Final Year Thesis Book

Utilisation of the existing fabric for Urban Engagement Unlocking the Royal Canal as a Sporting Infrastructure

Thomas Maguire BArch Thesis 2013

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Awknowledgements Its been six years since starting into DIT in 2007 as a bright eyed first year in Architecture. Its been a journey through the rough and tough of our discipline but I think it will have made us all the better for being on such a journey.

Friends have been forged throughout my time here in Bolton Street, some have gone on to do other things other than Architecture. The friends who remain have persevered through the roller coaster journey from start to end and I would like to thank everybody in my class for making it such an enjoyable experience in the college and course. The people made it what it was, and with different people it just wouldn’t have been the same I’m sure of it. To you all, well done and congratulations for doing the impossible, or for some of us what we thought was the impossible as we started

out with no end in sight, well at least not for 5 years.

To the friends who didn’t take the “Year Out” I respect you all so much, having taken the decision to continue with only a few who you knew so well, it must have been tough but you all got there too.

To my proof reader, thank you for all those hours reading and checking, and just having to put up with the 10 minutes a day of architecture talk, I really appreciate it, it would never read so well if you weren’t there, also for the pack of crayola, thanks.

To the staff here in DIT and in the Department of Architecture, thank you all for the guidance and support throughout the years, without it, we wouldn’t have got to be here and certainly not have

done as well as we have without your push. To Noel Somerville, a member of the teaching staff with Patrick Flynn with us in Second Year, you were revered within the school and amongst the students, for all your guidance and tips on drawing were much appreciated, you will be deeply missed in the school since your passing but will always be remembered by those who had the pleasure. A special mention to Brian Ward who started us on this long journey all those years ago, thank you for showing us the way along the road to here. To all the staff within Fifth Year, especially Dermot, Dominic and Johanna, you always knew how to help us along when we didn’t know where we were going ourselves, thank you for the drive to continue.

A special mention to Donal Moylan, a porter in Linenhall, all that

encouragement and kind words, it would not have been the same if you were not such a good friend, thank you for everything you have done and continue to do for every student in that building.

Finally to my family, especially my Mam and Dad, this is all for you, hopefully I have done you proud in achieving this. This is a testament to both of you and how you have raised such an amazing family who love you both so dearly. Thank you for everything you have done over the years, the countless things that you have done, too much to name.

Mam for all those amazing dinners and your warming smile after the late nights in studio, showing me that after it all there is more than Architecture. Dad for all those times you have helped me with models and just anything I

have asked, thank you. You have done nothing but your best to try help me through out the past few years and ever, it isn’t unnoticed, I sincerely appreciate it all and will never forget anything either of you have done for me.

To the rest of my family, all my brothers and sisters, you guys have always given me the support to keep going, maybe unknowingly but you did. Again anything I have asked you have done if you could. Thank you to you all for being such an amazing bunch of people and I am so happy I can call myself part of this family.

To you all I thank you so much because without any of you I wouldn’t be the same person that I am now and I would not have been on the same journey.

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Contents

Introduction 7 Iconographic Autobiography

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HTC Dissertation 23 Project_01 - Micro Engagement - The Building 41 DSA + C - Linenhall Provision of a social layer

Project_02 - Meso Engagement - The Community 55 Inner City Sports Club and Active Landscape A centre for community engagement through the physical

Project_03 - Macro Engagement - The Urban 75 The Royal Canal as a Sporting Infrastructure Promoting Urban Engagement through the Existing

Conclusion

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Appendices

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Introduction This body of work was started in September 2012 and has been an on-going piece for the past nine months. The work has explored many different ideas from the beginning but has developed into a very strong and concise piece of work.

the curriculum driven rote style by which the majority of us were taught in second level education.

The main idea for the year began after an exploration of my own education and the first project which was undertaken this year, the designing of a new face for our new school, DSA+C, the Linenhall campus, and the new home for the Dublin School of Architecture.

And secondly, the first design project of the year, the design for a new entrance for our new Linenhall home, gave rise to the idea of utilising the existing by discovering a piece which has great potential to reinforce the fabric that already exists and by exploiting the underutilised we can create a new element which marries the old and new together. This idea was discovered in Project_01 and brought through the whole year as a method of discovery and design.

Firstly, the exploration of my own education brought about the idea of out of school learning and how we learn when we are not in the typical school setting, how our own personal interests promote a unique personality instead of

Both ideas began to be explored and married together in Project_02 and my HTC Dissertation.

They were tried and tested and used for a means of discovering the feasibility of them being used as a way to design the thesis pro-

ject in Semester 2.

The HTC Dissertation gave a strong theoretical exploration and stance for my design decisions and choices and in Project_03 the design has been very much influenced by the theory of the HTC Dissertation. The use of Sport as a catalyst for Urban Engagement came as direct result of my theoretical exploration and reinforced the brief and site of the Thesis Project.

Project_03 in Semester 2 was a culmination of the research of theory and through design in Semester 1 and has resulted in this piece of work, which follows in this Thesis book. The project is a Sports Park for North Dublin city, placed along the city bank of the Royal Canal. It is a project which strengthens the communities along the canal and creates

numerous links for urban centres along the Canals length as well as across it. The project uses sport as the enabler and the architecture as the facilitator of this project which promotes Urban Engagement, which is people engaging with others, not on an individual level but on a community level.

This Thesis has explored three levels of Urban Engagement, the Micro, the Meso and the Macro through the Building, the Community and the Urban respectively through Projects 01-03.

