cardiff degree show 2014 show catalogue
DESCRIPTION
Published by M.Arch Graduates of 2014, Welsh School of Architecture, CardiffTRANSCRIPT
cardiff universityWELSH SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
2014
show cataloguemaster of architecture
WWW.CARDIFFDEGREESHOW.COM
The Cardiff Degree Show is an opportunity for the graduating Masters of Architecture Students from the Welsh School of Architecture to bring their work to the largest possible audience. The Welsh School of Architecture, based at Cardiff University, has a long-standing reputation for its high standard of work and the quality of its graduates. This distinct London exhibition is a reflection of the school’s position as a leading architectural institution and is an event befitting the careful
consideration, iteration and craft that has gone into the work on display.
The Welsh School of Architecture is democratic in its approach to design, allowing students to select a Thesis Unit from a number of options and develop a brief around their interests. Thesis Units tackle key issues such as: sustainable construction, the importance of brownfield regeneration, user-centricity, the effects of environmental change, and dealing with density and globalisation. Any critical contemporary architecture must address such issues, and the Cardiff Degree Show intends to suggest solutions through the exhibition of innovative holistic proposals.
The show is curated around each of this year’s five thesis Units. Each Unit varies in approach, with some projects starting at the scale of a country and others beginning with a single detail. However what unifies all the work on display is novelty, craftsmanship, and a highly contextual nature. These projects present an unbiased approach to design that re-establishes graduate architecture as creative,
craft-based problem solving, rather than an exercise in aesthetics.
INTRODUCTION
WITH THANKS TO OUR sponsors
ARTSABROAD
Cardiff University UnionCardiff University Alumni Fund
Coffey Architects KSS Design Group
Jestico + Whiles Architecture Stuart Hatcher
Arts Abroad Willmore Iles Architects Ltd
Latitude Pen & PaperAgenda 21 Architects Studio
Pitman Tozer Architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
CONTENTS
Mike Carruthers Keith ChanGareth CotterTheo EllisTerry LaiPriit JürimäeDan LiuAoife Rath-Cullimore
Oliver BoalerJosephine DandJoanne EdmundsLingyan KongHenry LascellesDavid Rossington
Reem Al FurjaniXiaolong ChenNicholas EllisNimi GabrieSimon KinvigSaeed MoinieAmber SmithJemma Williams
Hannah BarnsleyRobert BoltmanJonathan CampbellJonathan EdwardsAndrew FurzelandAnna HumpstonBen LudlowStanislaw Pomian-SrzednickiNicola SmithThomas Woodward
ECONOMY PORT CITY
INFASTRUCTURAL URBANISM
SPACE, MOVEMENT AND ILLUSION
TECTONICS : FORM AND PLACE
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WEATHER : COASTStephanie AdamouPoppy BoadleOluwakorede CokerMarcus O’ConnellDavid SchnabelGuylee SimmondsMarina StylianideWilliam SwithinbankPatrick Wu
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economy : port city
The Economy unit set out to engage with the notion of resilience in the context of the Mount Stuart Square area in Cardiff. In our circumstance, resilience is understood as the capacity to absorb changing local actualities and withstand or overcome negative global impacts.
Mount Stuart Square and the Coal Exchange in particular used to be the heart of coal and shipping business on which Cardiff’s urban growth thrived. However, sixty years after the coal exports ceased, the Exchange stands unused, its deteriorating volume as a reminder of Cardiff’s rise to significance as well as a symbol of the inability of the various public and private agents to meaningfully incorporate the legacy of that era within the city’s post-industrial regeneration.
Although our work demonstrates the diverse ways of interpreting the resilience potential of the Coal Exchange building, some key themes emerge. First, by aiming to understand the physical and human realities created by local policy-makers as well as global trends we have engaged critically with the concept of resilience in an area characterised by precarity. Moreover, we have reconnected the Coal Exchange to the city’s economy by responding to Cardiff’s current cultural and economic trends. Lastly, we have engaged in the debate on the trade-off between heritage concerns and modern-day requirements on the basis of the building’s structural and spatial particularities.
Unit LeaderDr. Juliet Davis
Michael [email protected]
My thesis explores the Coal Exchange within the context of Cardiff Bay’s future development, focusing particularly on the potentials of rapid transport integration across the city. Regenerating the Exchange as a business incubator that acts as a well connected hub for business innovation within the city.
