOSEFSTADT GUY DEBORD - THEORY OF THE DERIVE
ARTS AND CRAFT THE DIVIDE OF INDUSTRY AND ART
As a discrete federal province, Vienna was separate to the rest of Austria. Therefore it had greater political power, financial control and authority to introduce new taxes and ideas. The question of 'how to live' was debated intensively, including introducing ideas from the theoretical foundations of Austromarxism. The housing crisis reached dire conditions meaning the average life expectancy was only 33. Individual apartments occupied by a family were only part of the whole socio-spatial matrix of the city which the state had provided them, giving the working classes new political and economic status. Architecturally private spaces were reclaimed for public use in the design of housing blocks and gave agency to the users in their everyday use of the spaces. The government worked to create a city for the needs of its people based upon social equity and public responsibility.
MAK
MEINL COFFEE Julius Meinl was the first professional coffee roaster in Europe, builing a brand based on Viennese coffee culture. Since the company stood for experience, tradition and premium quality products. 'We value our origins and heritage;... tradition, Vienna and history.' Vienna, has historically been a rich breeding ground for creativity with its coffee culture, providing places of poetry and inspiration.The whole coffee experience is affected by the cup we drink from so it is intrinsically linked with ceramic production.
OTTAKRINGER BREWERY
BRUNNENMARKT
Ottakringer Brewery is a large inner city brewery named after the disrcit it is found in. People are extememly loyal to their beer and it can be found throughout the city. The streets of the th district have a distinct aroma of hops. The brewery also holds many events such as markets, concerts and festivals, including the Vienna coffee festival, enabling people a glipse of the industrial landscape inside the factory gates.
Since , the Brunnenmarkt has occupied its present location and is the largest permanent street retail market in Europe with around market stalls. The multicultural nature of the area is reflected in the range of available goods in this extremely vibrant market. Yppenmarkt is Saturday farmers market at the end of the Brunnenmarkt street with locals from around the area coming into the city to sell produce.
BROTHERS SCHWADRON
VIENNA PORCELAIN
Brothers Schwadron was a manufacturer of Viennese ceramics founded by the Jewish Schwadron brothers. The company was one of the most important Viennese art-ceramic manufacturers specialising in pottery, building construction and canalization. They tiled the Dianabad and the Amalienbad, the largest Euopean baths at the time. The Nazi seizure of Vienna forced the brothers to cease trading in 9 when they were annexed from Austria.
Vienna Porcelain Manufactory produced porcelain between -. Five stylisitically distinctive periods produced dinner services, vases, sculptures and porcelain painted using gold relief decoration and cobalt blue. The Viennese Porcelain Manufactory Augarten opened in 9 with an ethos to continue the Viennese porcelain manufacturing, rejuvenating the old tradition, resuming production of historic items whilst also collaborating with contemporary artists such as Josef Hoffmann, Ena Rottenberg and Franz von Zolow, on new modern works.
The Imperial Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry, renamed the MAK, opened in . The intent was for a living school of design, with exempleary collections for artists, industrialists and the public to view whilst also provide continuous training for designers and craftsmen. The museum was a new cultural institution, with a new concept, closer to the bourgeois and liberal notion of advancing the trades than to any aristocratic representational desires, unkown in the Viennese Ringstrasse museum landscape. The MAK confronts relevant sociopolitical issues from the perspective and approach of applied arts, advocating positive change in our society in social, ecological, and cultural terms. The interaction between applied arts, design and architecture, on the one hand, with contemporary art on the other, provides the basis for a powerful potential to change.
Sketchbook notes sudying Ottakring and Josefstadt
Sketchbook analysis in Vienna
SYMPOSIUM 4.
GROUP COLLAGES
2. 6.
3.
1.
5.
8.
Despite the importance of art and industry within the city, the two factions have become distinctly separated, by the Gurtel. The project therefore aimed to integrate these two important industries which have defined Vienna, during the 2 week games period. Group Collage - Production and Industry
Group Collage - Art
Mapping art to the East of the Gurtel and Industry to the West of it
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9.
7.
1.
Masterplan of events
1.
2.
Design Intentions 2.
4.
3.
4.
