Second Life – Unit 12 Yearbook

S E C O N D L I F E

Unit 12 Yearbook

2022/23

London Metropolitan University

School of Art, Architecture and Design

Unit 12 2022-23

Peter St John, Fabienne Sommer

James Hand, Ben Speltz

Students

Jacob Ashton

Kristal Valerozo

Eleanor Catlin

Margarita Dalton

Felix Everard

Errin Gall

Megumi Katayama

Isabelle Kendall

Jakub Kolodziejak

David Lawrence

Valentine Michel

Hannah Penwarden

Hunyong Shim

Thomas Williamson

London Metropolitan University

School of Art, Architecture and Design

I

Fundamental Components

II

Student Work: Housing in South London

III Brussels Study Trip

This year Unit 12 investigated the theme of Second Life, in the context of the design of buildings. Based on our belief that almost everything can have a second life, the project intends to address London’s pressing need for more housing and the complex solutions for the shortage of land. The proposals for the reuse and densification of existing post-war housing stock in South London show how this can be a better solution than redevelopment.

Furthermore, the action of reuse in which discarded materials and objects are rearranged for alternative purposes, offers more possibilities for personal and communal involvement in the quality of the dwelling within its specific location. As designers, we were looking at how this very human and personal accumulation of material, and the managing of resources generally, can be given architectural meaning.

Our interest was wider than the theme of Reuse and also addressed the broader question of a Renewal of our approach to construction, how construction can be less energy-demanding, moving towards a future where buildings are indivisible components of a regenerating ecological system. The basic nature of the materials used, and the limited energy required in their transformation, was also critical for the student projects to be an effective alternative to the social and economic forces that have led to our problematic present.

Fundamental Components

A theme of the year was to design with the careful use of resources in mind. As a first step, the studio looked at seven exemplary projects that approach the theme in different ways, whether they involve working with an existing building, reusing materials, using sustainable materials, or considering lifetime use. The students studied one of these precedents and working in pairs made a largescale model of a part of the building using offcut or reclaimed material.

Through the students’ personal interpretation, the models took on their own composition and form. The material quality of the models was also a discovery, as the source of material began to have significance and meaning. The different strategies of reuse that were examined and translated involved a range of material actions; collaging, collecting, splicing, reordering, stacking, etc. Whilst open-ended and having many possibilities, the action itself was as important as the overall form.

Working on the transformation of existing buildings is, by its nature, a complex, step-by-step process that starts with a lot of constraints. A renovation can often lead to an ambiguous or a modest result, with qualities that are not immediately obvious and take time to appreciate. Sometimes the right thing to do does not appear to be the most exciting at first. But every small thing is important to the whole.

Fundamental Components refers to the idea that within all things, there is an organising structure. If we look hard enough, we will find it. The models, whilst objects in themselves, are intended to give an insight into the ideas of the whole.

Kristal Valerozo, Eleanor Catlin

Maggie Dalton, Megumi Katayama

Alexander Brodsky - Pavilion for Vodka Ceremonies, Moscow

Isabelle Kendall, David Lawrence

Peter Märkli - Apartment refurbishment, Schaffhausen

Jakub Kolodziejak, Hannah Penwarden

Valentine Michel, Hunyong Shim, Thomas Williamson

Model from reclaimed materials, 1/25

Model from reclaimed materials, 1/25

Student Work: Housing in South London

peripheries dividing separting the different site. The central the locals have on followed by private pedestrian house a large further be entered anyone off the public back garden

carpark. 25-metrethe themiddle,thein buildingtheintosunlightenough.wasn’t

Throughout the year, the students developed proposals for the reuse and densification of post-war housing estates in Forest Hill and Sydenham in the London Borough of Lewisham. South London differs from most of London’s suburbs because it was developed much later, resulting in a wide mix of private and social housing types. The location on the hill, with its steep gradients and views, and the surviving fragments of woodland, also give this part of London a sense of detachment and identity separate from the surrounding city.

Using a combination of new construction and the renovation/ alteration of existing buildings, the projects aim to increase the number, size and/or quality of homes, exploring an idealistic vision of what can be achieved in contemporary housing through the renewal of existing estates. The whole of each estate became the territory of the projects and involved reconsidering the public and private outdoor spaces and landscape, as well as the possibility of outdoor activities such as growing food.

Fundamentally, the projects explore the architectural potential of reuse and investigate how this theme can inform the design of buildings; new, renovated or extended. The estates are renewed in different ways, perhaps involving an interruption, a collage of elements, a more ambiguous and generous idea of the whole, or a more diverse mix of parts. The results are different and less smooth than the design of a new estate. This second life is what we hoped to discover.

The building is raised on concrete legs for two reasons, the first being that it is a efficient way to deal with the tricky topography of the site. The height of each block is determined by the roof level of the lower block it is connecting, this roof datum then runs back to the uphill block and floors are created in the space below it and the ground level. In some cases this means only three floors are created but in other up to five floors are created.

By placing the building on legs there is also the opportunity to increase the permeability of the site. In early concepts the building took a similar form but the building mass reached all the way down to ground level. The problem with this was that it created impermeable courtyards and broke up the estate into three separated areas. One of the best characteristics of the existing estate is the how the landscape envelopes the buildings and feels like a constant throughout. Raising the building above the landscape ensures that this feeling is tampered with as little as possible.

