Future of Design by Scale Rule

FUTURE OF DESIGN A COMMUNITY AND EDUCATION PROJECT TO DESIGN AND BUILD A PAVILION

CLERKENWELL DESIGN WEEK 2016

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Scale Rule strives to broaden access to the built environment professions with clever, fun projects designed for school students.â&#x20AC;?

TODAY’S STUDENTS ARE THE ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS OF TOMORROW - THEY ARE THE FUTURE OF DESIGN. THE FUTURE OF DESIGN PROJECT FOCUSED ON GCSE STUDENTS STILL IN THE PROCESS OF CHOOSING THEIR A-LEVEL SUBJECTS AND THEIR POTENTIAL CAREER PATH. OVER THE FIRST WEEKEND OF THE SPRING HALF TERM 2016 WE RAN A TWO-DAY WORKSHOP FOCUSED ON EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING OF THE DESIGN PROCESS FOR A PAVILION.

CONTENTS

01. Foreword Who Makes London? 02. Introduction The Future of Design Scale Rule 03. Design Learning Design Brief Concept Development Pavilion Designs 04. Design Development Design Development Factors Model Making Connection Details Fabrication Materiality Sharing 05. Sponsors + Contributors

Foreword WHO MAKES LONDON? Who makes London? The streets, the buildings, the spaces in between? Who decides how things should look, what materials are used, and how big or small things should be? The quick answer is architects, planners and engineers, working to the rules set by the planning departments of the city’s local authorities.

Sadly no. Which is why Scale Rule, which brings together architects and engineers with a passion for teaching, has an important role to play. Scale Rule strives to broaden access to the built environment professions with clever, fun projects designed for secondary school students.

That’s right, to a degree, but the closer we look what do we see? Professions peopled by hardworking passionate citizens? Yes. But are those professions made up of people drawn from all sorts of backgrounds, reflective of London’s diverse make-up?

Earlier this year, its Future of Design project, led by engineers from AKTII and architects from Grimshaw, tutored 35 students from nine London schools. Working in small teams, the students designed a summer pavilion for a site in St James Church garden, Clerkenwell. The best of the proposals is set to be built and be showcased during Clerkenwell Design Week this year.

As London’s unstoppable growth continues apace the democratic principles central to Scale Rule’s initiatives – the same ones locked into Open City - are more important than ever. Because while there can be no doubt that London’s urban landscape has been greatly improved in the recent boom years, it also plays host to growing inequalities. That is why Open City matters so much. Our longstanding annual event, Open House embodies much of what we stand for, with its simple, populist message: everyone should enjoy London’s best buildings and places. But many of our other programmes, like My City Too, which sees Open-City work with teenagers to develop a manifesto that will strengthen young people’s role in shaping the future of the city, and Accelerate, which mentors 16-year olds from diverse backgrounds who want professional careers in the built environment, are equally inspirational. Binding these diverse programmes is a desire for equitability. We believe an Open-City is an Equitable City - one in which all of its citizens have a stake in the design, development and care

of their built environments. It’s why we want to work with built environment professionals and politicians, as well as with figures from the arts and the creative industries, to place equitability at the heart of London’s future development. And it’s why we applaud Scale Rule and its commitment to creative engagement with Londoners who might ordinarily not think that a career in architecture or engineering is for them. More diversity in the built environment professions can only mean one thing: a London designed by more of us, and a better London for all of us.

Rory Olcayto, Director, Open City & Open House London

Introduction THE FUTURE OF DESIGN Today’s students are the architects and engineers of tomorrow - they are the future of design. Our previous workshops have engaged people at the start or end of their school careers (primary school children at Open City’s Archikids festival 2015; sixth form students at BSix college in Clapton). The Future of Design project focused on GCSE students still in the process of choosing their A-level subjects and their potential career path. Over the first weekend of the Spring Half Term 2016 we ran a two-day workshop focused on experiential learning of the design process for a pavilion, with the brief to transform an underused public space into a welcoming community hub. Starting with seminars, conceptual design, drawing, model making and presentation, a final design was chosen from those developed by the seven teams participating. The participants were drawn from nine schools across London with help from The Access Project and Open City: Lister Community School; City Academy Hackney; Saint Aloysius College; Lilian Baylis Technology School; Haverstock School; Hornsey School for Girls; Christ’s School; Heartlands High School; Highbury Grove School; WHO ARE SCALE RULE? Scale Rule are a collective of architects and engineers who like teaching, designing, building and learning. By day we are young design professionals in Clerkenwell; by night we engage in community workshops, projects and research in London and beyond.