Bring traditions and people from dstricts to the Gurtel
The focus will be on combining arts with craft in everyday life and human interactions with one another, through a series of events during the games.
5.
Reactivate the Gurtel
3.
The masterplan proposes that ten stations along the Gurtel will all be converted to industrial hubs during the games, showcasing the industries which have given the adjacent areas their heritage. In order for these processes to continue they will need to become more sustainable and the focus will be on teaching people the processes, educating them with the skill, time and resources required to produce new items continuously aiming to reduce consumption and unnecessary waste whilst encouraging as much as possible to be recycled.
5.
Nine manufacturing stations: 1. Wafer Manufactures 6.
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2. Ceramics Producers DESIGN INTENTIONS 6. 7.
3. Coffee and mushrooms Bring traditions and people from dstricts to the Bring traditions and people from dstricts to the Gurtel Gurtel
4. Food market and allotments 5. Glass Works 7.
6. Beer Brewery
8.
7. Tobacco 8. Packaging 8.
9. Steel works
9.
orkman to locals
DESIGN INTENTIONS
Share knowledge knowledge and tradition master workman to locals Share andfrom tradition from master workman to locals
Reactivate the Gurtel
Bring traditions and people from dstricts to the Gurtel
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The Brewery site
1.
ROUTES THROUGH
'The station is the first thing a person sees when arriving in a city and the last thing they see when bidding farewell. The same platform witnesses the arrivals of presidents and lowly office workers, marshals and peasants, students and film stars: the railway station serves everybody in the same way, it is open at anytime of the day or night.
Macallan Distillery, Suspended viewing chamber 2.
The idea of a new building that would welcome all dawned as soon as humanity conceived the idea of travelling along rails in an iron machine. Earlier it had known only one building of this kind: the church. But the way to the church was marked by differing religious confessions, whereas the railway station knew no such differences. Of course, even here there existed substantial distinctions, but the station accepted everyone.'
Glass blowing - exhibition space
THE BREWERY SITE 3.
Hospital and recycling Medical Commercial andschool rubbish management
Incinerators used to recover energy from waste
Mistplaces - Residents can drop off waste materials
THE MASTERPLAN Macallan Distillery, Museum and Production Site
Glass blowing workshop Red = Glass Route through building from waste to new glass bottles leaving to the brewery Brown = Waste products collected and visible at street level to encourage sorting waste. Waste products will also be used in the artist studios for new designs
Red = Glass Route through building from waste to new glass bottles leaving for the brewery
Hospital and Medical school
Brown = Waste products collected and visible to encourage sorting waste. Waste products will be used in the artist studios for new work
Russian Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2018
Map of local glass recycling bins
Glass blowing - new public plaza
Map of local recycling bins in the area which recyle glass
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The Glassworks SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE
VIENNA SWAPSHOPS THE GLASSWORKS
EAST ELEVATION SCALE 1:200
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Urban Design - Rice Road Hub Milan, Italy
Rice Road Hub acts a gateway between the influential heritage of the Milanese rice fields to the south and its urban centre, from which they are currently disconnected from. The proposal converts Aldo Rossi’s abandoned Cristoforo railway terminal into an educational experience, new public realm and rice production centre for the community and tourists.
Nav
nde glio Gra
i
Recently Riso Amaro was one of 100 neo-realistic films saved to maintain the city’s heritage. Rice production remains vital to the Italian economy, producing a turnover of 1 billion Euros. It is currently threatened by cheap imports from USA and Thailand and the soil drying up.
RICE ROAD Rice growing is an integral part of the Milanese history and culture, primarily occuring in the SOuth West of the cities outskirts. The Carnaroli Rice, used in risottos, thrives in the landscape unique to Milan. As the function of the city has changed, the rice fields and their appealing qualities have also leant themselves to agro-tourism.
WATER SOURCE The two sources of water on site are the Deviatore d'ell Olona and Naviglio Grande. These sources originate at the Ticino river in Switzerland, pass through the Panperduto dam and the Industrial Canal and into Milan.
er
+
MILAN
POLLUTION The Deviatore d'ell Olona gathers pollution as it travels through Milan to the rice road
2. FILTRATION The rice fields naturally filter pollutants out of the water, however the rice invovled in this process cannot be eaten. Therefore it is preferable to use reed beds for the inital filtration
+
INSULATION
WASTE PRODUCTS
COMPOST
3. IRRIGATION A series of primary and secondary irrigation canals provide the paddy fields with water, regulated by sluice gates.
