MOC Museum of Childhood Extensions 2012

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FIRST YEAR School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering University of East London 1.3 LOGO COLOURWAYS The UEL logo has 4 primary colourways, their use is explained in the following pages.

The UEL logo and the UEL Small Space logos are supplied in a total of 10 colourways each as shown below.

Main UEL Logo

Main UEL L

Supplied in: • 4 colour process • RGB • PMS

Supplied in • 4 colour • RGB • PMS

Black and White UEL Logo

Black and W UEL Logo R

Supplied in: • 4 colour process • RGB

Supplied in • 4 colour • RGB

Version 6.0 as at 05

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FIRST YEAR STAFF Eva Hauck Reem Charif Kristina Hertel Jake Moulson Alexander Veal Rob Houmoller David Phillips

WEB LINKS http://www.firstyearunits.blogspot.co.uk/ http://uelecobuild.tumblr.com/

THANKS TO: Dr Carolyn Bloore from the Museum of Childhood Victoria & Albert Museum Isaac Cobo I Displas Janet Insull Paola Leonardi Raphael Lee Janis Stepins Katie Elizabeth Andrews Maya Cochrane Fredreick Brown

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PROPOSAL A Project to Extend the Museum of Childhood The Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood is currently exploring possibilities for extending its premises in Bethnal Green to house a larger permanent collection and to further engage the local community.

First Year Architecture Students at the University of East London were generously invited by Dr Carolyn Bloore, Schools Officer at the Museum of Childhood, to explore this as a brief and to develop proposals for the site.

The final proposals were the outcome of a design process that developed over several stages, beginning with a childhood memory.

This personal experience was the trigger for development of a central idea, or concept, which each student refined, tested and explored before developing a final proposal that not only responds conceptually, but also functionally and pragmatically, to the requirements of the existing building, its users and surroundings.

The following gives an overview of the principal stages in this design process.

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BRIEF 1. Memory Space: Intuition, Idea, Concept Inspired by reading The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard (1958), students recalled a series of spatial memories from their own childhood experiences. These were documented in a short text, which focussed on the experiential qualities of the remembered spaces, and which inspired the drawing, casting and modelling of a new abstract ‘Memory Space’.

2. Bethnal Green Site Analysis: Reading the City through Personal Mapping The site is located in an area of East London that, although rich in history, is also developing and extending the edge of the city. Walking, drawing and looking through the lens of a camera, students got to know the area closely: collecting and recording its stories, attributes and unique qualities.

Through filming and mapping the area, students explored personal lines of enquiry at different scales, slowly zooming in to reveal how their chosen part of the site works in relation to these themes. This close analysis of the site informed the development of the subsequent design idea and proposal.

3. Conceptual Collage and Site Testing: Constructing a Visualisation of an Idea Bringing together the Memory Space and Site Analysis, the Conceptual Collage allowed students to further explore the implications of their abstract ideas, while the Site Testing explored the implications of these concepts in the context of the existing building and its surroundings. Through these imaginative and inventive exercises, students created spatial, atmospheric visualisations of their ideas, both in abstract and in relation to the Museum of Childhood site.

4. Field Trip: Berlin Before starting the final design process, the students went on a Field Trip to Berlin. This enabled them to reflect upon the spatial ideas and experiences explored to date, and to gather material for development of the final design proposal . Th e following buildings, including several extensions to existing museums.

Were visited on the trip: Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechtniskirche by Franz Schwechten (1895), extension by Egon Eiermann (1963) Hamburger Bahnhof: Museum for Contemporary Art, conversion by Joseph Paul Kleihues (1996) Boros Collection, conversion by Jens Casper and Petra Petersson (1997) Neues Museum by Friedrich August Stuehler (1859), restoration by David Chipperfield (2007) Philharmonie (Philharmonic Hall) und Kammer-Musiksaal by Hans Scharoun (1963) Jewish Museum by Daniel Libeskind (1998) Dutch Embassy by OMA / Rem Koolhaas (2001) The Chapel of Reconciliation by Rudolf Reitermann and Peter Sassenroth (2000) Neue Nationalgalerie by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1968) 7

5. Design Proposal Using their Memory Space, Site Analysis and Mapping, Conceptual Collage, Site Testing and Berlin observations, as well as models, drawings and photographs of the existing Museum of Childhood, the students tested their concepts and spatial explorations to produce scaled design proposals for the extension. Through a series of drawing and model-making exercises, and through an iterative process of testing and exploration, these proposals were refined and developed to create their final proposals.

University of East London, June 2012

Drawings by Perry Kulper Photo, Staatsbuecherei, State library, Hans Scharoun

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The idea was to creat a walkway, overlooking different view and peaking over people walking under over looking up to the shadows of people walking.

Golbahar Adib 9

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LIST OF STUDENTS Nasser Abdel Naeim Aly Ahmad Katie Elizabeth Andrews Marie Braithwaite Jonas Brazys Jackie Buachie Yaprak Cetinkaya Karolina Czyrko Raghav Dixit Lauretta Doku Sophie Dowding Michael Eleftheriades Sara Erfantalab-Evini Matthew Fallowfield-Cooper Mary Folorunso Spencer William Gadsby Michalis Georgiou Farooq Ghani Kent Gin Melina Grigoriadou Hakan Gulesin Sinem Gurgur Akin Gurung Liang Liang He Alinaqui Hudda Amar Farouq Kamaruddin Ina Kanazireva Gulsen Karpazli Frederice Koch Hekuran Kokaj Eleni Korovesi Nicole Landazuri Aimon Litinas Farid Mahmood Rajib Manandhar Nicoleta Marin Carina Mendes Niki Michael Airydas Mikalajunas Farhia Mohamed Samuel Nicholls Aslihan Ozer Sonia Rajaratnam Vasileios Sempsis Cindy Silva Pereira Rahul Sunil Mirpuri Aleksandr Vasjutin Dishav Vasudev Konstantinos Vatanidis Tiffany Maria Waddill

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Nasser Abdel Naeim Aly Ahmad 12

In a small neighborhood in Giza, Egypt is El Sultan Hassan Mosque, a local mosque and a tourist destination. The road in front of it is busy and you have to climb some steps to get into the building.

You come in from the busy, noisy street into another world that is very quiet and calm. The first thing you see is the Islamic architecture and all the beautiful patterns carved into the marble and mosaic tiles. The stone and marble straight away make you feel cool after being out in the strong sun. The colours and different patterns on the tiles are beautiful but still simple. Everywhere you look there is pattern breaking up the space into different areas. The high ceilings, wide spaces, and archways make the building feel open and spacious.

Lots of electric lights come down from the high ceiling on strings and the big windows let in the sunlight through the day. The sun from the windows cuts across the prayer areas making patterns on the carpet. As you walk through the building towards its central hall, you pass through an area with a lot of sunlight; as you walk closer you find a courtyard that is open to the sky. The water well in the middle makes it a natural place to rest.

There is a strong smell of musk in the building but because it is open, the air is always fresh. The patterned carpet and walking without shoes make the space very quiet, you can not hear the sounds of people walking, you can only hear the small noise coming from the electric fans and whispers in different languages from the people walking through and praying.

The mosque is a very popular place with local Egyptians, foreign tourists and visitors. It doesn’t matter where you are from everyone is welcome. There are a few old men sitting in the corners waiting for prayer time and other people relaxing in the courtyard where they can rest and have some water. At prayer time the mosque comes alive.

The call for prayer is heard even after as it follows all quietness; quickly the mosque and areas around it are filled with people. When the prayers are finished, the people empty away and it all goes quiet and calm again.

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A series of charcoals; forming a relationship between levels; using an intrusion of light, textures, heights; a series of platforms that create a roof and lower space full of hidden pockets that feel like one whole story.

Katie Andrews 16

I’m around the age of 10 and I’m visiting my Nan’s house for the night like I do every Friday. The house is in the Shrub end area of Colchester, a 20 minute drive from the village that holds my mother’s house, my home. The drive takes me through the town, we take a route filled with the vibrancy and colour of Christmas nights, and we detour to pass the most decorated home in my world. The journey pauses to collect the evenings food; an order that need not be spoken, the arrival of my smile and greeting is enough to ignite the memory of the routine in the waiter’s mind.

My Nan lives on the lower floor of a semi-detached house that has been divided to make two flats, I have heard stories from my Nan about the residents upstairs but have rarely seen them; in my young age I am fascinated by the rarity of living on only one floor, and my imagination runs wild with the possibilities above me. I spend most of my time in the living room; its cold concrete floor, wearing thin carpet and worn sofas give the room a lived in feel that reminds me that my mother grew up here. The room smells of the warmth of the electric fire, which fuses with the awaiting scent of my traditional Friday night Chinese to create the smell that transports me into the safety of my weekend escape. I escape into my territory of the floor, from here the room feels like my whole world, as I occupy myself, interaction with my Nan becomes light but still her presence in the room fills me with the greatest comfort.

The lighting is dim, the fire and television screen producing the only real brightness.

