Unit brief 2013-2014

Unit theme:

The theme for this year’s design investigation is that of ‘movement’ in the city, taken its very widest senses, Hence it might be related to the movement of people within the urban environment, whether they happen to be travelling around on foot, bicycle, car, underground, train, aircraft, etc. Or it might be about the movement of vehicles, or birds and animals -- or indeed of much more ephemeral moving elements like the wind, rain, light, sound, and such like. By looking at London as what is often called a ‘movement economy’, or in more social and aesthetic terms as a ‘city in motion’, how can this be used to trigger new ideas about architecture and its role in society? Your exploration will be pursued in many ways: building aesthetics, economic forces, construction techniques, inside/outside thresholds, environmental system cycles, user involvement, etc.

 

Main project:

Your site for the main project can be somewhere of your own choosing in London, although we will suggest in the brief a range of optional sites of different sizes in the areas where different kinds of movement can be seen as crucial. How might your building design on your chosen site add to the importance and exhilaration of movement in the city? How can the rethinking of urban movement help to create a new identity for your site as well as for its surroundings in London? Students’ projects will therefore need to explore the notion of movement to propose innovative kinds of building uses which would be able to enhance different kinds of urban and cultural interaction.

 

Initial project:

To start the year, students will be asked to examine the idea of movement by making a sizeable and largely abstracted model which encapsulates, in some way, the concept and realities of movement. For the workshop element of this initial project we are joined by Nicholas Szczepaniak, a RIBA Silver Medal Winner and until recently working for Thomas Heatherwick Studio, plus also Guan Lee, a leading fabricator and Bartlett doctoral student who operates his own high-quality workshop in the Chilterns where you can make your models. Students will also at the same time be split up into groups to research into particular themes around movement, with the idea that these are then incorporated into designing/making individual models/installations. Your large-scale prototype models should combine fixed methods of representation (models, photos, sketches, paintings) with time-based media (video, film). Throughout the year there will be an emphasis on research as a vital aspect of architectural design, and this will encompass many fields: anthropology, history, ecology, climate, economics, sociology, technology, everyday life, etc. High-end computer and digital model-making skills will also be taught to students as an integral part of the unit’s programme.

 

Field trip:

Our unit field trip in late-November will be to Seoul in South Korea to examine that fascinating and highly digitised city in which pressures of the movement of people and goods and data is ever-present. While there we will link up with local universities and architects to discover what is happening architecturally in the city, as well as examining striking cultural phenomena such as the ‘bang’ culture whereby large urban blocks with a series of rooms offer collectivised leisure experience for an incredibly wide range of ages and interests.

Unit Zero End of Year Exhibition 2013





Unit 0  summer exhibition 2013 / Photo by  Virgilio Ferreira

  

Unit 0

Unit 0’s underlying aim is for students to learn how to carry out intensive research into architectural ideas, urban conditions, cultural relations, practices of everyday life, etc. and then use their findings to devise innovative and challenging proposals for the contemporary city. Students are asked to grasp the unique speculative space offered by academic study and combine this with a commitment to social engagement and urban improvement, as if their projects were actually going to be built. A clear understanding of the technological, environmental and developmental issues involved in architecture is also vital.

Furthermore, in order to develop their designs, students are expected to capitalise on the full range of methods of investigation and representation (sketches, models, digital fabrication, photography, drawings, computer renders, animations, etc.). In their approach, students should allow for intuitive and spontaneous design-based responses. After all, strong design ideas produced by speculative or lateral thinking can stimulate theoretical investigations just as much as the other way around.

The theme we set our students this year was the concept of ‘exchange’. This term of course carries many meanings. Exchange is used as the principle for the trade of goods and services, originally on a barter system, later as a financial transaction between buyer and seller whether of currency, commodities, information data spread by modern communication technologies, and such like. Yet it could simply refer to an exchange of ideas, or of bodily contacts, among a small group or even just between two people. On a wider scale, when talking of processes like globalisation, it can also refer to sweeping cultural interchange between different ethnic groups or countries around the world. Unit 0 regards architecture as a discipline which is very much rooted in the exchange of ideas and material expressions on multiple cultural levels.

