Vertical Circulation

This time I really have sorted my design out and to prove it, I even built it on SketchUp  I sorted the scale of the buildings out and because they were smaller, I needed to adjust how I arranged the site. This was simply a case of levelling it out differently to fit in with the buildings. Once I had done this I then needed to work out the vertical circulation through the site. In my original concept, I wanted to create a stepped landscape in which to sit the buildings, this is to make the outside part of the centre and give it a function. I therefore wanted to split the purpose of the step into seating as well as for movement around the site. I want to make spaces that people can sit and watch the kayaking and any other events held at the centre.
Using my SketchUp model, I was able to experiment with different forms and I was able to come up with a layout/design that worked well. The main staircase on the site runs along side the staircase within the building. This is to create the link between interior and exterior. It is also the only set of stairs on the site the doesn't follow the contours of the site. There are two types of steps in my design: the usual height/depth stairs and ones which are double in dimension  These second type allow for visitors to site and watch any events. They all face towards the river as that is where my main point of focus is.

Within my design, I tried to keep the meeting rooms as separated as possible without putting a wall up around the building. I therefore have one staircase directed at that building. 

Damn Scale

After finishing my design today, I was going to start my plans, sections and elevations today. I began by measuring my sketched plan at 1:500. After I had measured everything, I noticed that it was all so big: the race office, for example, has to have a floor area of at least 10m2. My office dimensions were 17x14. I need to work on this! So, looking into materials has gone on hold until I can scale my building properly and get my drawings done. THEN I can look at materials and how to flood proof my building. Fun times 

Design: Check!

 Today I have finally finalised (?) my design. Using the foam board model really helped me to get my head around the site and come up with my design.
I started designing by using card to represent the buildings and placing them on site in various places. I then built it up and the model allowed me to see how the buildings would sit in the landscape and the views available from their positioning. 
Space was still tight so I had to add extra floors to accommodate the office and race office.


The site is spilt by purpose with three buildings. Starting upstream, the first building on site are the meeting rooms. These are separate from the rest of the site to allow privacy for business meetings etc. As well as being out of the way, the rest of the site is hidden from them by the landscape and the main building. The views would be upstream and across the river, meaning that any activity happening downstream doesn't cause distraction.

The next building is the main club building. This consists of the main space, kitchen/bar and its storage, toilets and the office and reception. I began with the building below the level of the car park and having this for the main area but I still needed somewhere for the office. I came to the conclusion that it would have to go on the second storey, level with the car park but I wasn't happy with having a private space to be the first view of the building so I added a reception space to the building and would then have a staircase, mirroring the steps outside, down to the main space. The office would the site behind the reception. Due to it being on the first floor of the building, it would have views across the site, allowing staff to be able to see what is going on at the centre. I aligned the main building to have views down the river and toward the launch site for the kayaks. This focuses all the attention on that part of the site and would also add to the privacy of the business part of the site. 
My third building is the kayak storage and race centre. I positioned this to be in line with the boundary of the car park so as not to obstruct the view from the club building. This building is split into three parts: the storage, changing rooms/toilets and the race office. The storage sits on the lowest part of the site, This is so that the kayaks don't have to be carried down hill to the river. The changing rooms and toilets are located on the next level up on the site with the race office over looking that area of the site on the first floor, level with the car park.

Now that I have the design for my site, I am going to expand on it by carefully planning the interior and the vertical circulation within the main building. I am also going to start looking into materials. As the site has flooded severely in the past, and is therefore likely to do so again, I want to think about this carefully: concrete seems the best option but I don't feel like it would fit into its surroundings very well.

