DP1 Portfolio by Sizhe Peng

by Sizhe Peng

The

Bartlett School of Architecture

Bridging Spaces

DP1 Portfolio

Site analysis - Plan 1:5000

A major port, Bristol was a starting place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. On a ship out of Bristol in 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian, became the first European to land on mainland North America. In 1499, William Weston, a Bristol merchant, was the first Englishman to lead an exploration to North America. At the height of the Bristol slave trade, from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slave ships carried an estimated 500,000 people from Africa to slavery in the Americas. The Port of Bristol has since moved from Bristol Harbour in the city centre to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Dock.

Site analysis - Land Use 1:5000

Data source: DK-CM research data.

Residential Offices

Arts/Cultrual

Wholesale

Data source: Bristol City Council; Travelwest Metrobus; National Rail, supplemented with DK-CM researchdata.

Data source: Bristol City Council; Travelwest Metrobus; National Rail, supplemented with DK-CM researchdata.Data source: Environment Agency, 2023.

The city was associated with Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed the Great Western Railway between Bristol and London Paddington, two pioneering Bristol-built oceangoing steamships (SS Great Britain and SS Great Western), and the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The new railway replaced the Kennet and Avon Canal, which had fully opened in 1810 as the main route for the transport of goods between Bristol and London. Brunel is perhaps best remembered for designs for the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, begun in 1831. The bridge was built to designs based on Brunel’s, but with significant changes. Spanning over 214 m, and nominally 76 m above the River Avon, it had the longest span of any bridge in the world at the time of construction.

Site analysis - Wind Rose

Site analysis - Thermal comfort

From a temperature perspective, Bristol is relatively cold, and attention needs to be paid to the impact of low temperatures on people during both indoor and outdoor activities.

Site history

In the early part of Brunel’s life, the use of railways began to take off as a major means of transport for goods. This influenced Brunel’s involvement in railway engineering, including railway bridge engineering. In 1833, before the Thames Tunnel was complete, Brunel was appointed chief engineer of the Great Western Railway, one of the wonders of Victorian Britain, running from London to Bristol and later Exeter The company was founded at a public meeting in Bristol in 1833, and was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1835. It was Brunel’s vision that passengers would be able to purchase one ticket at London Paddington and travel from London to New York, changing from the Great Western Railway to the Great Western steamship at the terminus in Neyland, West Wales.

Brunel made a controversial decision: to use a broad gauge of 7 ft 1/4 in (2,140 mm) for the track, which he believed would offer superior running at high speeds. Drawing on Brunel’s experience with the Thames Tunnel, the Great Western contained a series of impressive achievements—soaring viaducts such as the one in Ivybridge, specially designed stations, and vast tunnels including the Box Tunnel, which was the longest railway tunnel in the world at that time. Brunel’s achievements ignited the imagination of the technically minded Britons of the age, and he soon became quite notable in the country on the back of this interest.

Brunel applied the experimental evidence of Beaufoy and further developed the theory that the amount a ship could carry increased as the cube of its dimensions, whereas the amount of resistance a ship experienced from the water as it travelled increased by only a square of its dimensions. This would mean that moving a larger ship would take proportionately less fuel than a smaller ship. To test this theory, Brunel offered his services for free to the Great Western Steamship Company, which appointed him to its building committee and entrusted him with designing its first ship, the Great Western.

Site history

When it was built, the Great Western was the longest ship in the world at 236 ft (72 m) with a 250-foot (76 m) keel. The ship was constructed mainly from wood, but Brunel added bolts and iron diagonal reinforcements to maintain the keel’s strength. In addition to its steam-powered paddle wheels, the ship carried four masts for sails. The Great Western embarked on her maiden voyage from Avonmouth, Bristol, to New York on 8 April 1838 with 600 long tons (610,000 kg) of coal, cargo and seven passengers on board. Brunel himself missed this initial crossing, having been injured during a fire aboard the ship as she was returning from fitting out in London. As the fire delayed the launch several days, the Great Western missed its opportunity to claim the title as the first ship to cross the Atlantic under steam power alone.

Access and transport to bring areas together

Space open to all

Markets exhibi�ons and preformance

Community Center Harbour iden�ty

Historic train

Use of museum square

Museum

Garden café

Community centre

Sta�on

Green space

View of site

From the diagram, it can be observed that Museum Square is entirely an open area, and the side of the warehouse facing the tracks is not utilized at all, resulting in a significant amount of space being wasted here.

The idea of Connection - Micro

Based on people’s needs, these spaces can be reorganized in the following ways.

The idea of Connection - Micro

This is the general layout of the building space.

The idea of Connection - Micro

Due to the flow of people coming from all directions to Museum Square, I chose a cylindrical-like form as the main building structure that can face all directions simultaneously.