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Iconographic Autobiography

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Iconographic Autobiography

Educational Process Education is a process of our development which takes place in the majority of cases within a rigid setting of Rote Style Learning. The technical drawing classroom is the memory which stands out, because it differs from the rest of the school. It promoted self motivation and group interaction to overcome problems that were discovered. In this regard it allowed for peer to peer interaction to occur, more so than any other class or subject within the system. Architects learn by doing, from crayola to a pencil to CAD and computers. We interact to get a physical outcome which always has problems but together they are always solved through collaboration.

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Wooden House This image is of Sou Fujimoto’s Wooden House. This image is a very powerful image as it shows a way of thinking about space that is simplistic in form but complex in thought and consideration. It explores simple spaces that can have many different functions and allow any number of activities to happen. The spaces provide sanctuary from the world around and provide retreat spaces for the occupant to inhabit.

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Human Interaction The Soup Kitchen by Ferdinand Waldmuller was completed in 1859. The painted evokes a sense of belonging and community. These people all came together out of neccessity, for soup. The interaction that occurs between these people is extraordinary considering that do not know each other. From older people playing with the young, and the young helping the old. Interactions make this painting become and painting of a community and not just of a group of individuals.

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Quote

Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I’ve ever known.

- Chuck Palahniuk

This quote stands out for me, as I believe that everybody we meet has an influence on us in ways that we realise and don’t realise. We develop from everything around us, and adapt to the changing people and times.

Chuck Palaniuk is the author of the novel, Fight Club.

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Trinity Archway The Front Arch of Trinity College Dublin links the busy and bustling College Green and Dame Street to the tranquil and calmness of the Front Square of the University. This Archway is a threshold between the two differing worlds. The archway seems to block the noise and bustle and acts as mediator to the formal square. It is a link from the city, the informal learning centre to the formal academics that reside within Trinity Colleges walls.

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Social City This photo is one of Merchant’s Arch, which links the Wellington Quay on the South Quays to Temple Bar Square in the heart of Dublin’s city centre. The photo was taken in the 1970’s and shows the great interaction which occurred in the city, even just a snapshot can show the city was engaged with its inhabitants. Children playing and people sitting around talking. The image shows the links to the city through the archway in the background, this archway serves as a link not just from the South Quays but over the Ha’penny Bridge to the North Quays and Liffey Street, the Archway is a link between the two sides of the river, a connection.

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Can sport be the enabler of urban engagement where the architecture of connection is the facilitator?

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Abstract The following dissertation began initially with the exploration of a community lacking a social space and how through the manipulation of an existing piece of the built environment we can promote and encourage the coming together of people from differing demographics or social groups.

Through the lens of the social, which exists within the larger urban community, education was explored and a critical reflection was made on the personal experience of our existing education system. Exploring our own education and that of exemplary studies of both educational pedagogues and through the built examples which promote and nurture the explored styles of education in a traditional sense but also of sport and its own pedagogues, a search for a way of allowing engagement to occur through learning was begun.

This exploration gave rise to the idea of “out if school� learning and the necessity of sport in the community and how sport can encourage urban and social engagement at every level from the Micro to the Macro.

The dissertation and examinations have allowed for research through design projects to be explored within its scope which has allowed the idea of sport being a connector of communities, by it very nature, to be explored and become embedded with the facilitator of the urban engagement, architecture.

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Introduction Should the end goal of our education be a generic student? Should our system promote the individual rather than the collective, or should there be a harmony based upon a common interest or thread? Schools use a curriculum and an educational style, but leave our individual interests outside its realm of teaching. The interest creates the individual while the typical school creates the common knowledge base which the individual receives. The interest is nurtured outside of our education but should the interest and education be fused together in a symbiotic relationship? Should one be capable of existence without the other? This essay examines and explores the links between education and sport and the differing pedagogy’s with each. It examines the links between communities

and how sport can play a role to reinstall the active, the version of society where people publically engage and meet within the social realm stopping the withdrawal to the passive version of society, where the community retreats to their own insular cells of isolation, their homes and thus the social identity becomes one of negativity. If sport becomes the enabler of social activity, then architecture is the facilitator of that engagement, as it provides the facilities for it to occur and grow like a community.

How can architecture and sport fuse to create new communities?

What is the architecture which enables social engagement through sport?

in tertiary education, began the inceptive thinking for this body of work. This initial reflection inspired a critical review of why we were educated this way, through the vocational education system i.e. the traditional rote method, and also, what the implications have been thus far. The process of critical reflection brought me to one key point in my education, the learning within the technical drawing classroom. This subject was examined to discover why this caused a resonating memory within my education.

Learning Methods

“Rote learning is a learning technique which avoids understanding of a subject and instead focuses on memorization.”

-Dept. of Education

A critical reflection on my own education, from primary level, right through to my present level

This became increasingly apparent as the process in which this technical subject is taught was

1 1 - An image of the traditional Technical Drawing classroom found in many of Government funded schools throughout Ireland. Image shows peer interaction and the informal within the classroom.

2 - An image of Merchants Arch in Dublin City showing the urban city as a place of informal gathering and interaction to occur in the day to day.

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explored through the idea of LEARNING BY DRAWING and by extension, learning by doing.

This factor was one of many, including the interactive process of engagement amongst peers and a collective learning scenario much like the suggested teaching style of the Brazilian Educator Paulo Friere, “the learning circle”. This is a way of group interaction and learning to learn critically and interactively.