COMPLEMENTARY PROGRAMMES
BIRD MIGRATIONS
4. BULKHEADS
During the autumn months, the freshly cut rice fields act as optimum conditions for migrating birds. such as the Sardinian Warbler and Rock Partridge. These rare spottings suggest the need for bird hides incorporated into the scheme.
By creating a series of stepped bulkheads, the water is well regulated even in dry seasons
5. OXEN USED FOR PREPARING SOIL
EDUCATION
1. Plough to remove the top layer of earth 2. Harrow to chop up the clods 3. Smooth the earth and ensure the levels are flat
DAIRY PRODUCTS
WASTE PRODUCTS
For adults and children, to educate on the culture of the current and historic comuity
MANURE
CITY FARM / HORSE RIDING 6. BABY FIELDS
The inclusion of animals acts as educational and functional towards the rice process
MARCH - APRIL
Seeds are planted in smaller fields under 3-5cm of water. After 8 days the seedling is uprooted and planted in the large scale paddy fields.
CAFE
7. GROWING CONDITIONS
The cafe is where the rice unites the existing Milanese culture and the cultures of those in the allotments on site
The local soil primarily consists of clay. In the process of digging up the ground in order to create the bulkheads, the excess waste clay can be used as a building material for additions to the existing structure on site. Hand weeding of the rice paddy and crop rotation when the field is not in use creates the optimum conditions and prevents harmful aquatic organisms from growing.
INCLUSION OF ALLOTMENTS The allotments can be incorported into the design of the rice paddies, co-existing functionally, culturally and agricultutrally
8. HARVESTING
SEPTEMBER
Inspired by the existing self-build construction skills apparent on site the phased development of the project seeks to provide infrastructure to enhance the locals initiatives, facilitating bottom up development of the project over time, such as in Christiana, Copenhagen and Quinta Monroy, Chile. Current guerrilla allotments will be retained upon the site, whilst providing locals with private space, separate access to the building and infrastructure for upskilling. The design follows the architectural precedent of the Lombardy courtyard, using similar tones and materials.
THE PROCESS OF GROWING ON RICE ROAD
Olona R i v
Parco delle Risaie lies just beyond the southern site boundary, part of the greater South Milan Agriculture Park. Currently rice tours through the rice production sequence occur in Parco delle Risaie, but there is very little interaction with the city and it’s residents. The project seeks to create a gateway between these two disjointed fractions, offering a visitor centre informing tourists about the story of rice and providing locals with employment in growing, harvesting and preparing the rice products, as well as jobs in tourism related tasks.
The rice is traditionally harvested in Autumn. FIrst of all the fields are drained, with the purified excess water in this case being used to serve the rest of the site. During this time the rice is separated from the straw and brought in to dry in the kiln.
STRAW
WASTE PRODUCTS
WATER
9. THRESHING & SIFTING Threshing can be performed by machinery or the trampling of oxen hooves, in order to separate the rice from the husks. Given we are already proposing the inclusion of livestock, the Oxen could act as a viable solution.
ASH COMPOST
WASTE PRODUCTS
The rice is then sifted in order to separate the grains from the chaff and husks.
HUSKS PROCESS THROUGH BASEENT OF BUILDING
10. PRODUCTS FROM RICE & HUSKS
COMPOST
INSULATION
BUILDING MATERIAL
EATING
(4/5 tonnes per hectare / feeds 6000 on site)
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Urban Design - Blogging
Does money really grow on trees?
Banal, bland and bleak. The three words that described the hospital visit to see my 8-year-old sister, a newly diagnosed Diabetic. All the symptoms were there – rapid weight loss, excessive thirst and constantly needing the toilet – but no-one wanted to face the imminent reality. Watching my sister’s life completely transformed in that one diagnosis was heart breaking. Nothing you say or do can make it better. ‘It’ll be fine’ doesn’t quite cut it.