As the night goes on I move to fall asleep on the three-piece sofa, hearing only the sounds of the TV playing the programs I strive to stay awake for and the pet bird’s input to their story line and floating in the comfort of the company of my Nan. When I am awoken to be moved to bed I am greeted by the bedtime silence that I usually despise but willingly accept in this space and it’s routine. The space changes with the morning, its feel changed by the brightness of the natural light and its own smells drowned out by the routine of tea and biscuits in bed, pop tarts for breakfast and the late mornings baking session. In the light of the day I am reminded of the world outside the space that had become my everything for the night, the sense of morning flows through the house and its barriers to the gardens that hold it are destroyed, leaving the space with a freshness that fills me with excitement for the adventures of the day that await me and my Nan.

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A conceptual collage inspired by sites in Berlin; a modular of inhabitable pockets, both hidden and exposed that are shaped by the direction of light and creates a journey through experiences of safety.

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A deconstruction of the proposal layers that re-create the sensation of being in a single story building whilst still experiencing varied heights and hidden pockets.

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Using the experience of safety to create a programme for the proposal, including a main gallery space, a film room and more intimate teaching areas.

Rooms are split into ‘Exposed Safety pockets’, ‘Engulfed Safety pockets’ and ‘Transitional pockets’

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Allowing exposure through materiality; a relationship between being exposed and being hidden shapes the whole journey of the building. Moveable and transparent elements allow this relationship to be determined by the user and their own personal feelings of safety.

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Marie Braithwaite 24

Bright, sterile kitchen. Tinny music played through laptop speakers. Cold. Rain on the windows. Endless blackness held at bay by delicate, brittle panes of glass. Punctuated, intermittent, the sharp beam from the lighthouse bulb.

Wind. The sound of laughter, glasses clashing. Volume levels high. Basic furniture; work surfaces, table and chairs.

Remote location. A remoteness that lingers in every corner, inhabits the soul, a continual sense of being cut off, enhancing the relationships developed. The solitude creating a sense of closeness. The only people to rely on are those sharing the moment with you.

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Mapping vantage points within the exhibition, from the viewpoint of the visitors but also the exhibits. Once the offset levels were introduced, vantage points throughout the whole exhibition, across the levels were also mapped.

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Unique ‘moments’ in the museum, suspended and connected by floating walkways that provide a playground and discovery centre for the children. The spaces offer a moment of tranquillity in the hectic museum. An intimate place to settle with a book or share with another person, the spaces are not entirely disconnected from the museum, slightly translucent, a visual connection is maintained. Soft in texture, offering a comforting embrace. Fragile connections made with the new exhibition by using fragments of the same materials as the costumes and props. As the spaces have a direct connection with the rehearsal and performance space, they can double as changing spaces for the performers, they changing routine becoming a performance in itself through the translucent walls.

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As the journey from the museum to Victoria Park encounters the aptly named Approach Road, the vantage points of nature in the city gradually grow, at first offering enticement, to eventually encompass the whole field of vision.

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Suspended volume allows car park space to remain intact for the ever expanding museum. Elevates visitors above the activity of daily life and puts them amongst the trees (nature) for better vantage points. Volume suspended on steel cables provide the fragile connections to the museum, along with walkways connected through existing windows.

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Inside the memory space ‘Tranquil Luminance’ a space illuminated by streaks of moonlight that are scattered in various directions by the multi-angular surfaces and filled with the tranquil sounds of nature.

Jonas Brazys 32

Tranquil Luminance It’s not a big room; it’s not a room at all.

The memories in here can never be replaced, its not only the space within, it is also what surrounds it. It was our home away from home, a place that was truly ours, we had a sense of independence and freedom when within it.

We only went there in the dark, tip toeing across the moist grass eager to make it to the safety of the wooden floors of the cabin that came alive with the sound of our feet making them creek.

Lying in our beds we were only an arms length away from each other, sharing stories of the day that passed.

Streaks of moonlight came pouring in through the sole window of the room, the horizontal streaks of moonlight were manipulated by the multiple angled surfaces in the room. Cool night air comes pouring in through the slightly opened door, with it brings in the smell of the grass and the woods that you can make out in the distance. This smell of nature mixed with the smell of treated solid wood of the internal walls brings the feeling of security and peace.

Once the chatting stops we lay there with smiles on our faces waiting to fall asleep, you can hear the rustling of leaves in the wind with the occasional chirp of a cricket or bark of the local baboons. You can hear the distant roar of the waterfall and the slow running stream couple dozen meters away seems like its right under your bed. Our eyes have adjusted to the dark now and we can just make out the different patterns on the wooden ceiling making a thousand different images every time we look.

This is it, this is happiness at its best, now all that’s left to do is to dream up the things we will do when we wake up to the warmth of the sunlight trickling through the blinds onto our beds.

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‘Chasm City’ Exploration of a city through a unidirectional segmented view into the emotion of these spaces.

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Scale 1:100 Section of Final proposal

Through the levels

Final Proposal, inspiration combined throughout the year. Two main materials are concrete and wood, the concept being that the user is taken through a journey upon entering the extension leading from dark to light, from a solid mass of a structure to a light wooden structure breaking open in multiple view points and visual connections.

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Jackie Buachie 36

Yaprak Cetinka 37

As you enter the building you pass dark wooden stairs that lead to the bedrooms, the light is pleasantly dim, coming from the sandy coloured marble fireplace that occupies most of the wall; even though it has simple, hard straight edges it makes the room looks soft and warm. You can hear burning pieces of wood and sparks coming out powerfully from the hot fire, the smell of the burning wood spreads throughout the house, the light and smell seem to be captured in the dust floating in the air. Opposite the fire there is also a spacious sofa with varying pillows and a comfortable arm chair with a fluffy blanket casually draped on the back. Encouraging. Tempting you to lie down. Curl up. Touch and feel softness of the texture.

Karolina Czyrko

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Lights delicately reflect in the balcony windows, graced by long heavy curtains, material folds, waves, creating curvy lines, enraptured with the charm of the light and shadows. You can smell the aromas of roasted chicken, ginger and herbs blend together with the smell of vanilla candles shining on the coffee table in the middle of room. My dad is sitting there comfortably with soft, warm woollen carpet sunken underneath his bare feet, and purring cat on his lap delighting in the warmness of the fireplace. The mapping above searches for similar conditions in Bethnal Green.

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Final Proposal, inspiration combined throughout the year. Two main materials are concrete and wood, the concept being that the user is taken through a journey upon entering the extension leading from dark to light, from a solid mass of a structure to a light wooden structure breaking open in multiple view points and visual connections.

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By day the building’s semi translucent cladding allows traces of movement to be visible through the walls.

By night the building becomes a beacon with light and movement illuminating the surrounding area, visible from the outside stimulating the interaction with the public space. Lower level opens up to the surroundings. The Museum Garden with its dominated tree canopy becomes part of the interior through the generously extending spaces. Facade is partly lifted off the ground, its reflections and transparency leave the impression of a drifting void, floating and suspended. The range of opacity of the facade materials used - clear, tinted glass, perforated steel - highlight the layering and depth of the extension, like curtains in the theatre, they offer glimpses of what is happening inside, at times clear and certain at others distant and foggy. From the Museum Gardens, the building’s performance comes to life.

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Behind the layered curtain of the facade, a large Courtyard plays an exceptional role in the project. It creates an enveloped internal garden, where visitors can sit in the café whilst appreciating the theatre offered by the translucency of the building. It is also connection between mapping and site research, that made me realize the value of green spaces in the city, I wanted to bring these qualities to the museum.

Playgrounds, small parks, house gardens, trees aligning streets, all create unusual relief spaces in an otherwise dense city.

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The project spatially explored notions borrowed from my childhood, those connected to light and privacy.

This charcoal highlights the contrast between light (artificial or natural light) and the impact of darkness.

Light can only be appreciated where there is also darkness. Privacy can be created in different ways. A private enclosure, high up in the air, not reachable for others, if inhabited the person can feel private even if the enveloped is transparent. Private space can mean a hidden space, a little pocket, a space behind something, it can be easily approachable and accessible.

Raghav Dixit 44

It was a beautiful day when my grandfather and I took a walk to this amazing palace. It was scattered with acres of land covered with grass and very few buildings. Whilst roaming around the palace, I was told by children living nearby that there’s a place which was haunted nearby. One of the children had decided to go there and take a look. It was a building with a unique structure; an extremely aged building. The detail of colossal stones, which were rough in texture, and the overwhelming overgrowth of plants and nature created a chilling sensation. Vast amounts of weeds grew through the holes and cracks of the structure. The formation of this building intrigued me, I felt as though I was being drawn in, and before I knew it, I was inside the building. As I walked through the enormous, detailed door a gush of wind blew towards me. Minute specs of light shone through from a window high up on the ceiling which enabled me to see a small number of steps ahead of me in the distance. As I walked up the steps, the light began to disappear in the distance and I was unable to distinguish where I was heading. My conscience kept telling me to turn back yet I felt a force keeping me from leaving. I knew I would be mocked by the children for returning but I wasn’t concerned by that. The atmosphere was eerie, and I felt chills run down my spine. As my feet lead me up the stairs, I inhaled a fresh breath of air, and the scenery became visible to me through a side window that allowed light to shine through. I began to feel safer. As I continued my journey, I walked towards the window where the light was entering, and the view I could see down below was of the beautiful acres of land and scattered houses. It was in total contrast with the old staircase. The vast amount of land, mountain and clear river that I was able to see was breathtaking. I was fascinated by perspective and after I watched for a few minutes, I decided to head back and leave the palace.