“If the structure does not permit dialogue the structure must be changed” - Paulo Friere The Learning by doing method is seen as a more informal way of learning, trial and error with the emphasis being put on physically trying. This was the notion within the technical drawing room in which we experienced a detach-

ment from the rote style of learning and instead were subjected to the less formal, collective based learning. The Italian educator, Maria Montessori’s, method of teaching exemplifies this.

“Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.”

- Maria Montessori The social aspect appears to be a strong ideal behind the collective learning. This learning, by physical interaction and social engagement is a core principal of the Montessori pedagogy of teaching. This approach is based upon the incorporation of the ideals of involvement and physical engagement, and thus the idea of learning by doing. However the formal setting of the generic school is too rigid with an end goal of

conformity at its completion.

This outcome which is prescribed creates a generic student with a common knowledge base, without the external interests, that make the generic student the individual.

In commonplace this occurs in the “Auxiliary” situation, i.e. the sports club, the dance hall, the music group. The Auxiliary place allows generic people with common interests develop into unique small communities outside the typical community of the school, allowing the development of small learning communities.

3 3 - An example of a Freieran style learning circle in action. A way of sharing knowledge and having a basis of respect on everybodys level.

4 - An image showing an example of Learning by Doing. Learning to Ride a bike is all about trial and error. With practice comes the skill, but help is needed in showing how to perform the task or skill.

The Auxiliary place is the third place in a persons’, life, it is the place that forms between the persons Home life and their formal Educational life. This idea of the “Other Place” or the Auxiliary place was that of the American educational psychologist Lauren B. Resnick. Resnick believes 4

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deeply in “Out-of-School Learning” and that this is extremely beneficial to the development of a child and that of adults also as they learn to integrate and nurture unique skills which are not taught in the traditional education system.

“Out-of-school learning is to overcome learning disabilities, development of talents, strengthen communities and increase interest in education by creating extra learning opportunities in the real world.”

“Because they are continuously engaged with objects and situations that make sense to them, people do not fall into the trap of forgetting what their calculation or their reasoning is about”.

-Lauren B. Resnick Places of physical activity are a

prime example of the Auxiliary place; they provide a framework for people to engage with each other and the community on a larger scale while still learning a new skill set. Sport builds community relationships and pride. It instils a sense of place and belonging to an area but also to its residents.

Although sport and physical education are only taught in a minor way in our school system there is a new idea to make Physical Education, P.E., a subject which can be graded and awarded both at Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate levels in the Secondary School system in Ireland. This is an interesting idea for education, not only because it would promote a healthier more active youth but could also develop interests in sport if there was a larger incentive to compete. How-

ever, even though it would make the students invest a larger input into the subject as a whole if they were being graded in the future, whereas currently they are not, would it still promote the same type of social engagement that occurs out of school when the students participate in a sports club?

The school subject would be subjected to the same negativity of other subjects in the system and would not act as an outlet from education where the participant can engage with a different group of people in a different setting and would not be an individual’s choice, it would be prescribed to the student to engage and not give the student the choice if they wish to engage or not which is extremely important to a certain degree as the choice itself allows the participant to enjoy sport because it is their own interest and hasn’t been

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7 5 - An image showing young children learning from their elder on a street in Dublin City 6 - Children being enthralled and active in their interest outside of the boundaries of school.

7 - Children and adults having fun and enjoying sport and activity which promotes a happy community feeling amongst a large group.

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prescribed or forced upon them.

This could be developed so that at Junior Certificate level it is a compulsory subject whereas at the higher level of Leaving Certificate it can be optional for the student to choose so as it helps them develop their own interest of sport in tandem with their out of school activities of sport.

However, sport is mainly taught in one distinct manner, the skill and drill or as it’s also known, the progressive part method.

This method breaks down all the different core skills and begins to teach them individually and then progressively combines them to form the whole skill or game. This method is one of four distinct methods for teaching of sport, firstly the Progressive part method, above, then the Whole method, the part method and the whole – part – whole method.

These are the four commonplace methods of teaching sport.

The Whole Method This method is a demonstration of the entire skill and then it is practiced by the individual or collective. This method is used to show the final outcome of the skill, for timings and so the individual can get a feel for the overall skill.

The Part Method This method deals with elements of an overall skill in pure isolation of each other. Each sub skill is demonstrated and practiced as individual pieces. This method is used to maintain motivation and concentration with the outcome being changed more often than within the Whole Method.

The Whole-Part-Whole Method This method is then a combination of both methods outlined

above. It is a demonstration of the whole skill and practicing of the full skill and then breaking it down into it constituent elements for practice before again returning to the full skill. A prime example of this is within swimming “where the learner would practice the whole stroke, then isolate a weak component, such as the kick and use a float in the hands to ensure using only the legs, before putting the whole stroke back together.”

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8 - Image showing how sports skills can be broken down into elements which indirectly relate to key skills - Part Method

The Progressive Method This method is also known both as the skill and drill method or the chaining method. It is the gradual building of a sport through its constituent individual skills. This method starts with a basic skill and then builds upon that with gradual complexity being introduced to the participant. All the skills will be linked and continually expanded upon with another

9 - Child being taught how to swing and hit a baseball using the Whole Method.

10 - The Progressive Method exemplified here for developing ball control as well as other skills.

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piece of skill linking to the next.

An example of this is in “the triple jump, the hop will be practised and learnt, before the skip is then practised and learnt. The two are then linked together. Finally the jump will be learnt individually and then tagged on the end of the skip”.