For something so ubiquitous and which affects all of us, our built environment is designed by a small subset of society, and with limited engagement with the rest of it. We believe a more diverse design industry will make for better balanced spaces, structures and societies. The best way to learn is to do. Through small accessible projects Scale Rule seek to engage the public in shaping the places they spend time in, and through design workshops we seek to inspire young people from all backgrounds to consider a future in designing and building the spaces we live in. While Scale Rule are teaching, we’re still learning. The projects we engage in allow us to adopt different roles in the design and construction process than those that we usually hold; transforming engineers and architects into teachers, project managers, general contractors or joiners. Through these experiences we too gain further insight into the holistic design process which is not readily available in a more traditional design team structure.

School locations across London.

Learning Design PAVILION WORKSHOPS The Future of Design Workshops were held over two days at AKTII’s offices in Clerkenwell. Seminars on architecture, engineering, drawing and construction aimed to provide the students with an insight into the day-to-day of the various professions along with a ‘crash-course’ in each topic. Learning how to draw plans and sections was followed by immediate application during the pavilion design sessions with mentors on hand to guide each student team in the production of a concept proposal.

Learning Design 1

GROUP WORK The students worked in teams of 2-6 to develop the design of a summer pavilion for a site in St Jamesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Church garden, Clerkenwell. Following a visit to the site where they studied the various architectural constraints the students developed their designs through concept sketches and 3D models accompanied by plans, sections and construction details explaining how to build it. In the spirit of Scale Ruleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passion for open source collaboration, all the seminar presentations are available at scalerule.org to facilitate the hosting of similar workshops.

SITE VISIT The site chosen for the pavilion is a popular lunch spot within the Clerkenwell design community but currently lacks sufficient provision for seating. To redress this, the aim of the pavilion is to provide a space that can be used throughout the summer by local people. This will also provide a lasting legacy of Clerkenwell Design Week.

1. Learning how to use a scale ruler 2. Lectures - What is architecture? What is engineering? 3. Structural Engineering: Understanding tension and compression in structures 4. Learning construction basics 5. Groups learn how to draw plans and brainstorming ideas 6. Team mentoring with construction industry professionals 7. Recording information on the site visit 8. Group site visit

Brief PAVILION CONSTRAINTS The brief set out specific aims the students were required to address. To accompany this a series of exercises were devised to get the students thinking about the site and the space. Constraints: 30m2 floor area <4m height Structure independent of trees Use of plywood sheet material Design life: 6 months outdoors Response to site and climate: -Shelter from sun and rain -Contribute additional seating to the park -Encourage chance encounters -Entice people into the park Use: -Exhibition space for studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work -Formal presentation space for up to 25 people -Informal gathering space for users Story: -What story will your pavilion tell to the people using it -About where it came from -About the local environment -About how it was built The proposed pavilion intends to be a gift in making the process of architecture legible to a public increasingly confused by the abundance of unique icons materialising at huge scales the world over. Whilst the pavilion typology is no longer employed as a catalyst to urban expansion as it once was, this typology is being called on again by a new generation of designers as a way of efficiently and creatively transforming spaces within the constraints of increasingly complex city legislation.

SITE B

SITE A

Concept CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT Each group tabled three concept designs at the end of the first day; not a mean feat for a few hoursâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work. This forced the students to brainstorm rapidly and get ideas on paper no matter how wild they seemed. Each teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favoured design was taken forward for refinement and presentation on the second day. Following alot of learning on Saturday, each team spent Sunday fevourishly producing a pavilion design in preparation to present to a panel of judges arriving at the Grimshaw offices on Sunday afternoon. TEAM DELIVERABLES - Plan, section and elevation drawings - Perspective sketches - 1:20 Model - Basic construction ideas - Verbal presentation

1. Teams sketching ideas 2. Drawing plans, sections and elevations of the pavilion design 3. Model making

Pavilion Designs 1Team 01 (Selected Pavilion Design)

Team 02

Team 01 (Selected Pavilion Design)

Team 02

Team 03

Team 04

Pavilion Designs

Team 05

Team 06

Team 07

Presenting Designs To The Judges

Presentation Area

Pavilion Designs

JURY COMMENTS From rainwater harvesting techniques to a community mural space, from patterned perforated faĂ§ades to tetris-inspired paving and a hammock space, the students showcased unbridled creativity and innovation that professionals aspire to. Freed from the knowledge of project constraints that experience provides, the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; designs exhibited creation and ingenuity. The selected design combined thoughtful consideration of the surrounding landscape, and a strong sensibility and awareness of fabrication and construction.