I used the rays of light as a guide to find my way out. I suddenly felt an immediate sense of achievement because I faced my fear of the dark and I knew the children would have no opportunity to ridicule me.

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Section drawing showing the effect of light and shadows inside the extension proposal for museum of childhood.

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The design offers a journey where the user chooses his own path from a confusing set of junctions, different light conditions throughout intrigue the user as he wonders through the spaces. This charcoal develops earlier idea of minute specs of light shinning through from windows enabling a glimpse of what is ahead at a distance.

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The space above is collages from images captured at the Neues Museum in Berlin in relation to ingredients of my childhood space; intimacy, liberation, enlightenment and humidity. The drastic design of pillars/ collars was inspired by the Egyptian courtyard in the Neues Museum. The form of the columns reveal the humidity of the room, whilst the tight enclosed brick walls and the clear glass ceiling were key element offering liberation.

Lauretta Doku 50

16 anticipating steps below street level was the basement. Its low fearful ceiling was liberated by the bright beaming artificial lights that overwhelmed the corridor. This warm illusion of open space was diminished as soon as you opened the purple door on your left. A whoosh of odour, stench and sweat would engulf you as you closed the door behind you. Sealing yourself into the condensed room mixed with the vapour of dancers sweat and body heat that was indulged with their hot steamy breath. No window would ever be opened in fear of nagging neighbours.

We chose the volume of the soulful music over the breeze of fresh clean air. The music was our motivation and we lived to embrace it in our submerged, long and angular studio. It did not matter how suffocating the room may have visually appeared or physically felt. The mirrors that ran down the longest walls made the room look and feel spacious, but through our movements we could determine the true characteristics of the room’s special context – small and narrow. As you watched the reflection of approximately 17 dancers through the wet steamy mist on the mirrors you could see the intense look on everyone’s faces as they danced through the misty atmosphere. The only thing keeping everyone going was an old fashioned fan that whirled away in the far corner of the room. This absurd atmosphere of passionate dancers and the unbearable air beautifully complemented each other. Although the space felt and appeared tight and lacked the sense of sufficient light, there failed to be a single dark corner anywhere. It was like the dance studio was almost alive in contrast to the cold and stale exterior on the other side of the studio.

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Through a series of images, I capture the experience of moving through my memory space. The dark tunnel reminds me of the journey to the lagoon, and the wax - the destination. The form represents being wrapped and comfortably secluded. I was inspired by the way I you can manipulate atmosphere by using different materials. The dense plaster verses the glass wax has a striking contrast.

Sophie Dowding 52

It’s midday and the sun is beating down, confined inside the hired car, I feel trapped waiting to be released. I’m promised we will arrive at the ‘hidden gem’ soon but the humid car has curdled my mood.

Pulling sharply off the main road, the car groans as it crawls down an unpaved path. Persistent weeds and rocks cover our route making it difficult to pass. I feel uneasy as if we are trespassing, this doesn’t seem like a place for tourists. After a short while the path widens, beautiful trees mark the entrance to the lagoon. Peering out, I’m stuck by the beauty of the place. The uncomfortable car journey doesn’t seem so bad now. The lagoon is small and secluded.

However it does not lack in beauty, the small stretch of sea is crystal clear and it hugs a blanket of creamy sand, exotic plants that create a boundary distinguishing the end of the beach. How could such a gem be so unknown?

I push my toes into the sand; the salty sea is joined by the fishy smell of a fisherman’s catch.

Still in awe of the surroundings I survey the area, a few makeshift huts are dotted around, rocks are decorated with sea urchins, one narrow fisherman’s boat is off shore, and a dog is absent minded wondering around stopping every now and again to peer into the sea. Everything is peaceful, even the lapping sea and the gentle rustling of the trees seem to combine to create a tropical lullaby. I dapple in the shallows, small fish pass me by, their backs reflecting the sun light little jewels. The water is warm as it caresses my skin. The natural atmosphere of the place is breath taking. Gazing across the lagoon I can just make out other islands on the horizon.

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A conceptual collage of a secluded space, where you are wrapped in layers of ‘skins’.

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A comforting secluded space; Inspirational model from handmade Indian paper.

I was inspired by realising that I can manipulate atmosphere through varying contrasts in materials density.

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Michael Eleftheriou 56

A Razor sharp landscape of sunlight evades the exposed territory.

Hearts beat, legs leap, quick feet, only a brief second, get a seat, don’t make a peep.

The shadow approaches swiftly, nature provides a spiral staircase of branches that allow us to ascend to great heights. We tried not to wet ourselves laughing and giggling at each other. The shadow has almost reached the end of the garden where we were hiding. Ammo ready, mum approaches.

A large overpowering tree provides cover towards the end of the garden which allowed us to develop our mischievous plan and enabled us to take position in secret. The ground was infested with swarms of lit spots in which imitate golden coins from above. The intense odour of pears lingers in the elevated atmosphere in combination with the jungle of scents emitted from the surrounding vegetation.

WOOF! The dog sounds the alarm and we fire our water balloons while screaming.

Nature warns us of danger as we graze ourselves of the rough stream of bark on the tree while navigating and descending.

It is a wild chase as we take down the target.

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These images display the modular model I have built from the developed ideas of my memory space. The space is designed around a specific grid that allow all of the block to be moved in the X or Y axis according to the arrangement which the user wishes to create. Above is a detailed drawing of the blocks in ‘Hiding Zones’ arrangement. I have chosen this default layout to display rivalry between two spaces that also create hiding and spying spaces. The extended lines show the field of vision and the camouflaged entrances. The design aims to enable the user to move and arrange the blocks to create their own mischievous space.

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Clashing grids. The quality emerging from this collage evoke in-between and overlapped spaces created within the grids which become layers of textures skins. I took this further in my project by creating ‘coins of light’ from these overlapping borrowed grids. The resultant conceptual models (left) use grids to offer lighting in the space and then use that texture of light (repetitive patterns) to imply direction.

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Looking more specifically at the area around The Childhood of Museum, I discovered the invisible grids created from the social and physical infrastructure of the area. Layers were joined individually to create new territory of function and inhabitation. Once overlapped, the grids exposed a new reading of the site through the relationship between them; these reading defined the territory and limit of the proposed extension at the next stage.

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The proposed extension offers a dynamic set of spaces that respond to the path of light and inhabitation of the spaces. Borrowing from the hidden vantage points of the memory space, the proposal turns the museum into ‘play house’ to spy and peek into. The vantage points are determined by overlapping the social and physical grids discovered on the site. The extension is approached through a passage of light, enticing the visitor to follow the light through to different entrance points. Above is a balcony encased in glass, an elevated space hidden within the site’s existing grid of trees lining the Museum Passage. Resting on the roof, is the sliding tower, a ‘Microscope’ for looking closely into the museum whilst allowing a shard of light to cut through and create an inhabitable territory within the museum interior. The Microscope observatory slides to enable one to see into the building at three cuts in the roof, angled to respond to the direction of the light at different moment in the day. At the edge of the museum, a suspended tower acts as a ‘telescope’, for observing territories that extend out into the site. The site now becomes the doll house.

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Childhood notions brought on the unit trip in search of their appearance in Berlin: extending shadow, towering heights, repetitive pattern, unreachable spaces.

Sara Erfantalab-Evini 62

It was a pleasant calm day with a nice breeze that smelled of roses, it made me somewhat light-headed. The Crowd’s mumbling was not really loud, but it was enough to grab some of my attention. I was taken by the tall building with the traditional, historical patterns. It was the tomb of Hafez (Hafezieh) in Shiraz, Iran.

I walked up a few stairs and saw colourful Islamic mosaics occupying the entire dome. Eight towering round columns held up the structure. The Columns, roof and trees made a stunning pattern of shadows on the ground. The tomb itself was also slightly elevated from the ground, it had Hafez’s poems inscribed on it. Every thing seemed soft and smooth, I didn’t see any defined or sharp edges to the building.

I looked up and felt like I was spinning, at the corner of my eye I could see gardens and pools surrounding the tomb.

I could hear cedars and willows nightingales whistle. It made the moment very romantic.

There was a vivid reflection of the tomb in the pool, it made you believe there were two tombs.

People were seated on the stairs, around the tomb and on the benches provided around the garden. A teahouse on the ground provided refreshments in a traditional setting. Children were running around the pools and trees and their charming banter was heard everywhere.

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Bethnal Green cross roads and bridges over the canal offer new experiences of reading the urban realm and for looking into its streetscapes and social practice. In these layered spaces, people cross the levels smoothly without noticing, almost forgetting the other levels. Under some of these levels, hidden islands can be found and above them, buildings offer visual peaking points.

