WILLIAM RAMSAY | architectural portfolio
1 DUBLIN CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS LIBRARY
2 OXFORD MARKET STATION
3 DORCHESTER WOVEN WIRES
P 4-11 A 10 week individual project in my third year of study at Bath University. After a visit to the north of Dublin we were to choose and site and then put forward a proposition in response to the cultural, social and economic fringe conditions.
P 12-19 A group project undertaken in final year alongside civil engineering undergraduates. Together we were asked to propose a feasible, operational and effective station for the city of Oxford.
P 20-33 The final individual project of my undergraduate studies. An anthropological analysis of the ancient town and its vernacular, with a building proposition aimed at restitching the urban fabric and regenerating the local area.
4 GRIMSHAW PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
P 34-41 Collection of projects from my time spent working as an architectural assistant for Grimshaw Architects, 2017-2019
DUBLIN | C.Y.A LIBRARY 3rd Year - Individual Work My brief was to design a children and young adults library in north Dublin to provide support for individuals from pre-school age up to teenagers. Alongside the library I choose to incorporate a music school and an inter-cultural arts centre, in the aim of encouraging interaction and engagement with the community of north Dublin. The key features of the brief were to: • Repair fractures within the city’s community and urban fabric. • Ultimately eliminate the fringe condition.
I intended for the library’s circulation to be driven by curiosity. From outside, glimpses of the library stacks can been seen through glazed boxes protruding from the west elevation. Upon entry, glimpses of vegetation and sound from the music school above pull movement upwards and into the building.
As well as making the protruded glass boxes interesting and unique spaces to experience, the foliage covering the western facade also acts as excellent solar shading. Allowing large proportions of this face of the building to be glazed without the worry of thermal gains.
Space is split between public and private areas by a projecting stone wall. The library and school facilities are located in the more private areas behind the dividing wall to give these areas a more peaceful, quiet atmosphere. The music centre accommodation sits on the Dorset Street side of the dividing wall; as due to large amounts of insulation used for the music rooms and their lack of external openings, the noise from the street was not a factor.
SEPARATION Private and Public
ENCLOSURE Creating the Library
THRESHOLD Filtering Dublin
THE MUSIC SCHOOL Due to Dublin being a intrinsically musical city, it made perfect sense for the music school to be an element that inspired interest in the library and the music played within. I sought to find a fine balance in how the programme of the music school should be acoustically sealed. The recording studios and a variety of performance spaces require a large degree of acoustic separation from external spaces and circulation zones. However I opened up a number of practice rooms and a collection of communal areas in the hope that music performed and created in these spaces could travel throughout the accommodation on the south side of the dividing wall; importantly to the entrance hall / foyer below and grab the attention of people dwelling and exploring this space.
Public vs Private
Usage Massing
Street Elevation - Music Centre In order to unite the library with its local surroundings, the adjacent park is pulled inside the streetside foyer. The library’s glass facade helps to maintain this flow between the foyer and park. The park’s steps sweep around into the foyer to create a public performance area which allow users of the library to share and demonstrate their talents and ideas. The steel and glass of the Dorset Street facade wrap over the top of the library forming the area of the intercultural hub. The glass roof and walls allow plenty of light into the exhibition spaces, making them great places to present the work of the local community. To prevent massive solar gains to the building a perforated steel roof shades the glass and steel envelope below. The perforations aim to mimic the language of the greenery on the planted facade and to make the roof resemble the canopy of a forest.
Playground Section - Library The books in the Library are contained in shelves along three large vertical stacks. These stacks are constructed of glulam timber and support their own weight. Library users can move between the shelves on gangways which also provide routes to some of the green boxes on the south facade. The stacks create a vertically linked place which unifies the surrounding facilities in the building.
OXFORD | market station Final Year Project - Group Work *All graphics and sketches are my own The railway station is so often perceived as a ‘gateway’ or a ‘portal’. If the railway is a motorway, the stations are its slip roads. With its tickets, barriers and timetables, the station is an inherent supporter of discipline and order. This has transcended into efficiency; a station’s value is measured by how efficiently it can filter people through it. Progress is linked to speed. Roger Fry wrote in 1849 that the station ‘transmutes a man from a traveler to a living parcel’. A person moving through a station obeys the same code as others and receives the same messages, like ‘self-loading freight’. This non-place creates neither singular identity nor relations, only solitude and similitude.
Existing Station Condition ‘People spend more and more effort wondering where they are going, only because they are less and less sure where they are.’ - Marc Augé, ‘Non-places’
INTEGRATING STATION MARKET AND TYPOLOGY
Both share many inherent qualities, not least that they thrive from the presence of people, and generate noisy, bustling environments. In terms of pace, the market makes for an appropriate station for all users. A commuter who uses the station daily may have their favorite market stall to pick up breakfast, and can collect local produce to take home after work, avoiding a detour to a disenchanting supermarket which would only elongate their working day. A visitor to Oxford is presented with a place of interest and character imminently upon arrival. A nearby resident of the station would utilise it as a food retailer as well as a space to meet friends and family for dinner. The ebb and flow of passengers and the arrival and departure of trains generates a charged energy which should be harnessed and celebrated. Oxford Market Station does just that, by providing users with a food market experience where they can try local produce, meet members of the community and generally gather in a space which encourages human interaction.