03
Keith [email protected]
This thesis explores the processes of adaptive reuse for neglected historical buildings. The interventions to the Coal Exchange reflects my critical perspective on heritage preservation, fitting new uses and ways to amplify existing character and patina to express the evolution of old buildings
04
Gareth [email protected]
The Coal Exchange and Cardiff Bay suffer from various types of economical and urban fragmentation. In response, my thesis explores how the Coal Exchange and its surroundings can be regenerated through the gradual introduction of creative and cultural uses that operate under an adaptable architectural framework.
05
Theo Ellis [email protected]
Within the context of large scale development in Cardiff Bay and the fragmented urban fabric of Butetown, this project asks how the adaptation and reactivation of the Coal Exchange could form part of, and indeed reflect a more resilient economy for Cardiff.
06
Priit Jürimäe [email protected]
This thesis links the historic Coal Exchange back into Cardiff’s economy by responding to the spatio-functional inadequacies and hidden potentials of the building and its urban context. A programme of everyday amenities addresses local issues of mono-functionality whilst a city-wide strategy ties the isolated Butetown to Cardiff’s educational hubs.
START-UPS
BUSINESSSCHOOL
ETHICAL BANK&
COMMERCIAL AREAS
SOCIAL COHESION COMMON FACILITIES
RESIDENTIALMEMBERS OF
NEIGHBOURINGCOMMUNITIES
(light)CENTRAL SPORTS HALL
SWIMMING POOL & GYM(dark)
extralocal businesses
Local Arts and Crafts Network(Cardiff and Vale College:
Cardiff Bay Creative Centre)
Lloyd George Avenue:New recreation and sports areas
Canal Park:Existing recreation ground
Cardiff University University of South Wales
?
Cardiff and Vale College
tourists
tourists
Existing Cardiff Bay and Butetown communities
collaborate
advisecoll
aborate
hire students
use amenities
use f
or lei
sure
micr
ofin
ance
/ re
gula
r ban
king
serv
ices
use w
orksh
ops
users
gene
rate
new
idea
s
colla
bora
te
preferential users mortga
ges /
regu
lar ba
nking
servi
ces
hire local apprentices/interns
create and test new business ideas
hire
use services
finance
use production services and hire workshop spaces
organise workshops / hire spaces
COAL EXCHANGE
constru
ction a
ssista
nce a
nd kn
ow-ho
w
07
Terry [email protected]
My thesis focuses on the immediate local and social context of the Coal Exchange, in relationship with the greater regional area of Cardiff and South Wales. The project aims at giving the building a programmatic, economic and architectural approach, which will ensure its adaptability to the future development of the city.
08
The thesis connects the history of coal mining in South Wales to the future economy of Cardiff by transforming the Coal Exchange that continues the lineage of being the heart of the Welsh energy industry. The building and Mount Stuart Square become a vehicle for incubating the development of the renewable energy sector.
09
Aoife Rath Cullimore [email protected]
The thesis explores the common ground that exists between people that differ and the resources they share that brings them together. The project builds on the social legacy of rituals of cooperation and modes of social exchange in the Butetown community and transforms this into an architectural and programmatic strategy within the Coal Exchange.
10
infrastructural urbanism
“Whilst concerned as rational, absolute and utiliatrian, infrastructure has the capacity to be appropriated and transformed towards social, cultural, ecological and artistic ends.”
Situated on the Cote d’Azur in the South of France, between the Cap-d’Ail and Cap Martin, The Principality of Monaco has carved out a niche in the international urban marketplace as a glamorous tax haven and financial centre. However it is far from utopian; as a tourist conurbation it is reliant on its ‘Hollywood’ image for economic stability. Over-development in the small strip of developable land between mountain and sea has reduced public space, removed historic properties, and left the city a congested ghetto of generic high-rise apartment blocks all clamouring for sea views. This has in turn led to social problems, with the internationally diverse super-wealthy caste occupying the Principality being supported by 20,000 commuters daily from neighbouring France and Italy.
The work within the Infrastructural Urbanism Unit begins by proposing an infrastructural intervention at a masterplan scale, based on a thorough understanding of the inherent instablilities and feedback within Monaco’s social and economic systems. These infrastructural networks range from Greenways to Cable Car networks and not only tackle the large scale issues affecting The Principality such as navigation for tourists or road congestion but are also used to locate new instituitions. This ensures that the diverse architectural programmes seen in students’ work (such as sports centres or bath houses) form an effective strategy across the whole city and act as social levelers, symbols of identity for Monaco’s various cultural groups, and begin to tackle the globalisation and elitism that plagues the Principality.
