Chris Adams 2024 Portfolio

PORTFOLIO CHRISTOPHER ADAMS

chris.adams652@icloud.com | 07720048263 | chris_adams_design | 2024 Design Portfolio

HELLO, I’M CHRIS ADAMS AND THIS IS MY PORTFOLIO....

By means of brief introduction, I am a 23 year old student who has just completed RIBA Part II MArch at the Welsh School of Architecture - for which I am expected to receive a First Class Honours. Having previously worked during Part I at Make Architects, and before that as a Bachelors also at the Welsh School of Architecture, I am now seeking to re-engage with the manifested realities of architectural practice, and expand my design references as far as possible.

During my previous experience at Make, I worked on a number of commercial workplace and mixed-use projects in the West Midlands, London, and Cambridge.

During this I assisted in the production of drawings and concept images for schemes from RIBA Stages 1 to 3, including those drawings necessary for pre-app, planning applications and feasibility studies. During this I gained a high level of competency in modelling software, in particular Revit, and in the coordination of drawing packages for clients and consultants alike. I further gained a breath of on-site experience, including supervision of strip-out/demolition works, and of schemes operating later in the construction process.

Raised in rural Somerset, I’ve always aspired to participate in the crafting, and ever-shifting moulding of the built environment - especially so in a more diverse and culturally layered context. I’m passionate about the possibility of retrofit, infill, and adaptive reuse projects to enhance the urban fabric, and have focused especially on schemes which seek to intimately connect to enhanced and active democratic public spaces.

Owing to my range of working experience combined with my success at university, I hope proves my strengths as a fast-learner and tirelessly hard-working, efficient, and competent member of any team. Over the next few pages, I enclose my curriculum vitae and a selection of my work for you to enjoy.

00 CURRICULUM VITAE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE 2019 - Present

Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University (BSc/MArch)

2003 - 2019

Queen’s College, Taunton

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2022 - 2023

Make Architects (Part I Architectural Assistant)

Summer 2021

Roadchef Taunton Deane (Customer Service)

Winter 2020

Eastville Park Lido Community Project, Bristol (Volunteer)

Summer 2018

Willmott Dixon Ltd. (CAD, Site, Construction Process)

Summer 2017

Trevor J. Spurway Architects (CAD, Site, Client Meetings)

SOFTWARE EXPERIENCE Modelling

Revit, AutoCAD, SketchUp & Rhino

Adobe Suite

Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, & Premiere Pro

Rendering

VRay, Enscape & VuCity

Miscellaneous

Photogrammetry (Meshlab) & Space Syntax (DepthMapX)

EXTRACURRICULAR EXPERIENCE Volunteering

CAUKIN Live Construction Guatemala (Summer 2024)

Physical Sports

PADI Open Diver, Brown Belt Aikido, Rock Climbing, Hiking

Debating

Elected Secretary-General of College Debating Team

Student Society

Elected Secretary of the Student Association of the WSA

QUALIFICATIONS & AWARDS MArch Degree

Expected to Achieve First Class Honours

BSc Degree

First Class Honours (81% Final Mark)

A-Level Results

One A* (EPQ), Two A’s, Two B’s

GCSE Results

Ten A*’s, One A

Awards

T Alwyn Lloyd Architectural Travelling Scholarship

Miscellaneous

LAMDA Grade 8, Gold DofE, Army Ten Tors Award

01 INVESTING THE MARGINS TUDOR STREET, GRANGETOWN, CARDIFF, WALES 2023/2024 THESIS PROJECT (MArch Y2) An invested margin: a new social housing commons to facilitate intergenerational exchange. A place where young and old live and age together, no longer territorialised to the peripheries, no longer marginalised within interstitial spaces. A realm of shared tenure, in which elderly gather with younger co-living individuals who constitute a social support network and medium for daily interactions.

