Architecture

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Brief

You are required to create a proposal for a piece of radical architecture relating to its context.

This will necessitate you doing site research, Taking site photographs conceiving of designing and produce a reduced scale Maquette[1] of an architectural proposal relating to its context.

Think of how you can create a physical structure. Try to be as inventive and creative as possible, whilst ensuring that your outcome communicates its meaning clearly. You can use any materials, techniques, and processes you consider to be practical and relevant but within the assignment, you must include the application of digital imagery. You will digitally superimpose your final 3D model within its intended setting as part of your proposal. You will present the proposal aspect of the blog for a group crit.

Your blog will be the source of assessment and all aspects of the design process from brief to evaluation / critical response must be recorded!

  1. A Maquette is a small-scale model or rough draft of an architectural work or a sculpture

 

Conceptual Ideas

 

For my initial brainstorming, I wanted to look at three things that Sheffield is known for. First of all, I decided to look at its steel industry because this is what Sheffield is probably most famous for. Secondly, I wanted to look at some of Sheffield’s architecture, one of the most iconic to me is the Park Hill flats. This is one of the first structures you see upon arriving in Sheffield by train.

The flats were designed by Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith and construction began in 1957 under the supervision of J Lewis Womersley, who was Sheffield’s City Architect https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/the-park-hill-estate-sheffield-streets-in-the-sky/ The flats were inspired by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier’s “Unite d’Habitation” that was completed in 1952 in the port city of Marseille in southern France.

This is Le Corbusier′s housing block that was built in 1952. It was named L′Unité d’Habitation or La Cité Radieuse. This would provide the inspiration for the Park Hill flats that would be built a few years later in Sheffield. http://www.uncubemagazine.com/blog/10272227
The Park Hill estate was built in 1957, the project was a social experiment that would address the housing needs of the surrounding area. The project was called “the streets in the sky” and the architects were trying to rebuild the old streets and integrate them into this new project. The old street names were used and even old neighbours were re-housed next to each other. https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/competitions/competition-park-hill-arts-space-sheffield/10019725.article https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/the-park-hill-estate-sheffield-streets-in-the-sky/ https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/aug/14/park-hill-brutalist-sheffield-estate-controversial-renovation

 

Finally, I wanted to point out something that is probably not that apparent to most people. According to Sheffield City Council, Sheffield is the greenest city in Europe. It is estimated that there are around 4.5 million cannabis plants in Sheffield which works out at around 9 marijuanas per person. Unfortunately, this may no longer be the case since the council has hired the sub-contractors Amey to lead their Streets Ahead project. This project is a long-term 25-year maintenance project that will see the city’s streets transformed from some of Britain’s worst roads. The project hit controversy last year in 2017 when Amey began cutting down healthy trees and ignoring protests from residents and experts alike.

Development of Ideas

My initial idea was to make a modern house incorporating brutalist architecture with an industrial feel while also addressing the environmental aspect of my concept.  The images of steel casts gave me the idea to make planters that could be incorporated into the building. Another idea was to have a strip of iron that divided the house, the iron would rust naturally giving a nice orange colour to the metal and this would represent the molten steel that is poured into casts.

For my next concept, I wanted to look at the  Sheffield Forgemasters logo and use this shape to form a building. My idea was to make this building into a museum celebrating all things linked to Sheffield’s history with the steel industry. I think that the Forgemasters building is iconic, with its huge black corrugated steel walls and roof dwarfing the surrounding buildings. I wanted my building to imitate this and decided to keep the overall building black. The central core would be clad in a poly-carbonate material that would be illuminated at night, this would represent the steel ingots that were cast in the Forgemasters building.

For my final concept, I began looking at different types of steel casts. Some of the shapes were quite simple and others looked very intricate and almost alien. I thought that a good way to incorporate this aspect of the idea would be to make another building in the shape of one of these casts.

This has given me the inspiration and idea of what I would like my building to look like. I want to make a central core tower and have it surrounded by 3 outer towers. I have decided to make the building hexagonal in shape and I want to introduce green space into this design.

I also wanted to the building to look modern and clean with lots of straight lines like the brutalist structures that are still visible in Sheffield today. Furthermore, I needed to incorporate green spaces into the building, I like the idea of having gardens in the sky and my idea would be to incorporate these green spaces between levels.

L’Oasis d’Aboukir, a new vertical garden on the side of a residential building in Paris. I really like the idea of vertical gardens in cities. Not only do they create greenspace that promotes the growth of wildlife, but they also act as filters that can reduce the harmful CO2 gases produced by humans.
Jean Nouvel’s Sydney towers boast vertical gardens and a huge sunlight reflector. These gardens make brilliant habitats for birds and other flying insects. Because they are on the side of buildings they are out of the way of human interference, therefore doubling up as conservation areas.