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Mappings of the Bethnal Green: site access to the museum and the flow around it and within it became important factors in my design considerations.

Matthew Fallowfield-Cooper 66

Lost in the mountains, at home in another world Sheltered and protected from the harsh landscape, A high space full of hopes and dreams, warmed by the hearts of those looking to be found. The wooden beams soaring overhead, a continuation of the forest below to the sky above.

A sea of Douglas Fir’s, buried under a season of snow, hiding mystery and curiosity. Elk and deer roam the streets, bears are heard of but never seen, mountain lions are the legends you don’t want to know.

A gathering place for a brief circle of friends, who’s origins are unknown but presence familiar. An escape from reality for a moment in time, a refuge for many along their journey, but ours for a lifetime of memories and stories.

A place where friends became family and love was found. Where food was shared, and bonds were formed.

Warming up on the coldest mornings. Opening the curtains to a wall of white glass, sprinkles of light stretching the length of the room, the buzzing excitement as everyone awakes. Drying off after days in the mountains, dripping wet on the hard kitchen floor.

Hot chocolates and marshmallows. Whisky and nachos. A round table fit for five. Food, drink, games, and laughs.

Echoes of conversation in the large space. A steep stair and mezzanine above, elevated games of hackie sack across two floors, action and adrenaline fuelling us all. Night time forest adventures. Hour long acoustic sessions, rambling lyrics and laughs, drinks and smiles. Silly, playful inventiveness. Late night embraces, passionate adventures. A warm intimate space, just ours for the sharing. Hidden under the weight of the building, the heart of the house tucked away, secluded and real. Never to be forgotten but lost to memories.

A long and daunting journey of 7,200 km from my home, 16 hours via car, train, plane, bus and foot. Arrival in the snowy surreal landscape brings a feeling like none before. A mixture of excitement and fear, a feeling of loneliness yet belonging.

A deal formed between a new circle of friends created a home for the lost. The building is situated at the end of a row of holiday let condos, set apart from the centre of “Tunnel Mountain Resort” which hides under the shadow of Tunnel Mountain just up the hill from the peaceful ski town of Banff in Western Canada.

Surrounded by imposing snow capped mountains yet still over looking the valley below. The frosted forest stretches as far as the eye can see, the echoes of an impossibly long freight train ringing through the valley as it trundles to an unknown destination. Some memories faded but others as vivid as the now.

The floor above is where friends sleep, our shared living space becomes a night time home for one on the sofa bed.

Beds are swapped and deals are made, a home for any who happen to be passing. The hard floor where many have trodden blurs the boundary between kitchen and living room, touching a wall of glass doors before disappearing across a small balcony to the world beyond.

The one place that is special in my heart resides at the back of the house, under the weight of the building, shared with a friend and then a lover. One small window sits centrally in the slanted wood panelled wall, continuing across the ceiling, above the hard carpet below. The only real place of intimacy and solitude, hidden from view, the warmest space shared between two.

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The way light interacts with the roof of the Sony Centre and the use of changing colour to alter the atmosphere of the space will inform the roof and walls of the connecting spaces, intended to provide a dramatically different atmosphere to the consistently lit museum.

The effective use of light in the ‘tower of hope’ at Liebeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin provides a powerful motif of an unattainable escape. Using this device similarly I wanted to create a suspended walkway that passes right through the museum, too high to be reachable and with a subtle glow from in floor lighting that evokes curiosity in the inhabitants as they move through the existing areas of the museum. This sense of mystery of the unreachable is only resolved when you begin to explore the museum, to find the entrance to the extension space and begin your adventure to reach this elevated trajectory, leading you out into the open space and the infinite world beyond.

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My proposal links three key spaces: the below ground community rooms, the intermediate space of the existing museum, and the adjacent park with the infinite world beyond. A continuous loop of concrete acts as an infinite linking device, providing a series of ascending and descending spaces that double as play spaces and galleries, tying together programmes specific for young and old and therefore restating the connection between childhood and adulthood, whilst creating a whole new sense of flow both upon approach and throughout the museum.

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Mary Folorunso 72

Spencer Gadsby 73

Michalis Georgiou 74

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Farooq Ghani 76

When reflecting on the memories of my Grandma’s house, one of the most resonating images I have is of sitting in the living room, watching the delicate ruby embers gently dancing behind the stone grill of the fireplace opposite me, their reflections slowly rippling against the polished brass framework and in the small pits of the metal floor panel. The mesmerizing motion of the reflections gave the appearance that the metal was liquefied, slowly swirling into itself.

A number of small objects such as lamps, candles and pots sat huddled together on top of the mantelpiece, a few picture frames sitting on the edges. Above these, a wall clock that had always gripped my attention; golden organic forms surrounded the circular timepiece, three hands delicately striking 7 o’clock, sending out an airy chime.

In the background, the buzz of chatter coming from through the kitchen serving window; my Mum, Grandma and Aunt conversing away in front of the stove, amongst the back drop of an old song playing from the radio cassette player nestled in the corner of a shelf surrounded by bottles and jars, containing a spectrum of colourful spices and herbs. I could see numerous glass bottles and jars with cork lids spread out across the room, tucked into shelves and sitting atop work tops. I remember trying to spot and count as many of them as I could, as if playing a game of hunting the hidden Easter eggs.

The subtle, teasing aroma of chicken Biryani, Korma and other dishes would gradually waft through into the living room, making me more and more hungry as each minute passed. The vapour of the cooking slowly making its way into the room; I could see brief patches of condensation slowly settling on picture frames dotted across the walls, blurring the faces behind.

Looking around, I could see my Dad placing a pillow beneath my sister’s head, curled up in the corner of the burgundy sofa, asleep, her head lightly resting on the arm of the sofa. My older cousin sitting to my right, transfixed playing a video game on the television, tilting left and right, avoiding imaginary bullets and explosions; the lights and colours of the television casting shadows on the wall behind him. My younger cousin on my left, staring in awe, impatiently waiting for his turn. I sat sipping a juice I had never tried before, it was only a few years later I found out it was made from grapes; a mystery finally solved.

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Top row: Conceptual Collages - As one of my keywords was pattern, when visiting locations in London, I was very interested in buildings that made use of geometric forms.

Above I have combined elements from Bethnal Green Town Hall, The British Museum, Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre and Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Bottom Row: Sketch Models - Using my conceptual collages I have tried to recreate a quality that I found intriguing when visiting locations in London. To the left, I have recreated the aluminium skin found on the exterior of the outside the Bethnal Green Town Hall Hotel to examine how it manipulates light. To the right, I have used black and white paper to represent light and dark and how they merge together to occupy a space, creating a contrast of different light intensities.

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I remember looking through the glass door at the end of the living room, peering into the dining room which was rarely used. Along the walls of this dark, frightening space I could see the silhouettes of large cabinets, standing imposingly over the expanse of the oak dining table. The only glimmers of light I could make out were a few silver plates and ornaments that inhabited the recesses of the cabinets.

The one time we did manage to gather the courage to enter the room, being barely tall enough to peer over the dining table, the room felt much longer than we expected, as if it was stretched and converging into a distant point - the space felt very claustrophobic.

The dark corner of this room always filled me, my sister and younger cousins with a sense of fear; this unknown space seemed to grow every time we visited the house, as if it was slowly taking over the space. This otherworldly void would stretch its dark spiked arms across the room, as if trying to drag everything into itself, it was for this reason we never dared to venture into this abyss again.

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My memory of the space was heavily influenced from the sounds of children walking past my house during a quiet reflective time and penetrating through a small gap in my window. It manipulated the space of my safe living room and the sense of protection in a well known space.

Kent Gin 80

Memory of space

It was around 3 pm. I was sitting on an oxblood leather couch warmed up from my own body heat, comforted by the soft texture and the smell of tanned leather. This was the perfect position and space that allowed my thoughts to flow freely and protected it from the time. I am swallowed into my optimistic utopia. My feet touched the burgundy smooth thick cotton carpet and my toes were hidden from the surface. My legs pointed towards the organic shaped granite coffee table, which is located in the centre of the room.

I tilt my head back onto the soft leather. My senses are at its peak. I can hear the subtle sounds of children talking and laughing from the front garden as they walk past to go home from school. When I close my eyes it felt as if I were sitting outdoors and in contact with the public but my living room space gave a protection and privacy through the tall magnolia walls made from bricks, mortar and plaster. The windows absorbed the digging sounds of outside and converted it to dilution of noises that was sensual.

The shape of this room is rectangular yet it felt organic and alive it has been dressed with paintings and photos, the familiar memories comforted me. The west wall has a double glass door that opens towards the dining room which gave me a sense of comfort. The south wall has a door left from the couch I am sat on which leading towards the corridor and guest lavatory which gave me a sense of optional journey. The east wall is facing the front of the house giving me the sense of vulnerability because half of the wall is taken up by the front windows. Next to the window there is also has a glass door leading towards the entrance of the house where guests come and go which can be seen as a transitional space from the internal space to the external space . In front of where I’m sitting (north wall) I can see a shoulder height brown marble fireplace with an ivory wooden arch where there were family photos and interior decorations placed on it. It seems that the fireplace was the emotions of the room and helped balance the sense of intrusion from penetrating sounds and protection from he comforting aesthetics.