Unit LeaderProfessor Peter Salter
Oliver [email protected]
www.oliverboaler.com
Monaco has an image built on super cars and Grand Prix glamour, but as the problems of congestion and pollution continue to soar, Monaco faces an identity crisis. This thesis investigates how glamour can be applied to a Personal Rapid Transit system, rebranding Monaco as a home of sustainable automotive luxury.
13
Josephine Dand [email protected]
A culture of drug use amongst teenagers in Monaco threatens the public image on which the country relies to sustain its society and economy. Cable car infra-structure hides a subcultural youth sports network which addresses this delicate problem.
14
Joanne [email protected]
The project explores the idea of a ‘soft’ cultural infrastructure in Monaco. Operating as an island network it attracts social activity through an arts network and bath house set within the walked garden. Sitting tightly within the urban context its walls press up against existing buildings.
15
Lingyan [email protected]
My thesis investigates the ecological relationships in the contexts of rising pollution and lack of green/public spaces in Monaco. Alternation of buildings and planning gain reflect my critical thinking on creating green/public spaces and cultural facilities as infrastructure that forms a better connection for social interaction and flora/fauna living.
16
Henry [email protected]
henrylascelles.com
In Monaco the luxury industry glamorises a very wasteful, unethical, ultimately unsustainable culture. The Green Urban Runway provides the elements needed for a shift towards a luxury culture valuing experiences over products. At its heart this takes the form of a natural perfume landscape & olfactic spa.
17
David [email protected]
Monaco must ensure heritage and society are preserved and not erased in the face of economic expansion. This thesis proposes a neighbourhood infrastructure of contemporary ‘Guildhalls’ designed to diversify the Monegasque economy, improve education and training within the principality, and promote community across caste divides.
18
SPACE, MOVEMENT AND ILLUSION
At a fundamental level of our consciousness we seek a sense of order or purpose that can provide a framework within which we can interact and interpret each other’s behaviour and the world around us. Architecture is a process by which order, or at least the illusion of order, can be super-imposed on the physical environment, acting as a lens through which we can comfortably interact.
The ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ is a common concept in the performing arts, where a collective audience enter a fictional world of performance and experience ‘real world’ emotions. Sensory manipulation has remained an integral theme in the architectural discipline and where architecture’s greatest potential resides.’
Unit LeaderJonathan Adams
Reem Al [email protected]
The thesis discusses the dual nature of human existence; the physical presence and the immateriality of perception. Based on the idea of the Proscenium Arch as a threshold between the narrative and its perception, the programme takes the unexpecting audience across a sequence of experiences that are linked in a progressing narrative.
21
Xiaolong [email protected]
The thesis project is aimed to set the design as real condition, proposing a multi-functional scheme (residential, commercial, creative industrial) on the footprint of underused land within Cardiff City centre. The project focuses on blending public green space and architectures in two main squares within the scheme.
22
Nicholas [email protected]
The thesis project proposes a cultural infrastructure of portable theatre space and performance facilities in Hastings. The project focuses on an adaptable theatre and rail distribution terminal with workshop and rental studio spaces on the footprint of Hastings’ former pier.
23
Nimi [email protected]
The thesis explores how revealing the genius loci of a place can help redefine and establish a civic space within a broken community. A new route and creative hub, links the historical past of Caerleon in Wales to the current situation, adding to the distinctive atmosphere of the place.
EXTERIOR PERSPECTIVE festival period - arts and crafts fair
24
Simon [email protected]
www.simonkinvig.wordpress.com
An architecture, which combines the needs of a theatre group with those of local sheep farmers is set upon a backdrop of a town split over a cliff. A synthesis of woollen mill and theatre; where wool from local farmers will be used to create bespoke clothing showcased within the theatrical performances.