A Happy Accident

So, like I said in my last post, I spent Wednesday afternoon in my room building this site model. (Photos to go up later) I decided to use foam board in the end just for convenience but I could have used cardboard as well. I was originally going to make it to scale - using our site printouts but found that was far too small so I had to improvise and make a rough sketch slightly bigger than the site. I was going to make it completely stepped but realised that this would use a lot more foam board than I had and again improvised by making 6 large/wide 'steps' instead of several smaller ones. This actually worked out better due to the scale and the thickness of the foam board. My original idea was to make the steps from one side of the site going down to the other. I worked with this until I put one of the pieces in the wrong place. But it worked. Rather than having a straight line of steps down to the water, there is one step about half way down that  is slightly different and create a space that is a bit separate from the rest of the site. This space would be good for more private functions of the kayak centre and I am now looking at putting the meeting rooms on this part of the site.

The layout of the site reminds me of the ripples that the river made and I remember making a video of the currents in the river just up stream from the site. This connection to the river works well and I can use this idea to further develop my design. The river is, after all, key to the project and to Ironbridge. I know need to concentrate on relating my buildings to the site and therefore to the river. I am currently working on the site layout and how I can create enough height within my buildings.

More models!?

Today I was back in studio and developing my ideas. After working with my sketch models, I though I would be ready to start trying to layout the buildings around the site and I started working on this this morning while waiting for a quick tutorial.
Talking to our tutor helped me to organise me thoughts thoroughly and it was decided that instead of moving onto the builds, I should focus on the landscape as this was the main idea behind my design. I was told to decide what I wanted my site to focus on; at the Minack Theatre, the seating is all directed down the cliff top towards the stage. I need to decide where I want the focus of my site to be centred.
Bearing this in mind, I tried different things on my site, having the steps leading in certain directions, the building protruding at different directions. 
There is only so much I can visualise with a 1:500 scale plan and a pack of tracing paper though. Therefore, my next move is to have a go at some site models and play around with it in 3D. I plan to spend tomorrow afternoon and possibly evening working on this until I find something I am happy with or an idea that I can explore further and hopefully have some sort of design by the end of the week. 

Manifestos and Models

Our homework from Tuesday's studio session was to make a manifesto of our design. This would be a tool that we would use throughout the project to keep us on track and remind what we wanted to achieve on site when we have lost our minds at 3am and the design just isn't coming. 
I set about doing this on Wednesday:


The idea behind my concept is to create a public space designed around the contours of the site. Instead of having a single staircase within a building, I want to create a building or series of buildings within a stepped landscape. Each building/part of the building will have outdoor access, allowing different areas to be open at different times without having to open the whole building. By making the stairs the main focus of the site, I can then create different levels and different types of spaces within the site. Different heights can provide observation points for watching the kayaking or places to view the iron bridge and over the river, for example. The exterior stairs also allow spaces for various functions, seating, event areas etc. Missing steps in places will help to create these different levels and the buildings buried within the landscape will also create these multifunctional spaces and viewing places. I am going to take into careful consideration the requirements of each rooms/space of the areas to help me place them most effectively on site. For example, the kayak/canoe storage and service area will be best suited at the water’s edge while the race office would have the best views of the landscape from the top of the site. As a precedent, I am going to look at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall which makes the most of the natural form of a steep cliff top landscape to create and open air space, providing views of the stage further down the hill. I am also going to look at some precedents of visitor centres to see how they utilise the space, where they place the utility and service rooms relative to their public spaces. 

Rather than having it printed out and stuck on my wall, it's now my desktop background which means it is a constant reminder not only of my design but that I should be doing some sort of work instead of browsing Facebook et al.

We were also set with the task to create sketch models to explore our concept and develop our ideas.
My first was just to get my into the right frame of mind but it turned into a model of the site to help me become spatially aware of the landscape. I added some card stairs to it to try and get an idea of how they would sit in relation to the landscape. 

I felt that my second had more of a purpose to it as I was looking at how my buildings would site on/in the site. As the site is narrow, I realise that I would have to excavate into the bank and some of my building would be underground while some of it would be extruding from the landscape. I will have to think about the layout carefully, making sure that all the public spaces are easily accessible from the outside as that is my main public space.

My third and final model (for the time being at least) looked at how I would create large flat spaces in the landscape. There are two ways that I can achieve this: creating spaces concave to the landscape and spaces convex to the landscape. I will probably use a mixture of these two in my final design.