Today, in our fast moving digital- techno-media culture, many fragments of the ‘foreign’, both material and psychological, penetrate intimately into our daily lives. Instead of viewing this as loss of cultural authenticity or as a process of homogenisation, we see global exchange in architectural production as creative and positive. When it comes to buildings, the idea of exchange can be traced in a range of ways: aesthetics, economics, construction methods, thresholds between inside/outside, feedback cycles, user adjustments, etc. It was hence up to each Unit 0 student to research into exchange and come up with an interpretation to explore through their design work. To start the year, we asked students to think about cultural interchange by studying various London-based collections of Chinese artefacts.

At the same time they divided into groups to research specific themes in relation to the NoHo site in Mortimer Street -- formerly the location of Middlesex Hospital, and undeveloped for many years following the 2008 economic crash. Students then began to design and make their own individual designs/models/installations as their initial project for the year. They then were allowed to remain with this site for their major project or else find another site of their choosing which better suited their idea of exchange. The ensuing research encompassed many fields: anthropology, history, ecology, climate, economics, sociology, technology, etc. High-end computer modelling and communication tools associated were combined with more traditional design techniques, thereby addressing distinctions between actual/virtual, digital/ analogue, scientific/artistic, and instrumental/philosophical.

Several questions were posed to the Unit 0 students. How can your site become a place of exchange for the future? How might global influences shape a new identity for your chosen site, as well as for the rest of London? How might the different uses you are proposing enhance urban and cultural interaction? Design investigations were required to deal explicitly with issues of site, ground, space, form, structure, environment, production, occupation, performance and display.

Meanwhile, the Unit 0 field trip enabled us to examine Beijing as an increasingly globalised city. China is just one of the overseas locations that London interacts with, but is likely become an increasingly important one as global wealth/power continues to shift to Asian countries. How might this global change reshape London for the better? Our trip involved visiting architectural schools and well-known architectural practices in Beijing, as well as looking at historical and contemporary buildings and parts of the city -- not least a detailed study of some of its surviving hutong districts.

Unit Trip to Beijing 2013

The Reward System Centric Point

Sited where the River Lea meets the Thames, as the central hub of a London-wide agricultural cooperative, members bring their produce to the weekly floating market, or come to charge up batteries to collect free power, or debate alternative social and economic ideals. For the initial project, a brand new apple orchard on Mortimer Street demonstrates how the agricultural produce is grown on various sites across the city. Local residents earn tokens by saving energy in their homes, then exchanging these for apples or cider. High-level walkways enable visitors to experience the orchard while below a river of apple juice flows to the central processing point.

The Reward System




Left Page  Anti-clockwise from left :



Trampoline Planting Unit - “Pick your Own”,

Roof Plan - The Charles’ Apple River. A Local Food

Production Point - Local Residents exchange Carbon

Mileage with Apple Cider.

(Right Page) Clockwise From top :

Physical Model of a Local Food Prouduction Point ,

Exisiting Chaple becomes the reward point,

Moment - the reward,

Anerobic Digestor,

View from Ground Level,

View from Ground Level overlooking the apple cide

chanel and walkways,

View from Cider Drinking Hub

Next Page : Section Cut through East-West Axis



Furniture Design and Manufacturing Facility

Unit ethos

Unit 0’s underlying aim is for students to learn how to carry out intensive research -- into architectural ideas, urban conditions, cultural relations, practices of everyday life, etc. -- and then use their findings to devise innovative and challenging proposals for the contemporary city. A clear understanding of the technological, environmental and developmental issues involved in architecture is also vital. In order to develop their designs, students are expected to capitalise on the full range of methods of investigation and representation (sketches, models, digital fabrication, photography, drawings, computer renders, animations, etc.).