25
Saeed [email protected]
Building the relationship between landscape and architecture, one intends to explore the essence of the prophetic tradition,“The earth has been made a place of prostration and a purification for me, so wherever a man of my ummah may be when the time for prayer arrives, pray.” [Prophet Mohammad (SAWA)]
Landscape Corporeal Axis
Qibla Cosmic Axis
Intersecting Gridlines
Squaring the Circle
Constructed Geometry
Al-Batin(The Hidden)
Al-Zahir(The Manifest)
Structure
N
26
Amber [email protected]
This project explores the relationship between people and place through repurposing the declining high street of Newport as a civic space for the community. An adaptable theatre is proposed that bridges the street actively promoting interaction and improving theeveryday life of the community.
Amber Smith
This project explores the relationship between people and place through repurposing the declining high street of Newport as a civic space for the community. An adaptable theatre is proposed that bridges the street actively promoting interaction and improving the everyday life of the community.
27
Jemma [email protected]
The introduction of a Crossrail 2 station at Euston offers the opportunity to create an underground world in which circus performance transforms the everyday experience of transition. The boundary between performers and commuters is blurred. As layers of activity overlap, circus and commuting merge into a single spectacle of movement.
28
TECTONICS, FORM AND PLACE
Architecture can make visible the things that are hidden. The more finely tuned a building is to its context the more it can be said to reveal about that place. Whilst globalization has the effect of homogenizing the appearance of top down market led architecture, places continue to remain distinct from one another with differing climate, topography, cultural history, cultural present and so on. This unit is therefore interested in making place specific architecture, placed within the 21st century context of a globalised world. This develops only through an in-depth investigation of the distinct constraints of climate, material and culture. The unit strives to create an architecture that is finely tuned enough to its environment that it begins to reflect the extraordinary variation and richness that occur in the world around us.
Unit LeaderKate Darby
Hannah [email protected]
www.hannahbarnsley.com
This thesis explores how architecture can be embedded more fully in the world through the architecture of light and time, using light as a material from which to develop architectural forms (based on a range of poetic and pragmatic light qualities) and a tool to highlight historical layers within the urban context.
31
Rob BoltmanCwmcarn Forest Drive located in South Wales, has been afflicted by Ramorum Disease, and 4 out of 5 larch trees in the forest are to be felled. To mitigate and exploit this situation this project proposes a new timber processing plant, an Education and Research Centre and a canal basin to incorporating a cafe, children’s playground and boat & bike hire facilities.
32
Jonathan [email protected]
Patterns of growth and decay in our environment are often imperceptible in our everyday experience. The thesis proposes an intervention consisting of a building system and development strategy that can act as a continuous recording of these patterns of growth and decay in order that they are made legible.
33
Jonathan Edwardsjonathanedwards.design@
gmail.com
The thesis challenges attitudes towards waste through the reevaluation of how we treat our existing buildings and the materials used to construct them. Recycled timber used for construction revives life into a derelict industrial building, acting as a social and economic ‘barometer’ for the wider city.
FACTORY SECTION A_AScale 1:1000 1 5 10m2
34
Andrew [email protected]
Costing a total of £4.2bn, the proposed Thames ‘super sewer’ will have a momentous effect on the River Thames - becoming clean enough to swim in. Yet, its presence will largely go unnoticed as it occupies a location beneath the river. Can we re-imagine our relationship with the River Thames?
35
Anna HumpstonThere are contextual relationships between the densities of urban fabrics and their varying heights and, navigation of Bristol’s urban environment can be enabled through the use of historic church spires - Social history & urban vistas create form for navigation.
36
Ben Ludlow [email protected]
benludlow.com
The exhibition of process: an interaction with the practice of wine making. Set on the south facing slopes of the River Dart, visitors travel along a series of carefully curated routes, guiding them through the journey of the grapes, from vine to wine. This is the ‘Terroir’ of the wine presented.
37
Stanislaw [email protected]
pomian-srzednicki.pl
The trekkers lodgings sit within the natural landscape of Dartmoor. The architecture is sensitive in a place of natural beauty, so that the occupants are encouraged to think about the necessities of living and the place of architecture within the natural world.
38
Nicola [email protected]
Flooding due to rising sea levels and increased rainfall is becoming an ever-growing issue. The thesis confronts the current defensive approach within the UK. By way of challenging perceptions of the river’s edge, the project provides a responsive architecture, which becomes a practical solution to flooding.
39
The developed world is hugely reliant on hidden infrastructure. This disconnection creates a dangerous paradigm, where the city’s inhabitants rely on systems out of their control, and are unaware of the environmental implications of such systems. The integration of an infrastructural process into the city is therefore explored to address this problem.