All the above methods are extremely valid methods of teaching sports; however they assume that there is only one correct way of doing and completing a skill. This is not the case. Many elite athletes have differing ways of completing skills. An example would be that of the tennis player, does each and every tennis player swing the racquet the same way? No. Each player has their own unique way of completing the skill. They may all be achieving the same end goal, i.e. swinging the racquet but each one presents their own way

of doing it.

This idea has been researched by the Australian Sports Commission. They have developed an alternative method of teaching sports, the “Teaching Games for Understanding Method”. It is a method of “Guided Discovery” through which the participants are introduced to a more abstracted set of Teaching Games which incorporate both the nature of the game and skills themselves so that the participants can not only be skilful at the game but has a broader sense of understanding the game at play rather than a set of skills. The method moves the inherent questions within sport from the “How is the skill performed?” to a much more critical and analytical understanding of it where questions such as, “Why are we doing this skill?” and “How can we do it better?” are

being asked by the participants.

This method starts with an understanding of the game, rather than the basic skills of it. It is a very modern and unique way of understanding and teaching sport, and also one that has been providing great results in terms of sports education in the southern hemisphere.

The Australian model of Sports teaching in the school system appears to be extremely relevant as it both relates to Learning by Doing but also the building blocks, on which a subject is taught, a common skill base without the specificity of a code of sport, which in this model is applied later in the educational process.

11 11 + 12 - These images show how the sport of soccer can be broken down and taken apart into small skills which when performed correctly and efficiently increase the overall performance not just of the individual but of the collective also. The Skill and Drill Method is the most common sports pedagogy in use.

The way in which sports is taught in camp situations, where the participant becomes immersed in the physical activity allows for 12

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the sport to be played but while still physically engaging with their peers on a constant basis. Similar in idea to the Frier style, where social engagement is vital, with sport, it is necessary.

The provision of a social entity is not common practice within the majority of buildings, not only school facilities. The majority of schools provide the facilities to allow for an education to occur but do not allow for learning to occur.

Instead this learning has to be nurtured beyond the intermediate space which is school.

This sports pedagogy breaks all sport down into elements which lends itself to the idea that a landscape or building, which harbours sport, can not only just provide facilities for full sports to occur, such as soccer, badminton, squash etc. but more of a landscape which can promote elemen-

tal development of the core skills and stamina’s associated with the majority of sports such as cardio fitness and muscular conditioning through exercise such as running, cycling and gym work. The design of a facility must provide the basic conditions for sport and activity to occur but also provide the facilities for the full sport to occur, so a variety of tracks must be provided but also the courts to host the sport, e.g. badminton courts, squash courts, swimming pool etc. so not only can each individual use each facility but for example an athlete of a certain discipline such as a swimmer has the ability to train within its own discipline as well as gain cardio stamina through the running track, developing a well-rounded fitness and athlete.

Pedagogy’s exemplified through Architecture This idea of the rigidity of the typical school is challenged by many architects through innovative and new ways of thinking. One of the early Irish examples of this is St. Brendan’s Community school in Birr Co. Offaly designed by Peter and Mary Doyle. This building was a secondary school designed and built between in the late 1970s and opened January 1980.

The school was commissioned by the Department of Education of Ireland to design and build to the strict guidelines which they provide.

This design challenges those prescriptive guidelines and creates a building that not only provides the standards of classrooms which the department of education brief demands but also allows the

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13 - An image showing the social nature of Mary and Peter Doyles Secondary school in Birr, Co.Offaly.

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14 - Ground Floor plan of Herman Hertsberger’s Montessori School, Delft, Netherlands.

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15 - An image showing students using the external courtyards as gathering points in Delft Montessori School.

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students and teachers to engage in a more informal way outside of the formality of the classroom setting which is core to the school.

It allows for the rigidity of the rote teaching styling to occupy the classroom but also for another layer of inhabitation to manifest outside the classroom.

This additional layer is the layer of social interaction between its students in an uncommon situation “the internal street”. This is evident in the panning of the school, as the free, open, in-between space wraps and encloses the rigid box forms of the classrooms and service areas. The Doyle design is a piece which challenges the norms of school design for the prevalent rote pedagogy of education, this school allows for students to have a sense of belonging associated with it.

Herman Hertzberger, the Dutch Architect, has many writings which include topics on the public and private domains as well as usage and appropriation of space to use and function. These writings are extremely valid pieces as they pose the idea that linking of spaces and the varieties in conditions of space enhance the learning process, both the formal educational and the informal. Hertzberger believes the classroom should be like a “house” that can be taken over by the students and they control how they use each of these spaces.

The overlap and joining of zones is crucial to Hertzberger’s theories as he allows the fluid space to flow through but also allows for controlled informal play or activity to occur, however this is prescribed in a specific zone.

Hertzberger himself was educated through the Montessori pedagogy

of education as a child so he fully understood the method from experience. Not only this, but his wife is also a school teacher in the discipline of Montessori teaching.

Through all of this Hertzberger has gained a great and coherent knowledge of how Montessori is both taught and how children engage with it. This has enabled him to create pieces of architecture which not only facilitate the teaching but aide it.

17 16 + 17 - images in one of Herman Hertzberger’s other school designs, the Apollo School. The images show the same space both occupied and unoccupied which shows the social nature of the space and the space itself in isolation.

Both cases above provide very relevant examples of how they are striving to achieve socially engaged spaces within the tight constraints of school design which typically does not allow for interpersonal interactions to occur within the school other than within the classroom. Allowing space for chance interaction to happen is vital to building a community which can flourish.

