Sketch Scheme Thomas Wakeman

Preliminary Sketch Scheme Submission Campus Centre for Retreat . Cardiff University Thomas Wakeman .Welsh School of Architecture 2013

Music Library Patio

View To Arched Entrance (A)

Rear of Aberdare Hall and 60’s Addition

Site Pedestrian Entrance

(A) Main Gated Entrance

Main Entrance archway with french doors forming access to addition above

Colonnade of arches: to become internal coffee house ‘booths’

Site Proposal: Key Spaces and Aerial Information

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK Column TerraceSTUDENT PRODUCT ramp to parking lot

Construction traffic

70 83

0 77 51

patio

boundary wall

Parking Lot

vehicular access

Residential homes and yards

library and dorm entrance

07 33

9 82 13 00 94

demolished 60's block

implied facade boundary

34 92

arched connecting 'bridge'

School of Music

archway

90 21

Parking lot and turning Basement access and oil tank

Commercial Kitchens

Girls Dorm entrance

entrance

30 88 offices

boundary wall

Aberdare Hall

89 31

2 38 31 0 91 26

Queen Anne Square

entrance

formal entrance

Corbett Road lawns

North

Existing Site Conditions, Access and Development Phases

footpath

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT

Phase 2 Site Access and Hoarding plan, showing demolition outline

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT

Floor 0 Music Library & dorms 0 84 25

Site Access Routes

Substation

1 03 34

Phase 1 60’s Addition Demolition: rubble moved to level parking lot

footpath

61 37

Site in relation to main campus street and buildings: connects periphery to main centre

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT

garages

Statement of Need: Proposal: On-Campus retreat centre: a multi-use space to accommodate for gatherings, pastoral care, multifaith activities, contemplation and reading. The centre it so sit alongside other university accommodation, providing an unparalleled environment with out-of-hours access to cater for the needs of a multinational and multifaith student and staff community, as well as providing connections with the greater Cardiff community. The building must accommodate for a range of different activities which will vary in scale and profile, from large gathering space for religious ceremony, performances and open-day events to individual cellular spaces for private prayer and reflection, also communal facilities spaces for receptions, classes such as yoga and meditation and refreshments. The building will therefore need to be highly versatile and able to adapt to the inherent range of environmental, practical and social requirements that come with the different activities occurring in these spaces. With a revised budget of 3 Million and a total permitted floor plan of 1000m2, the project provides scope for a design of substantial quality.

Functional and Aspirational Requirements: For many international students, students with special needs or disability and students from diverse religious backgrounds, starting university, sometimes in a new country is an exciting and enlightening opportunity, but it can also be an overwhelming and perplexing experience to those unfamiliar with the cultural and environmental ramifications of the new place they are living.

The centre must provide an impartial environment, a sanctuary within which people can temporarily escape the academic environment as well as the general busy, hectic stresses of modern life in a UK city.

The building should create a sense of ‘removal’ from the immediate environment, allowing people to become acutely unaware of the strong cultural qualities that typically define a place, religious reference or sense of hierarchy. These qualities can often be prohibitive or structured to accommodate some more than others. The intention is of a level playing field whereby our attention is taken from the everyday career-driven, money-oriented and materialistic. The building should be the embodiment of the simple, physical, existential and spiritual needs common to everybody’s well-being. With a strong focus on the physical environment: the elements, light, sky, weather, ecology, earth and water, the building will provide a suggestive space where individuals can feel united by common ground and free to express themselves without feeling alienated as a minority. To reflect this concept, the interior of the building must portray a vision of simplicity and functional form, removed from unnecessary excess, reckless design ‘statement’ pieces or visual complexity. A refined material palette must provide simple solutions, driven by functional components, the range of durability required, the desired longevity and the environmental quality to be achieved. As such, the built form must be economically justified in the sense of lifespan, truth to materials and environmental credentials. From an original budget of 1 million to a revised 3 million, the extra funding does not aim to provide scope for a more lavish architectural response, but instead caters for additional complementing use types previously unidentified by the university. These in themselves invest higher capital costs, but provide much greater value for money within the annual running of the building. As well as this, it will fund a strong emphasis on integration with the outside environment beyond basic landscaping, providing well-designed, ‘garden spaces’ that can be enjoyed and utilised throughout the seasons. Substantial additional expenses identified during the analysis stage in relation to site preparation, access and mechanical requirements, as well as works to adjoining buildings, parking, services e.t.c. to facilitate the new accommodation have also been considered in the application for a revised budget.