40
WEATHER : COAST
The Weather : Coast studio links ideas of atmosphere and place to the particularities of landscape, raising questions of the nature of an architecture which may be responsive to both.
Nowhere is the weather more extreme or critically felt than at sea or the meeting of land and sea. The focus and context for the unit’s architectural propositions, therefore, are the coasts of Northern Europe, generally encompassing the areas of the ‘Shipping Forecast’.
The designed outcomes demonstrate a critically integrated meeting of architecture with context and weather that is as much a question of history and culture as it is of technology.
Unit LeaderDr. Wayne Forster
Stephanie [email protected]
The project investigates how the inundated and flood-prone landscape can become opportunistic rather than destructive in the design of a fishing community along the Norfolk Coast, by exploring three approaches to coastal management: retreat, defend and attack.
43
Poppy [email protected]
The collaboration between place and intervention aims to exploit and enhance the liminal characteristics of the inter-tidal zone. To record, collect and preserve its contextual surroundings while amplifying the shifting physicality of the coast and its restless weather conditions.
44
Oluwakorede [email protected]
This thesis explores ways of creating a piece of architecture that heightens our sense of refuge in a remote and extremely windy environment. It is the creation of a respite, through the design of a Pilgrimage Centre in Abedaron, North Wales, on the Lynn Peninsula.
45
Marcus O’Connell [email protected]
www.marcusoconnell.com
The powerful sense of place on the isle of Koltur in the Faroe Islands is the basis for a thesis exploring a fundamentally contextual architecture. Within the programme, the distinctive nature of the site is recognised as a source of deep inspiration to musicians, as well as to the emergent architectural language.
46
David [email protected]
www.schnabel.co.uk
The often harsh, brutal and capricious coastal weather amplifies its beauty; the forsaken coastline of western Scotland is beautiful in its isolation. How can we appropriately re-inhabit this unpredictable and unforgiving coastline with an Architecture which expresses an intensification of ontological experience?
47
Guylee [email protected]
www.guyleesimmonds.com
Shetland, the northernmost point of the UK, has a long history of autonomy, independence and self-sufficiency. The thesis proposes the establishment of a protected and autonomous community for veterans with mental health disorders, inspired by the self-sufficient model of a crafting community.
48
Marina [email protected]
The unique geological formation of huge rocks off the southwest coast of Paphos provides the site for a thesis exploring the mythological framework of the birthplace of goddess Aphrodite and its translation into an architecture that generates new experiences through a sensitive site approach.
49
50
William [email protected]
Architecture is rarely seen in landscapes inaccessible by road. However there is something beautiful in finding a piece of architecture that appears removed from urban infrastructure, which engages, mimics and explores the natural landscape.
Patrick WuMy thesis is about the architecture of contemplation. The chosen programme is to set up a Monastic life Centre on Caldey Island which aims to provide a quality minimal life for those wishing to find a place of peace, solitude and reflection along the stunning Welsh coastline.
51
acknowledgementsWayne ForsterChris TweedAmira PrescottAndrew Roberts and all of the Teaching Staff at the WSoASusan Bowden, Carole Creasey and the Support Staff at the WSoA
exhibition teamCOORDINATORS/SCHOOL LIASONAoife Cullimore & David Rossington
TREASURERHannah Barnsley
CURATION COORDINATORS Oliver Boaler & Amira Prescott
VENUE LIASON/SCHEDULERS Jonny Campbell & Nimi Gabrie
SECRETARIESKeith Chan & Jo Dand
UNIT CURATORS Michael Carruthers, Andrew Furzeland, Annelise Humpston, Saeed Moinie, David Rossington, Guylee Simmonds & Nicola Smith.
FUNDRASING TEAMDesola Adeyemi, Korede Coker, Jo Edmunds, Jonny Edwards,Theo Ellis, Anna Humpston, Terry Lai & Amber Smith
PUBLICITY TEAMTeam Leader: Henry LascellesStephanie Adamou, Poppy Boadle, Michael Carruthers, Marcus O’Connell, Gareth Cotter & Priit Jurimae
BOOKLET DESIGNTeam Leader: Gareth CotterStephanie Adamou, Poppy Boadle, Henry Lascelles, David Rossington & Guylee Simmonds
cardiff universityWELSH SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
2014
show cataloguemaster of architecture
WWW.CARDIFFDEGREESHOW.COM