 

Patrick Blanc is a French botanist and designer who invented the concept of the vertical garden and has been on a quest to green walls across the planet with his plant-based creations for the last 25 years. I have been aware of “Living Walls” now for some years and this is definitely something that I think would work well in my design. I would also like these “Sky Gardens” to be accessible to the public so it would be preferable if they were traditionally horizontal in design.

I really like the ideas of  Stefano Boeri’s “Forest City.” In this project, Stefano proposes to use a staggering 40,000 trees and over 1 million plants. Each tree and plant species will have its own function, from absorbing CO2 to creating new habitats for wildlife and insects.

Architectural Styles

I now want to look at different styles of British architecture and compare them with architecture from another country such as China.

I like the clean minimalist look of contemporary architecture that is present in England today, there are lots of different materials used that work in harmony with each other.

Threefold Architects

Burgh Island Hotel Threefold Architects have produced design proposals for a new build standalone luxury hotel suite as part of a historic Grade II listed Burgh Island Hotel on a coastal site in Devon. I like the use of large glass walls in this structure that will allow lots of natural light into the hotel. It also allows amazing views out across the coast and ocean.
Art Gallery Dubai Threefold Architects recently formulated initial proposals for the fit out of a large events space, gallery and artist studios in an old warehouse located in an arts and cultural district in Dubai. I like the use of windows in the ceiling, again letting in lots of natural light. I also like the minimalist feel and the bright accent colour used to break up the white space. The artistic use of the stairway also frames the corridor beyond.

Strom Architects

This project comprises the design of two large villas on the island of Lidingö in Stockholm for the property developer Imola Förvlatning. The site is accessed from the southern side, and slopes steeply towards the north. Planning policies dictate the maximum footprint and build height. Again, I like the use of large glass floor to ceiling windows to give panoramic views and allow large amounts of natural light into the building. I think this idea works really well with builds that are in natural settings as the windows lend to the illusion that you are actually outside.
The two villas share a common design language, yet they have their own identity. The larger house is clad in black stained timber and has a dark interior, while the smaller house is clad with an SIOO treated cladding which will rapidly weather to a light silvery grey, and has a lighter interior.

Adam Knibb Architects

Cedar Lodges, Really nice use of natural timber cladding is juxtaposed by the angular steel frame of the windows and glass gables.
Crowsport, the minimal and modern design of this build remind me of the brutalist architecture from the 1950’s – 70’s

Safdiear Architects

Bold, Clean and Minimalist seem to be the present style of  Western European architecture, while the East seem to take a more fluid and organic approach.

Curving shades arch over terraces of Chongqing housing development by Safdie Architects
The 42,740-square-metre Eling Hill development includes 126 apartments spread across three bands of buildings rising up a hill on the Yuzhong Peninsula, in the city in central China
I like the organic feel of this building, the way it curves both width and height to follow toe contours of the hill

Tonkin Liu

London-based architecture firm Tonkin Liu has revealed its plans for a family of fritted-glass skyscrapers, which will be arranged around a central plaza in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou.
The towers will contain apartments, offices and hotel suites, while shops and leisure facilities will be placed at podium level. The peaks of varying heights are modelled to create a “mountainscape” based on Zhengzhou’s hilly terrain.

Architekten

German firm Gerkan, Marg and Partners (GMP) won the competition to design the Greenland Central Plaza for developers Zhongyuan Real Estate in 2010. The mixed-use development contains offices and apartments, as well as leisure facilities.
The topmost eight levels of each skyscraper are given over to a “sky atrium”, filled with shops, restaurants, culture and art spaces and a spa. Slim vertical louvres provide shade and add to the rippling effect of the facade.
Both towers of this 63-storey build have outdoor terraces placed every eighth floor. this gives people a 360 degree view of the city.
In total, the complex has created 746,000-square-metres of floor space. Set on the eastern side of Zhengzhou near the new train station, the development was built as a response to the predicted population rise. The capital of Henan Province is expected to have 11 million inhabitants by 2020.

 

Primary Research

I now began looking at different architectural styles of the buildings in Sheffield from past to present. I wanted to see if there are any ideas that I can take and incorporate into my project.

