Architecture Portfolio 2014 - Róisín Mc Donald

R ÓI S Í N MC D ONAL D ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO 2014

RÓISÍN MC D O N A L D D u b l i n I nst i t u t e of Tec h n olog y ro i s i n m cdonal d4@g mail.com + 4 4 7947 637459

3 3 C ol l i ngb ou rn e Road Lo n don, W 12 0J G

CONTENTS Projects - Third Year

■■ A Craft Chesse Factory in Mallow, Co.Cork, Ireland

- In junction with ‘Considering Critical Regionalism’ - a design dissertaion by Roisin Mc Donald

■■ ‘A City within a City’, Bruge, Belguim - An engagement of architectural research and design through direct and personal engagement with

the Beguinages of the Western Flanders.

- Project 2 - Drawing, Documenting, Model Making and Photography

- Project 3 - Fabric. Object. Garden. - Making a new piece of the Beguinage, a contemporary design within a Unesco World heritage site.

A Craft Cheese Factory in Mallow

- In junction with ‘Considering Critical Regionalism’, a design dissertation

by Roisin Mc Donald

In the second semester of our third year of studies, my class and I were assigned to complete a design project based in a town called Mallow in Co. Cork, Ireland.

In the project brief issued it states that “The vehicle for the module is a complex urban condition which offers a number of opportunities to engage in architectural design, from the theoretical to the practical, from landscape to conservation, from new build to adaptive re-use.”

Following a survey and analysis of Mallow we each selected our own site, decided on a theme and typology, and therefore issued a brief with a specific a programme that was fabricated after research and analysis of relevant case studies.

The process of this project was to be presented in detail through a design dissertation - a narrative description of our design intentions and subsequent developed ideas. This task was perhaps the most challenging for this project but was the most helpful tool in design development since it allowed for a strict schedule of the necessary stages for us to follow and complete.

I have uploaded my dissertation online, you can find it by following this link: http://issuu.com/roisinmcdonald5/docs/merged_dissertation_pages My chosen theme for this project is Critical Regionalism - An approach to architecture that strives to counter the placelessness and lack of meaning that can sometimes be associated with modern architecture by using contextual forces to give a sense of place and meaning.

Analysis Drawing - Primary buildings in Mallow

The typlogy I choose to design was a Craft Cheese Factory. Using relevant case studies, I started to develop a program that would ensure the functionality of the factory and a reinvention of the site.

As part of the complex I included a cheese tasting room, a shop and a function space. These were to become part of the local fabric and would reactivate the derelict site. By using the section of the site, influenced by surrounding elevations and applying 3d modeling a structure began to evolve.

I decided I wanted to create a centre within the town, a stopping-place, junction and haven that would interact with its surroundings and connect with the already existing infrastructure and complement the bustling town of Mallow. Therefore I began to look at the areas of the town more specifically. In doing so I choose a long narrow site situated within a block of existing buildings just off the main street. The site is also connected to an existing car park and ends on the boundary of a secondary road.

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A Craft Cheese Factory in Mallow

Ground floor plan

Street Elevation - Scale 1:400

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Long Section

When thinking of tectonics I envisioned a contradiction of the ‘old meaning’ and the ‘new meaning’, the organic and the prefabricated, the raw and the plastic, the hard and the flexible. This contradiction is seen with the characteristics of the ageing cave which are hard, thick, concrete, low, damp and dark, against the solar wall which is light, modern, thin, plastic and ductile.

The solar wall or ‘Energetic facade system’ used as a roof and wall system is constructed of an outer polycarbonate layer, fitted onto timber battons that are then fixed onto a timber framing system. Within this a glulam panelled wall is used as the massing element, which allows for the accumulated heat to, depending on the season, move up the facade and then be either collected and stored or ventilated out.

I aimed at trying to make a realm for work and productionwith specified and separated spaces, whilst always creating something that is relevant in terms of scale and form to its urban context.

In conversation with my theme I tried to base form on ‘the actual’ and the functional, “the in order to”, instead of “for the sake of”, to create relevant contradictions for a regional architecture. The vaulted ceilings to allow condensation from high humidity levels to drip to the walls, to the floor, and drained out, and the pitched solar roof to catch maximum energy by facing south.

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A Craft Cheese Factory in Mallow

Cross Section

Second Floor Plan

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Cross Section

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A Craft Cheese Factory in Mallow

Exploded Axonometric

City within a City

Project 2 - Drawing, Model making and Photography

In semester one my class and I went to Belguim to research and document the semi-monastic Beguinage sites of the western flanders. These date back to the 13th and 14th centurys. The Beguinages were semi-monastic communities that provided an alternative to the cloistered life of the convent for woman who sought to lead a spiritual life but were either unable to join a convent due to monetary or other restrictions or who desired to be more active in their community through charitable work.

The Beguinges lived a unique lifestyle between the strict rules of the traditional monastic orders and a ‘free’ life of

the city dweller. The Beguinage was a city within a city containing houses, a church, infirmaries, ancillary buildings and green spaces.

Upon return we were asked to create highly detailed drawings of the fabric and character of the Beguinage as well as constructing detailed models of each of these complexes and their urban environment.

These were to be compiled as architectural documentation of these buildings, which is to be part of a three year research project that will be collected into a book and exhibition. We were then to use these typologies as a vehicle and reference point for all of the design work in studio.

“...not simply documenting the lines of things which make up these buildings, but in getting at the essential character of them.”

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City within a City

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City within a City

Project 3 - Fabric. Object. Garden

Our site for this project was based in the semi-monastic religious community, the Beguinage in Bruges. The Beguinages are rich repositories of architectural knowledge and it is their characterful spaces, expressive tectonics, lush gardens and plentiful forms that became the starting point and main stimulus for this design project.

The site given was within the walls of the Beguinage and so our objective was to look back in order to look forward; to study in detail spaces of great character so that we might make spaces of great character. We were asked to design with both the old and the new city, the historical and the contemporary.

The brief prescribed housing for retired women, a medical clinic and adult education centre. I enjoyed the concept of ‘A City within a City’ and so I envisioned a scheme that would create hierarchies, streets and open spaces. I wanted to compliment and reflect upon the existing fabric, in particular a play on public, semi-public and private realms.

Site Plan of Beguinage and Project 3.

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City within a City

Concept Models

Ground Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

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In the Beguinage the unique mix of social programmes, private and public vernacular architecture, direct constructional logics, and garden/building relationships hold innumerable architectural lessons. With this in mind I aimed towards having my scheme and tectonics uphold a similar composition.

The scheme was also to include gardens for both recreational and practical use. These aspects are addressed through the variation in shared, private and public external spaces. Which in turn are governed by the language of the housing scheme.

This would create the desired contemporary environment while paying homage to its historical context.

The housing scheme is organised to create these private and shared spaces. I have provided one storey and two storey hous-

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City within a City

es. The scheme is to read as one combined system and enclosure, that is made up of individual units.

The adult education centre includes a large hall/assembly space.

This is to be used by both for educational purposes, but also for the retired womans community. The hall is represented as a hierarchy and focal point that sits in junction with the private housing realm and the public realm that consists of the adult education centre, medial centre and open green square for city dwellers.

In presenting my final design I used the same drawing method that we used in Project 2. In doing so I was able to suitably represent my design in its context.

Exterior and Interior renders completed on Revitt

Long Section

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City within a City

Cross Section through site and Beguinage

Cross Section through site and Beguinage

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