This thesis project offers a re-examination of the opportunities of marginalised and interstitial urban sites as remedies to the housing and demographic crises. Through a sustainable retrofit, infill and fabric first approach, a perceptively dilapidated social housing estate in North Grangetown is transformed. The project acts as a rallying cry to reject the policies of weakening housing standards, social displacement, and territorialisation, and instead argues for reinvestment in the margins, whereby community empowerment transforms marginalised spaces, marginalised people, into something which is more integral to the life and vitality of the city.

Location within Wales

Location within Cardiff

Litchfield Court: Proposed Schematic Section The dilapidated and perceptively marginalised social housing of Litchfield Court is transformed. Deck access within a new timber lattice structure remodels the exterior facade, improving relationships to the street. At ground level, new active frontages draw the public in, whilst community spaces provide new mediums for residents to assemble. Bedsits are abandoned in favour of larger inter-co-coflex units. Older lead tenants share with younger lodgers in intergenerational reciprocity. Each receives their own small private and flexible facilities, whilst sharing onto larger south-facing communal spaces and external terraces.

Retrofit infill and additional mass above Tudor Lane provides acoustic and visual buffer to railway behind, insulating the plaza below

Private south facing external terraces provide residents an essential space for mental and physical wellbeing

[28]

[19] [20]

[21]

[27]

[22]

[24]

[23]

[18] [12] [11] [16]

[15]

[14]

[17]

[13]

[10] [9]

Community hall and patio plaza beyond sunk by 300mm to delineate space and gain incremental height internally

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Reduced wdith Tudor Street New bus stops and street furniture activate roadscape interstices Improved surface cycle lane Activated street frontage Arched reception gallery faces street Drop cabinets improve ergonomics

[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Community kitchen Hatch to service community hall Cork flooring provides soft surfaces Community hall facilitates events, residents meetings, and gatherings Bifold screens enclose space Steel reinforcement of existing

[13] [14] [15] [16]

structure permits opening of ground Sliding doors open out into plaza Sunk patio plaza spills out from hall Raised planters and pergolas frame winding routes and nooks to sit amongst landscape Short root, max biodiversity tree

South facing and without overshadow (thanks to the railway), rooftop PV’s are opportune for energy generation

Roof height

[29] Supported by steel hangers off the timber lattice structure, hanging planter balconies provide wider moments to pause along the deck

[30]

3870mm

[31]

Third floor

2885mm

[26]

Second floor

[25] 2885mm

[2]

First floor

[7]

[6]

[4]

[8]

[3]

3480mm

[5]

Ground floor community spaces provide active frontages to the street and deliver life and visual permeability to Litchfield

[17] [18] [19] [20]

species chosen for landscapes Raised planters with wheel access Timber lattice treehouses extend landscape vertically and provide access to units above Tudor Lane Lift overrun forms turret Infill above historic coachouses

[21] [22] [23] [24]

Shutter blinds prevent overheating from solar gain along South elevation All units recieve a south-facing private external balcony overlooking plaza Nook bench seat built into bay window Murphy bed allows transfiguration of dwelling from bedroom to living

Improved continuous cycle routes and active travel form an integral part of the wider strategy of works along the line

[25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30]

Bench nook provides privacy to deck Shared deck access, provides new communal space, and buffer to road Small kitchenettes facilitate co-living Clerestory windows draw in morn light Rooftop PV’s and battery storage Raised planters at unit front entrances

[1]

Litchfield Court

01

Baseline condition, the marginalised site of Litchfield, Whitworth and Tudor Lane adjacent to the railway

02

Omit roof and strip out Litchfield, selective demolition of derelict units along Tudor Lane

03

Internal structural reinforcement allows creation of throughroutes at ground level

04

Apply freestanding timber lattices around site in order to support new deck access and terraces

05

Institute new vertical circulation and lifts, convert former dark staircores into lightwells

06

Apply new massing above Litchfield and Tudor Lane, introduce arch roof as unifying element

Tudor Lane

Whitworth Court

Deck access assembly: A regularised glulam lattice

Clare St

Whitw orth Court [1]

[2] [3]

[5]

[4] [6]