Social Tea Machine

Left Page anti-clockwise from top : Exploded isometric drawing of the the machine, Plans of moments Right Page : Visualization of the core of the machine

Left Page Clockwise from left : Visualisation Of The Social Tea Machine With Seatings, Slice of the seating with the machine, Semi open of the machine ,Plan view of the machine, Elevation wide open of the machine Right Page : Perspective view - The social tea machine in use at the Bedford square

A Hotel in Soho

The combination of a gourmet hotel and short-term pods for tired restaurant workers in nearby Chinatown creates a labyrinth of varied lighting and acoustic characteristics to suit different needs. All the scattered pods can be adjusted to suit one’s desire to sleep, read, relax or socialise, meaning that activities like cooking, eating and snoozing take place cheek-by-jowl. On the roof terrain, hotel guests can enjoy dense urban environment so close to Piccadilly Circus. For the initial project, a bridge with small glass ‘flowers’ painted by local residents provides an undulating landscape across the NoHo site that glows softly at night.

Left Page  Clockwise from left: Lasercut Building Developement Model, Lasercut Building Developement Model Close Ups

Right Page Clockwise from top: Detailed Plan showing a cluster of Sleeping Pods, Material test of White Reflective Concrete, Overall Perspective View

Left Page Clockwise from top-left : Rooftop Playground , Rooftop Overall Render, Detailed Section showing close proximity of activities, Long section Right Page : Ground Floor Plan

A series of light tests has been done through physical modelling. This informed the design of the sleeping pods concerning the colour, reflection and diffusion of light. Material tests have also been carried out to investigate on the reflectivity and permeability of light for concretes of different mixtures and designs, for example of different perforation sizes and angles. This allowed the use of different concrete at different parts of the building to achieve desirable light conditions, from darker spaces for sleeping to lighter spaces for cooking Left Page Clockwise from left: A Sleeping Pod at 12.00, A Sleeping Pod at 18.00, A Sleeping Pod at 24.00, Light tests for Sleeping Pods Right Page: A Sleeping Pod

Rehabilitation through Occupation

This building responds to the notion of ‘negative exchange’ by tackling difficult issues surrounding drug rehabilitation treatment. Located right on the borders of Hampstead Heath, next to the swimming ponds, the design blurs the threshold between nature and architecture to offer a sense of calm within the city. Patients are able to engage in gardening work or collecting timber from the Heath to help to make the building they happen to be temporarily residing in. For the first project, the chapel on the NoHo site is punctured at low level by a smoke-filled tunnel to create a surreal urban experience.


Clockwise from left:



The vicious cycle of an addict,

Rehabilitation centre: ground floor plan,

Short section through communal space



Clockwise from left :



Programmatic collage: the life of the addict,

Exploded Axonometric,

Long section through detox centre.

Smoking Chapel

From left :

Physical Model showing screen movement,

Material exchange collage,

Ultrasonic humidifier design,

Conceptual interior render,

‘Smoking’ exterior render,Temporary installation plan

Crossing Generations

On the site of the recently demolished Pimlico Comprehensive School, the intermixing of learning and leisure activities for the very young and very old takes place on the building’s extensive stepped terraces. Bright coloured surfaces and planting create a vibrant landscape while offering places to sit down or carry out relaxing pastimes like gardening or playing croquet. A green wall on the west side and the cultivation of the whole NoHo site provides food for a restaurant that mixes cuisine with psychoanalysis so that one’s mind and body can be treated together by the all-in-one chef/shrink.






(Left Page) from top :

 

The ‘cross-generational staircase’,

Terraced model,

Sectional final model,

Right Page :

Exploded axonometric floor planes



(Left Page) Clockwise from top :



Entrance to the school ,

Cross-generational seating,

The rooftop lido,

The recreational croquet lawn,

The lido in winter becomes an ice rink

Right Page:

Sectional model through east-west axis

The Psychoanalyst's kitchen

Chateau Robin Hood Garden

The Camourflage Kiosk and Facade of Fish

This fish restaurant and aquarium complex taps its power from the discarded waste heat of the adjacent Canary Wharf office megaliths, while also linking to Billingsgate fish market. Above, in a curved tower, specialised eateries serve up Chinese delicacies such as abalone. Daylight is filtered through glass tanks and seats, with the presence of moving, swimming fish recurring throughout the scheme. In the first project, the existing retained facade on the west side of the NoHo site is inhabited by temporary bamboo scaffolds to house a range of unspecified activities, including secret workshops producing fake historical maps of London and Beijing.





