UNIT 3

MArch UNIT 3 – CHARACTER

Unit 3 aims at research through design and is guided by drawing and making to critique modes of thinking and broaden the architectural ‘toolkit’ of each student. The unit has taken on the challenge in the last few years of examining neglected aspects of architecture that deserve closer attention. This year students have been working on ‘character’ in architecture, which may not be entirely overlooked but is often limited to technocratic planning codification of historical districts or is trivialised as ‘style’. Instead, the unit focus has been on how identity, the spirit of place and the temperament of local people can have particular impact not only on use type or decoration but also on spatial configurations, choice of materials and a building’s touch and feel.

To dig deeper, students undertook specific character studies as initial ‘works’ in our location for the year, the Kentish port town of Folkestone, employing a mix of analytical and perception techniques: a local urban grain study, a forensic territory catalogue and a noticeboard survey and speculative drawing, to identify and sift potential activities and groups of residents as the ‘carrier’ for an initial ‘Inhabited Noticeboard’ design and as a stepping stone for the final design project, ‘Character Building’, the design of a community project with an element of ‘habitation’.

Research and design work was supported in parallel by ‘Identity Parade’, a weekly studentled, case-study seminar and a study trip to the city of Glasgow, renowned for its distinctive urban grid, as well as for the robust personality of its citizens. And the purpose of all this has been to speculate how far and in what ways group activity or community might steer the architectural expression of the particular facility being designed.

Characters and characteristics led to the following final projects: a multi-space music academy, tucked into a major urban level change; a performance and event space inspired by discovery, revealing a covered watercourse; a town-centre stop-over homage to camping holidays; the linear and topographical twinning of sculptors’ studios and their gallery; a graffiti arts facility, beyond the streets; a handcraft terrain for pottery and fine art; a planting skills and education resource, to encourage green fingers of young and old; and a tiered urban slice, from skatepark to rooftop ‘urban living room’, for the ‘left behind’.

‘Without distinctiveness of character, buildings may be convenient and answer the purposes for which they were raised, but they will never be pointed out as examples for imitation, nor add to the splendour of the possessor, improve the national taste, or increase the national glory.’

– Sir John Soane – Lecture XI, The Royal Academy Lectures – 1810-20

STUDENTS (alphabetical by surname)

Stage 4:

Oliver Murton

Remi Oyekan

Luke Tampling

Stage 5:

Mayank Priyavrat Jaitli

Jack Newman

Lola Olabisi

Dibbay Binti Wan Rosli

Annabel West

UNIT LEADER - Michael Holms Coats – partner, TROLLEY studio

TECHNICAL TUTOR - Oliver Watson – senior architect, DLA Architecture

GUEST LECTURERS + CRITICS:

Philip Baston

Ambrose Gillick

Chris Jones

Yorgos Loizos

Alessia Mosci

Michael Richards

Chloe Street Tarbatt

Matthew Woodthorpe

JAITLI Stage 5

Through my 3D speculative drawing which highlights the character of Folkestone through numerous different activities, I explored housing from a lens of urban camping using tufted insulated fabric facades.

Being intrigued by Japanese wood construction, the structure of the housing modules was designed using numerious wood joineries, and could be easily disassembled over time.

On the other hand for my community building which housed a cafe, restaurant and a pub(in the existing building), I approached its design by setting parameters for myself from the RIBA sustainable outcomes guidebook. The design was driven by making concious decisions keeping in mind, the embodied carbon of the materials and integrating passive design techniques like overhangs on the southern facade , cross ventilation and a strategy to exhaust warm air through the stairwell of the building.

mayankjaitli@outlook.com

JACK

Inspired by my former experience as a musician in Folkestone my final project sought to address the lack of dedicated music facilities within the town. Using analysis gathered from researching the various tastes and trends of Folkestone’s music scheme, I proposed a music facility, designed and catered to the local musicians of Folkestone, providing all the facilities needed to progress musicians from learning an instrument, right through to performing in various genres.

Jacknewman35 @googlemail.com

COLLECTIVE jOURNEY

Making & Displaying Arts (Sculpture Studio)

Located in Folkestone

To expand the opportunities for continuing adult education in the Folkestone area. Making sculpture studio is just one of the first steps toward resurrecting the local arts scene in what has historically been a place where people made things by hand. Broadly looking at the idea of creating a ‘maker’ environment, a place where I try to attract ‘small to big pieces of arts’ that make things, particularly handmade goods.

