Castra Logica

Castra Logica Corina Thomas

‘The present day metropolis, without origin and without destiny, is not an expression of architectural factors, but of market forces.

The universe with which we are in contact is formed out of objects.’ - Andrea Branzi

Coalville Coalville is an ex-mining town in Leicestershire, with a population of around 34,575. Like many similar locations in the Midlands, it is the frontier for the expansion of a new layer of industry; logistics.

'Logistics' - from the Greek logizein; 1. To calculate, to reckon, to organize rationally, to plan.

2. The military arrangement of provisions in hostile territory.

3. The infrastructure that supports the exchange of physical goods.

motorway motorway main main road road secondary secondary road road railway railway dismantled dismantled railway town town industrial industrial estate quarry quarry Amazon Amazon BHX2 BHX2

Meta-production Our economy has shifted from one based on production to one dependent on logistics networks. Companies like Amazon operate incredible global logistics networks, building enormous air-conditioned sheds in rural backwaters, whose monumental exteriors give no hint of the finely tuned processes inside.

Site In 2016, Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) opened a new 100,000m2 distribution centre on vacated farmland near Coalville. 250m long and serviced by a continuous flow of heavy goods vehicles, the building operates in near isolation to the surrounding town and farmland.

Working at AMaBhx2 900 permanent employees 2000+ seasonal workers 10-12 hour shifts 4 days a week 1 hour total break time £8.29/hr average pay 12 miles of walking per day 120 items/hour target for pickers/packers

Amazon UK Services Ltd. - Coalville - BHX2 - Google Maps

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Amazon+UK+Services+Ltd.+-+Coalville+-+BHX2/@52.6988666,-1.3528142,3a,73.5y/data=!3m8!...

Amazon UK Services Ltd. - Coalville - BHX2

Image capture: Oct 2016

Images may be subject to copyright.

Amazon UK Services Ltd. - Coalville - BHX2 Photo - Oct 2016

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24 Hour Timetable

Full-time Full-timeAmazon Amazonshift shift group groupmeeting meeting exercises exercises 15minute 15minutebreak break 3030minute minutebreak break sleep sleep Part-time Part-timeAmazon Amazonshift shift Summer Summernight-time night-time Winter Winternight-time night-time

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night shift

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day shift

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A Year at Amazon UK Peak e-commerce periods: 15thJanuary January- Blue - BlueMonday Monday 15th 14thFebruary February- Valentine’s - Valentine’s Day 14th Day 11thMarch March- Mother’s - Mother’sDay Day 11th LateMarch March/ Early / EarlyApril April - Easter Late - Easter May- July - July- Wedding - Wedding Season May Season 17thJune June- -Father’s Father’sDay Day 17th June- September - September- Festival - Festival Season June Season EarlySeptember September- Back - Backtotoschool school Early 31stOctober October- Halloween - Halloween 31st LateNovember November- Black - BlackFriday Friday/ Cyber / Cyber Monday Late Monday 25th-26thDecember December- Christmas - Christmas Day / Boxing Day 25th-26th Day / Boxing Day

WINTER January

Feb r

ber

m ece

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uar

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mb er

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rch

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2000

October

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st July SUMMER

SPRING

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AUTUMN

1000

In a system that promotes unhealthy competition and striving towards unrealistic targets, can architecture construct the conditions for these dispersed logistics workers to become a collective body?

The Roman Camp The Roman 'castra' was a logistical system for colonising a landscape, that would often go on to define a new settlement. The camp followed a set of principles for setting out the walls, street patterns and hierarchy of buildings.

The camp represents the logical.

The British Pub Going to the pub is a traditional British pastime with its own strange rituals that brings together diverse groups of people.

All manner of activities find a home in the pub; food, drink, sport, games, karaoke, open mic, comedy, debate, gambling.

The pub represents the illogical, the human.

The Pub Camp Bringing together the logical and illogical allows for an acknowledgement of the Amazon system, while making room for the humans at the heart of the warehouse.

The pub camp creates spaces for the workers to gather outside of work and the home, allowing for forms of resistance and a shift from individual competition to solidarity and support.

Str ategy An infrastructural path establishes the perimeter of the camp, but can be extended in different directions. It carries services and becomes the stage for temporary activities happening on or around it.

The path, along with five fixed monuments, remain all year round.

A series of temporary components appear according to the expansion and contraction of the warehouse workforce and key events in the calendar.

perimeter zone

paths

zones

loose grid

components

monuments

Meadhall A giant shed for pub grub. Workers sit around one long undulating table in a gesture of solidarity. A seasonal food market and vegetable garden set up on the perimeter.

Big Top A 24-hour nightclub in the form of a cavernous tent. Day or night the shift workers can party, or simply slump in the beanbags nursing sore feet from 12 miles of walking in the warehouse. On the deck outside, an informal market allows Amazon marketplace vendors to sell defective stock and sturdy shoes.

Soundhouse A combination of a pub gig, karaoke, comedy club and open mic night, allowing the workers to share the creative talents that lie dormant during their stints in the warehouse. The building forms a bowl for concerts and the external wall can become an outdoor cinema for films, sports, or welcome-to-Amazon videos.

Playhouse Bringing together weird traditional pub games and healthy competition, one side is a lively sports bar, and the other a quieter side for board games and conspiring together. The surroundings host sports competitions and a running track.

Seasons During the year the camp becomes a shifting system of objects, an exploded Amazon warehouse. Clockwise from top: Warm September day Christmas rush Post-Christmas quiet Spring racetrack

summer festival a warm September day

the post-Christmas quiet Christmas rush

By changing the relationships of the workers themselves the camp has the power to transform what happens inside the warehouse and Coalville.

The dying town finds a new lease of life by providing activities for the industry on its doorstep.

Amazon can repair some of the damage to its image as an employer by investing in the welfare of its workers.

Finally, the camp accepts the probability of Amazon automating its warehouse.

The permanent elements of the camp will remain to form a new settlement, a city of collective rituals.

Corina Thomas MA Architecture 2018 Royal College of Art corina.l.thomas@googlemail.com +44(0)7985914573 http://corinathomas.com/