[A] Sterile conditions of current hospital design
In those depressing days, sat in the barren hospital room of York Hospital’s 1970’s Children’s Ward, the sterile arrangement of a bed covered in a clinical, slightly bobbled, blue, bedspread, the plastic shower-esque curtain and lonesome waiting-room, wipe down chair by the window which overlooked a blank brick wall, I decided to become an architect. I can still recall that smell, sanitisation, and taste the disinfectant in the air as she asked me to ‘make it go away’. Sadly, I can’t achieve that. However, the prospect that I could design calm, caring, therapeutic environments, like those of Maggie Centres, to brighten the difficult times ahead, was something realistically influenceable, or so I thought.
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[B] Symbiotic relationship of Maggie Centres combining internal and external therapeutic landscapes
I’m sure you’ve visited people in hospital and can relate. We wish them a quick recovery and speedy return home. If only they had a view of a tree. Roger Ulrich’s Psychoneuroendocrine experiments provided evidence that patients with a view of nature recovered quicker from surgery and experienced less pain, than those who didn’t. Within 5 minutes of witnessing nature, patients stress levels had reduced resulting in increased immune function and resistance to infection. [1] Humans have evolved in, and with, the natural world, which has created an innate biophilic attraction. Juhani Pallasmaa’s work highlights how the sight or touch of nature such as the sun through a window or movement of fresh air, allows us to feel connected to a place, as we age with nature[2]. Widespread inclusion of therapeutic landscaping including green and blue infrastructure around hospitals would therefore reduce patient’s time spent in hospital, whilst also decrease running costs of hospitals, healthcare professionals time required and allow treatment of more people[3]. A very positive prospect for a healthcare system under such immense strain. People could return to work sooner, pay taxes and use their money. Humanitarian design enabling economic
[C] Therapeutic Landscaping at The Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital
vitality. A financially sensible argument. So why doesn’t each hospital room have a green view? Essentially it requires greater initial investment and higher maintenance costs. In a market driven by immediate profit, this is not a priority. Aidan Oswell’s lecture, ‘Economics and Effective Urban Design’, discussed value. What does this mean? In neoliberalist terms this means immediate gratification. An initial input is assessed in terms of a measurable, normally financial, output. ‘Cost benefit analysis’, ‘time allocation theory’ and ‘investment appraisal analysis’, create economically viable proposals, satisfying the developers desire for maximum profit and perceived worth[4]. In a world obsessed with defining value in quantitative, short-term, monetary gains, can we ever really create buildings, landscapes and environments that are, in the words of Jan Gehl, ‘sweet to their people[5]’?
[D] Robert Kennedy’s 1968 campaign speech University of Kansas ‘The gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play…it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.’[1D]
As designers, our job is ultimately to enhance the lives of people, rich or poor, through the urban realm. To design as John Rawls said with ‘a veil of ignorance’[6] as if we don’t know our place in society would create a welfare state benefiting all. Out of touch, disillusioned and reckless. These words seem reasonable when describing architects or urban designers’ traditional financial reputation. Just because money isn’t our number one value, does not mean our priorities are wrong though. Society champions narrow-minded capitalism. Has holistic thinking and thus investment in places for people been side-lined?