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The proposal holds four key spaces, the Remote Exhibition space, The whispering chamber, The vertical Sound Garden and the Buried Library. The Remote exhibition space allows views into the unexpected and hidden places of east London. It is held up by two inhabited concrete walls, a fasle façade that houses whispering/ hearing chambers for listening to sounds from around the museum. As the body occupies them, the head is buried in their sound windows, picking up stories of other temporary and permanent visitors from curious children, dog walkers or nesting birds. Connecting the ground to the exhibition space are a series of staircases and galleries that holds various toys as a part of a temporary theme exhibition. On ground level, the sound garden allows you glimpses of the sound passages, as you look up you see the intertwining of this infrastructure. The sound garden leads the visitors to an underground passage that goes 3.3 metres underground.

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Melina Grigoriadou 88

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Hakan Gulesin 90

Late at night just after sunset riding on our quad bikes through the hot desert. I’m fighting against the fierce wind and sand blowing through my face. Bloods pumping, the rush of adrenaline drives us wilder through the desert towards the unknown. It’s so dark, I can hardly see past the endless desert, no pathways, no roads, just the mix up of our tracks left behind. The empty open space is filled with the rumbling sound of the quad bike engines mixed with the echoes of our lonely voices.

The echoes are screaming back off the valleys and mountains of this continuous space of sand and stone. Rushing to our unknown destination, the adrenaline is sucked out of us as we realize that we are lost in the middle of nowhere.

Our only choice is to drive forward.

Darkness has made the surfaces identical, an endless road to nothing. Hours raced passed before we found some sort of intelligent life. An Egyptian Bedouin tent appeared in the short distance ahead. The dim lights on the tent shone out like the brightest star. What a relieve it was to see two men standing outside to welcome us inside. We entered this tent that was covered in colorful fabric and old remains of hieroglyphics scattered around. Tree remains structured this old shelter.

The tent accommodated for a family of nine Bedouins and a middle-aged camel used for transport into town. The fear of getting lost was drained out of our systems thanks to a warm pot of Bedouin tea, the sweetness and the smell of cinnamon took away the stress and fear that built up inside. Coming back to reality, we had to somehow fight the last round through the desert to get away. As we ride through the sandy winds once again, we came to see bright street lights revealing themselves before us. We were home.

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Developing this idea further. I came to the conclusion of designing and extension underground. As it would incorporate my vision of creating dark spaces with some artificial light.

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The proposal idea is a journey through the exhibition space, through dark narrow spaces and parallel trajectories until you see the natural light and follow it up to the Bethnal green gardens.

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Sinem Gurgur 94

Childhood Memory; “I was walking to the old wooden shed in my back garden that almost looked like it was going to collapse, full of stacked shelves and cupboards with workshop tools and equipment that didn’t all fit in the storage room. Just twelve or thirteen years old of age and being asked to walk to the long wooden shed in the evening (as it was just getting dark) to pick up the tool box placed on the first shelf by the door, was quite terrifying. Since I had to walk through a narrow pathway brushing through tree branches and very closely by old wood planks piled on the ground and worn out gates, which automatically recalls the thought of crawling insects in the area.

This space in the garden was the untidiest, most unsafe, most crowded and darkest area in the garden. As I was walking towards the shed I remember I had tried to shield myself to not to touch/brush through the tree branches by holding up my arms above my head tilted down and walking very fast and very uncomfortably. As I reached to the big wooden shed, I felt even more uncomfortable, only this time not because of the way I was walking but the atmosphere and the imagination of all the irritating insects crawling towards me inside the shed. So I tried to pick up the tool as quickly as possible from the musty smelling wooden shed and ran back the same way I walked protecting my body.

It was getting darker and more silent outside as I was walking alone towards the shed. The journey seemed much longer than usual, although I thought it felt like I was walking faster. The outdoor clay tiles suddenly darkened into a burgundy colour, everything almost withered”.

The concept of the proposal is to create a journey beginning from either the Museum or the Museum Gardens that represents the opposite spatial qualities of the initial memory space; therefore suddenly changing the ambience and limited viewpoints from different levels as the pedestrians enters the bridge.

Aiming to demonstrate how long and nervous a journey could be, affected by changing the atmosphere, which is controlled by pure imagination, just like my memory space and the Jewish Museum in Berlin.

Opposite page; Drawing with text describing my memory space. (Followed on next pages) The sketch models from my memory space to final proposal.

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Paper collage describing the spatial qualities and charcoal drawings of the interior of my design proposal: a Pedestrian Bridge. I aimed to describe the space as a uneven and narrow journey that opens both ways to much spacious spaces such as the Museum and the Museum Gardens.

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The Pedestrian Bridge Photographs of the model in plan, section and perspective view describing the interior of the space.

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A charcoal drawing produced for the “Memory Space” project. The drawing shows an elongated corridor that starts tall and wide but as you journey on, the walls and ceiling cave in to suffocate you inside a short, narrow space from which you seek escape. My space offered uncertainty, with an unclear view of the distance and your choice of passage would result in an outcome between entrapment and escape.

Akin Gurung 98

My memory space project was based on a small town called Dhahran back in my home country of Nepal. My memory was of the regular walks I would take as a child, from the town centre back to my home and the different experiences I would encounter along this journey. What I wanted to achieve from this project was to confine the memory within enclosed spaces so that through the design I could in some sense relive it.

In this lively town I found a safe comfort among the crowd of people and the bright lights. Engulfed by a child’s joy I would loose track of time and the day would be over too soon. As a kid I did not have money for transport so the only option was to walk along this long road. As I journeyed away from the town and further along into this street the lights that illuminated my path would begin to fade behind me and soon I would find my self in complete darkness.

There seemed to be nothing but the dark gravel road, I was in complete isolation in the emptiness and silence. The darkness gave way to vivid imaginations of a child and I could hear echoes in the silence and I was surrounded by fear. The path was long and straight yet in the darkness laid uncertainty onto where it would lead. A minute seemed like eternity. Everything seemed further than usual and the same journey during the day that seemed so easy, by night it became so hard and long. All I wanted was to escape this darkness and find light, safety and comfort of my home again.

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Collages exploring the qualities of my keywords; prolonged journey, dark isolation and safe escape. These collage experiments were made so I could use them as inspiration towards the development of my proposal ideas. The collages were inspired by our unit trip to Berlin, using cut up images of the sites we visited, namely “Jüdisches Museum Berlin” and “Neues Museum”. The collages eventually led to the making of a collage model showing colossus collapsing towers that create intriguing in-between spaces.

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Initial proposal idea drawing showing the programs for my extension.

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A prolonged journey will take you through a series of spaces in which very different experiences will be encountered. These different atmospheric qualities evoke the visitors imagination. Through these extraordinary concrete spaces, I want people to experience a freedom of mind. The thick concrete walls and the spaces created within become your isolation, they become your safety in which you can escape reality and rational thought and explore a dream like world that is obscure yet more exciting. I want my proposal to become a place that the children would enjoy journeying through as well as a portal through which adults can become playful and childlike again.

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My final proposal for an extension took on the idea of corridors. The corridors will make the gallery space more exciting by being inhabitable spaces while acting as walls for further more intimate spaces. These intimate spaces will isolate exhibits from one another and allow a more focused experience rather than the general open experience of the existing space. Some of these isolation spaces can be dedicated for children play areas as well. Ultimately the corridors are there to prolong the time you spend in the gallery spaces.

When you’re inside these narrow corridors, separated from the actual building you become lost until you choose one of the multiple exits inside to determine where you end up. Some of the Corridors will lead outside onto a great balcony garden. The garden will provide a gathering place centred around a ‘Leaf pond’. Again there are giant corridor spaces surrounding the central pond space to create barriers from the city, roads and houses. The balcony garden will emphasise the relationship between the museum and the museum’s garden by creating an access point through a bridge corridor. The balcony will hide a large space below. This large space will accommodate a lounge, library and a reading room.

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Flexible curtain control the amount of soft moon light shining and reflecting into the space.

Liang Liang He 104

I grew up in a small village in the South Eastern countryside of China. The village has a mixture of new and ancient buildings surrounded by fields and lakes. In the village there were green trees growing, fragrant flowers blooming and birds everywhere. The most memorable childhood space was ‘my bed room’. This is where I used to play, study, relax and sleep. It seems to be a journey that I have been through. My bed room was located at the east side of my house, the views were very enjoyable from my bed room. My house was built at the outskirts of the village without any neighbouring buildings which allowed for open views towards the landscape. However, there was a problem for me to see the ground, I could only see the sky. As I was small, I could not reach up to the window. I had to either stand on my toes or get a small chair to climb up. In my village, the houses have high ceilings to ensure good ventilation.

