I intend to create thoughtful architecture by combining analogue and digital design methods. My work thematically explores the interface between history, memory and journey; my experience across RIBA Stages 0-5 on my year out has extensively informed this process.
The former Refshaleøen Dockyard is a significant landmark to the Industrial and Maritime traditions of Copenhagen. Its history, centred upon the essential maintenance of commercial shipping, has been marked by profound innovation, tight-knit communities and explosive creativity.
Værftet, a cross-programmed Secondary School and Maritime Museum, fittingly continues these themes, unearthing the traces and artefacts of the past to live anew in the realm of the future. Organised around a civic courtyard, the campus of facilities has been designed to be used around the clock by the whole community.
Responding to the peninsula of Refshaleøen, this site analysis / concept model expresses the haphazard, incremental changes which shaped the dockyard, and encapsulates personal perceptions of the place.
The campus design draws heavily from the dockyard’s industrial heritage. By utilising materials drawn from the geology or history of Copenhagen (fired clay brick & travertine limestone) and re-purposing structures on the site, the scheme fits within the material and tectonic qualities of its place. Sympathetically re-interpreting the 19th century dockyard arches in modern, undressed stonework, forms a unifying colonnade/ façade around the square. Above this, or in places of secondary significance, brickwork has been expressively used to compliment the original buildings.
All the Plans, Sections and Elevations were drafted to a 1:100 or 1:50 level of detail using AutoCAD. This was superimposed upon a hand-rendered watercolour layer.
Detail design was an integral process to implementing the sustainability strategy, which centred upon the adaptive reuse of existing building fabric. Traditional materials such as limestone, brick and lime mortar were chosen for their longevity and reusable properties. Thermal mass and sufficient solar shading were also significant aspects of the sustainability strategy.
‘Dissenters & Belonging’ explores mixed-use and education architecture in Hoxton, London. The scheme combined a children’s learning centre, an enterprise space and a wedding chapel within a high-density urban site.
Hoxton, a diverse and recently-gentrified area of North London is well known for contemporary art and has a lesser known historic connection to Non-conformist Christianity. A key theme of the brief was utilising architecture to address loneliness across communities. In response to this, my project explored the themes of ‘isolation and belonging’, drawing from 17th Century history and recent experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
To the left of the plan, the entrance hallway and portico joins the wedding chapel to the street. The central oval contains the Wedding Chapel, adjacent to this is a lawn and to the right of the plan is a cafe which links the chapel, enterprise and learning spaces together. The cafe functions as ‘programmed’ and circulation space simultaneously, a key feature of cross-programmed education buildings I have investigated.
The age of adjacent buildings were represented on the site model. Older buildings are darker, newer buildings lighter.
Additionally, I further developed the detailed design for this project in a supplementary coursework, focusing on the main entrance to the chapel. Wishing to improve the natural daylight strategy, I added a roof-light and a partial first-floor void, creating a double height hallway. This reduces the artificial lighting requirement, improving the operational carbon performance of the design.