1. Judges reviewing designs 2. Selected pavilion design

Design Development DESIGN DEVELOPMENT FACTORS Following the student workshops and pavilion design selection it was down to the Scale Rule team to source materials and develop the final design into a digital model to allow for fabrication through CNC routing of plywood sheets. Several key factors contributed to the development of the concept design into the final pavilion digital model: - Material quantity available - Buildability: maximum dimensions of structure including pavilion height and weight of pieces - Human scale: sitting and standing heights drove the pavilion geometry - Rationalisation of form to allow a flat bed router to cut out the plywood pieces - Structural design to ensure the stability of the pavilion

Ergonomic seating design development

Considering material efficiency and sheet size

Plan setout curve

Roof setout curve

Blend two curves Outside face of pavilion

Offset surface - Inside face of pavilion

Divide surface

Extract curves from surfaces

Divide curves equally

Connect points to create horizontal slats

Define intermediate vertical arches

Setout seating heights on arches

Divide seating into sheets and ribs

Final digital model

Design Development

PAVILION PLAN

12 m a

Design Development

PAVILION BACK ELEVATION

11 m

PAVILION FRONT ELEVATION

3.4 m

9.8 m

Design Development

PAVILION AXONOMETRIC

12 m

Design Development

THE VALUE OF MODEL MAKING

The value of model making cannot be underestimated. Testing ideas in reality does so much more than just bringing an idea to life. Through the process of making small maquettes and testing the system the design was developed and rationalised. Through model making the team were also able to make informed decisions on the best way to save material without affecting the design intent. The final model also gave an invaluable opportunity to test the construction methodology and staging.

and design touches everyone’s lives, informing how we live, work “Architecture and play. Scale Rule’s Future of Design project represents a unique opportunity to look outside of our professions for inspiration and offers a chance to ignite passions in the next generation of designers. The pavilion itself is a great achievement, not only for the school children who produced its concept but also because it is a lovely piece of design. Grimshaw is delighted to have been able to take part in this project for Clerkenwell Design Week, and I hope everyone enjoys visiting the pavilion and continues to support this excellent initiative for years to come.

”

Mark Middleton Managing Partner for Grimshaw’s London office

Design Development

A STUDY OF CONNECTION DETAILS

The design necessitated a large amount of connections so developing a system that was simple, accurate and repeatable was imperative. It was also important that the system could be cut within the constraints of a CNC machine. The angled slats made for potentially tricky connections, however to determine the most suitable connection method a series of 1:1 mockups were tested before the final system was chosen.

Early sketches of connection detail options

SLAT

VERTICAL ARCH

BENCH SEATING

STIFFENER

Diagram showing connection detail of arches, slats, and seating

Design Development

Testing connection details

DOME NUT SLAT COMPRIBAND SLAT

DOME NUT

VERTICAL ARCH

01. CONNECTION SECTION DETAIL

HORIZONTAL SLATS SLOT THROUGH ARCH

DOME NUT

THREADED BAR CUT TO SIZE ON SITE: ALLOWS FOR VARYING SLAT ANGLES

HORIZONTAL SLATS

01.

VERTICAL ARCH

DOME NUT Exploded axonometric drawing: rib and slat connection detail

Professor Sir Edmund Happold Structural Engineer

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

A world which sees art and engineering as â&#x20AC;&#x153; divided is not seeing the world as a whole.

Fabrication DESIGNING FOR DISSASSEMBLY

The design team dissected the digital model to create a series of flat pieces that could be cut from the Ply sheets using a CNC Flat Bed Router. These pieces were cut with the slot hole and tabs system integrated to allow for ease of construction, and to ensure the possibility of dissasembly. The ply was cut at Wup Doodleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workshops in Norfolk using state of the art machinery, and with their knowledge of traditional woodworking methods the final sheets were prepped for pavilion building. The high level of precision that Wup Doodle provide gave the design team confidence that the reduced construction time would be sufficient, with all pieces slotting together neatly.

Fabrication

Materiality WHY PERFORMANCE PLYWOOD SHEETS? “At Hanson Plywood we pride ourselves in our understanding of wood based panel products and their intended applications. We are using this knowledge to challenge what we consider to be the outdated practice of specifying Marine Plywood for construction applications by presenting Performance Plywood to the market. Performance Plywood is tested to meet EN 636 Service Class 3 thus making it suitable for use as structural components in exterior conditions and is fully FSC certified endorsing its strong environmental credentials. We recognise the value of such product knowledge and expertise within our business and that is why we continue to employ young people, providing them with a committed extensive training program. We view Scale Rule’s project for CDW as the perfect blend of involving young people with wood based panel products whilst encouraging specifiers to think about fit for purpose specifications and that is why we are delighted to be involved.”