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The community can be nurtured once there is a suitable framework for the system to grow. A landscape of community activity provides the necessary platform for which community engagement can occur. People coming together physically, stopping the withdrawal from an active society to the passive realm. The schools can provide the platform for the education of the youth on social engagement, if the youth are engaged socially in their education will they be more likely to engage with the community as a whole?

A harmony must occur between the provision of a rigid classroom setting, which can be exemplified in Belgian architect, Wim Cuyvers competition entry for a primary school design in 2003, and the fluid space seen in Hertzberger’s Montessori School, Delft, Netherlands. A combination of both of

these ideas must occur to produce conditions of both education and social learning. Cuyvers School, Leper, Netherlands, promotes a very rigid design of the school situation with box-like classrooms and outdoor spaces to facilitate break-time learning but also where some teaching can occur in summer or good weather. The rigid classroom shape is used so as the student does not have any distractions through windows and other objects, instead the students focus is on that of the teacher and their leaning until they are released from school at breaktime or at the end of the day. The school is very much the ideal for the Rote method of education but a balance must be struck between both the two education styles and the two architectural styles of Cuyvers and Hertzberger, where the architecture can not only play host to the educational style but

also allow a social engagement to develop and flourish and become part of the school.

Sport and Architecture Can the traditional education system fuse with sport? If it does, it can support not only a community interest in support by providing a community tie both to the school but also to the facilities which they can access. The public blends with the private realm of a school to cohabit and create a unique environment of both learning by doing, i.e. through the engagement of the physical, sport, and rote learning of traditional education styles.

18 18 - A drawing showing the nature of Wim Cuyvers Primary School. The drawing shows the rigid nature where contrasts that of the Delft Montessori school.

19 - An internal drawing within one of the classrooms of the Primary School of Wim Cuyvers.

Again it contrasts the free nature of the classroom of Hertzberger.

The above combination presents itself in the form of a social zone which inhabits the “in-between” spaces which contain the formal setting of the classrooms. This 19

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informal linking space is the common thread which runs throughout the school.

This idea of linking of spaces brought me to the idea of a threshold, not in the common sense but a derived variation of the idea, but where a threshold is the connection or separation of spaces through a variety of different conditions but allows for a sense to be denied to experience the space, i.e. where a view is denied but sound is allowed be heard echoing from a space below the listener. Inherent in this idea is both movement and engagement with a space, the idea of the observer looking over viewing through to a different space, or even the audio experience of a group of people below creates a physical connection of the spaces, thus allowing it to become a sensory threshold.

This idea of a varying threshold between spaces suggests more than one element is coming together to form these thresholds; the layers of space.

The layers are created through physical, visual and audio links to connected spaces. Through the use of voids, stairs and views this is achieved. However a critical element to this theory is the provision of a social space for gathering, so as to allow the interaction between space and people to occur. A symbiotic relationship between people and space, between teacher and student, between peer and peer.

The German philosopher, Martin Heidegger, says that the building is shaped and controlled by its inhabitants, and by the occupation of a space. This notion of

occupation and inhabitation of a space, is inherent in the idea of a social space, it can only be social if people inhabit and interact within the space.

“Man’s relation to locations, and through locations to spaces, inheres in his dwelling. The relationship between man and space is none other than dwelling, strictly thought and spoken.”

-Martin Heidegger

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22 20 + 21 +22 - Images from Project 01 - Linenhall, exploring the differing sensory thresholds which can be used to encourage discovery and social engagement within a space or building.

Heidegger writes a lot about inhabitation and how we occupy our society and world. It is apparent from his works that we go about the daily life as if we were in a trance or zone of our own. For the most part we do not realise this but to a trained athlete who has learned a sport, the movements are natural and instinctive which become second nature, as when a basketball player throws 21

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a shot or when a golfer steps up to the tee off, swings, and hits the ball. It’s only when an object isn’t suitable for us that we actually become consciously aware of it, as for example, if someone were to swap the golfers normal club with a driver that is too slightly heavier than their own. Suddenly at that point, the golfer will hold the club and discover instantly that it isn’t their own driver, that it’s too heavy, and would examine the club and begin to analyse the situation in which he found himself. Questions might arise out of the situation in the golfers mind: Is this someone else’s driver? Did someone play a joke on me? Did someone steal my driver? Where is their own club? This situation highlights that we must be aware of the world in which we inhabit and be aware of the changes which we can make and people can make to us, not only just moving

through the world seamlessly but examine and question why things are why they are and try to break the norm and discover the answer to why we inhabit and occupy space the way we do.

Heidegger throughout his writings explores the idea of dwelling and building and how they are inherently related to each other. A building only gains a sense of spirit or place by the inhabitation and occupation that occurs within.

Does a bridge feel the same as a library? Does a school feel the same as a house? In theory this latter could occur as it implies the same occupation can or could occur.

This is what has been explored above by Herman Hertzberger through his design of Montessori Schools. He uses schools as small houses for the children and how they occupy these to create spaces of belonging, just as Heidegger

states in his theories, dwelling relates to occupation.

This notion reinforces the placement of an additional layer of un-programmed space to the brief of a school scenario, a separate realm of the student rather than the realm of the teacher, the classroom, where the teacher interacts with the student, but the realm where the students can interact amongst their peers.

23 23 - An internal perspective of Project 01 Linenhall showing the insertion of the new social gathering space within the already existing fabric of the building.

Research through Design The Micro The first exploration through design was that in the Linenhall Campus design. The design explored the micro level of urban engagement, the building. The project allowed the weaving of a social layering onto a building that houses working trades and the Dublin School of Architecture.