[18]

[21] [7]

[22]

[8] [9]

[10]

[11]

[12] [13] [15]

[16]

[14]

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

1B2P studios retrofit bedsit units of Whitworth Court Existing stairwell provides vertical circulation New south facing deck with shading provides shared external space and circulation Larger 1B2P studios retrofit existing bedsit units of Whitworth Court Triple height space above new lift atrium New lift access improves accessibility Tree canopy above plaza

[8] [9] [10] [11]

[12]

West-facing protruding balcony frames visual termination of Tudor Lane’s deck access New deck access runs above existing mass of Tudor Lane, providing shared external space 2B2P co-living units built above coachouses of Tudor Lane Timber lattice treehouses provide vertical circulation to mass above Tudor Lane and elevated extensions of landscape and public space M4(3) wheelchair accessible studios sit above infill terraces

[13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22]

2B3P co-living unit built above middle coachouse of Tudor Lane External south facing loggia Additional M4(3) wheelchair accessible studios 2B2P units above coachouses Railway watching lounge New deck access replaces dark double loaded corridors of old New vertical circulation and lift Small private territories and flowerbed benches at front door Bin chutes save walking down Shared lightwells deliver fresh air and light deep into the plan

0

5

10 1-300 m

p cham Beau Stree t

Litch field Court

[19] [20]

[17]

Great Wes tern and Valle Railway y Lines

Deck access: 1-50 sectional detail [1] Street SUDS improve drainage [2] GRC clad arched bay to street [3] Deck eaves provide drip detail [4] Insulated deck connector [5] Openable windows for x-vent

[6] Glulam deck lattice structure [7] CLT decking fixed to glulam lattice [8] Hanging planters articulate deck [9] New level built w/ straw bale SIPS [10] Lift overrun casing

[10] [9]

[8]

[7] [6]

[5]

[4] [3] [2]

[1]

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Railway watching box

lvl

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Wh

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Lit

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Extend street axis

t

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A view down Tudor Street

Communal Spaces

Shops and Services

Private dwelling space

04 03 02 01

Public realm

Building services

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Programmatic Strategy

02 INHABITING THRESHOLDS, KOCHI ERNAKULAM MARKET, KOCHI, KERALA, INDIA 2021/2022 FINAL PROJECT (BSc Y3) Kochi is a city suffering a crisis of its own making. Poor development and planning has left the urban landscape increasingly territorialised, gated, and closed off - depriving it of democratic public space. This project took the conception of threshold spaces, and sought to inhabit them in turn creating new permeable corridors through city blocks, and new public realms for civic activity.

The proposed scheme comprises three key interventions. The “Andaralam” atria, is a proposed street market pavilion retrofitting and opening up two existing buildings which block access to the site.

The “Thekkini” forum, is a mixed-use complex, comprising residential above, and retail below. Meanwhile, enveloped by these two is the “Nadumuttam”, a terraced public square which frames views around an old Jewish Synagogue at the heart of the site. These interventions collectively sought to create a common space free from the hectic congestion of the cityscape - one which is openly accessible, permeable, and constantly inhabited by residents with eyes on the street.

Location within India

Location within Kochi

“THEKKINI” MIXED-USE CO

PERMEABLE ROUTES THROUGH

MATHER BAZAR-BROADWAY MARKET ALLEY

OMPLEX

“NADUMUTTAM” CIVIC PLAZA

RESTORED KADAVUMBAGAM SYNAGOGUE

“ANDARALAM” ATRIA TO SITE

E

E

B

C

D

A

C

D

A B

THE “ANDARALAM” ( ATRIA ) MATHER BAZAR

THE “THEKKINI” ( MIXED USE RETAIL AND PRIVATE RESIDENTIAL )