[E] Bournville – investing in healthy living conditions for a happy workforce
Precedents of 19th century philanthropic capitalism include Bournville and New Earswick[7] built by factory owners John Cadbury and Joseph Rowntree respectively. They prioritised creating pleasant environments for their workforces to live in, providing fresh food, communal facilities and green spaces, to enhance their employee’s quality of life, making them healthier and happier citizens. Each dwelling occupied only a quarter of its plot and a garden was essential[8]. Additionally, this increased productivity of their workforces and was therefore economically savvy. Bournville is still cited[9] in ‘Good Design: it all adds up’ as being exemplary in terms of quality housing provision because
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of Cadbury’s futuristic outlook. Poor quality housing is predicted to cost the NHS £600 million treating the health repercussions and society £1.5 billion from individual loss of earnings per year[10]. By applying prevention is better than cure to our built environment, we could invest money and resources into economic, environmental and socially beneficial development. This really is a no-brainer. ‘The value of urban design‘ collated quantifiable research and evidence to showcase the greater shared benefit to society. Resistance to neoliberalist capitalism is starting to occur through groups such as Extinction Rebellion[11] and fiscal systems accounting for whole life costing. Now it needs implementing in urban design. The 3C pillars should influence future urban design – compact, connected and coordinated[12]. By taking inspiration from Timothy Beatley’s green urbanism and sustainable urban development approach, such as Hammarby Sjostad, Stockholm [13] we can create biophilic design, intertwining nature with the urban realm as a fundamental design principle, for long term benefits of citizens. Scandinavia in general[14] have high taxes which are reinvested in well maintained parks and public facilities, accessible public transport and extensive cycling routes[15], enabling more symbiotic relationships between the city and its
[F] Hammarby Sjostad – Biophilic Urban Design to increase resident wellbeing
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[G] Despite bitterly cold weather, Scandinavian countries investment in public realm initiatives, such as extensive cycling routes, mean they are consistently ranked top for citizen wellbeing
users and consistently being scored as some of the happiest places to live in the world. My naïve optimism and human focus for hospital design has so far been unrealised whilst working. But why reserve therapeutic design and enhanced wellbeing for just hospitals though? Council House 2, Melbourne, incorporated basic boiphilic design, resulting in a 10% productivity increase in the first year and payback period of less than 5 years. [16] We could design all our urban environments with symbiotic relationships between nature and the built environment, improving every day for everyone. It requires a brave reconceptualisation of value. No longer just determined by immediate profit, we need the foresight to see the longterm benefits of investment in high quality place making. This can create much happier, ‘liveable’ cities for people, with consequent economic benefit. Surely this is the society we deserve. The rest of my blog entries for MA urban design can be found here. http://www. nclurbandesign.org/author/victoria-ellis/
Reflective Summary
Just before starting masters I read Richard Rogers ‘A place for all people’, one of the most influential books I have ever read on architecture. In it he presents John Rawls idea of how to design a society through a ‘veil of ignorance’ in which you do not know your place within it. This challenges us to choose a society where welfare systems maximise individual freedom, but also look after the interest of the worst off. This has definitely influenced my design approach throughout masters and the trajectory I would like my architectural career to follow in the future. Combining design skills with public services, either working in the public sector through practices such as Public Practice or potentially engaging further with politics and architecture is something, I am keen to pursue. The effect of architecture on people is something I am particularly interested in and why I was drawn to
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who we are designing for, and how a broader engagement with people is manifested in the creation of space is something I would really like to be involved in. Coronavirus has changed what we value in our lives and potentially created an opportunity to be seized by designers for creating urban environments holistically engaging with people, nature and design going forward.
Ivan’s stage 5 studio. Projects based around those marginalised in society. This became a helpful bridge for me between what I knew at undergrad and life in practice, to the more heavily theoretical and critical approach at Newcastle, I had never really been previously exposed to.
Coming back to university for masters, I felt was an opportunity to study theories and ideas, there is less time to engage with in practice. I have tried to broaden my horizons as much as possible, seizing the opportunity to choose mycelium tech studio and Excavating Belfast, something completely out of my comfort zone. Whilst these have been more challenging routes to take than other options available, I have found them rewarding and fulfilling, opening my mind to new ways of approaching architecture. Now having education in more theoretical and practical schools of architecture, has exposed me to two very different approaches to the profession. Both are equally merited ways to consider such a broad subject as architecture, so I feel this has made me more well-rounded in my long-term design approach.