24 - Ground Floor plan of the Linenhall Campus with the new layer inserted and highlighted on the drawing.

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The project dealt with an educational facility, Dublin Institute of Technology and a community within the building which had no social gathering space to come together and detach from the working environment which the building houses. The design was an insertion layer on the multi layered building. It dealt with “a knuckle�, a piece of the building that was under-utilised and not exploited to reveal its full potential, in the building providing a new focal point entrance with generous interaction spaces, spaces where students and staff could mingle and view what their colleagues in other disciplines were achieving in their own field as presently no cross over between disciplines occurs within this campus. This project was a design which could allow the trades and the school of architecture to integrate, forging a new heart at the

centre of their home, the home of DSA+C. The Meso This exploration between the social realm and communities, led on to the design of a City Sports Centre with an Active Landscape embedded within differing communities which dealt with the meso level of urban engagement, the community. This project aimed to be a connection between a community divided by physical infrastructure and the Royal Canal. The landscape within the project was a merging of the communities, providing amenities and a landscape where they can mix and physically come together to partake in activity, i.e. walking, cycling, sport. The built forms of the design are the facilitators of more activity which through their nature bring people together in a more informal social setting. The

design was the bringing together of many local clubs into one facility so they could share and interact as a collective rather than being isolated within the wider community. In dealing at the community level it allows for a richer and wider demographic to be included within the project, dealing with the new residents modern apartment buildings as well as residents within corporation housing and flat complexes, incorporating a wide demographic, allowing for diversity and integration to be encouraged. Rather than the communities being divided by the physical, the Royal Canal, they can be united by it, Sport and activity.

25 25 - An internal perspective of Project 02 - the Sports Centre and Active Landscape. Shows activity and sport within the sports hall of the design.

26 - Ground Floor Plan showing the building and teh landscaping of the overall design.

The Macro Leading on from both the discoveries in Linenhall and the Sports Centre projects it was apparent that the macro level of Urban 26

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HTC Dissertation

Engagement needed to be examined. The macro level is the urban condition in which society works, multiple communities coexisting to form the Urban. This exploration is an expansion of the Royal Canal Sports Centre project outlined above, it is a project which sets out to relink and reconnect the disconnected communities of the North Lotts to the city via the under-utilised Royal Canal between Spencer Dock and North Strand Road. The examination of this 1.3 kilometre stretch of Canal bank has the potential to reuse the land to promote urban engagement through the use of sporting activities which bring people to the area to use the facilities and enjoy the activities along the waterway.

Conclusion Sports is seen, not just in an Irish context but a global context, as a condition which breaks down barriers and allows for communities to be forged and nurtured. “Sport is a universal language that can bring people together, no matter what their origin, background, religious beliefs, or economic status.

Sports can play a role in improving the lives of whole communities.�

- Kofi Annan United Nations Secretary General Sports, be it any discipline, allows for the observer and the participant to occur and it is also a physical manifestation of LEARNING BY DOING. Sports in our context, is a driver to bring people together with a

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common interest and to learn. It also allows for an inherent interaction to occur between the participants and also the observer and the participant. Sport builds communities. Sports breaks down physical divisions. Can it use the nature of participation and interaction to root itself within a community, so it can bring a new sense of community, of gathering, and of engagement? A community centre of sports has the potential to bridge divisions and reintroduce a sense of belonging and pride to a community.

The research though architecture has shown that it can create communities and blur the physical divisions between communities while allowing them to link and forge new connections with a commonality between them.

Sport becomes that commonality.

Sport is the link between com-

munities. The connection it makes provides a new social focal point which can reinvigorate the active community. A landscape of activity allows for the residents to negotiate between a once hard boundary and a new connecting of communities.

Architecture can facilitate social and community engagement through the use of a social platform to link the community with the observation of the sport at play through both direct and indirect thresholds of sight and sound.

Sport is the enabler of a community coming together while architecture is the facilitator of that social engagement.

Sports and architecture can form a mesh of links between communities not only to create individual pieces of architecture but to create architecture of community. A

community which blurs its edges and promotes itself as one of an inclusive and engaging nature rather than a community of isolated individuals. This idea can create the architecture of sport and community which reintroduces community ideals and the active lifestyle to society.

HTC Dissertation Bibliography

References HERTZBERGER, H. (2002). Herman Hertzberger: articulations. Munich, Prestel.

HERTZBERGER, H. (1991). Lessons for students in architecture. Rotter¬dam, Uitgeverij 010 Publishers.

JARVIE, G., & MAGUIRE, J. A. (1994).

Sport and leisure in social thought. London, Routledge KRIER, L., THADANI, D. A., & HETZEL, P. J. (2009). The architecture of community. Washington, DC, Island Press.

O’TOOLE, S. (1990). The Architecture of Peter and Mary Doyle, 1970-1990.

Dublin, Gandon Editions RUSK, O. (2011) Enabling social interaction through the physical: A centre for sport beside Busaras. Unpublished BArch Thesis, Dublin Institute of Technology.

STANDING, E. M. (1998). Maria Montessori, her life and work. New York, Plume.

VAN DEN DRIESSCHE, M., LAGAE, J., STUHLMAHER, M., & VAN DER POL, B. (2007). OASE 72 Terug naar school/ Back to School. Rotterdam, NAi Publishers.