The element that has most influence on the quality of the space was light. It seems to have its own characteristics which create a special atmosphere at different times of the day. For example, sun light and moon light were two completely different sources of light that created very different atmospheres within my room. They changed the way how I experienced my room. I especially enjoyed the moon light and early sun light. The quality of the light can change with different materials, this transform the ordinary into extraordinary magic. For example, the soft natural moon light shining into my bed room was first obstructed by the window’s frame and then reflected on the shiny tiled floor of my room onto the ceiling. I was fascinated by the play of light the change of my curtains would allow.

Sometimes I experienced full transparency, sometimes the light got distorted or obstructed by the curtain. When I closed the curtains, my bed room would be totally dark at night and I was only able to see a small bit of light beam through the gaps between the curtains.

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My proposal for the museum involves 5 different programs: Temporary exhibition space Library Cafe (eating in and out) Work shop Sand room

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My memory space was about different qualities of light I experienced in my bed room and how the material can change the quality of light which changes the feeling of the space.

The proposal of my extension is to extend further into the park, by doing this it can bring the park and the museum together. I will introduce 5 programmes within the extension: exhibition space, sand room, eating in & out, workshop and library. The idea of these programmes will have different qualities of light people can experience.

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Within the volumes of light, the defined spaces of the shadows, I found my Sanctuary.

Alinaqui Hudda 110

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Amar Farouq Kamaruddin 112

My walk in closet. This space is my sanctuary where all kinds of emotions are substantially manifested. My comfort zone where I envisage all my dreams and let out my frustrations/euphoria. I spend a great deal of time in here whenever I am feeling not so great and at times I just like to lay on the floor and stare at the ceiling drowned in my thoughts. At times it is my best friend and I. This personal space has been with me since the tender age of seven, somewhat a family member I should say, as we relatively “grew up” together. Why am I so attached to this space? As soon as I open the top hung frosty glass slide double doors and flick on the warm soothing light its as though I am no longer in my house, but I am home.

Hardwood floors in a dim grey (or rather maple pewter) hue with some parts covered in a sort of eggshell carpeting.

The rest of my household utilizes white furniture and as such keeping in line with the theme, so is my armoire and built in wardrobe fittings. My favorite element is without a doubt the floor to ceiling mammoth mirror.

As fashion is indeed a crucial constituent in my life, this space is the haven that houses all my prized garments and such. “Every moment of your life is an opportunity for fashion” is the mantra that I live by.

The room reeks of an amalgamation of odors. Freshly laundered clothes and the pungent scent of my favorite old pajama top. Then there is the woody bouquet of the floor and furniture combined with the Feu De Bois dyptique candle (a gift from the same friend) which creates a muskiness stench that I have grown so accustom to.

Whenever I glance into the mirror from each of my wardrobe section to select /try on an outfit or from coming into the closet space either from my room or the water closet I can distinguish at least five varying angles Whenever I glance into the mirror from each of my wardrobe section to select /try on an outfit or from coming into the closet space either from my room or the water closet I can distinguish at least five varying angles. This gives it a spatial edge that allows me to feel that the room keeps metamorphosing. And I am the centre of my world.

Beyond the mirror, I get the feel that I reside in the urban where contemporary fashion is a foremost produced by the latest styles that animates the vogue in my life.

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My Memory Space was a corridor in my house in Bulgaria. I used to study overseas and the staircase was the first and the last thing that I would see and that made it the most memorable space that I know. The feelings that it gave me was happiness and brightness when I would get home, but at the same time I would feel the complete opposite when leaving. It was a space that gave me two opposite feelings.

Ina Kanazireva 114

Memory of Space Being in a place of description is sophisticated and you have to allow your imagination become a major part of your brain in order to recreate the image in your own heads. Coming home every three four months made it so much easier to remember everything, as I was away it was only my memory that kept me from being homesick. Daydreaming of some past events made it much easier.

Getting out of the car, from the three hour drive from the airport. Picking up the luggage and fearfully rushing into the wooden door. Hearing noises that I haven’t heard for a long time, barking that becomes louder and louder when I’m inside. The protection of the house, the guarding that became part of every member of my family. Looking around me, I would see them – the people that I have missed.

Rushing into my room, I would smell it, the smell that came through the open balcony door. It was pure nature, no pollution, fresh and mind taking. As moving apart the drapery it would hit me even harder, the view that I could not take away from my mind, the thing that was so special about my room. In the winter it was all white, with all the mountains, and the smell would be even stronger. The roof I would sometimes climb on. It was the only place that cleared my mind and let me think clear and feel alone.

The atmosphere is an unforgettable memory that keeps me light at the hardest moments. The animals playing around and doing things that could break up every moment. They would be sliding on the wood as they were ice skating.

When you are reading of a description of a memory it automatically makes you think of you own place. Let your imagination bring you to places you have never been before. My previous description was more general and zoomed out view of a memorable place, but into my drawing I have zoomed in into a smaller place.

The place is one of the first rooms that you would get into. It was made all in wood and had a staircase that takes you to another level of the place. At the end of the staircase there is a door that lets you in or out. The light that comes through is very strong and lightens the whole staircase. There isn’t any furniture there. On the walls there are a lot of paintings which you would see when you are going up or down the staircase. My memory space describes a particular moment where me and my sister were going down the staircase, which is wide so both of us could walk next to each other.

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A collage inspired by buildings in Berlin and London.

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My proposal is situated in the back of the Museum of Childhood and it crosses over the park and finishes in the park. What I wanted to achieve was to create a connection between the park and the museum.

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Gulsen Karpazli 118

My personal memory space is the well in my grand mother’s garden. As a child, I used to spend most of my time playing in that garden. The garden was always a lovely, colourful and peaceful place during the day. When the sun was shining up there, it was much more attractive. But the well was always a prohibited space for me as it was quite dangerous. It was closed by very big pieces of rock and other stuff to avoid any accidents. Maybe this was the reason for the mystery of the well for me as I never saw inside but always wondered what it was like down there. At the same time, I was very scared of it. I feared it could pull me in if I got to close. I remember myself imagining about a mysterious world at the end of the darkness.

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My final design for the extension of the Museum of Childhood is a maze shaped structure. The Garden of Exile in the Jewish Museum in Berlin is one of my sources of inspiration in this design.

It is not a maze shape but people can walk between the long concrete columns which reflects my key words; narrowness, darkness and deepness. As this museum is generally for children, I wanted an extension to attract them and make them want to explore the space during their visit.

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My design for the extension is an underground space followed after a long, narrow corridor.

Entrance is through a small space next to the museum which is intentionally made very narrow to give people the feeling of entering into a dark, narrow, unknown space. On the roof of the corridor, there is a thin cut line all the way along the corridor towards the sky which allows sun light to come in. The corridor will bring people into a labyrinth where there are several exhibition spaces, a library and a café. Different shaped sky lights reflect the sun light into the main space, giving people the feeling of deepness as they are very wide and tall inspired by my memory of looking into the well. The skylights are placed in key areas, mainly in the centre of the exhibition spaces, library and the cafe.

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My very private space up in the tree

Federice Koch 124

The Secret Tree

The heat of the golden sun over Hamburg, Germany sparkled on my skin like every day that summer. It was boiling hot, we were craving for some shadow and thankful for every tiny breeze that puffed through the leaves. Sitting on the open arms of our tree was the best thing to do in summer. Being bored by too much free time we would sit there the whole day watching people passing by: observing them, listening to their conversations or even irritating them by making weird noises.

Luckily, the tree, although not being a giant, allowed us to reach a certain height as it was standing on a tiny hill.

This height combined with the mass of leaves the tree was wearing, created a pretty good cave like space to hide in, but also allowed us to see everything. Observing without being observed! The place was like made for watching people in their natural behaviour.

Having said that I remember how lucky we were to find it. You could easily see its dress of leaves from the walk way, but you might just not recognise it between all the bigger trees. And you would never expect such wonderful hiding opportunities. The path towards the trunk was bumpy and cluttered with tripping hazards. But curious as we were it seemed to appear even more interesting. And what we found was more than worth the scratches we got: A shiny peace of attractive, young wood rising up towards the endless, bright, blue sky forming the most beautiful plant we had ever seen.

This stunning piece of nature was predestined to be climbed on. Its arms were almost horizontal, strong and powerful, inviting and comfortable. It was love at first sight and we knew that this would be our new place to be.

Trying to personalise and mark our new found space we planned on building a tree house but after fixing the first 2 pieces of wood we paused, looked at each other, then at the tree and realised, that it would be a shame to hurt this perfect creature any further. And to be honest, we also found it was way too hard work, since we were just about 7 years old and did not have the strength to hammer the nails through the perfect, flat piece of trimmed wood and into the rough tree arms. So we ended up with uneven, but comfortable, round tree arms and two, uncomfortable pieces of hard wood with sharp edges, which used to cut into our legs when we sat on them. So we decided to reinvent them as tables.

We sat there all day long spying on passing people, eating, drinking, hiding from the sun.

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Creating a program for the museums extension When designing an extension it is not just enough to design a pleasant looking building. It is important to think about the purpose of the extension, what it needs to offer, what it can do to help the existing building.

