Component 2

Simi Bakarey Component 2

Design Brief Specification

In this component I will be designing the exterior of a music and culture centre from a site near Romford station. I want to update the current standing building with a more fun engaging style, like other buildings within the Romford area that have aspects of colour and enticing shapes. I want this to be a space to attract people of all ages and interests and allow for seating inside. The goal of my new design is to bring people together in favour of a common interest in enrichment of culture, which personally I think Romford lacks.

Romford is a very ‘one way’ town, you see it and realise there’s only one way to go and that’s home. But my goal is to introduce a place that could make people think twice when passing through.

Within this new development I want to include:

- Interesting parts that flow together

- Landscape design

- Colourful pieces, not limited to windows

- Separate but linking spaces for different aspects of the site

In terms of location, the space is big and in an area that generates a bit of retail traffic, as people are either already coming or are planning to go ( possibly to the station or one of the) many bus routes

An inspiration for me is that of Hector Guimard and his influence on art nouveau architecture. After he himself saw an art nouveau, his artistic approach changed. His style of unique patterns and connect and enhance each other will be a primary influence on my design

Location Information

I have chosen the youth cadets building as a place to redesign. This is because it currently is supposed to serve the same purpose as the original building does.

Most recently August 2021

A small but noticeabledifference between years ago and now is the disappearance of the already minimal greenery, there are patches of mostly dead grass and covered overblocks of where trees used to stand

The space doesn’t have much information around it but by simply looking at it you can see it hasn’t been a frontman for redevelopment. For example here is the google street view across

13 years:

Sep 2008

Oct 2012

Aug 2016

Dec 2020

The area is surrounded by domestic housing, an ambulance station and a optometry centre, further down the road within walking distance is the station and another walk down is the brewery and mercury

The location is situated just after a big set of traffic lights near south street, it is near four connecting roads that join Romford to places like Harold hill, Leytonstone and Hornchurch

There are few natural physical features, such as trees and hedging but on the actual site they act like a border

A negative of this spaceis the noise pollution, car sounds and bus engine running is a factor to consider in development. Especially as the side walk is directly near the road

By drawing up theoretical plans, I can generate interesting ways to fill up the space before refining it to an actual building, especially because this is an irregular shaped space and fitting things in will be harder.

From plans 3,4 and 5 I’ve realised I want to mix curved forms and straight lines.

My favourite is plan three the normal block buildings with the circular addition adds an interesting aspect that I could link to my inspiration of art deco/nouveau. Additionally it would allow me to incorporate greenery which the space is severely lacking

This plan looks visually interesting but practically, I am not sure where to take it

The shapes don’t work very fluidly together and although all curved they kind of clash

This is a more expressive idea but fits the kind of symmetrical and unique nature of art nouveau. The circles could be trees and the back revised parking to stay true to the actual nature of the space

First Design Inspiration – Art Nouveau

Art nouveau was a French international style of art, architecture and decorative arts. It was popular between 1890-1914 and was used to replace older historical buildings

The old England building in Brussels, designed in 1899

It flattens the organic shapes and turned them into sinuous flowing motifs

It takes inspiration from the natural world and can be characterised by:

- Extensive use of arches

- Curving plant like embellishments

- Asymmetrical lines also plant shaped

- Organic shapes

Eduardo Garcia Santos

Moodboard

The Paris metro station entrances were designed by French architect Hector Guimard in the 20th century. They act as a marker of one of the influential ages in French art and architecture

There were two types of entry-way created: an Edicule ( meaning kiosk) structure or an open entourage (enclosure )

The entourageis two stem like lamp posts with a red orb similar to an flower bulb or an insect eye, connected by a sinuous arch

When Guimard was commissioned he was told to make the entrances ‘as elegant as possible’

The entrances are made of cast iron set in concrete and oxidized green brass

The Edicule was reminiscent of a dragonfly’s wings, a common motif in art nouveau

Castel Beranger

Castel Berangerwas also designed by HectorGuimard between 1895 and 1897 for Anne Elizabeth Fournier. The house is aexplicitexample of art nouveau themes like curvilinearforms thatresembleplantand flower stems.