Teach PE – Teaching Methods (2012) http://www.teachpe.com/sports_psychology/teaching.php [Accessed 12 November 2012] Australian Sports Commission – Coaching processes (2012) http://www.ausport. gov.au/sportscoachmag/coaching_processes/teaching_games_for_understanding [Accessed on 2 December 2012] Images 1. Image from “http://www.fcjbunclody.ie/old/gallerytwo/main.php?g2_ view=keyalbum.KeywordAlbum&g2_ keyword=drawing&g2_itemId=6972” 2. Image from “http://mathsandarts.com/ tag/very-important-message/” 3. Image from “http://urban-sprouts. blogspot.ie/2010_10_01_archive.html”

4. Image from “http://biocharproject. org/education-2/biochar-action-learningcircles-update-charmaster/” 5. Image from “http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/conservation/exhibitions/ shakeshaftpeople/” 6. Image from “http://scioccheria.blogspot.ie/2010_10_19_archive. html” 7. Image from “http://www.captionite. com/random/zaggora-is-a-big-fan-offamily-time-spent-playing-sports-besidesthe-/” 8. Image from “http://www.stack. com/2012/07/20/quickness-speed-ladderdrills/” 9. Image from “http://voices.yahoo.com/ benefits-children-playing-sports-6700092. html”

10. Image from “http://news.bbc.co.uk/ sport2/hi/football/skills/7297096.stm” 11 + 12. Images from “http://www. visualphotos.com/image/2x3937068/soccer_players_doing_training_drills” 13. Image from Riai Gold Medal Winners 14. Image from OASE 72 – Back to School 15+16+17. Images from “http://www. flickr.com/photos/krokorr/5473863453/” 18+19. Images from OASE 72 – Back to School 20-24. Images from ADS (HTC) Project 01 - Linenhall 25+26. Images from ADS (HTC) Project 02 - Sports Centre and Active Landscape

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Project_01

Micro Engagement - The Building

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DSA + C -Linenhall Provision of a Social layer “The combination of the spaces In-between or the Social Layer with the formality of the commonplace classroom presents itself with a new emphasis on the social aspect of development and on the education in the formal style. A school without a large or emphasised social grain is a system of generic learning where life occurs and develops outside of its walls, rather than creating the environment where the social skills can develop in tandem with the progression through the educational system.� - Extract from HTC Dissertation An examination of the existing fabric of the building showed it was a working building with an evident lack of space for retreat and informal meetings for social circles. The building provides working studios and workshops, which by their very nature are insular with very little crossover between the school of architecture and the school of construction which also inhabits the linenhall site.

This proposal inserts a new layer into the already multi- layered fabric.

This new layer allows for fluid space to occur and spaces to overlap and link between each other by the use of visual and audio connections. It allows for informal gatherings to occur like in the social spaces of its neighbour, DIT Bolton Street. This allows for more interaction between the two schools who soon will be merging to form DSA+C, Dublin School of Architecture and Construction.

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Site and Brief Site

Brief

already there. The brief calls for:

This site is one of an array of buildings which houses Dublin Institute of Technology.

This building itself, the Linenhall Campus, is a very historical building, dating as far back as 1728.

The building had a very turbulent history, it remained open as a Linenhall until 1828 when it closed and was briefly turned into a Bristh Army Barracks before it was destroyed by a fire in 1916.

The existing building today still has remnants of the old linenhall structure and fortified walls of the barracks but has had many intervention over the decades and so has many different layers of structure within.

The site is located just off Yarnhall street which is adjacent to Bolton Street, one of the main Campuses of DIT.

The brief for this project was extremely simple. It was to provide a new front of house for the new DSA+C which will be now housed on the Linenhall Campus.

The building lacks a sense of place and any social space whatsoever.

The space on site has been taken over by minor expansions over the years and thus leaving social space to a minimum. The idea of this project was to re-configure and restructure the existing building to make it work better but also make a stronger, clearer impression to the visitor on site. It is about presenting a new face to the public and embracing the old and working with the new which is the new school of architecture and construction, DSA+C. The new layer which is to be added is to be minimal in intusion but has to maximise what is

- a new social space at the heart of the building - a new entrance and recpetion area as a new public frontage of the DSA+C - a new cafe and restuarnt space for the campus which can cater for the large number of students on site - an archive and display area in the building for large pieces of work - a small and large crit and review area - small library and rreading room spaces with facility for DIT Porters at Front gate

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Design

New Social Layer

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Stairs

Offices

Services

Service Access

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Plan Showing Immediate Context 1:400

Section AA 1:400

Section BB 1:400

Section CC 1:400

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Proposed Ground Floor Plan of Entrance and Social Space 1:200

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01 - Main Entrance 02 - Social Area 03 - Small Crit space 04 - Living Archive and Review Space 05 - Exhibition Space 06 - Cafe/Restaurant 07 - Bleachers 08 - Sunken Garden 09 - Porters Station 10 - Reading Room 11- Library 12 - Toilet 13 - Loading Area 14 - DITSU Shop

Proposed First Floor Plan of Gatehouse and Library 1:200

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Proposed Ground Floor Plan of Gatehouse and Library 1:200

Proposed Basement Floor Plan of Foundry Cafe and Restaurant 1:200

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Project_02

Meso Engagement - The Community

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Inner City Sports Club and Active Landscape A centre for community engagement through the physical Sport is a universal language that can bring people together, no matter what their origin, background, religious beliefs, or economic status. Sports can play a role in improving the lives of whole communities.

- Kofi Annan United Nations Secretary General This project is dealing with community engagement, bringing people together in an active way. Sport enables it while architecture is the facilitator.