The Moorfoot Building is a large office building in the form of a step pyramid. It is located at the foot of The Moor (a pedestrianised shopping street), close to the Sheffield Inner Ring Road. https://www.flickr.com/photos/roger/376344182/
Pond Street Development (a.k.a The Roxy / The Fiesta / The 02) (1965) This is one of the first amongst many commisioned buildings that was completed by the architects Jefferson Sheard. http://jeffersonsheard.co.uk/about/our-history/
New build on Ecclesall Rd.
Westfield Health acquired a 1960’s office building, with a view to adapting it into their new Headquarters.
Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson were appointed following a successful design competition entry, which resonated with the organisation’s aspirations for their new home. https://www.hcd.co.uk/sectors/commercial/project-pages/westfieldhouse/
Bond Bryan Architects designed the new build that houses Hallam Uni’s Faculty of Development and Society. https://bondbryan.co.uk/architects/projects/ – http://www.psbj.co.uk/features/from-the-magazine/upfront/955-new-facility-brings-sheffield-hallam-university-together
Velocity Tower as it is now known was originally to be called Eclipse and was to be built by Cala Developments. Cala began work but in 2005 the project was abandoned due to the financial climate of the city. It was eventually sold to Velocity Estates in 2007 who along with AXIS Architecture completed the build. https://www.axis-architecture.co.uk/our-projects/velocity-tower/
Living Wall on the side of Marks and Spencers, Ecclesall Rd
http://www.alliesandmorrison.com/projects/
The cheese grater car park in Charles Street, Sheffield. Designed by architects Allies and Morrison. In 2013 this unusual building won third prize in the competition of World’s Coolest Car Park Awards. https://www.thestar.co.uk/business/sheffield-cheese-grater-comes-cool-third-1-5974499
St Pauls Tower, also known as the City Lofts is a residential development that was completed in 2011 by British designer Terence Conran. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Terence-Conran
Sir Terence Orby Conran, (born October 4, 1931, Surrey, England)
https://conranandpartners.com/project/city-lofts-developments-st-pauls-sheffield/
Sheffield Uni’s Geography Building situated on Winter Street was built by architect William Whitfield (1968-71)
The building comprises of six interlocking hexagons
Whitfield is probably most famous for designing Paternoster Square next to St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London. The project took 20 years to complete. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3605887/Peace-descends-on-St-Pauls.html
Moore Street Substation, Sheffield (1968) Along with the Park Hill Flats this is probably another one of Sheffields Iconic brutalist buildings. It was commisioned in the early 1960’s and is now a grade 2 listed building. The architects were Jefferson Sheard who still have offices here in Sheffield. http://jeffersonsheard.co.uk/

 

Concept Design

I now have a pretty good idea of how I want my final project to look, I took my inspiration from the L′Unité d’Habitation by French architect Le Corbusier and also aspects of The Park Hill flats. I have also been inspired by the vertical gardens of the French botanist Patric Blanc, and the “Forest City” designed by Italian architect and urban planner Stefano Boeri.

I began to sketch down my ideas and try to explain the reasoning behind my concepts.

 

3D Model

I am now at a stage where I can begin to think about making my 3D model, I have decided to use 6mm MDF that I will cut out on the laser cutter. I now need to think about how the structure best fits together before I begin to put the design into Illustrator. My first thought was to make the walls of the structure out of panels, but I soon realized how difficult this would be to construct because of the hexagonal design. I decided that a better way to do this would be to cut hexagonal shapes. I can now stack them to make a solid structure.

Here is the model being assembled.

 

Floor Plans

Next, I wanted to try to visualize how the floor layout would look if the structure was built as a residential living space. I have made some simple diagrams in Illustrator to try and show my ideas.

 

Animated Model

 

Concept Art

Project Proposal

Please click here to download   Executive Summary   

Evaluation & Critical Feedback

Throughout this project, I have looked at different options and concepts for designing an architectural structure.  I have used different software to produce my final results and also taught myself how to use new software to aid in my design process. I have designed and built a 3D model of my final concept and also designed concept art to show the concept in situ. I think my 3D model could have been better and would look at the design process differently in any future projects. I feel that I have achieved all my goals to a high standard within a tight timeframe of just 4 weeks. Overall I am happy with all my outcomes.

(Awaiting presentation for group crit)

 

Health & Safety

I have used the workshops throughout this project and adhered to health and safety guidelines within. When using machinery to cut material I have used the safety guards and made sure there are no trailing cables that could cause people to trip. I have used safety goggles and aprons provided to protect my eyes skin and clothing and secured any loose clothing so that it does not get caught in any moving parts of the machinery. When using any adhesives I have made sure there is adequate ventilation and used a mask when necessary so that I or anyone else is not breathing in any toxic fumes.