#intermediate14

Intermediate 14 : Radical Foundations in Bloomsbury . 

Academic institutions and technologies play a fundamental role in the engineering of a society, and so I find the brief to be incredibly relevant, not just for the world that we live in today, but also for what is on the horizon. 

As an architect, I find that I have always been a bit pragmatic - this year, along with Intermediate 14 I am looking to foster some conceptual THICKNESS - and to further position myself as an architect, better at making design decisions. What do I have to offer ? 

Scanning through parts of Adam Greenfield’s Radical Technologies, I find automation and the annihilation of work to be of particular interest (among others). Though this phenomenon has long existed, and has been discuseed, debated about profusely, we still can’t help but wonder : how much automation is enough ? Would the “full eclipse of human labor by technical systems” necessarily mean that we would then approach a “full-leisure” society ? What is the everyday human in the “posthuman” everyday ? 

For fun : authors of this website have done a research examining how susceptible each job is to computerisation. Glad to report that we are at a comfortable 1.8%.

Looking forward to Tuesday and to the incredible year ahead,

                                                                                        Excuse the rough sketch.

Avoiding the sinking ground and relocating in the tree.

Subtle touching of the ground (using the weak points) 

Using the wall, ground, tree, tombstones, Drainage points,Metal Tie Bars (The weaknesses) to anchor the Aedicule in the tree as a hovering, Agile structure for the children of Collingham Garden Nursery as an educational space about the Gardens (St George + Collingham) and teaching art and poetry. 

Dissolving the boundaries of the two gardens through a series of markers such as the tombstones 

Platelets, and the layering of them in certain moments of the Aedicule.

Bladders/Cisterns Counter Balancing the Human body weight. –> Could the change in weight cause the aedicule to move and adjust? Or squeeze the bladders.

Using the soft structure (bladders) that touch the tree trunk (a growing object) as something that grows and moves with the tree and attaching with the harder structures of the aedicule i.e floor.

Lightweight Structure: Perforations in the floor and the Aedicule hanging on the Tree. 

Photogrammetry an existing London Plane Tree In the garden to use for modeling (In Progress)

Sketch Work Scans

Current Thoughts:

Entry Portal through the Henrietta Mews and the Children’s Nursery.

Tree as a Genetic Code for the Aedicule. The Trees in St. George’s Garden could both support and be supported by the aedicule. (Must be Specific trees in the garden) 

“Pole Vaulting over the wall” 

Entry through the mews, entering the children’s nursery, and Over the St. George’s Garden’s wall? 

(Vertical Tie bars into the ground = Poles) Changing over time? Sinking elements raise the architecture like a seasaw?   

Grafting the wall, ground, tree, tombstones, Tie bar (The weakneses)

Platelets, and the layering of them in certain moments of the Aedicule. 

Human body weight counter balancing the bladders/cisterns. --> Could the change in weight open a portal out of the aedicule? Or squeezing the bladders? 

As said in the extended brief

"architects can mature from 'artists of space' to 'artists of TIME' "

and that building is always building and re-building.  This peaks my interest  in that architecture, with the enriched history and the environmental conditions of the Bloomsbury area, could potentially provide a radical new solution and gateway for an architecture that adapts. Of how technology can for one be the extention of us or the building and the permanence of architecture is no longer. But rather, an architecture that can sense, and equipt itself according to its environment and context. 

As I was selectively browsing through the 'Radical Ecology: The search for a livable world' It seemed even more exciting of how architecture could translate, provide, or abate the global ecological crisises. The world's Air, water, soils, biota, population, globalization all indicating a considerable amount of trouble and how architecture could play a role in preparing, relieveing, or informing the people of their invisible surroundings. 

I believe the brief is interesting and focused. I know  it has a lot to offer and I am truly excited for this year. 

Cut-away Axonometric Drawing

Handel Street , Next to St, Georges Square

Iron Tie Bars ( Traditional Wall Tie Patress Plates) 

are support and strength systems for Deteriorating or warping walls. These bars come in different forms according to the different times as decoration as well as structural support. 

This particular home in Handel Street is a good example of an architecture that evolved over time, while inheriting new fragments as it aged. 

The architecture replaces, reinforces, and recovers itself in both material as well as overall sturctural stability. (New walls, new bricks, windows, doors, roof plates, removal of chimneys, tie bars, water pipes, satelite dishes, etc) 

1976 was when a mass of building regulation appeared after the hottest summer in London. To take care of buildings with less than 2m foundations that were especially in danger of subsidence, they strengthened homes with tie bars.

Interested in the idea of prosthetics, crutches in architecture. Creating a new type tie bar for Bloomsbury that strengthens the building and create new opportunities and spaces that are additive. 

Additional Notes:

- What is the bar’s relationship to environmental conditions? 

- Reactive to Temperature? 

- Changing the scale of the bar.