. architectural design 301 + leon downie 13951214

. contents

civic narrative portaltechnic narrative portal

poetic narrative portal

function centre + walled garden + portal

. civic narrative

. the civic intention looks at bringing life back into the site.the site in its current state exhausts a sparsity and the civic intention sees the site as

architectural graveyard.the intervention connects with the primary visual sign of the site. the stack.

the scheme plays on the idea of the stack being a stagnant lifeless object. thus the scheme injects density, life and vigor into the site in the form of a blurred stack.

. site plan 1 :500

. the stack, the blurring of dead architecture and the injection of density and vigor using the semiology of the stack.

. plan 1:100

. section 1:100

. process work and stack development ideas

. technic narrative

. the technics narrative attempts to address the existing moments of order within the site.the scheme explores the lingering space of objects as formal geomtries to control movement .

the scheme uses soft curves as geometries that lure, and brash hard edges as repellent markers.

. the portal in elevation sitting comfortably within the sites existing geometries.

. site plan 1:500.

. plan 1:100mapping the geometries and how they effect movement

. section 1:100diagramming the idea of lingering space around geometries.

. proccess work and kinetic exploration.

. poetic narrative

. the poetic narrative explores the sublime. in particular the ground plane.this poetic scheme explores the notion of monistic space. a single moment of intensified

experience within a whole space. a simple perforated thickened wall anchors the portal 800mmbelow ground while an adjacent light cloister feathers light delicately through hit and miss brickwork.

a draping brick ‘curtain’ hides movement path as one steps carefully and daringly through the tranquil tension in solitude.

. dark interior with feathered light.model 1:100

. site plan 1:500

. plan 1:100plan exploration

. long section 1:100

short section 1:100

light exploration developing the feathered light effect.

. sketch design, sectional exploration.

. project 2 + bristile brickworks + function centre + portal + walled garden

. early site investigation lead to an attuned interest in the existing site conditionthe site contains rich and textured remains of the old brickworks factory. however

it is the abandoned slab which dominates the site that holds the key to understanding the site

touchstone images of the sites history reflected in the slab

. site photography foregrounding the slab as the reading device of the site.north east panorama of the slab

. site ivestigation. mapping the site and coding every ground surface to realise opportunites of intervention.points of scar,shear, deflectionand cracking in the ground slab.

. the site and plan in existing site anomalies .

the scheme is driven by the clarity of long detailed sections. the scheme redefines the datumof the flat and constant denominator of the slab . The ground slab underpins the scheme. it is the

anchor of function and the article of history. a reading device used to gain insight into the history ofthe site. points of shear and scarring of the slab become visual nodes of nostalgia clearly denoting a previous function.

. the top section shows the juxtaposition of the ground line and the chasm void.the chasm void acts as a puncture into the earth, grounding the experience with the

smell and the cold of the abyss below.

the bottom section looks at the careful transition between the staunch groundline of the slab, the intervention (dining room) and the feathered ground line beyond.

. the long section tracks the two datums in digression to the lowest point on the site RL 1.6mthe light coloured brick spaces are coded as the functional areas for light reflecting, workable ambience.

social spaces are coded with black light absorbing brickwork exhausting a dark light where openings are the peelingback of at the bottom of the walls, a constant connection with the varying ground code.

. perspective of linear access corridor.the function center is experienced from the

platform of the slab. all access references backto the datum of the slab. the black coloured parched

brickwork folds back as the slab cascades down to the eastand as the light falls on the slab outside the dark corridor is overwhelmed

by the presence of the ground plane and its subtly textured surface.

. the interior of the function centre. the access path crosses over the chasm void below creating an entrance/ arrival for the the patron

before entering the groung level of the function room from the opposite cornerof the space. the entrant is placed on a catwalk like overpass highlighting the subject

as the focal point of the space.

. developing the relationship between two ground planes and the chasm.touchstone sketch

. process work and sectional development

. 1:200 model deliniating the juxtaposing ground codes and the delicacy of the intervention

.

these possibilities require a careful examination of the found conditions, to determine what might be happening, before deciding how and where to act. this is different to the notion of clearing a site ready for the arrival of a piece of architecture. Instead, the addition

of a work onto the ground is perceived as another layer onto that which already exists., and like a process of accumulation the various histories of the site remain intact.

Dr Richard Black

Yet for me, architecture’s role is to elevate the profane with the sacred.Raimund Abraham

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