Site Selection and Design Philosophy Site B is the preferred choice for construction of the new building. Located in a courtyard between the School of Music and Aberdare Hall, comprising two historic red brick buildings completed in 1893, and connected by an arched walkway, forming the primary entrance to the site. Included within the Cathays Conservation Area, the proposal is to demolish the 60’s accommodation block to the south west, opening up a prime plot, bordering the boundary of Queen Anne Square. The site is chosen for a number of reasons. Firstly, the nature of the building suggests a need for quiet and contemplation and a strong connection with the outside environment. This site naturally meets these requirements providing the ideal setting, set back from the main road, with very few outside sources of disruption. The site is particularly inward-facing, with strong boundaries. For many projects, especially those with a commercial focus, this would propose a significant challenge, but is fundamentally well suited to the secluded and understated nature of a retreat centre. Borrowing from the original concept stage, the design philosophy is to utilise lightweight construction methods, highly appropriate for intermittent use, low thermal mass and air-delivered heating and environmental control. Sitting in strong contrast with the surrounding heavyweight brick buildings, this is not only a practical and budgetary incentive, but fundamentally appropriate to the feel of the space. Unlike traditional places of worship, often iconic buildings of solidity and permanent internal layouts that feel as though they will remain unchanged for many generations, this building should instead be a testament to a changing, multinational and multifaith society. The building should be a reflection of change and progression, to feel very much ‘of it’s time’, designed not as a monument, but as a space that can facilitate change, adapting during its lifetime, and designed with a strong consideration for user interaction and the materials and finishes important to that user.

Statement of Need (Design and Access Statement Stage)

The design philosophy is heavily influenced by the Zen style of design, adapted as a Japanese concept promoting the importance of the ‘meditative state’ and contemplation over ritual or study of scriptures. Although the building must be designed to accommodate ritual worship and individual expression, the idea that this is a place where everybody is able to contemplate and reflect under the same roof whilst going about their daily activities acts to unite many different cultures with a common ground. Traditional Zen style buildings, although striking and beautiful, are fundamentally very simple, very lightweight, often timber and surrounded by screens with a strong connection with the outside elements. The buildings sit, poised over a firmly grounded foundation stone, which often extends into the immediate landscape as rocks, boulders and pebbles designed to represent the hills and geology of the greater landscape. Wild mosses, ferns and grasses weave between these heavy ground elements, often with a focus on a pool or steam, representing the impermanence, fragility and constantly changing nature of the environment we inhabit. As opposed to hard landscaping, manicured lawns and formal planting, the landscape must be unkempt, rough and able to naturally evolve with minimal maintenance.

The main structural elements of the building should be driven by necessity and function, with simple connections and structural solutions used in favour of the complex or highly engineered. The majority of the structure will utilise efficient timber framing comprised of small sections, with steel elements where required. Components such as walls will be constructed from cheap and readily available materials, and doubling as storage and acoustic partition. Elements such as floor finishes, doors and glazing, furniture and the special components that must resist heavy user interaction, and those important to the activities taking place can be more hard-wearing and higher spec. For example, envelope walls and ceilings can be simple plasterboarded finishes, structural elements left ‘as they come’, with minimal use of decoration or ornament. Shadow gaps should be used around frames and special components, with clear boundaries between the small number of different materials. Floor finishes may be of polished concrete or polished timber, according to traffic or activity with glazing creating an unobscured interaction with the outside: floor to ceiling in communal spaces, and focused or carefully orientated in private or secular spaces.