Approaching design through such a critical lens, is something I first found challenging, but I have realised this approach is extremely stimulating and it has made me inherently question the profession and what it stands for. It feels a shame the disparity between banal architecture of our capitalist society and glossy renders with the apparent utopian possibilities in architectural school. Whilst I admire the philosophy of Rogers book, I feel the starchitects of architecture encourage the production of clickbait edifices, not necessarily with people and the environment in the forefront of design. Challenging this notion of
Corona virus has caused many disruptions to this year. The need for the architectural studio pedagogy has never been more explicit. Working alone in my family home, surrounded by people with no background or interest in design, has been particularly challenging. Sometimes I struggle with having confidence in my architectural ability and therefore I need conversations, discussions, and justifications with others to help me move forward in design, make decisions, work out which points I am sure of and develop designs. Working alone has meant I have become my own worst enemy, doubting my abilities and work. Being in
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Reflective Summary
Belfast Excavations studio this year, with such a collaborative ambience despite the individual projects, has been beneficial for my development. The absence of which been particularly notable during the lockdown part of the project. Masters has helped me reflect on my personality and working methods. I am particularly strong working in a team situation. Constant involved discussions, bouncing ideas off each other and decision making, producing together towards the same goal and pressure of being with others, is how I work best. Even more so in the current circumstances I have missed any form of group or even communal sense to my project, particularly the help of talking to others which helps me commit to designs. Only so much can be conveyed in a zoom call. Throughout my university career I have performed well in group projects. My doubting personality means I often make design decisions later than my peers, so even though by the end I often felt my projects were as strong, or even stronger, in their reasoning, theory or development, the representation of so many ideas was difficult to fully realise in the remaining timeframe. This is something I need to work on going forward because I am still not sure I have the balance right yet, but I know this is helped whilst working in a group. Sometimes my thoughtful approach to design, context and society through a lens of critical thinking, is poorly portrayed in the timeframe I leave it to represent it. Whilst teamwork is rarely engaged with in architecture school, I hope this is an asset to my professional career in collaborative practice. Having also chosen urban design, I felt how disconnected these two disciplines are, I felt a disconnect between the two disciplines, however I believe both are equally important.
Reflective Summary
Both have the possibility to affect people’s lives whether this be through users engaging with a building or merely passing through a public space. The thought that we can positively influence people’s lives, mostly of people we will never meet, is truly amazing and what I find most motivating about design. I would love to work respecting both disciplines and especially engaging with the unity, I feel they often lack. The overall design of an urban masterplan and a 1:1 shadow gap detail have multiple scales in-between in which to design to produce the best possible built environment we can. Focusing in on details, such as the work of Scarpa, whilst considering the principles of Aldo Van Eyck, Elemental or Lefebvre have helped me to consider the multiple scales at once whilst designing a building. Much of the success in design is intrinsically linked to politics and finance which is why the work of Public Practice appeals to me. I am optimistic, potentially too much so, with regards to the role of design in our current neoliberalist society, however I do believe in architecture’s ability to challenge accepted societal dogmas and to help empower those less fortunate within our society. Considering new ways of thinking about design, through studying different theorists and applying their principles to the work and combining more fine art techniques, particularly the use of an exploration through collage has been particularly cathartic. Not just for representation of intentions but for developing and thinking through ideas, scales, spaces and atmospheres. 6 years of architectural education and I still find the pencil the most liberating design tool for me. Alongside model making, I find the freedom of these media and direct engagement the best way for me to think through design work. I have often found it hard to translate or argue my thoughts or ideas
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on architecture through academic writing. At first, having to write a blog for urban design filled me with dread. However, as the course progressed, I found a voice through this style of writing, more colloquial, yet still using opinions supported with credited references and theories. After reading Gary Stevens ‘Favored Circle’ and asking family members to read my initial blog, I realised how segregated we have become from the people we aim to enhance the lives of, our community. Despite not being an avid writer, I was passionate about establishing and editing Fold, a student led, ran and produced architectural zine, to provide a non-assessed platform to encourage architectural discussions and stimuli, outside of the curriculum to expand exposure to architecture within the current context. Having been forced move to online now, we hope to continue to engage in architectural debate and opinions, with a larger audience. One of my earliest memories of Newcastle is Zeynep telling me stop undermining myself whilst making points during Tools, and Juliet closing my final stage 6 presentation, similarly telling me to have conviction in myself and work. I still need to work on this going forward, but I have realised that I can do it and look forward to growing in my personal confidence in architecture. Maybe I have not got the most conviction or arrogance with my designs, but I do have a strong social conscience and thoughtful design which I should be confident in portraying. My continuing questioning of an architects role in society was heightened throughout the two years but I hope this has made me more outward looking in my desire to engage with others outside the profession in design discussions, for more collaborative and hopefully successful approaches to community developments.
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