So it is necessary to create a program for the extension to specify its purpose.

When doing so it is crucial to consider the original purpose of the building the extension is meant for. But whenever designing any kind of building it is the architects’ responsibility to make it fit into its environment.

It is therefore helpful to look at the surrounding environment and actions.

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The proposal aims to engage the local community through a series of private and communal spaces. It sets up a program that creates small intimate reading spaces as well as slightly bigger one where children can play and read, as well as interact with elderly groups through a collaboration with St. Margaret’s House next door.

This merges the activities of the library of Bethnal Green with that of the museum, showcasing childhood as well as educating children through new events with neighbouring, existing social organization.

The proposal also follows through from the memory space ideas which were inspired from a tree space and focused partially on observation, it approached this by linking the park to the museum. I decided to take away the “museums passage” that separates the museums ground from the park next to it. By doing so I did not only create a connection between them but also made possible for visitors to “observe” people in the park. Moving this passage into the park still enabled the short cut but this time walking through the park.

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Form and light testing To recreate the light and atmosphere I had experienced in the tree, I had a look back at the original light settings and then tried to recreate the “flash” – “spot” – lights you get in a tree.

I experimented with a fabric model, which is suspended from a metal frame, and can be formed in different ways to explore pockets, hidden spaces and forms in general.

I took the form test a bit further and tried to recreate pockets, formed unevenly like branches with polymorph. The material is translucent and therefore very interesting to explore and possible to sit in. It formed sort of a “grotto”, that looks interesting and pulls one in to explore all its little spaces.

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The pavilion and its functions As the inspiration comes initially from a tree, the designed object creates a similar space in the park in form of a pavilion – a “Baumhaus” – pavilion (“Baumhaus” originally German, means “tree house”).

It consists of an entrance hall, two pocket spaces and a terrace, overlooking the park. Each of those spaces is arranged on different levels.

Inside, one can experience incredible light effects, depending on the position of the sun.

The pavilion is open to the public and offers a place of retreat, or simply functions as a shelter from the rain or extreme sunlight.

It is a communal meeting space, where, depending on the needs, visitors can either stay in the more private feeling two pocket spaces or overlook the park and the actions which are taking place.

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Day and Night Not only can one experience incredible light effects inside the pavilion throughout the day - at night the pavilion turns into a walk in light installation when illuminates from the inside and shines like a lantern in the park.

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Light qualities The wood sticks are arranged differently in every room, which provides every room with slightly different light qualities. However, every room is offering a very warm atmosphere as soon as the sunlight shines onto the pavilion.

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Hekuran Kokaj 132

I feel the pleasant sensation run through me as I consciously journey back to that old home sweet home that retains my most joyful experiences of childhood.

The trigger can be anything from guests, to my annoying little cousins or my commanding older brothers. These events remind me of my kingdom and I swiftly run up the wooden squeaking stairs, my fingers grazing the timber cladding of the walls. Once inside the attic I am king again, I cloister myself up high in the tower secure and carefree.

Now I am high and above the rest of my inferior subjects dwelling in the house. Spatially I know that everybody else is underneath me and this gives me a sense of superiority and consequently a strong sense of security too.

I stand at the apex, the same height level as the bird’s nest outside on the tree. The oak trees are the garrison, they surround my castle and protect it from the fierce winter storm.

I feel euphoric and joyful and so I begin to sing my favourite song in my broken English mumbling the incoherent words: “everything I do, I do it for you” the sound resonates weakly through the room. Now I begin to practice the kicking technique that sensei Leonard isn’t pleased with! I jump and launching myself in the air landing on the dilapidated wooden floors sending a loud “THUDDD” vibrating two floors below…now I’m a little tired and sweating and the others below must be tired too of hearing the incessant flow of “thuds”…

WARNING: I hear the derelict wooden floors creak, my loyal sentinels, and I’m informed that we have intruders and in my minds eye I see the intruder walking up the dingy stairs to the gates of my castle!!! The rival king storms in… my father is annoyed with the noise I’m causing and tells me that it is unacceptable to cause so much noise without consideration for others…

I gaze at the timber clad walls which give me a feeling of warmth and the colour is the same as that of the kid in “The Goonies”! His room looked neat and cosy so mine must be too. The sofa smells “old” but pleasant, it is my throne and has been here forever. A tall, wooden cabinet beside the sofa houses the books and novels. It occupies a considerate portion of the area within the attic and a wooden reading table is located adjacent to it. Wood is nice, it smells and looks nice. In the corner beside the sofa, the space belongs to a little friend of mine. Mini the mouse!

I never bother Mini and he traverses the room in a flash to enter his little home.

Now I stand erect looking out through the attic window. I become absorbed gazing at the crescent moon while snow falls below! The room is warm and pleasant, the wood burns inside the stove. I lie down on the soft sofa and open the “Peter Pan” book. I sniff that peculiar paper odour and then begin to read: “…the kids and Wendy hid in their tree house while the pirates…”

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Plan of the church (memory space)

Eleni Korovesi 136

Longing for light It was a sunny but cloudy day in an old, cold church in the countryside. People wearing black were wandering around silently. Sad faces and crying eyes haunted my memory.

For the first time after years all my family was gathered in the same place. My cousins, uncles and aunts all together always meant so much, but not this time. There was no happiness in their eyes. I was so confused seeing only pain and sadness.

After a while the church was full. People sat down and waited for the preacher to come. Even when he came no one paid hardly any attention. All the heads were turned towards one specific area. In the front side of the church the high ceiling and the heavy, dark red curtains made the place look warm and hospitable. The old, round table on the hard floor looked like it was not going to stand there for a long time as its legs were falling apart.

White flowers were decorating the area while their smell was transferred through the air. The smell of wood was wandering around, making people more relaxed.

The ceremony did not last long. The last goodbye was the hardest thing to do. Screams and crying were echoing of the wet walls of the church. The taste of tears, sour and sweet at the same time, was invading inside the mouth without giving you a choice. The pain seems so unbearable you think it is going to tear your inside apart. But it does not.

After a few moments the sun came out again. Sunbeams invaded from the big, carved windows and warmed the church and the souls of all people. Hope and life were back again and I could finally go out and play with my friends.

In this charcoal drawing, I try to describe a really special and emotionally intense day of my life. I tried to describe the materiality of the place as well as the weather and the reactions of the people around me so that this drawing would express some of these feelings that I had that day.

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In the first collage I tried to show how light and darkness can mix together and I translated that into happiness and sadness. After that I made some sketch models which were inspired out of this collage. The second collage is named ‘‘House in a house’’ and I experimented with different kind of roofs and domes and how it would feel like having a roof over a dome for example. How different perspectives can connect and interact with each other. Finally I made a model made out of paper in which I tried to add elements from both of my collages and ideas.

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“Through the Connections”: Charcoal drawing.

Memories which are unforgettable about my childhood home.

Nicole Landazuri 140

My Childhood home brings back memories which are unforgettable: I was lucky in growing up with lots of my family around me and most of them living in the same house. I spent a lot of time with my grandmother in the living room and kitchen because she was always cooking and cleaning. If I was to give this house a name I would name it “family house”, the reason being that we always had visitors. I will never forget this house because of its atmosphere. The house was so joyful and bright, the walls were white and there were many windows (frames) looking out. Everyday was fun and exciting and I would always look forward to my uncle’s wife, teaching me English as my first language is Spanish.

I remember the soft brown carpet in the living room, were my younger brother and I used to play with his legos, while my grandmother was cooking dinner for everyone. She would always close the living room door which lead to the main corridor of the house, to stop the food smell going to the bedrooms. I will never forget the smell of the lovely food and cakes she used to bake. While she was cooking she would always watch us play through the kitchen frame, which is part of our Latin American culture.

My grandfather made shelves for my grans beautiful plants which filled the room. There were two paintings of flowers which I adored next to my grans other shelves, were she kept her white and gold collection of plates and crystal souvenirs. I remember I would always sit next to the window when it was raining or snowing, watching it fall on the ground. In front of the window we had a beautiful crystal table which my gran always took care of. I also remember the kitchen opening up to the garden. In summer my brothers and I would play football.

Looking back to my memory space I feel warm and cosy remembering the objects and people around me. The brightness of the room made the atmosphere joyful, created by all the different frames within this space.

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“Relationship” My memory space was about an old wooden ship where I used to spent my summer nights as a teenager. I remember the night I gave my first kiss to my first love.

We were hiding on the upper deck of the ship because we didn’t want to be seen. The romantic lighting and the voices that came from the lower deck are the basic sources of inspiration for my project.

Aimon Litinas 142

Echo and Narcissus During my first visit to the Bethnal Green museum of childhood I noticed that the building had a great echo.

That reminded me of the love story of Echo and Narcissus from the Greek mythology. Echo was in love with Narcissus but Narcissus couldn’t love anyone but himself. Echo represents the reflection of the sound and narcissus represent the reflection of the idol.