Lighting is of great importance, and the overall scheme should use both natural and artificial light with equal importance, with the building potentially used to a high extent out of hours. Lighting should be subtle and not overbearing, but the overall effect creating a strong sense of drama. For example, it may not be necessary to evenly light the entire space, but rather highlight particular areas, with strong use of shadow and low light to the peripheries. To separate the different parts and uses of the building, so they are visually connected, but at the same time private and acoustically isolated, internal rooms may become sculptural elements in themselves, incorporating religious objects and artefacts where needed, with rooms appearing as pieces of sculpted furniture. This creates a feeling of domesticity within such a large building envelope without being too literal. This also takes the impetus away from the items and furnishings placed within the room, promoting a space that feels greater than the sum of its parts. Exterior courtyards placed internally in plan, with lightwell gardens which separate indoor rooms by outside space will create excellent acoustic separation, whilst visually uniting different parts of the building and bringing large volumes of natural light to the interior plan.

Site Considerations: Programme Constraints and Opportunities, Access, Logistics and Part L: Placing the building on this site opens up great potential for the school of music to coexist with additional performance space and refreshment/restaurant facilities, ensuring year-round occupation and a strong source of revenue outside of passers by and minority groups. This coincides with the university’s long term development strategy for expanding the campus and better integrating its peripheries. Economically, the approach to balancing materials between those that are purely practical and structural, and those integral to user interaction dictates where the budget will be concentrated most heavily. Frame, cladding and structural elements must be use cheap, readily available and sustainable materials in a practical and low-maintenance way, in small enough sections for access to the confined site, but prefabricated wherever possible to minimise waste and construction time. Softwood should be chosen over hardwood, therefore timber elements should not be exposed to the exterior, with steel elements used where connecting timbers. The interior design may therefore want to dominate the user’s attention away from the structure itself, only revealing glimpses of the building in carefully chosen areas. On the exterior, a durable, sustainable cladding material should be chosen, potentially incorporating or future-proofing for energy generating systems.

As the site has restricted access with a narrow archway which will form the primary access route for the final building as well as day-to-day construction access, an additional access point will be made through the wall connecting the rear access road for infrequent and bulk deliveries of materials. Negotiations will need to be made with the council, the telephone distribution board relocated and upgraded, and hoarding erected. Following asbestos removal, demolition and excavation materials from the 60’s structure will be used to grade the adjacent music school car park, creating a temporary site holding area and office. No access is to be made through Queen Anne Square, and justification may be made to creating a minimal frontage to Queen Anne square, which would otherwise be competing with the Georgian style detached houses and generate undesired disruption to the local residents. The building should instead front, with main glazing into the interior courtyard. The existing arches and red brick buildings offer huge potential for glazed connecting structures, possibly for communal circulation and cafe/retail space, which will require considerable attention to detail and sympathy to the listed building fabrics. Strong consideration needs to be placed on service access and storage space in the basement, where space is at a premium, and the additional mechanical and acoustic requirements for performance-use considered from the outset and designed in to the building. The nature of the construction dictates that BREEAM very good/excellent status can be aimed for, with an impetus on sustainable materials, local ecology and low heating costs. This will be achieved using air-delivery heat generated from a heat pump system using borehole loops on the confined site, with simple, user-friendly and zoned controls designed to work around inhabited periods.

On completion, it is essential that an ongoing management and monitoring process is maintained to ensure long-term efficient operation and that the building is performing for its users in a positive and beneficial way.

Islamic praying ceremony (with ablution facility, Qibla’-facing mihrab )

Hindu temple with East-facing shrine

Analysis of Religious Ceremonies and Tradition for Design Consideration

Group meditation ceremony

Chapel (East-West orientation)

Jewish ceremonies (with Menorah facing Jerusalem)

Sketch Plan Showing Massing, Key Views, Building Subdivision, Programme

Sketch Plan Showing Organisation of Spaces, Key Views, Site Considerations

Artistic Impression of Main Entrance Addition

Artistic Impression of Main Site Proposal

Main Entrance: “Social Hub” Entrance, Foyer, Coffee House

Sketch Section Facing South Through Main Gathering Space and “Zen” Courtyard Gardens

PS Arkitektur

Toronto Multifaith Center

Maruma House Fernanda Canales

Narus Inokuma and Hiroko Karibe Architects

Use of lighting, exposed structural elements, simple white plaster walls

Toronto Multifaith Center

Haus + By Anne Menke And Winkens Architekten - Dezeen

Use of Polished Concrete floors and simple white plaster

Use of sedum roof: first floor visible

Ryoanji Temple Moss Garden

Project Inspirations and Precedent: Material Palette, Space and Mood Board

Use of Cedar and fiber cement siding: courtyard

Zen Retreat, Architect: Gary Gladwish

NP House in Vila Nova de Famalicão by NOARQ

Extension of the Latvian Academy of Art, Riga (Photo: Indriķis Stūrmanis)