Large parts of the landscape will be left as grass so that there is amenity space for the residents. However certain areas will be planted with wildflower meadow mix to help increase the biodiversity of the site. Both of these are relatively low maintanace forms of landscaping and the intention is that with low levels of maintance required it will remain in good conditions. As the view show the new flats sit at tree canopy height. In Japan they a practise called shinrin-yoku - walking in the woods - and it is my intention that this sentiment of allowing nature to heal people is manifested here. The primary walkway of the scheme also sits at canopy level so it is hoped people will walk amongst the trees and feel the benefits.

View 02

With the benefit of Dulwich Woods to the North & Sydenham Park to the South the site presents an opportunity for a walking

The trail is facilitated by additional paths, subdued parking and attenu ation ponds along the trail to the walker. a walking trail such this is becoming a rarity in London and will benefit not just the dents but also the surrounding health and well-being.

Project 2 - Purple

Project 3-Blue

View over the new colonnades containing communal spaces and tying the blocks together visually.

for the architectural interventions landscape.

existing tower’s pushes out into the extensions, bringing the flats close to the tree emphasises the clustered nature of the towers.

way of living across the estate is public spaces are scattered amongst the buildings.

densified with new trees, some planted as buildings. The shaded ground level is planted floor-loving plants. South-facing are accumulated into shared spaces

introduced through the arrangement

These form small terraces around and their relationship with the landscape.

glulam lintels can structure is coated in a firetimber finishes with the moment of gravity at the two sides are cut short, made of smaller pieces of doors.

Valentine Michel

Valentine Michel

Junk Model 1

Assembly Details

Assemble between the old and new

Assemble of Timber, Masonry & Precast terrace unit

5.6 | THE ESTATE - SITE PLAN & SITE SECTION

Following the development of the proposal looking at what is important to the site and how the proposal can be reduced and limited in size to retain the beauty of the existing site. From the site plan we can see how the proposal occupies the southern corner of the estate anchored from the existing Ash tree, I felt this tree would be important to retain as it would act as a screen/gateway to the new Forest Tower. The site section shows how the site is situated on the highest point in the local area and from the top point of the estate to the entrance of the Eliot bank tower is approximately a 3m difference.

Brussels Study Trip

In order to learn from real-world examples, the Unit took a study trip to Brussels, a city with a reputation for creative examples of architectural reuse. Site visits to adaptive reuse projects provided an insight into the possibilities and challenges of working with existing structures. We visited the Atelier Kanal project, a transformation of the Citroën Yser car factory into a 49,000m2 art and cultural centre, designed in collaboration by EM2N, noAarchitecten and Sergison Bates Architects. We toured the Royal Belge, a 1960s cooperate headquarters under adaptation into a mixed used building, jointly designed by Caruso St John Architects, Bovenbouw Architectuur and DDS+. In addition, talks from the office 51n4e demonstrated a radical approach to densifying and reimagining the city. Importantly, we also visited RotorDC, a cooperative that organises the reuse of construction materials in the city. We learnt how they work directly in the dismantling, processing, stocking and selling of second hand construction materials.

Unit 12 2022-23

Peter St John, Fabienne Sommer

James Hand, Ben Speltz Students

Jacob Ashton

Kristal Valerozo

Eleanor Catlin

Margarita Dalton

Felix Everard

Errin Gall

Megumi Katayama

Isabelle Kendall

Jakub Kolodziejak

David Lawrence

Valentine Michel

Hannah Penwarden

Hunyong Shim

Thomas Williamson

jlashton1@gmail.com

kmvalerozo@gmail.com

elliecatlin.s@gmail.com

margaritadalton1@gmail.com

felixeverard1@gmail.com

errinrosaleen@gmail.com

mek0410@my.londonmet.ac.uk

izzykendall99@gmail.com

jak0735@my.londonmet.ac.uk

davidnlawrence84@gmail.com

valentine.michel@mvsc.ch

hannahlucypenwarden@gmail.com

shy88819@naver.com

thomas.williamson@hotmail.co.uk

Thanks to

Andrew Blackie

Elena Balzarini

Matthew Barac

Janik Beckers

Diana Cochrane

Stijn Colon

Jonathan Cook

Christian Frost

Simon Henley

Victoria van Kan

Mary Kelly

Nina Lundvall

Lucia Medina

Daria Moatazed-Keivani

Philippe Vierin

Bruce Saunders

Juliette Scalbert

Paula Schilliger

Takero Shimazaki

for their inspiring contributions to the studio

This page: Unit 12 at KANAL in Brussels, Belgium

Page 04: RotorDC headquarters in Brussels, Belgium

Page 06: Theaster Gates, A Clay Sermon, 2021

Page 08: Unit 12, Fundamental Components

Page 26: View from Sydenham Hill, Lewisham

Page 36: Lewisham self-builders of the 1980s at Walters Way

Page 148: Unit 12 site visit to the Royale Belge in Brussels, Belgium

Page 150: RotorDC headquarters in Brussels, Belgium

Page 159: Unit 12 in Brussels, Belgium