‘It is a journey of learning skills and knowledge that gives people the tools to think, experiment and have fun designing’ dibbayrosli@gmail.com

This project aims to bring back some of the ‘hand skills’ that used to be taught commonly from the past to the future.

Linkedin : Dibbay Rosli

WEST Stage 5

This project sets out a concept of discovery, turning a limited site into a new opportunity to adaptively reuse and improve the existing building on site. The use of natural materials such as hempcrete insulation and wood fibres, combined with a central rain garden strategy that encourages flooding, pushes the sites capabilities and enhances its environmental position for the future as well as adding to the life of Folkestone. The design allows people to discover new skills in the creative industry and develop these into shows and events for the public, bridging the gap between being an artist in Folkestone’s creative quarter and simply viewing the artworks.

Consisting of a series of private studios and public workshops for artists and pottery makers, [UN]Earthing Hand Craft is an emerging development that seeks to engage and celebrate new / existing creative individuals within Folkestone. The proposal provides a new public thoroughfare between Tontine Street and St Michael’s Street, as one meanders through the site opportunities to witness individuals engaging within the collective experience. Taking advantage of a currently derelict site, the proposal utilises the earthen material below to minimise the embodied carbon and create a proposal that celebrates its own character.

‘Beyond the Streets’: a celebration of graffiti as a form of art.

eio6@kent.ac.uk

This project aimed to change the narrative that graffiti is regressive but instead, a form of expression, communication and art itself. By creating a series of studios and accomodation, it is possible to create a space that is nurturing and educative for graffiti artists. It was also interesting to research ‘shellcrete’ and seaweed as a sustainable alternative to mainstream construction materials as Folkestone is home to fresh seafood and seaweed. The site features a 14m high retaining wall which becomes a canvas for the programme while the building itself shows use of subtle colours to draw the focus to the graffiti art itself.

TAMPLING Stage 4

Folkestone Planting College

The proposal is for a Planting College in Folkestone to enhance agricultural education inspired by a local organisation Taking Root.

As part of a technology proposal, I conducted a study into methods that can create sustainable energy and water filtration. The study strongly indicated there was a correlation between agriculture and renewable energy through Biomass. The development of a Biomass facade, a modular Decentralized Waste Water System which consisted of a Bio Digester. A Bio Digester through Anaerobic Digestion breaks down organic waste into fertilizer and Bio Gas that could be used as a sustainable power source across the site and local area. Treated water from the DEWATS is used for irrigation purposes.

luketampling@gmail.com

In here |out there

Unit 4 is interested in the definition of ‘city’ and its ability to produce ‘images’ that represent the shape and functioning of the world, or parts of it. As we experience new environmental and socio-economic challenges, we are faced with the need to reassess and perhaps redefine some of our cultural expressions as well as repair and repurpose our cities where they are no longer able to respond to the needs of their inhabitants. How we react to these challenges will shape the built environment of tomorrow and change the image of the city.

On ‘point of view’

As we know, the term ‘point of view’ has different connotations and is used both in philosophy and in geometry to explain the perspective of an idea or an object. The point of view always includes a subject, an object and a way in which the object is interpreted or approached, as the philosopher Antti Hautamäki says “Points of view are first and foremost ways to choose interesting characteristics about objects”. With the spreading of new technologies such as go-pro cameras and drones, the so-called POV shots have become truly ubiquitous, giving us the ultimate spatial experience of everything. Students in Unit 4 are invited to experiment and explore the importance of points of view in the urban environment, both in sociological and geometrical terms.

In the first term we look at the past to understand the future and will do so by researching into the philosophical or cultural movements that have influenced our society and by understanding what relationships they used to do so. Can those points of view be changed and adapted to suit contemporary society?

Students were then asked to develop a theoretical standpoint in the form of a manifesto and were tasked with the analysis of an object in relation to its phenomenology.