Høse Bridge by Rintala Eggertsson Architects

Client: Board of Governors, West Buckland School Architect: MRJ Rundell Associates Value: ÂŁ3,200,000 Procurement Route: Competitive Tender Duration: 48 Weeks

The theatre offers excellent technical facilities with a high quality audio and lighting system and retractable seating for 120 people.The Theatre space has been designed in close consultation with the acoustic engineer to ensure that the space offers good acoustics for the wide range of activities that the school intend to use the space for, ranging from lectures, film screenings and assemblies to theatrical performances, dance and drama lessons. Due to the acoustic requirements, the ventilation to the theatre is by mechanical means. Low level air diffusers supply fresh air at low velocity via insulated trenches in the ground bearing slab, the waste air is then drawn out of the space at high level on the Eastern wall.

West Buckland Art Block and Theatre The project provides a Theatre, Art & Technology Classrooms, Dressing Rooms, Disabled Lift and Circulation Areas with a first floor glazed link. The construction is a cross laminated timber frame structure, with larch cladding, built to extremely high detailing standards. The project also includes pellet fired boiler, photo voltaic panels, sensor controlled lighting and stringent air test requirements.

The new building forms a link between the old school house Karslake Hall to the east and preparatory school with boarding to the west.

A courtyard between the new and old structures has steps up to the main entrance that can be used as tiered seating and for performances.

West Buckland School: School Addition Precedent Study

Environmental Strategy A Building Management System or BMS is installed in the new building, which controls, monitors and records all aspects of the buildings energy use. The BMS ensures that the building is always running at optimal efficiency, maximising the use of the passive systems and making sure that energy use is kept to a minimum.

The building is heated by an under floor heating system supplied by the Biomass boiler and all of the main teaching spaces are naturally cross-ventilated taking advantage of a passive stack effect. The theatre space is mechanically ventilated and heat exchangers have been included in the system to improve its overall efficiency. The BMS is programmed to automatically take advantage of night time cooling when it is required in the summer months.

BMS ensures that the building is always running at optimal efficiency, maximising the use of the passive systems and a roof top sunlight sensor modulates the internal fluorescent lighting levels to maintain the required luminance levels for each room whilst minimising energy use. All of these factors have contributed to the building’s energy-efficiency and thanks to the wood pellet fired boiler and PV array on the roof the building has a tiny estimated annual CO2 emission of 8.1kgCO2/m2.

West Buckland School: Precedent Environmental Strategy

Component Cost Summary Greyfriars Community Centre 7% Contingencies

3% Design Fees

4% Substructure 31% Superstructure

6% Substructure 35% Superstructure

6% Finishes

6% Finishes

1% Fittings & Fixings

1% Fittings & Fixings

20% Services

13% Services

20% External Works

19% External Works

10% Preliminaries

17% Preliminaries

St Andrews

Elemental Cost Breakdown: Precedent and Proposal

Henley College

Proposal

4% Contingencies

10% Contingencies

6% Substructure

4% Substructure

38% Superstructure

30% Superstructure

7% Finishes

5% Finishes

2% Fittings & Fixings

2% Fittings & Fixings

25% Services

20% Services

10% External Works

20% External Works

10% Preliminaries

10 Preliminaries

Greyfriars Community Centre, Edinburgh (Services/environmental 20% overall build cost excluding eco cladding/roof design) 750m2

Total: £1,511026 Total cost

Henley College (Services/environment al 13% overall build cost excluding eco cladding/roof design) 1019m2

Total: £1,555710

Sketch Design Proposal (Services/environmental 23% overall build cost-excluding eco cladding/roof design) 1000m2

