The Educational Centre
The site reproduces the diagonal from the adjacent Thames Barrier Park. This landscape element splits site program, one side containing education the other production and consumption based enterprises. The educational facility functions around a giant staircase that allows the creative studios to climb up the building and interact with each other, providing the school community and visitors a unique perspective on their surroundings. On the other side, the create live/work spaces are designed to be light on the landscape. They are elevated off the ground and sometimes situated between trees, giving them a treehouse quality. This environment creates a unique environment for young creative talent to work. The diagonal cutting through the site acts as the main pedestrian thoroughfare, bringing people in as well as connecting with the quay site across the road by an underpass. People emerging from the underpass will discover a new type of environment by the complex layering of functions on the site. Public services are located on the ground floor, gardens suspended from the school and workshops, and professional work studios generate this creative-exchange based environment.
CHAPTER 04
82