A lotof the components of the buildingare more in the gothicstyle of architecture like the turrets on the corners.

The balconies were adisplay of artnouveau styles and contributed to the house beingnicknamed as ‘the house of devils’

The build contrasted with previously seen monotonous Haussmann style with use of ashlar ( a type of stone used in masonry), red, grey and glazed bricks, cast iron, copper, wood and polychrome stained glass.

Haussmann Style Guimard’s Style

Art deco

Art deco or Art Decoratifs is a French modern art style originating in the 1920s, but arrived just before the end of art nouveau in the 1910s.

Characteristics

- Symmetrical lines

- Streamlined

Although originating in Europe the American style of deco outgrew and evolved to have a bigger influence in the U.S with the New York buildings probably being the most recognisable examples of art deco in architecture

Art Deco aimed to be just as unique as its predecessor but in a more accessible way. Art Nouveau emphasised originality and handmade objects with stylised forms. Art deco was egalitarian, prioritising all people as a whole rather than individual aspects.

Example

The national Basilica of the sacred heart is the fifth largest church in the world and an art deco monument designed by Albert Van Huffel from years 1919-1969. It’s located in Brussels.

- Aesthetic to the eye

- Geometric - Often simple

Simple forms and repeating shapes are key within this aesthetic

With the development of large scale manufacturing ,artists and designers wanted to enhance the appearance of mass produced functional objects

The Chrysler Building ,New York

The Chrysler building is an art deco Skyscraper located on the east side of Manhattan New York. It was briefly the tallest building in the world until it was overtaken by the empire state building in 1931, which is another example of art deco architecture

The building is most recognised for its terraced crown which is an extension of the main building

The skyscraper follows many of the art deco design ‘rules’ in its simple use of geometric shapes and sleek design not only in the exterior but the interior as well.

The building is also decorated with fixtures of eagles on the viewing deck and wings a couple of levels down

Model making: Model 1

Model making: Model 2

Model making: Model 3

Design Research

A big feature of architecture styles such as art deco is the use of simple/generic forms and shapes arranged in a repeated complex style, with added details. For example, this building in Mumbai, while a bit gaudy the repeated straight lines and motifs of the seahorse, jellyfish and dolphins add an interesting element to an otherwise boring building

Another art deco building that highlights my point is the Hoover building in London. The signature symmetry creates the illusion of a complex design however this pinpoints the differences through the bright colours drawing more attention to differences on each side.

Or the American standard radiator building in new York. This could be a very corporate build from the bottom to the lower middle but when you look at the gold trimmings the building becomes a lot more personified. I think this is down to the mixed arrangement of circles, semicircles, rectangles and squares. I also think that the colour further gives it a sense of personality and uniqueness

Generating ideas from design research

To come up with solid model ideas, I will start by taking solid and simple shapes and arranging them into compositions to build around. When working from the ground up it may be easier to think of more complex ideas than doing that straight off the bat,

For example, this concept for a music hall and sports centre designed by Tatiana Bilbao.It was designed with the exterior revolving around the interior, with the interior having five levels to accommodatedifferent kinds of entertainment like; concerts or boxing matches etc.

Irapuato Music Hall and Sports Centre

2D Composition

2D composition is as simple as it sounds, it is basically the interesting arrangement of various shapes

There are two types: closed compositionwhere objects are drawn as though confined within the outer borders of the page open composition- objects look unrelated to the size of the frame, creating an impression of extending beyond the boundaries of the frame

Creating my own 2D compositions

These works by Sandor Bortnyik

would be classed as closed composition as the objects do not extend from out of the boundaries of the page

While this work by Vio Valova is open as we don’t know where the objects could extend to in relation to the boundariesof the frame

