Unit E

Over the years, Unit E and Diploma 7 have been working in complex urban settings. Whether it was Fez’s medina, with an incredible cultural and environmental challenge, or the desire of Madrid and Seville for urban inner-city regeneration, or on a much smaller scale Thessaloniki’s mercado and last year’s site The Lower Marsh in London.

The driving factor for our architectural discussion on these sites is the discussion of current social, economic, and political themes already embedded in these sites and the effect of possible architectural and urban “imposed” proposals.

The recently approved planning permission for development of the Truman Brewery site in Woodseer Street, East London, is a good example of the disconnected manner in which neighbourhood, council and developers are operating. Tower Hamlets Council approved the planning application although there was great objection from locals. The Group “Save Brick Lane” developed a number of points and comments on the approved proposal, which was used as the platform of discussion for the some of the units’ proposals.

The second main development of discussion is on the north side of Brick Lane, the Goods Yard. Where The Goods Yard reaches Brick Lane is where the introduction project was set. It is visible how fragments are cut away and the “cut” became part of the Architectural design discussion. Students were asked to complement the east entrance of Goods Yard with the 18 century Oriel on the west celebrating the entrance to the arches, the walk to Brick Lane and creating a Brick Lane-Goods Yard threshold.

The brief asked for a design of two rooms, one facing the west and the proposed park referred to as future fields (as mentioned in the Master Plan) + proposed high-rise developments, and the second room facing Brick Lane and the East. The challenge was how the the “Cut“ proposal could connect the Goods Yard with Brick Lane be part or use elements of the Master Plan. Exiting master plans became a platform for discussion and proposition. Especially in the case of Brick Lane it affects a large community. The students tried to accommodate the needs and desires of the Neighbourhood, given its complexity as a playground of Social, Political, Environmental landscape. Students were forced to take a position in this highly charged environment.

On just 1km of length, Brick Lane contains over 100 food related businesses, some of them permanent, some of them temporary. During the weekend, market stalls enter the lane and quite literally change its occupation. The density is strengthened, becoming almost overwhelming. The Asian style of street food is introduced to Western Europe. As a result, food acts as strong social glue for Brick Lane.

Brick Lane sits on the edge between the deprived borough of Tower Hamlets and the prosperous City of London borough. This schizophrenic condition is pushed to the extreme with the approval of the new Goods Yard development. The economic power of the development has a potential of seriously overrunning the current state of Brick Lane. Consequently, the development introduces an unprecedented “bigness” into the human-scale lane. In the visuals, the meeting point with Brick Lane is depicted as a square, introducing a condition that might result in breaking the flow, dispersing people in all directions. The harsh contact between the big and the small must be rendered much softer.

Students:

Y3: Delrick Adikar ,Gabriel Rebec-Permo, Sumaiya Binte Ismail, Simone Pamio, Viktor Telecky, Yucel Seckin Karatas, Maria Zegheru, Joseline Daniela , Czerrina Salayog, Balla Ngom, Abir Hussain

Y2: Cristian-Luca Serbu, Aurorinia Roman, Elonas Butrimas, Cristian Severin, Daniela Herteg

Special thanks to:

Visiting Critics: Craig Bamford (Sasa Works), David Bass, Daniel Meier, Will Lindley Stephania Solomos

Contributors: Amor Guiterrez, Teresa Serrano, Andy Downey (ElliotWood), Louis Schulz (Assemble), Laura Mark (Walmer Yard)

1.1 “Save Brick Lane” protest by locals. 1.2 Goodsyard oriel. 1.3 Flow of people in “the cut” during market da. 1.4 Old entrance of the old bishopsgate station. 1.5 Site context analysis, by Viktor Telecky. 1.6 New development proposal against locals newspaper, by Simone Pamio.

3.1 Site remnant of the old Bishopsgate station, by Simone Pamio.

3.2 Sketches of the design process of the walkway, by Simone Pamio.

3.3 Fragment of the new walkway following the same materiality of the site, by Simone Pamio. 3.4 Light experience under the walkway, caustic reflections on the existing wall and the new arches, by Simone Pamio. 4.5 Exploded isometric of the overall intervention for the goodsyard, by Simone Pamio.

4.6 Spatial experiences in the landscape as a room to get lost, by Simone Pamio 4.7 Architectural movement gesture and breakdown of planning, by Simone Pamio. 4.8 1:20 Section illustrating the tension between Brick Lane and the new intervention overhanging on top of it, by Simone Pamio.