Simon Matthews, Hanson Plywood

Product data sheet

H Performance Plywood An alternative to general commercial Marine Plywood offering full classification and performance in all conditions. The timber trade have been vocal about their concerns over the difficulty in sourcing commercial marine plywood which truly meets the BS1088 standard. Hanson Plywood Ltd believe that a genuine Marine product that does meet the standard will be far too expensive for the construction applications that the product is commonly specified for. Marine Plywood has been specified, mostly in construction applications, in the belief that it is simply a high quality product. Hanson Plywood Ltd firmly consider this practice to be outdated and advise that all specifications should be satisfied with products that are fit for purpose, taking into account the application and the particular performance criteria required. H Hanson Performance Plywood is tested to meet EN 636 Service Class 3 thus making it suitable for use as structural components in exterior conditions. The product is from sustainable, legal and responsible forest management units. Applications - General construction, joinery, all applications which demand full compliance with exterior classification standards.

Specification Detail EN 636-3 S

Manufactured to Glue bond

EN314-2 Class 3 (Exterior)

Formaldehyde release

0.21-0.23 mg/m2h - Class E1 (Tested to EN 717-2)

Moisture content

10% (±2)

Veneers

High Quality Face and Core

Average density

500 kg/m3 – 550 kg/m3

European Timber Regulation (EUTR) status

Compliant

CE marked

BS EN 13986

Chain of Custody

Available

Material Safety Data Sheet

Available

To find out more you can visit HANSON-PLYWOOD.CO.UK Drakes Industrial Estate Tel: 01422 330444 Shay Lane, Halifax Fax: 01422 330706 West Yorkshire Email: sales@hanson-plywood.co.uk HX3 6RL

www.hanson-plywood.co.uk

FSC stock available.

Responsible Purchaser

Sharing SUSTAINABLE PLACES ARE COMMUNITY MADE There’s no better way to feel part of your neighbourhood than getting involved in making it. When homes, streets and neighbourhoods are created by the people that live there, they become much more than just a built environment. They become the places we call home, shaped by the stories and memories we make along the way. Whether we’re planting flowerbeds in disused bus stations, fixing up bookshelves at home or throwing a street party for our neighbours, these small acts of creativity give us the permission we need to turn that place into our place. Easier said than done, of course. Practical tools can be difficult to come by. Things like electric drills, belt sanders, power washers, sewing machines and lawn mowers, are essential but expensive. Even when we do have the tools, sometimes we need a hand to get the work done. Library of Things is a community space where people come to borrow useful items and learn how to use them. Just as a library lends books, our members can borrow everything from power tools to sound systems, tents to digital cameras – things that let them create a beautiful home and neighbourhood, enjoy the great outdoors, cook up a feast and host special occasions, without having to buy anything.

Rooted in the community, we run practical classes in activities like furniture making, batch cooking and food growing, giving local people an excuse to come together - to borrow items, learn new skills, and meet their neighbours. Library of Things has been working with Scale Rule to inspire the next generation of architects and engineers – those that will shape the places we live and work in years to come. Sharing our insights into community building and sustainable sourcing, we’ve lent our tools, hands and knowhow to the construction of the Pavilion in Clerkenwell Green, to help bring the students’ designs to life. Whilst you can’t see or touch it, the story of the Pavilion’s making is etched into its fabric. From the sketches and models created by students, to the materials that journeyed through suppliers and processors, and even the splinters we encountered during the construction. It’s as much the way in which it was built that makes this Pavilion a beautiful place to sit and admire the surroundings. Emma Shaw Library of Things Co-Founder

1. Library of things runs workshops in diy, upcycling and urban greening 2. Bzz garage transforms unloved spaces like garages into wildflower meadows, using tools provided by library of things 3. Library of things holds regular community events like this surplus supper with food waste charity, community shop (credit: susanne hakuba)

SCALE RULE Sinead Conneely Steven Kennedy Laura Hannigan Dan Bergsagel Annabel Koeck Philip Isaac

Sponsors SPECIAL THANKS TO: Engineering Support

Conneely Group Dylining & Facades

Clerkenwell Design Week 2016

Architectural Support

Library of Things

SPONSORS:

Hanson Plywood Limited

Call Print

Contributors TUTORS + SPECIALISTS Erica Choi

Mattia Tettamanti

Emma Shaw

Jamie Vickery

Ed Durie

Rebekah Foote

Suran Qutbi

Armineh Aghazarian

Sean Davis

Roy Madar

Jonny Hawkshaw

Diana Bell

Joseph Eyles

David Schultz

Mo Bala

Adiam Sertzu

Nick Peters

Marta Garcia

Richard Winter

Richard Parker

Denis Vlieghe

Mark Dustan

Mark Thorley

Richard Argent (Wup Doodle)

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www.scalerule.org Editor: Annabel Koeck Graphic Concept: Erica Choi Photography Contributors: Wup Doodle, Erica Choi, Richard Winter Architectural Illustration: Mattia Tettamanti