This building is providing a focal point for a community physically divided by the Royal Canal on the skirts of the Inner City. The project facilitates a link through itself across the canal to the newer apartment buildings which occupy the north bank of the canal.

The building sits within a seven minute walk of a critical transport hub of Dublin, the connection of Busaras, Connolly station and the Luas lines all converge on Amien street.

Provision has been made for both public spaces as well as semi-public of the Sports Club. Cafe and Bar have been provided to allow for the public to actively engage with the physical building even if they are not partaking in sporting activity, to allow for more engagement with the community and not withdrawal from the social realm.

The building acts as a solid piece which addresses both aspects of approach allowing for public space to be carved from the building to act as entrance points and points of external circulation through spaces and beyond to the active landscape

The active landscape utilises the nature of sport and provides surfaces for activity to occur, informal and elementary in their nature. The landscapes slots into an unused piece of land left over from infrastructure development. The landscape enhances connections between the communities and utilises the land left over.

Sports provides a use that facilities both physical and social engagement by its very nature. It allows for people to come together in an informal manner and become more active in the ever increasingly passive city.

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Site - Royal Canal and North Strand Road

Map Showing Public Transport Routes and Hubs with Initial Site

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Map Showing City Sports Facilities and Initial Site

Site and Brief Site The site chosen for this project is on the north side of Dublin city located at the junction of North Strand Road and Dublin’s Royal Canal.

The site is an unused piece of land left over from the infrastrcutural development of the Irish Rail network. It boasts many characteristics such as being on the banks of the canal, being bound by railways and roads but also having the potential to create a link between communities physically divided by the Royal Canal.

This site was discovered after research was completed into certain conditions which the site must have. Some included that it must have a large footfall on a large thoroughfare, have access to a wide variety of public transport routes including Luas, Dart and Bus, but also needed to be a site

which was placed between separate and disconnected communities. This site fulfils all of these requirements.

home and the public realm to occur will enable interpersonal relations to be forged in a city that is becoming ever more insular and withdrawing from its society.

Brief This Project is proposing a MultiSports Club in Inner City Dublin.

The Inner City of Dublin has a severe lack of sports facilities for its inhabitants. Facilities are minimal within the boundary of the two canals. In the absence of a declining social structure such as the Catholic Church, communities need a new focal point. Sport creates a sense of community and belonging, just as the Catholic Church has done previously. Sport facilitates and promotes social and community engagement by its very nature, while architecture enables the interaction to occur.

Allowing a mediator between the

Public Amenities 1 no - Physio Treatment Room 50sqm 1 no - Gymnasium 250sqm 1 no - Restaurant 300sqm 1 no - Bar 200sqm

2 no - Admin Offices 35sqm 1 no - Security Zone 20sqm Secure Storage Space Landscape Facilities 1 no - 100m Sprint Track 3 no - 1-on-1 BasketBall Courts 1 no - Outdoor Gym Area 1 no - 350m Informal Running Track 1 no - Fishing Jetty 1 no - Playground Area 1 no - Skateboard Park

Sports Clubs Facilities 2 no - Changing Rooms 300sqm - Toilet Facilities - Lockers 2 no - Squash Courts 130sqm 2 no - Handball Courts 200sqm 1 no - Wet Area 400sqm - Rowing Stores - Kayak Store 1 no - Multi- Use Hall 1500sqm 1 no - Climbing Wall 70sqm 1 no - Meeting Room 100sqm 2 no - Dance Studios 250sqm Staff Facilities 1 no - Common Room 75sqm 2 no - Toilet Facilities 30sqm

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Design

Topography

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Built Elements

Pathways

SoftScape

HardScape

Site Plan showing Wider Context 1:2000

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C

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Site Plan showing Landscape 1:1000

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Site Section AA 1:1000

Site Section BB 1:1000

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Diagrams Showing Floor Usage

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01 - Restaurant/Cafe 02 - Bar 03 - Staff Room 04 - Toilet 05 - Physio Treatment Unit 06 - Sports Club Entrance 07 - Offices 08 - Meeting Room 09 - Common Room 10 - Storage 11 - Changing Rooms 12 - Gym 13 - Strectching Room 14 - Dance Studio 15 - HandBall Court 16 - Squash Court 17 - Gathering Space 18 - Sports Hall

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Ground Floor Plan 1:200

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First Floor Plan 1:200

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Southern Elevation 1:200

Short Section CC 1:200

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Long Section AA 1:200

Long Section BB 1:200

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Internal Perspective of Sports Hall

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Roof Build Up Brushed Aluminium Coping 10mm Stell Gallows Support Bracket 6mm Bitumen Roofing Membrane 150mm High Density Thermal Insulation Reinforced Concrete Waffle Slab Double Layer of Okalux Polycarbonate Glass Double Layer Laminated Glass Unit

Top Floor Build Up Cedar Timber Finish Floor 75mm Concrete Screed with Underfloor Heating Array 150mm High Density Thermal Insulation Schock Isokorb XKT Structural Thermal Break Reinforced Concrete Waffle Slab

Floor Build Up 75mm Concrete Screed with Underfloor Heating Array 150mm High Density Thermal Insulation 8mm Steel Support Section Recessed Downlight Unit 500mm Flat Soffit Reinforced Concrete Slab Double Glazing Unit

Floor + Foundation Build Up 75mm Concrete Screed with Underfloor Heating Array 150mm High Density Thermal Insulation 400mm Reinforced Concrete Slab with raft Foundation to Engingeer’s Specification Hardcore Base with Perforated Drain DPM Detail Part Section 1:40

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