01

02

03

04

SECTION

1. EXISTING CONDITION

2. RAW STRUCTURE EXPOSED

3. VERTICAL COLUMNS ADDED

4. HORIZONTAL MEMBERS INSERTED

5. STAIRS AND RAILINGS ADDED

6. PERF. BRICK JAALI’S INPUTTED

7. PINE LOUVRES FITTED

8. SAIL ROOF FIXED ABOVE

03 MICROHOME COMPETITION ENVISAGED IN A POST-INDUSTRIAL URBAN AREA SUMMER 2021 (BEEBREEDERS STUDENT COMPETITION) Collaborating with three other student colleagues, this project was an entry to the annual Beebreeders Microhome Competition of 2021. In developing the concept for this submission, we settled on a parasitic, adaptive-reuse typology, reusing a post-industrial site in an urban area. This seemed the most natural avenue to develop a microhome (a constrained spatial context), and the most exiting to conceptually envision.

Spatially the project is imagined as a hanging tree, with a large “trunk” suspended from a warehouse frame, which in turn supports “stems” containing the various living spaces. These spaces, arranged in a vertical hierarchy, create a clear division of space and privacy in a mere 25 m2 floor area. Each “stem” has a clear function (kitchen, living/ dining, bathroom, and bedroom), with privacy escalating as one spirals upwards around the trunk. In fully realised fashion, these hanging trees would be tessellated around a retrofitted industrial warehouse, with a bustling community space, market, and gardens located below.

Envisaged location in the UK

Envisaged location in London

No 1. Trunk and branches

No 2. Stems applied

No 3. Tree structure inverted

Kitchen, lounge, & bathroom

Lounge, bathroom, & bedroom

04 SENIOR LIVING COMPETITION ENVISAGED ALONG THE WALLS OF CARDIFF CASTLE SUMMER 2023 (BUILDNER COMPETITION) - (HONOURABLE MENTION) The National Trust empowers nearly 60,000 volunteers, the majority of whom are over-65, and who provide immeasurable work as custodians of Britain’s heritage. This is a primarily social endeavour, regularly educating the public, interacting with visitors, and cooperating amongst others in a team. Counterpoint this with the reality that some 1.4 million of the UK’s 11 million pensioners are regularly or severely lonely, and there is great opportunity in coalescence.

Collaborating with three other student colleagues, this project proposes a new typology of senior living, built in association with the National Trust, along Britain’s heritage assets. Residents become tour guides, live communally, and act as custodians of their new territories. This is imagined architecturally in the machicolation: a projecting or hanging timber structure above the parapet of medieval walls. This age-old typology is re-imagined, and provides new home to these custodians: living amongst and providing social value to heritage assets, rather than leaving them static to crumble.

Envisaged location in Wales

Envisaged location in Cardiff

Morning in the castle grounds

Social int tourists

Coffee on the front porch with neighbours Communal breakfast at ground

Tour ends at rooftop community garden

Activities for residents in communal ground

teraction with

Senior residents lead castle tours

Evening views over park before bed

05 A LOOK THROUGH THE LIVING DOGFIELD STREET, CATHAYS, CARDIFF, WALES 2023 SEMESTER ONE PRIMER PROJECT (MArch Y2) A primer project investigation of an existing student dwelling, examining how it can be adapted in order to facilitate ‘ageing in place’.

Commencing with a practical and philosophical justification for the principles of ‘ageing in place’, the research identifies the centrality of the ‘living room’ as the primary space for the act of dwelling: that being the place where the greatest variety of social interactions and spatial configurations occur, but also as the primary space where the ‘environmental press’ so often forces the elderly to retreat into.

Consequently the project invited practitioners to re-examine the ‘living room’, and investigate new means of flexibility and multi-functionality such that it can serve throughout the changing orientations of life.

Taking the current student dwelling as a case study, the folio offers a design solution which adapts the ‘living room’ as a private apartment for an elderly owner-occupier. Younger lodgers act as a social support network, whilst flexible furniture allows the room to be reoriented and adapted for a variety of different daily uses and guests.