Current situation

It is evident that commuting between section A and B is very inconvenient.

Idea situation

Walkway Connecting Pattern

Highlighted river in the original site plan

The most direct way for an ideal quick walkway

extends to various surrounding areas

Simplified river flow

The impact of the community center on the route

connects various floors and ground

Symmetry, rotation, stretching

Walkway pattern derived from the evolution of river flow

surrounded by greenary

Given Bristol’s deep historical connection with ports and rivers, I decided to use the form of rivers and ports—the important elements that connect Bristol with the world—to link the buildings of Museum Square.

Walkway

Walkway Connecting Pattern

Outdoor walkways that bring pedestrians and greenery closer together - facade 1:500

Outdoor walkways that bring pedestrians and greenery closer together

Indoor walkways with a warm and comfortable environment

Based on the previous environmental analysis, it is known that the outdoor environment in Bristol is not very comfortable. To allow people to comfortably move between buildings, indoor walkways are necessary. However, to enable people to better connect with nature, outdoor walkways weaving through greenery are equally important.

Functional Design

Facade 1:500

Plan 1:500

Greenary roof

Greenary roof Cafe Museum

Community centre

Structure - Inspiration

Inspired by the banyan tree, to support the branches (walkways), both the main trunk and aerial roots are needed.

Structure - Connecting pattern iteration

Fibonacci Sequence The Fibonacci Sequence is the series of numbers:

n =0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14...

xn =0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377...

And here is a surprise. When we take any two successive (one after the other) Fibonacci Numbers, their ratio is very close to the Golden Ratio “φ” which is approximately 1.618034...

Structure - Connecting pattern iteration

Structure - Connecting pattern

12m height column for middle part community centre

9m height column for left part museum

9m height column for higher walkways

4m height column for lower walkways

Regarding pillars of different heights and purposes, there are primarily four types.

Structure - Connecting pattern

Different perspectives of pillars arranged in rows.

Structure

Shrubs and bushes: 0.2kN/m²

Growth Media:

30cm Media Depth γ_sat:4.0kN/m²

Plant Material: 15cm Media Depth γ_sat:1.7kN/m²

Drainage Layer Materials: 20mm Combination drain core/root barriers 0.06kN/m²

Primary and secondary beams: 200mm x 200mm Steel I beams

Protection materials:

20mm Extruded polystyrene 0.01kN/m²

Roofing Membranes: 1.5mm EPDM

0.01kN/m²

Columns: 0.2m diameter Steel columns

Roofing insulation: 100mm Pplyisocyanurate

0.01kN/m² R-6

Pile foundation: 0.5m diameter concrete piles

Roofing slab: 309mm CLT(SLT9) 1.532kN/m² Maximum Panel Size 3.0m x 12.2m

Structure

Environmental analysis - Sky mask

Based on the preliminary analysis, it is learned that Bristol has relatively low temperatures and strong winds throughout the year. However, direct sunlight in the summer still poses a challenge to the comfort of people inside the buildings, especially in the corridor areas of the project, which are at risk of being exposed to intense sunlight. Therefore, I will conduct a sky mask analysis on the corridors to evaluate how to avoid excessive direct sunlight.

Direct sunlight in winter is not a concern, so the focus here is on analyzing the situation on the summer solstice, June 21st. Four prominent points in the corridor will be selected for separate analysis. Dynamically adjust the extended portion of the walkway roof to meet the requirement of avoiding direct sunlight.

Environmental analysis - Sky mask

Environmental analysis - Solar radiation

Solar radiation of the site

Solar radiation without greenary garden and extended walkway roof

Solar radiation with greenary garden and extended walkway roof

It is evident that the analysis in the sky mask played a crucial role, as demonstrated in the solar radiation analysis. After extending the walkway roof, the solar radiation on the walkway significantly decreased.

In the museum area, to attract more interest and create a natural and eco-friendly space, each pillar is designed with a retractable skylight. These skylights provide natural ventilation at appropriate times while also ensuring ample natural light. When observed from the base of the pillars, this natural light resembles the light filtering through the gaps of a banyan tree.

Main exhibit area

Museum roof garden

1 Plant material: Shrubs and bushes

2 Retractable skylights for daylighting and NV

3 1.2m height handrail

4 Growth Media: 15cm and 30cm

5 Drainage Layer materials: 20mm combination drain core/root barriers

6 Protection Materials: Extruded Polystyrene

7 Roofing Membranes: 1.5mmEPDM

8 Roof insulation: 100mm plyisocyanurate

9 Roofing slab: 309mm CLT(SLT9) 3.0m x 12.2m

10 Steel I beams: 200mm x 200mm 11 Steel columns: 0.2 diameter