Learning Journal

Learning Journal / Year 2 / 2011-2012 / Tom Cooper-Cocks

House-Scapes

Based on the voronoi pattern, the concept behind my siteplan was that the spacing between the cells would change according to the level of privacy required ie. the more open routes are the most public while the narrowing paths induce a invisible boundary to the private realm of individual houses. The cells formed clusters with a central courtyard, I was particularly interested in the social aspect of these spaces and it led me to look at a number of precedents such as those present in Italian towns and the Central Beheer offices of Hertzberger.

Jewish Memorial, Peter Eisenman

Another key idea in this project was that of the massing in the public space. In a similar fashion to the Jewish Me-morial in Berlin, the path through the ‘cells’ would descend and isolate the user from the local environment which was a noisy, commercial city space with plenty of traffic. This journey through the space would induce a slower pace, cleansing the user of the effects of the fast tempo of the modern city. The weathering, natural materials aim to erode the impact of the commercial imagery and juxtapose the degraded industrial materials demonstrated in the surroundings. Furthermore the variation in size of cells also allowed for an easy transition of scales from human scale to the dominant size of the buildings in the vicinity.

“ The fact of weathering inheres all construction. No architect can avoid this fact; it was never escaped in the past, nor will it be in the present. Weathering reminds one that the surface of a building is ever-changing. While a potential nuisance, the transformation of a building’s surface can also be positive in that it can allow one to recognise the necessity of change, and to resist the desire to overcome fate.”

- Mohsen Mostafavi and David Leatherbarrow, On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time

“The added and accidental beauty in architecture consists in the sublime of the damages and ruptures, in the sublime of the patina or the vegetation which resembles architecture to the work of nature.”

- John Ruskin, Seven Lamps of Architecture

Wigglesworth

I feel that the development of my ideas of inhabitation not only allowed my drawings to become

clearer and more lifelike but these thoughts penetrated the

design process and informed my final scheme to a strong degree.

ReflectionsThis project led me to gain a greater understanding of materiality & weathering and that the patina caused by weathering should be embraced as a sign of the tempo-rary nature that is human existence. In addition the growth of vegetation in the landscape can be used to further erode the permanence of architecture and its in-herent position in time.

While I was happy with the concepts behind my scheme I feel that the final presen-tation work didn’t demonstrate these as clearly as I had hoped. For example, the lo-cation of the section cuts could have been more considerate, showing a wider, more dynamic composition of the whole scheme and context. However, this situation is probably better than the other way round; the only thing worse than a fuzzy image of sharp concept is a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.

Urban Conditions

Earth Pieces, The Boyle Family

Site 1 Site 2

Site 1 Site 2

Plans of the sites which

were printed at 1:1

Site 1

Site 2

This project was located in the town of Barry. Our task was to analyse a 5mx5m plot of land, looking at it at a mi-cro scale and determing any features that are individual to Barry. These features were people’s daily routines inscribed into the built environment and would hopefully provide us with an indication of the character of the town.

Study Trip to Copenhagen

“To make an extraordinary material special, is banal. To heighten one’s awareness of a humble material like brick, is poetic.”

- Adam Caruso

One of the key ideas I took from the study trip was that of materiality and tectonics. While it is considered that a fundamental exemplar of a tectonic approach is that presented in Sigurd Lewerentz’s church at Klippan, I experienced this in equal or greater amount in the service space in Utzon’s Bagsvaerd church. Utzon uses simple, raw and inexpensive materials and creates a beautiful, poetic and restrained ensemble that is much greater than the sum of its parts.

Figure Ground : On the Edge

One of the key ideas behind this project was the provision of a variety of spaces of different scales and different lights. These would provide a wide range of environments for the wide range of art-work I imagine would be displayed within. This variety also helps to create a more interest-ing environment which can provide refreshment from the fatigue sometimes associated with the gallery/museum context.

Blue Cafe, Barry

Soviet bus-stop

Johnston Mark Lee - Vault House

The investigation into the history of the site led me to discover more about the social context of the street and as a result one important concept of my design was reengaging with the street. This would be achieved both through physical position of the building and through the provision of rooms for social clubs which were once prevalent along the street. By connecting with the community, a sense ownership is established; an important aspect for such a public building.

Roman Barrel Vaults

Hagia Sophia

Renato Nicolodi

“I want to disabuse you of the thought that the landscape begins at the wall of a building. That is wrong. You must go inside and look out so you can plug that building into the world.”

- Harlow Landphair

Some of the artwork used for lighting analysis in my scheme.

Gormley

As part of the AT module we had a joint tutorial with our tutor and an en-gineer. Focused around the structural system, I gained an understanding of the technical details regarding the structure but more importantly the language of my building had been forged. With an understanding of the fundamental structure I found it easier to visualise and design a truthful scheme.

National Gallery, Berlin - Mies van de Rohe

ReflectionsIn this project I gave much greater consideration to the history of the site, this informed my scheme and I believe, led to a greater sensitivity to the surrounding environment and the greater context of Barry.

I treated light as the key element in the design of buildings that it deserves to be, but which I had, to a certain degree, neglected in previous projects. In the design of the gallery space this involved looking at various artistic medium and deciding what conditions they would want to be displayed in the best possible manner.

I am fairly happy with this project, although the final output perhaps lacked a key image that was particularly eye-catching and would help the scheme to stand out.

Comments from the review have led me to investigate the work of John Soane and subsequently gain a much greater appreciation of late baroque / neoclassical interior spaces with particular re-gard to the treatment of light.

Tom Cooper-Cocks /WSA / Y2 /2011-2012