Location within Wales

Location within Cardiff

The ‘living’ room at the heart of student dwelling

[1]

ds ar towden w r e Vi e ga th

[2]

[3]

Isolation and confinement within cellular, private bedrooms

[4] [5] [6]

V Do iew gf do iel w dS n tre e

t

[7] [8] [9]

[10] [11] [12]

Social activity and interaction within the communal ‘living’

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Vie w Cr tow yw a s R rds oa d

The coffee table The dining table The kitchen The sofa The armchair The chimney and fire

[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Door to the ‘living’ The kitchen annex The ‘living room’ The front door The pavement The street

Anatomy of a student dwelling An analysis of a typical student house: six bedrooms squeezed into a converted Victorian terrace. A typology duplicated along the street, and indeed the whole quarter of the city. Separated into cellular individual ‘living’ spaces, the former ‘living room’ is identified as the centre of social activity in the home, and thereby the primary focus for works of adaptation.

[17]

[14] [13] [12]

[6]

[11]

[9] [7]

[8]

[10]

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Level change at front entrance Bins clutter front entrance Front door awkward to enter The ‘living room’ The hallway Steep stairwell

[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

200mm short step down Wash door opens onto WC door Downstairs bathroom 600mm step up to garden Shed overgrown/cluttered Garden overlooked by terrace

[13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]

Upstairs bathroom Half landing stairs Tenant master bedroom Inaccessible attic Abandoned chimney pipe Opposite terraces

Roof height

2800mm

[18]

[16]

Second floor

SW

ht

lig

2970mm

[15]

First floor

t

SW

h lig

[3]

[5]

3040mm

[2] [4]

[1]

Ground level 440mm

The Living Room

A brief history of the ‘living’ room

[4] [1]

1840

1000 [2] 1740

[3] 1770

[5]

1850 [6] 1870

[7] 1912

[8] 1918

[9] 1961 [10] 1979 [11] 2010

[12] 2015

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

The “hut dream”, the primitive, communal ‘living room’ set around the fire.

Louis XV’s Palace of Versailles and his demands for the construction of a parallel, private world for retreat and rest - the first formal orgins of the ‘living room’.

The Georgian terrace, an increasing typology towards segregated internal spaces by use - for living, for cleaning, for eating.

The cramped, functional hovel, the ‘living room’ for most of the population for most of history.

The Victorians introduced new formalities to dwelling, demanding new spaces for retreat from guests.

The Victorian ‘(with)drawing’ room, not necessarily a place of comfort but certainly an early prototype of the modern ‘living room’.

“Nothing to be gained by overcrowding”, inspired by the ‘garden city’ movement, argued for universal ‘living’ spaces away from the overcrowded slums of Victorian cities.

[8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

The “Tudor-Walters” report of 1918. Argues in favour of post-war homes with distinct rooms for cooking, living, and sleeping.

The seminal “Parker-Morris” report of 1961. Formally recommended new informal, multipurpose open-plan ‘living spaces’ over antiquated formal ‘drawing’ rooms. Mandates this in all new homes.

The Thatcher government briefly rolls back government standards demanding a distinct ‘living room’ in new homes, arguing they add needless cost and regulation to construction.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson introduces the London Housing Design Guide, for the first time specifying minimum space standards for the ‘living room’.

Concerned by the proliferation of local standards following London’s lead, the second Cameron government introduces the Nationally Described Space Standards in 2015, mandating minimum sizes and approximate layouts for the ‘living room’ in all new homes.

An age-adapted condition for Third Age

to the street

[1]

[1] front porch (decluttered) [2] the ‘living room’ [3] shared entryway [4] stairway upstairs [5] the kitchen [6] lodgers shared kitchen [7] M4(2) accessible WC [8] rear reception room [9] access to garden

750mm, M4(2) 2.25b bed clear access zone

[2] [3] to the neighbours

1100mm, M4(2) 2.9b compliant, but not M4(3)

to the hall & tenants (plan mirrored on other side of entryway)

[5] 1500mm clear access zone, M4(3) 3.32b compliant

[4] [6] 1100mm deep opportunity for wheelchair adapted storage

900mm

[7]

