Bayswater Marina Proposal Report
Vanesssa Liu
As a major sports facility located in an area of social and urban problems, the architects Agence SEARCH wanted a sports centre that would draw in the neighbourhood and become a destination for people outside the community aswell. The bold architecture did not want to seen as a stigma but a place emanating optimism and opportunity. Mantes-la-Jolie consists of the swimming pool and leisure facility, the Aqualade, and the baptized Aquanaute, which is the boathouse, dedicated to marine sports such as rowing and kayaking. The esplanade connecting these two act as a social space for community interaction. The building responds to the surroundings both hills and the banks of the Seine river which is reflected in the undulating green roof. Smaller undulating forms within responds to the aquatic and marine focus of the building. The mashrabiya screen acts as a filter which gives focused glimpses between interior and exterior and fuses city and nature. Mantes-la-Jolie Water Sports Centre - Agence SEARCH Paris, France
The Filter - Global Architects and Bloot Architecture Rome, Italy
Historically used as Naval bases, the artificial islands of Copenhagen harbour are part of a master plan to revitalize the harbour through recreation and wildlife. It has been designed as a public recreation area for residents and tourists as well as an educational facility. The islands are all home to different facilities from baths to an island focused on water sports. The plan is to reorient the life of the citizens of Copenhagen towards the harbour and to strengthen the recreational benefits of the place. Each of the islands are a destination within themselves as they give a different incentive. The problem with these islands are that there needs to be a solution for the movement between them whether it be through the building up of walkways as networks or water transport. Bayswater like the Copenhagen blue plan can be seen as a destination as part of the harbour with a focus on recreation, which other transport nodes such as Devenport, Stanley Bay or Auckland CBD do not offer.
Blue Plan - Tredje Natur and PK3 Copenhagen, Denmark
Located in what was formerly a shipyard, the landscape was designed to interpret the oceans movement and waves giving the public the feeling of an intrepid journey or a “voyage�. Benches sitting within the ocean landscape act as coral. Different elements in the landscape from grass, to water give visitors an experience and let them discover places that draw them and entertain them. While there is no playground on site for children, the ocean landscape has mounds and indentations which are an interpreted and impromptu form of leisure and recreation for the children. While Lalaport acknowledges and engages with the history of the site as a port with monuments and water features, there should be a freedom to engage with the port and its waters.
LaLaport Toyosu - EARTHSCAPE Tokyo, Japan
Situated in Le Havre; originally a port before the establishment of a city, the master plan for the docklands involved its regeneration and rejuvenation with a focus on new trade and leisure spaces. The aquatic centre, Les Bains des Docks consists of a range of pools and other facilities such as a cafeteria. The outdoor pool projects gives a sense of projection towards the sky while cutouts in the walls acts as frames that project views out to the city and the docklands. However, its response to location could be better with a greater connection to the port and its views rather than smallframed glimpses. The aquatic centre does however have a quality of projection that opens up the pools to its environment.
Les Bains des Docks - Jean Nouvel Le Havre, France
WMS Boathouse at Clark Park is part of Chicago’s programme to rejuvenate the use of Chicago river for recreation. The form of the boathouse echoes the recorded time-lapse of a rower’s movement. It is a public facility that includes learning facilities from beginners to professionals. There are communal and social spaces for interaction in the boathouse. While there is easy access between the boathouse and river there is a lack of landscaping that allows for people to linger outside or be spectators to the rowers on the Chicago river. It does however leave sufficient space for public use.
WMS Boathouse at Clark Park - Stuido Gang Architects Chicago, USA
Rowing and Sailing Pavilions and Water Sports Centre are programmed as kayak and boat storage and with other facilities of gym, dormitories, clubrooms and classrooms. For both precedence, there is an emphasis on boats being displayed. Oliver Mang believes that the most important element which are the boats and kayaks should be a landmark and a visual motif rather than being concealed behind vernacular boatsheds. The ramp for the pavilions is only designed as a haul out area. It could have been more generous in giving a ramp that could double as a leisure space. The façade of timber slats emphasizes the horizon line visible while lights illuminate the polycarbonate cladding and timber slats portraying the pavilions as feature pieces and landmarks for the marina. The Water Sports Centre is industrial and looks ‘unfinished’ to give flexibility of spaces to allow the public or community to transform and tailor the spaces to suit specific needs. Rowing and Sailing Pavilions - Abar + MdG +Julen Altuna Bizkaia, Spain
Water Sports Centre - Oliver Mang Berlin, Germany
Silberfisch SchwimmHaus Boot is German for Floating House Boat. The architects wanted living on water to be a natural experience of elements therefore involving naturally and locally sourced materials and ensured that there would be an abundance of natural light. It has been designed as a home with a small footprint ideal for a houseboat that usually involves relatively small spaces. As a small space, the houseboat’s small footprint was maximized through the use of the roof as an outdoor space and a green roof. It is simple living on a small footprint with the benefits of living on water. The Salvaged Ferry was an old car ferry transported from the Panama Canal for the architect and his wife for their home and workspace. He is an architect who works with salvaged materials and this houseboat that was their dream was nothing short of that. Silberfisch SchwimmHaus Boot - Confused Direction Germany
Ferry Home - Olly Lundberg San Francisco, USA
Floating House - MOS Architects Ontario, Canada
Floating House has been built on Lake Huron where many houses have endured complications with fabrication due to the conditions of site. The drastic change in water levels prompted MOS Architects to respond to the site with a house which literally floats on water with a complex steel pontoon to allow this. This allows the house to fluctuate with the water level of the lake. Being on a remote island complications and expensive forms of construction were solved through prefabrication of the house. The house gives voids where needed for views to the lake while the horizontal battens of the rain screen give more privacy and glimpsed views where needed. Although the house is floating, it still feels grounded as there is a bridge that connects the porch of the house to solid ground. It loses some of its character as a floating house.
The development of Ijburg involves 75 floating homes some on rental and some are privately owned. Living close to water has been natural to the Dutch and while there have been many precedence of boathouses or floating restaurants and hotels they have resembled boats more than houses. This new development involves floating homes with jetties rather than footpaths so they are essentially like homes, which have been parked on berths at a marina. It fosters a sense of freedom and being close to nature by living amphibiously however I would question whether the feeling experience and the ebb and flow of waves in a marine environment such as living on a boat would still be just as heightened with it being a home.
Floating Houses in Ijburg - Architectenbureau Marlies Rohmer Amsterdam, Netherlands
Remaining true to the authenticity of Bayswater, my proposal focuses on marine and nautical recreation and the reinstatement of aquatic recreation which was historically offered at Bayswater Marina. While the recreational hub will be popular amongst the community it aims to become a destination for people outside the community and tourists. It will offer storage facilities, a learning facility for water sports present at the marina in a series of forms that reference the vernacular boatshed and pavilions. The established community at Bayswater Marina enjoys the lifestyle being close with nature and the soothing oscillation of the ocean waves. The boats should therefore be a landmark of the marina and the feeling of living on ocean waves should be shared with others as a form of temporary living on site. The proposal aims to fill a niche to become more than a transport node. The marine focused architecture and programme will reflect Bayswater Marina’s identity.