Using this collection of 2D shapes, I organised two different layouts

Layout 1

Layout 2

2D composition buildingidea

Out of the two compositions I created, layout 2 was my favourite

I recreated the flat shapes in Sketch up to visualise the 3D composition

Using the raw colours to make it easier to see the depth between shapes

Window inspirationSchlump one offices, J

Mayer H

The original office building

Window Inspiration Felix Nussbaum museum by Daniel Libeskind

The Felix Nussbaum museum is an extension to the cultural history museum in Osnabruck for Jewish artist Felix Nussbaum

Although I wouldn't use the harsh geometric lines the irregularity could serve as a source of inspiration especiallywith the lack of consistency of placement on the building

Creating a model based on this artwork

Before creating my own 3d compositions I used the work of “” to make a tester

The Butterfly House- Additional inspiration

The butterfly house is an architectural sculpture designed by Laurie Chetwood who was inspired by the lifecycle of a butterfly. This dramatic art installation/ home is a inspiration for me as the use of insects such as butterflies aligns with one of my themes of art nouveau. And I could easily replicate the chaotic forms with wire in my design

The winged shape is something id like to incorporate in my design whether it be overt like the butterfly house or something more subtle. Chetwood’s colour usage is also meaningful as the wings are a direct influence of the red admiral butterfly’s markings.

Stage 1:Looking at Butterfly Wings to create additionsfor my designs

DevelopingThe model ideas

The wings didn’t work on this model but something else similar in a different material could possibly work better

Using the same previous models I added concept wings to the roof as making it stand physicallyproved to be a challenge

Although the idea of these wings seem interesting when trying to actuallyformulate ideas for the building,they overshadowed and didn’t fit in naturallywithin the models

One line drawings

By doing one-line drawings of flower and leaf shapes, I could simplify it to be translated to wire shapes

These one lines are more complex due to the going over of lines that add dimension

But also the idea of simply repeating the same shape on-top of one another, is a way I could consider using in my final design

Using primary research

These pictures of frost on a window were interesting to recreate in wire, they were irregular and reminded me of the stems seen in other art nouveau buildings

Using the one-line drawings as a guide

I shaped the wire into flowers. The leaf is a more explicit example of being inspired by the research but with the flowers you must inspect more which I still like

Model idea based on secondary research

Based on the ice cubes culture centre, I arranged the small cubes in an interesting format to give a multi-layered design concept

CombiningPrimary and Secondary Research

With the wire design pieces I laid them overtop the original cubic model to complexify the design

Overall it looks pretty cool, however because both the wire pieces and the levels to the cubic model have a lot going on, it feels like they clash and you can’t appreciate them together. To me, they actively work against each other rather than flowing harmoniously

I tried to mimic the chaotic elements included in the butterfly house, but some parts don’t really make sense. E.g. the large wire leaf, it feels like it is blocking

Designing the space around the buildinginspiration

Revisiting previous models

This initial model worked well although too difficult to convert into my space alone.

Instead of wasting the design, I want to use it as a pavilion

Breaking it down: The initial shape/walls are solid, to make it a pavilion Icould hollow it out

Sketchup Model

Using sketch up I created a simplified version of what my outcome could look like

In the long term it put the size into perspective, helping me realize there was a lot of empty space I had not utilised, especially in the back.

Experimenting with different sketchup styles

Final Model

Evaluatinghow I did

Getting a start on this project was initiallyhard due to limited ideas and struggle to pick out an optimal space. However I believethat I was able to use my choices as strengths to my design Based on my design I think I was successful in stayingtrue to my brief and intentespecially with my incorporation of colours and interesting pieces. My Favourite part would haveto be the coloured protrusions from the side of the buildingbecause they visuallywork well and complexify my initiallysimple idea. With my references to classic architectural styles like art nouveau and art deco I created a modern design that could (if used in actuality)attract a new audienceto the space.

That being said I do think I could have experimented more with the buildingshape and possibly have developed that more. But overall I am pleased with what I designed and how individual sectionsinteract