Total: £2,679550

Total: £1,508373

%

Total cost

Cost per m2

%

Total cost

Cost per m2

%

Total cost

Cost per m2

%

1 Substructure

£67,805

£90

4%

£99,801

£115

6%

£96,243

£94

6%

£120,250

£120

4%

2 Superstructure

£473,283

£631

31%

£602,335

£699

39%

£528,517

£518

35%

£850,000

£850

30%

3 Finishes

£84,888

£113

6%

£106,769

£124

7%

£96,102

£94

6%

£150,500

£150

5%

4 Fittings and Furnishings

£15,341

£20

1%

£23,723

£27

2%

£0

£0

1%

£30,000

£30

2%

5 Services

£299,793

£399

20%

£389,345

£452

25%

£199,332

£195

13%

£530,000

£530

20%

6 External Works

£299,066

£398

20%

£148,872

£172

10%

£285,051

£279

19%

£550,000

£550

20%

7 Preliminaries

£157,917

£210

10%

£129,390

£150

8%

£253,378

£248

17%

£280,000

£280

10%

8 Contingencies

£112,933

£150

7%

£55,475

£64

4%

£0

£0

£250,000

£250

9%

£1,511,026

£2,014

100%

£1,555,71 0

£1,806

100%

£1,458,623

£1,431

97%

£2,758,750

£2758

100%

£0

£0

£0

£0

£49,750

£48

3%

-

-

Total Contract sum

£1,511,026

£2,014

100%

£2,758,750

~£2800

Tender Price Update

£1568445

£2091

Total (less Design Fees) 9 Design Fees

Elemental Cost Breakdown

Cost per m2

St Andrews Church, Devon (Services/environmen tal 25% overall build cost excluding eco cladding/roof design) 861m2

100%

£1,555,71 0

£1,806

£1687945

£1960

100%

£1,508,373

£1,480

£1,704,461

£1672

100%

Environmental and Services Cost Breakdown: Precedent Estimates Build cost estimation: Multifaith Centre Proposal

Greyfriars Community Centre, Edinburgh (Services/environmental 20% overall build cost excluding eco cladding/roof design) 750m2

St Andrews Church, Devon (Services/environmental 25% overall build cost excluding eco cladding/roof design) 861m2

Henley College (Services/environmental 13% overall build cost excluding eco cladding/roof design) 1019m2

Heat Pump, Thermal store, MVHR, ducted delivery

Heat Pump, Gas DHW boiler, Radiant Underfloor Heat, secondary

Underfloor Heating, gas boiler

Gas heating, £89,500

Extensive soft landscaping, paving, decking/walkways, car park levelling/reinstatement, wall demolition and bike storage/lighting, demolition of existing building and asbestos removal (demolition material reused on site for carpark levelling

Extensive excavation/site works, minimal landscaping (some hard landscaping) £299,000

Extensive hard landscaping: paving, retaining walls, metal railings, services, drainage, site lighting, cycle shelter, demolition of existing buildings £148,000

Paving, timber deck, brick retaining wall, timber fencing, landscaping, services, drainage and alterations to existing £285,000

Cheap, economical cladding material: high environmental performance, low maintenance costs, large surface area cladding (no direct sunlight), high performance glazing, frameless doors/windows, sedum and glazed roof on timber/steel frame, high sustainability credentials

Black standing seam metal cladding, low surface area (sandwiched between existing buildings). Low maintenance, medium sustainability credentials

Facing brick, render, curtain walling.

Plastic clad timber pitched roof; glazing. Double glazed aluminium windows, poor sustainability credentials

Red cedar dado walls with block above; cedar boarding, Glasroc with render and Kalwall curtain walling. Curved and flat Glulam roof with metal cladding; flat concrete with sedum. Aluminium windows and doors, medium sustainability credentials

Internal walls (acoustic considerations included)

10% (£56,000): costing provides for standard framed, drylined partitions.

Contingency may include extra acoustic insulation considerations for areas requiring special sound proofing

unknown

8% (£124,456)

unknown: special acoustic considerations

Electrical, lifts, e.t.c.

£150,000

Electrics, Lift. Alarms, CCTV, PA, data cables, BMS, emergency lights

Electrics. Lift. Alarms, data cables, audio/visual

Electric light and power. Alarms.

