ST IAD Comp 2

Component 2: Museum

By Sam Tapsell

Design Brief Specifications

I am going to design a fossil museum in Romford that will hold fossils all found within the united kingdom. The main idea I want to go with the building is making it in a way like a fossil having a one design on the inside and on the outside a completely contrasting design.

Different areas for different types of fossils

Toilets

Reception area

Food area or drink stand

Location and site analysis

I think that this area is a good location for a museum because the area hasn’t been used in 11 years as in 2013 the building that used to be there, an ice rink, shut down and was demolished so that a Morrisons could be build there however that plan never went through, and the area has remained abandoned to this day. The area also has good connections to public transport there is a station close by and right next to the area there is a bus station and car parking. Another reason I think building a fossil museum here would be a good idea is because the closest museum to this area with these types of contents is in central London.

Blue – pavements

Yellow - roads

Green – grass area

Red – abandoned site

lamellas

Lamellas are a type of structure that looks like its sort of scaffolding where it overlaps with each other and creates and interesting shape of a structure. I want to try and use this technique in my design on the interior of my building to give the interior a interesting design

Zaishui Art

Museum The Zaishui Art Museum was built in 2023 designed by the architect Junya Ishigami. The building currently serves as an exhibition space, visitor centre and a shopping centre, the site is on top of an artificial lake and is an entrance to a new development area. The building has the length of around a kilometre going across the surface of the lake giving the sense of skating along the lakes surface. Columns are placed along the walls evenly spaced with glass fitted between the columns and in some sections it can open allowing a gentle breeze to enter the building. Some panels have slight bits underneath to allow the lake water to naturally enter the building. In some places the ceiling is high which allows light into the building and surrounding scenery in other places it is low which allows the reflection of the water to be seen on the ceiling. The building appears to be shaped like a streak of wind that passes over the lake.

City of arts and sciences

The city of arts and sciences is 8 structures on the southeast end of the former riverbed of the river Turia that finished construction in 1998. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava and Felix Candela and is considered on of the 12 treasures of Spain. L'Hemisferic is a planetarium IMAX cinema and laserium and the building is meant to resemble a giant eye and it is the centerpiece of the City of arts and sciences. Its design resembles an eyelid that opens to access the water pool surrounding the building and it was the first of the 8 to be built and complete.

Museum de les Ciencies Principle Felipe is an interactive museum of science that has a structure that is meant to resemble the skeleton of a whale. The building has 3 floors the lowest mainly being taken up by a basket ball court and the second has "the legacy of science" exhibition and the 3rd is known as the "chromosome forest" and it shows the sequencing of human DNA. L'Agora is a covered plaza which hosts concerts and sporting events. The building has a glass roof along its spine and has a moveable structure that can be used to control the natural lighting inside the building.

Chapel of sound

The chapel of sound is an open-air concert hall that was built in Chengde, China in 2021 by OPEN architects. The buildings design is meant to look like a boulder that has gently fallen into place. The building is made entirely of concrete that is mixed with local rocks. The building was designed to capture the unfamiliar and touching experience of music being performed in the middle of nature and the architects also wanted people to people to be calm and listen to the sounds of nature around them, when no performances are being held the hall is also a relaxing and quiet place for community gathering.

Al Musallah prayer hall

The Al Musallah prayer hall was built in Abu Dhabi, UAE in 2019 by the architect group CEBRA. The building is built in the park of the citys oldest and most important building, the Qasr Al Hosn Fort. The master plans of the buildings emphasize the duality of reintroducing the coastal desert landscape by dividing the site diagonally into two contrasting landscapes. On one side a plain soft and open desert landscape like it was before the modern city was built around it and on the other a paved area with mass amounts of planting around the cultural foundation, which combines the desert landscape with the modern cities grid like structure. The two landscapes connect through a public urban space that is characterized by cracks and irregular geometric shapes that are inspired by the distinctive mud crack patterns of the coastal desert landscape and salt flats that surround the city.

Research/Inspiration

My Research/Inspiration I decided to look at different rocks, fossils and landscapes to get a sense for where I wanted to go with my model making and I liked the shape of a mountain. I also liked the shape of different fossils that could maybe be used as decals in the walls of the building for example using an ammonite fossil shape in the walls as a sort of wallpaper or maybe use different fossil designs in the walls in different areas of the museum that correlate to the types of fossils that are in that area.

Basic Model Making

For my first models I just started out with some basic models to see if I could develop any more ideas but if I'm being honest, I don’t really like any of these ideas apart from maybe the scrunched-up paper one that kind of looks a bit like a flower but I don’t think that I will develop any of these ideas any further.