(Left Page)Anti-clockwise from Left :

 

Catalogue Of Retractable Camouflauge Kiosk,

Sketch Section Of Facade Of Fish Tapping Heat

From Canary Wharf,

Fish Tank Design



layering repetition mysterious

(Left Page) Clockwise from top :



Long Section Of Moments Experienced In The Façade Of Fish /

Basement Plan Of Kitchen / Bar And Street Food Restaurant,

Level 1 Plan Of Fish Market / Barbecue Pockets / Outdoor

Aquariums And Garden,

Level 6 Plan Of Private Fine Dining Pockets - “Abalone Rooms”

(Right Page) From top :

Entrance View Overlooking Canary Wharf,

View Inside Outdoor Barbecue Pockets,

Underground Bar View Of Suspended Over Fish Pond,

Underground Street Food Restaurant With Suspended Outdoor

Aquariums Above

Muslim Christian Exchange

Linked and yet also differentiated by their religious water rituals,here an ecumenical mixing of Muslim and Christian worship is facilitated through the growing of food on the NoHo site for use in a community restaurant. Of particular relevance are the red chillies needed to create spicy kinds of food, with these being grown in a greenhouse full of steel circular columns with rings of irrigation channels. In the initial project, a constellation of water collecting devices is installed to circulate water around the site to suit people’s washing rituals prior to entering the new mosque or the existing chapel.





Left Page :

  Ground floor plan of Mosque

(Right Page) Anti-clockwise from top :

Sktech - details of chilli growing structure,

Sktech - Chilli Hydroponics,

Sktech - concept , Sktech - water filtration



(Left Page) Anti-clockwise from top :



Section of Mosque,

Restaurant,

Chilli greenhouse,

exploded isometric of mosque

Right Page :Ablution room

Ritualistic Water Celebratory Pavilion



Left Page :

 Sketch - Journey to ‘Noho’, Right Page : Isometric drawing of Water Celebratory Pavilion

Fitzrovia Arts Hub

In bringing artists back into central London, and connecting them with Fitzrovia’s burgeoning art scene, this building combines artists’ studios with community spaces where local residents can take part in art projects or engage in lifelong learning in a range of skills and subjects. Sculptural light funnels pierce through the communal staircases to provide daylight at lower levels, while a continuous perimeter ramp enables artworks to be brought up and down to the studios. Outside, facing south, is a large open-air fabrication courtyard where artists work alongside each other. For the first project, the chapel on the NoHo site on Mortimer Street is transformed into a huge screen for projection art.





(Left page) Clockwise from top:

 

Ground floor plan,

View 1: shop & cafe,

View 2: exhibition hall,

3D print: light duct

(Right page) Clockwise from left:

3D print: light experiments,

Courtyard elevation, Perspective section: east to west



Projecting Canopies







Add caption

   

Evaporated University

Now we can no longer afford to build new universities, this scheme provides just the most essential educational functions set within a busy urban park which students engaged in ‘blended learning’ have to share with everyday city users. Ribbon-like canopies use smart metals to open and close in accordance with the weather, while sunk into the terrain are blocks containing the basic university needs such as library, student centre, sports facilities, fabrication workshops and lecture rooms. In the first project, an earlier phase of the proposal comprised a busy informal settlement where local residents could learn about digital fabrication techniques.








Left Page) Anti-clockwise from left :

   

View of Library (analogue and digital),

Evaporated University models,

Conceptual image of scheme

Right Page :

Overview of Evaporated university in its Noho Site






(Left Page) From top :

  

Paraffin Wax is utilised as a phase change material in the

windows of the university,

Paraffin wax window tests

(Right Page) Anti-clockwise from top :

Section through Library and Workshops of Evaporated university,

Development contour drawing,

Electroactive Polymer (EAP) test,

EAP’s as used in ventilation/ glazing of workshops, Bimetallic wall test



Bimetallic Canopies used throughout scheme

Anti-clockwise from top-left :

Overview of Evaporated university,

View of central communal area,

Section through embedded lecture theatres - which become



Above) :



badminton courts when not in use,

Model of Canopies,

Underground Plan of Evaporated University


 

Noho Hacker Community

Noho Driving Range sports centre and Chinese Dim Sum Kiosk

Unit 0 workshop series 2012-2013