Typ ic
To unite market and station we examined the typical market typology and extracted the principals of what make markets exciting and stimulating places to be. The market stall is a prevalent feature in most markets around the globe, giving retailers space and
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Using the structure of a vierendeel truss, a standard market layout is created above the tracks. Creating room for consumers to buy, passengers to wait and businesses to thrive. Bringing the bulk of the station above the tracks allows for a less prescriptive and linear journey, enabling the station to work as a market and become a hive of activity.
The markets circling the exterior of the station serve to activate the facade creating separate moments of interest for those approaching the station. Four corner supports form the delivery system of the market station. All linked by conveyors these act to bring goods and produce up to the markets stalls and transport waste back down to ground level. The station utilities a courtyard typology to generate a contained, introverted space. Once inside a passenger is elevated above the noise and perceived chaos transport hubs tend to attract. Hostel rooms are elevated further and placed on top of the vierendeels enforcing the vertical focal point in the centre of the station.
RECONNECTING OXFORD The railway tracks divide two parts of Oxford, the residential area and the city centre. Two entrance ‘towers’ on both sides of the tracks act as anchors to the floating station deck and are utilized to link these disconnected side of the city. The stone towers rise above the mass of the station and allow the passenger a more legible journey when arriving and departing the station. In unifying the city the station becomes a new axis to Oxford, not only linking the city to other parts of the country but also to itself.
DELIVERY A market requires an efficient delivery system for food. This is achieved through a mechanically operated roller conveyor system that runs on the perimeter of the outer markets. Deliveries are placed in timber boxes designed to the dimensions of standard pallet dimensions (1.2m x 0.8m). Before getting on to the roller conveyor, goods are lifted vertically by mechanical arms connected to a gantry pulley system at the top of the delivery truss.
OUTER MARKET STALL The outer market modules form the first layer of the station’s visible exterior. The function of these particular market stalls is to serve hot food and beverages in a traditional over-the-counter method, perfect for the busy commuter or a resident picking up a snack on their walk to the city centre.
INNER MARKET STALL These inner stalls operate at a slower pace and more intimate level. Customers are encouraged to enter the stalls and browse the produce and goods in a more leisurely manner.
DORCHESTER | woven wires Final Year Project - Individual Work ‘Technology’ can be broken down etymologically to mean ‘The Science of Craft’. It is the (Techne) ‘art, skill & cunning of hand’ which has all but been forgotten in rural areas where it used to be so prevalent. This knowledge and expertise has become embedded within machines which fill homes and workplaces in our day to day existence creating a ‘separation of reason from feeling and practical living’ Whether conscious or subconscious the critical reaction to technicism can still be felt in the rural southwest. An admirable attachment to culture, alongside a generational emigration to employment opportunities has left Dorchester without the forward thinking creative industries that are flourishing in other towns and cities across the country.
A factor contributing to the South West’s lack of a creative workforce may well be the shortage of educational institutions offering courses in creative studies and degrees. Dorset is almost completely devoid of such institutions, leading to many local young adults having to move away to peruse any creative interests. Areas with booming creative industries such as London and the south east have institutions offering extensive ranges of creative courses, meaning that there is a ready supply of professionals ready to enter and contribute to the creative industry.
% Creative Workforce
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12% London
Wearable Technology encompasses many different aspects of the creative industry, bringing together many creative skills required in different corners of the industry. This along with its huge potential for expansion and growth make it a perfect example of industry to encourage people to get involved with creative pursuits. My brief proposed a postgraduate design school focusing on wearable technology as a solution to remedy the dwindling creative workforce in Dorchester and the South West.
I initially identified two key axis through the site on which to align my ‘new streets’. One from North Square into the heart of the site and one from Colliton Street to the base of St Peter’s Church. The aim of the new streets being to enable the local population of Dorchester to pass through the design school and immerse themselves in the creative processes happening within. I then added blocks of programme to the site to define these routes and widened the space between Colliton Street and St. Peter’s to create an activated plaza between to portions of the programme.
GROUND Workshops | Cafe | Lecture
FIRST Research | Studio
SECOND Exhibition | Studio
INVITATION TO DORCHESTER This corten walkway projects from design school past St Peter’s Church and into the high-street. The materiality is starkly different to the surrounding urban fabric of Dorchester and therefore grabs the attention of passers by, pulling them down the passageway into the churchyard.
Handrail under-lit by LED strip light
Steel pads rest on top of the Grade II listed churchyard so as not to damage the stonework
Roof Build-Up 90mm steel channel 20mm core 10 steel Single ply membrane 180mm Insulation Vapor Control Layer 150mm timber rafters 20mm Plasterboard
LECTURE & LIBRARY The lecture theatre and library are accessed through a stair core with a large glazed opening onto the churchyard. From the churchyard the library and lecture theatre are easily identifiable despite them being tucked into a corner of the scheme. The large window onto Colliton Street allows the lecture theatre to immediately grab the attention of any passers by, alerting them to the activity within the design school, and therefore pulling them round the corner into the churchyard. An alley-like opening onto Colliton Street creates a route for residents to pass through the design school on their way into the centre of Dorchester.