900mm clear opening door width, M4(3) 3.24d compliant

[8]

1370mm, sufficient for improved elderly accessibility but not full M4(3) compliance

[9]

06 DRUM, BIRMINGHAM NEW STREET STATION, BIRMINGHAM, WEST MIDLANDS 2022 - 2023 (MAKE ARCHITECTS) The primary project undertaken during my Part I at Make Architects; the Drum scheme seeks to adaptively reuse an abandoned John Lewis department store located directly above Birmingham New Street Station. Maintaining the existing 2014 facade, the project integrates a mix of uses including offices, retail, events and health and wellbeing spaces - all located around the focal point of a new stepped atrium lightwell. Due to the prominent position of the site within the city, there is a strong desire to see the building repurposed and as such the scheme positively responds to enhancing the local context.

Collaborating with a small team of three others, I assisted in the development of drawings for the scheme from RIBA Stages 1 to 3, including those necessary for the production of a pre-app document, and ultimately final planning application, which was unanimously approved in March 2023. These included schematic drawings and concept images, area plans, demolition and strip-out plans, elevational and sectional drawings, and early-stage technical details.

Location within the UK

Location within Birmingham

OPTION ONE: INSET CYCLE ENTRANCE, SOLID CEILING

OPTION TWO: INSET CYCLE ENTRANCE, GLAZED CEILING

OPTION THREE: INSET CYCLE ENTRANCE, GLAZED CEILING, FRAMELESS

OPTION FOUR: PROTRUDING CYCLE ENTRANCE, SOLID CEILING

OPTION FIVE: PROTRUDING CYCLE ENTRANCE, GLAZED CEILING

OPTION SIX: INSET CYCLE ENTRANCE, GLAZED CEILING & PORCH

07 TOWER, ELEPHANT & WONDER THE ELEPHANT, COVENTRY, WEST MIDLANDS 2022 - 2023 (MAKE ARCHITECTS) Opened in 1966, the Elephant Building, alongside the adjoining Wonder swimming pool constitute a significant architectural focal point for Coventry city centre. Nevertheless, due to increasing disrepair and maintenance demands, the leisure centre was closed in 2020, and has since seen a number of different proposals for its adaptive reuse.

Accordingly, in my professional capacity during my Part I at Make, I was invited to develop revised design proposals as part of a feasibility study for the project. This involved the drawing up of concept images, schematic plans, a selective demolition scheme, and the required GIA and NIA area plans as part of a feasibility document. The proposals settled on a mixed-use scheme, combining a VR/AR studios and events space within the Elephant building, with an adaptive reuse of the Wonder swimming pool into an artisanal food hall and co-working space adjacent to the university. These would be combined with a new buy to let residential tower, thereby activating this corner of the city with new permanent inhabitants and active social spaces.

Location within the UK

Location within Coventry

Elephant - AR/VR Studios & Events

Wonder - Food Hall & Co-Working

08 ILLUSTRATIONS VARIOUS INDIVIDUAL LOCATIONS 2019 - 2024 Alongside my studies, a great pasttime of mine has been to produce small illustrations and artworks. I find them a brilliant way to explore the built environment around us, and also to develop my drawing and artistic skills as I progress as a student of architecture.

Over the years I have sought to develop a rough ink style, making use of layered cardboard canvases painted above with acrylic, ink and bleach. These provide background frames around which images might then emerge. The first image, shows Berlin Cathedral, which I had the pleasure of exploring in 2016, imagined emerging, or rather descending, into the canvas’s own ruination. This was a particularity pleasurable piece to produce, and I spent some time studying and drawing the details of its neoclassical facade and dome atop. The second image is a piece inspired by the artist Valery Koshlyakov, done in a more scratchy, abstract style to understand the hierarchies of built form. The final image meanwhile, is an ink, chalk, and pencil detail of a shadowed window in Venice, looking at its relationship with ornamentation.

Location of work within the UK

Location of work in Somerset

2024 PORTFOLIO