Total

£1,000000

£788,470

£545,877

£829,207

(Services/environmental 23% overall build cost-excluding eco cladding/roof design) 1000m2

Total: £2,679550

HVAC system

£200,000 Groundworks/ landscaping/ ecology

Total: £1,511026

ventilation, £199,000

Total: £1,555710

secondary ventilation, £126,570

Total: £1,508373

£400,000

Cladding (performance/ sustainable credentials)

~£157,500

£223,860

£250,000

Cost Subdivision: Main Cost Allocations and Savings

£359,707

£132,970 37%

20%

£195,447

25%

£95,000

13%

Environment/landscaping/site works: • • • • • • • •

Extensive site excavation and levelling for foundations and basement level Extensive low-maintenance soft landscaping: native trees, meadowgrass, informal planting Medium level hard landscaping: decking and walkway structures, paving to approach, car park levelling and tarmaq/block surface, minor drainage alterations, lighting Sedum roof Demolish existing building, asbestos removal, material used to infill and level carpark Heat pump borehole excavation (£2000) Demolition of wall, temporary site access Minor temporary hoarding

Lift/conveying/electrical/access/fire and safety Specification: • • • •

Standard disabled accessible lift to all floors Fire fighting access via music building/Aberdare hall approach Temporary construction access from two points: column terrace for major one-off deliveries, with main daily construction access through arched pedestrian route from Aberdare Hall carpark Standard electrical installation, theatre lighting, audio visual, climate control wiring

Other: Acoustic, cladding credentials, long-term maintenance and renewal • • • • •

Acoustic design according to space requirements (majority of internal partitions standard drylined studwork with fibreglass batting for soundproofing, with concrete beam floors to negate foot vibrations where necessary) High performance, low maintenance/recycled fibre cladding material (to be identified) Sedum roof on laminated timber construction: minimal maintenance, long lifespan Zinc/aluminium rainwater goods for minimal maintenance (reduction of plastic and non-renewable components in construction) Long term BMS monitoring for environmental performance and calibration to maximise efficiency of heat pump, MVHR and energy use

Services • • • •

Lightweight construction, highly insulated, no thermal mass, intermittent use and large numbers of people Mechanical ventilation combined with heat/cooling delivery for rapid conditioning of spaces Carbon dioxide level and occupancy sensors located locally to each space with user-accessible thermostatic controls Overhead/in-floor delivery diffusers according to space (low-level diffusers used in quiet, low traffic spaces and high-level diffusers used in cafe, offices, bathrooms/changing e.t.c.)

Precedent: West Buckland School Theatre:

“Due to the acoustic requirements, the ventilation to the theatre is by mechanical means. Low level air diffusers supply fresh air at low velocity via insulated trenches in the ground bearing slab, the waste air is then drawn out of the space at high level on the Eastern wall.”

• • • • •

Key Project Functional Requirements

Small ground footprint, low direct solar gains due to overshadowing and trees (good North and West light, high % site set aside for landscaping and ecological design, basement plant room for ground and upper level floor space maximisation Ground Source Heat pump: 2-Borehole system for confined space Large thermal store: future potential MVHR combined with ventilation delivery ductwork Basement plant space to include: air handler, heat pump, thermal store, heat recovery, electrical distribution, telephone/networking distribution, water treatment, laundry, storage, kitchen, changing/bathrooms. Large floor-mount basement air handler and smaller ceiling-mount air handlers on upper floor(s).

RUNNING COST SAVINGS: Estimate: energy costs: 6% build cost (3% build cost for efficient system) £80,000 p/a Energy: Ground source heat pump and MVHR savings 30-70% per year compared to conventional system Maintenance: (3% build cost): long term BMS monitoring of energy and heating use £80,000 p/a Overall running costs ~£160,000 p/a

Energy Saving Trust

Traditional Systems

Ground source heat pump performing a 250%

Ground source heat pump performing a 300%

Gas

£/year Carbon dioxide/year

250 5000kg

1375 10625kg

Electric

£/year Carbon dioxide/year

6375 59750kg

8125 65375kg

Oil

£/year Carbon dioxide/year

2000 15000kg

3625 20750kg

Solid

£/year Carbon dioxide/year

2000 62250kg

3625 6787.5kg Carbon Trust

Long Term Proposal Environmental and Sustainability: Running Cost Projections