The words of philosophers Vazquez and Liz are particularly relevant in this context: “Disposition, after all, means an object’s characteristic way to act or react in a certain way in certain circumstances. A dispositional characteristic is potential, not actual, to use Aristotle’s terminology. We can think that instead of the world structuring itself in a certain way, it has dispositions to be structured in certain ways, depending on which point of view is used”.

Critical thinking

Relational thinking will be at the heart of our explorations. Most European cities are open systems, the result of continuous evolution and adaption, occurred slowly over centuries, through the interweaving of relations. The urban environment is fertile ground for the birth of new and radical ways of living and divulging culture and as architects we strive to develop new ways to repurpose and repair the city, “New ideas must use old buildings” states the activist Jane Jacobs in her town planning rulebook. In this context, the notions of sustainability and resilience are no longer news, they are an integral part of relational architecture and cannot be dispensed.

Our design development we will draw inspiration from the fascinating work of two contemporary thinkers: Carlo Rovelli, a theoretical physicist, who, in his book ‘Helgoland’, explains the importance of understanding “things through their being in a relation to other things” and how “Every vision is partial. There is no way of seeing reality that is not dependent on a perspective – no point of view that is absolute and universal” And Richard Sennett, sociologist and author of ‘Building and dwelling’ in which he opens our eyes on the opportunities of 21st century cities

RAIMONDS BAUKERTS Stage 5

The Old Kent Road People’s Enterprise proposes an alternative economic model for Southwark, creating a new masterplan regenerating derelict industrial estates to work for the local community. The new Social Enterprise Zone is tied together with the trading bridge; a megastructure spanning from Burgess Park to New Cross, following the old canal route.

The project then explores the first social business to kickstart the new economic model. A textile recycling plant that focuses on the craft of spinning and weaving. The monastic scheme supports economically vulnerable people, providing them with housing and opportunities for selfactualisation outside of survival in the late-stage capitalist society.

raimondsbaukerts @gmail.com hcasserley98@gmail.com

Cultures are being pushed out and disbursed by new developments in areas across the country. Enriched societies and groups of people are being deprived and reduced of local spaces to practise/ share culture due to new developments proposed by authorities and governments. This is resulting in the loss of culture, the damage of democracy and the provocation of frustration, suffering and despair as a consequence of dominant economic, social and political paradigms pressing upon people. For this reason and in solution to the on going issue of “cultural bleaching” the project proposes its standpoint to reduce and/or prevent the notion of cultural bleaching by implication and prioritisation of using cultural and creative sectors to adress urban challenges with local authorities along Old Kent Road.

Instagram: cass.arch

CHESTER Stage 5

The Old Kent Road area is home to nearly 1,000 businesses that are integral to London’s dynamic economy providing work for many of its residents, but big top down redevelopment plans threaten to completely shift the local economy from small local businesses to large shops and offices.

The proposal aims to preserve the essence of small businesses via the design of a market hall and workshop spaces as foundation blocks for a community led development centered around a courtyard typology and integrating these uses with communal and amenity spaces, evoking a solid robust apprearance on the exterior, whilst on the inside creating a calm urban oasis away from the busy thoroughfare and a sense of disconnection from the outside world.

tonychester2772@gmail.com www.tonychesterarch.co.uk

Looking at Old Kent Road it became quite evident that the site had been left to develop to its needs as a thoroughfare and not to the needs of its community. This frustration of the community is exhibited by the vandalistic street art and showed that there needs to be space in which people can express their creative and show the community its potential. With these observations I decided to develop a gallery and performance space in 4A and a theatre, gallery and an artist residency in 4B aa2504@kent.ac.uk afan.ahmed50@gmail.com

THE RECLAIMED BRICK FACTORY - This project was based off heavy research into the up-cycling of industrial materials, mainly focusing on the most common UK building material, brick. The project was located in South East London, primarily focussing on Old Kent Road, a major thoroughfare through London. Old Kent Road’s current redevelopment allowed me to observe just how much industrial materials were being thrown out, which led me to research the circular economy of construction materials. My final proposal presented a brick factory focusing on the process of reclamation, located at the heart of Old Kent Road in the middle of its redevelopment areas. The factory is also adjoined to an old civic centre which I re-purposed as a trade centre for industrial materials.

Email : afettursan@gmail.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ afet-tursan

Instagram: afstudi.o