Floor Build-Up Compacted hardcore Damp proof membrane Reinforced concrete raft foundation 50mm Insulation 75mm Screed
CHANGEABLE FACADE Just as technology is becoming a wearable skin for humans, new building materials and integrated technologies are become skins for buildings. Following the same approach to engaging the local population with the work being done inside the school, the building will exhibit these new materials and technologies to Dorchester via a changeable facade. Designated areas within the concrete frame will have steel plate hooks attached to the inner leaf of the exterior wall which will carry facade panels that can be removed and replaced so that new and different facade treatments can be displayed.
Wall Build-Up 37.5mm plasterboard Concrete blockwork internal leaf 80mm of cavity insulation External pre-cast Concrete frame Steel plate hook Steel plate cap Interchangeable facade panel
EXPLORATION Weaving Routes The glazing in the garage-like openings slides aside to allow students to take their work into the builders’ yard spaces outside; residents and visitors can get up close to the making process.
GATHERING Human Activation A cafe adjacent to the workshops and studios serves as breakout space for students and brings locals and passers by inside the school.
ATTRACTION Focal Points The exhibition box serves as the main draw from Dorchester’s high street and offers the public a look at the completed work of the school’s students as well as views over St Peter’s Church into Dorchester.
THE CHURCHYARD
The churchyard acts as a focal point for the institute, almost every room and space in the scheme looks onto or serves the central node. Workshops of the fabric house pour onto the yard activating the space for passers by, drawing them into the processes of design and manufacturing. The corten elements of the Colliton Street connection and exhibition catwalk act as beacons driving movement through the space.
GRIMSHAW Professional Practice LONDON BRIDGE STATION GRIP 5&6 - Detailed Design & Construction The London Bridge Station Redevelopment project is a crucial part of the Thameslink Programme delivered by Network Rail, our client. Its objective is to increase the capacity of important North-South connections through London by 80%, as well as to provide a wider catchment area for connections into the Thameslink system.
On London Bridge I had the opportunity to work in a number of roles including liaising with Network Rail, subcontractors and relevant consultants to answer site technical queries raised during the construction process. Responding to these questions would often involve thinking up design solutions to remedy unforeseen conditions on sight and then coordinating a response with all parties involved in the works. I was also involved with delivering detailed design instructions to Network Rail, Costain and other subcontractors for new GRIP 5 works to be carried out in the station. Which gave me the opportunity to build an understanding of how ACOP standards are set out and applied to large rail infrastructure developments.
WESTERN ARCADE WATER MANAGEMENT Months before London Bridge Station was due to be opened the design team was faced with large water ingress issues along the Western Arcade, a key link between the station’s concourse and the London Underground. A creative and innovative solution to collect and channel the water leaking through the geometrically complex heritage quadripartite arches was required. The team proposed a system of a waterproof membrane to line the leaking brickwork, contained within a corten steel cladding which was to be sympathetic to the existing brickwork of the heritage arches. A further complexity lay in fitting the corten sheets to the heritage arches as their dimensions differed throughout the Western Arcade. In order to build to these large tolerances we designed the plates to overlap like fish scales, a similar approach used in the hulls of ships to avoid pieces having to be made to extremely tight tolerances .
Photo Mock-Ups - Western Arcade Corten System
BIRMINGHAM MOOR STREET
*Grimshaw CGI Dept.
GRIP 1 - Concept Design Birmingham is undergoing an unprecedented time of transformation within its history. Moor Street Station is central to the city’s growth and sits as a hub to the surrounding infrastructure and future built environment. To realise its key role within the city’s transformation Grimshaw was asked to create a vision study to propose how this key connection could be re-imagined. When developing the concept for Moor Street it was key that the station’s unique and iconic scale and pitched form were reflected in any new design. The design seeks to interpret these forms, to be instantly recognizable as a part of Birmingham Moor Street Station yet a new radical architecture with an identity of its own. The form is created by interweaving a triangulated form, raising it in the middle to create a thoughfare, the pitch of the roof has then been pinched and opened to bring light down onto the deck. Conceptually we choose to make our design gestures using a finer grain to compliment the existing heritage buildings and not compete with the arches structure of HS2 Curzon Street next door. Moor Street was a fantastic project to be involved in. It was a great eye opener as to how a concept can be generated for an expansive real world infrastructure project. Only a small design team was involved in the vision meaning I was afforded the chance and responsibility of some real handson design work which was incredibly rewarding.
Origami Canopy
Peaked Canopy
CREWE STATION GRIP 3 - Options Selection Grimshaw have developed a selection of design reports for Cheshire East Council outlining plans for a new station in the town of Crewe. With the proposed HS2 extension to Manchester , Crewe Station will soon become a huge interchange for passengers traveling from London to the North of England and vice versa. The station therefore requires a complete overhaul in order to meet the heavy passenger demands of the future. Along with a new station, a master-plan has been drawn up in the hope of connecting and generating the fragmented town. Below are a range of canopy options and deck solutions designed to tie into the existing heritage elements of the station.