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Love story A map of public and private spaces located in the area around the museum. It is formed in a way that public and private spaces have a love affair which starts with a first sight and ends with separation. The relationship starts and ends at the same spot. All together the map forms a mobius strip that shows the continuous struggle of love. Above shown collage-drawing was created as a “Fill in The Gaps” game.

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“Back to innocence” A board game that can explain each the different fragments of my proposal, together they create an extension to the museum. There are 5 spaces that bring together the site findings with notions of Greek mythology and literature. The writer Alexander Lowen claims that in order for someone to feel real love s/he has to go back to their childhood years. The reflection on one of the facades plays on self image of body conscious gym users coming out of York hall, as they approach the building, their reflection gives way to the children playing inside.

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Continuous lines through mystery A charcoal drawing representing my memory space, showing the vast continuous staircase that I had to climb in order to reach my destination through visual mystery and change of levels to complete and incomplete spaces.

Farid Mahmood 146

Pulling down the handle of the enormously heavy door, greeted by a height of steps. Climbing them restlessly, with my hands holding onto the side rail, as I strive for the last step up. Now introduced to a bright white corridor, as I stand parallel to a row of doors adjacent to a room on each side which let out the remains of the glow coming from the internal windows. Passing by raw timber frames that linger the smell of pine into the atmosphere, I enter a cold breezy room that lay empty down to the skin of the floor boards with rays of light passing through the double glazed glass. Hitting onto the ground I see the shadow of the frame that has been stilted to show a negative image of itself.

As I speak, I can hear my voice pitching back at me with a little stutter fading away into the air. The whistles of the wind enter through the air vents that lie within the centre of the window frame. As I take little steps further I can hear my footsteps bouncing of the surroundings of dried plaster walls. Closing the door behind me as I walk back out the room, I can hear the creaks of the dried hinges of the door. Walking on I¹m faced with another door beside the one I just came out of but this time closed. It¹s new grains told me that I had to open it, so I did. The smell of gloss struck my nose dazzling my brain. The shiny wet skirting contrasted so well with the creamy vanilla walls that were odourless and dried to let the colour powder my fingers as I touched its cold beauty. Dusting of my fingers rubbing them together, I head towards the window and gasped in the fresh air that I had been striving for. The use of the simple colour on the walls was amazing, and I couldn¹t resist touching it up once more but didn¹t want to spoil the contrasts.

Observing for a little while, I left the room to walk into the next where I discovered the beauty of the bathroom. The gleaming tiles on the wall just couldn¹t stop glistering at me. The matt black floor was also tiled giving the bathroom an elegant finish. As I took my first step, I couldn¹t wait for the entire place to be completed to feel the difference into seeing something being transformed into a modern building from an open hall. I opened the tap, and the pressure of the water was so fine with the water so bubbly as it hit my fingers.

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Cutting a section through the places of interest that showed continuous lines, visual mystery, complete and incomplete textures as well as levels.

The map shows the cut of my section with images of public spaces within the area. The drawing of Victorian houses from elevation to section shows continuity through the textures of the built environment and a continuity within the street of the area.

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Sketch models throughout the process of designing and making.

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Section through proposed extension at the back of the museum at scale 1:100 showing interaction with open spaces through levels, Visual mystery, Complete and Incomplete textures, Continuous and in-continuous lines.

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Rajib Manandhar 152

Memory space.

As a child, when visiting my family in Nepal, I was expected to visit relatives whom I considered strangers. I remember making a very long motorbike journey with my uncle to his village. He had heard through the grapevine that there had been a landslide blocking off the route home and so we stayed for a few days until it was safe to travel.

I am not entirely certain what their house was made of but I remember feeling nervous when looking at its support frame, thick, aged, grey-brown wood, and intrigued while carving my name into the red clay floor. The ceiling was low, the large wooden beams running across the width proved very inviting for the neighborhood critters. But it didn’t seem like they were invading our territory, for the house we were in seemed like a nest in the jungle. The stairs leading up to two bedrooms seemed to be made from a different tree, it looked less sturdy. The walls were exposed brick on both floors. Five people would fit on the long straw mat adjacent to the wall; here we would share stories as well as the troubles and blessings of where we come from. The rooms were well lit; large windows would make little need for artificial light until the evening. Contrasted to some houses where a light bulb would be handy at any given time of the day.

Walking through the main door, the L-shaped structure of the house would lead straight into the untouched world.

Needless to say, the abundance of bushes and trees (and the possible cliff!) meant that my eyes travelled farther than I ever could.

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Memory Space Model. Plaster Cast.

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Berlin Holocaust Memorial.

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D A. A place that is used to pass time by youths in Bethnal Green.

B. Exhibition in the museum of childhood.

C. Alleyway in Bethnal Green reminds me of Jewish Memorial Museum.

D. Stone working workshop behind St. Pauls church.

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Plan and section of proposal.

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The collage is inspired from the Berlin trip and begins with a contained space leading to a space that is breaking up into many pieces: a fragmented space.

Nicoleta Marin 158

Discovering a new place called home. It all started that day. A new country, a new language, different smells, unknown.

I stepped into that old village towards my new home. The streets were very narrow; all around me, the things created by humans, were made of stone. There were big, old houses all of the same colour, cheered up by the flowers in the windows. Beyond these human dwellings was an amazing landscape, huge green mountains were surrounding the area. One could inhale the fresh air that was cleaning the entire body. Stepping inside the village, old people were standing outside looking at me curiously, talking to me though I couldn¹t understand anything. I could just enjoy the musicality of their words. I stopped in front of an old Italian house, made of big stone blocks with only two small windows visible. The outside door was made of wood, and the lock was broken. I opened the door and a strong smell of mould struck me. There was a small dark hall with an old door in front of me and some stairs on the right hand side that were leading to the upper level. Stepping inside the front room, I could see a very bright space; with only a bed inside in the left corner, and a table and a cupboard both on the right side of the room. There were two windows revealing a wonderful landscape of wild nature, mountains and sky. This was going to be my room. If the house looked cold to me in the beginning, the light of the sun that was stepping inside the room and the amazing green colour that formed the outside view made me feel at home. Location: Gualdo, Natural Park Monti Sibillini, Perugia, Italy.

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Carina Mendes 160

Two minutes walk from my home I make my way alongside the busy road towards the one place where I can forget everything, leaving behind the everyday stress, looking forward to some “me time”. The huge mountain is a constant reminder of life in general, hovering over me. Some parts blossom and seem so beautiful and others are falling apart.

Arriving at my destination, I enter my haven walking down the stairs towards the blue and yellow concrete slab. I lay down my towel and undress, becoming partially naked to the world, nothing to hide, only parts covered in bikini, thoughts of which are more intimate secrets. Behind is a tall wall which protects me from the outside world. It is so tall that one is unable to see past it cuts right through and touches the sky, dividing my two worlds, enclosing me.

Walking across the blue and yellow surface as fast as I can but the heat blazes under my feet, it’s almost like walking on hot coals. Approaching the sloped ramp just a few steps away now where at the bottom the cool ocean water creeps up slowly.

A shock of cold hits me. Out of nowhere I’ve been taken by a huge wave. I swim and jump over the waves as they swoosh by. The current pulls me towards the black rocks. I try swim away, but then give up and let it take me. Slowly and carefully I climb up the ruff black rocks.

Tip toeing, I try to avoid the sharp pocking pains on the balls of my feet. The black pointed edges of the black rocks against my soft feet. Jumping and leaping from one rock to another. I get closer to the end where the rocks disappear.

At the end is tumbling waves. Splashing and crashing against each other. The water seems so fragile as they break so easily when thrashed against the strong hard rocks.

This is the place where I lose myself the most, gazing out at the never ending blue ocean. I sit and clear my mind.

Salt water gently sprays into my face. As the sun rays evaporate the water, small remains of salt almost like pixy dust are left behind.

As I look back, I see my two worlds as one. It seems like the huge towering mountain will swallow me whole. But before I allow reality to take me away, I’m reminded of where I am by the sound of the breaking waves and of the smaller rocks rumbling when the water retracts. The sound of laughter and screaming in the background slowly disappear as I close my eyes and meditate.

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Islands of Voids and Solids, open and closed, places to get lost, to gaze out, to remember.

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The space is flooded with light and the play of shadows creates a soothing atmosphere with calm views to the outside world.

Niki Michael 168

London for me is one of the most beautiful cities i have ever been to. It is a huge city, nevertheless The place which impressed me the most is a small Coffee House in Tower Hill, behind of the famous Tower of London. It is etched in my memory because of the buildings envelope and its location: A very small circular building with a circular roof which is being held on six tall stone columns, evoking the image of a Greek temple.. It is divided into in two floors, there is only one double door and the building¹s wall is entirely made of glass, allowing you to enjoy the view. The internal space is very small, making it a quiet place. The smell of the coffee in combination with the tranquility gives you a sense of calmness. Yet the building is located in one of the most busy areas in London. You can¹t see it from the main streets of Tower Hill. It is hidden between many buildings (restaurants, pubs, apartments). There is a channel that runs along the one side of the building which separates the cafe from the other buildings. At the same time it is connected through a small bridge.

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MEMORY SPACE A space which consists of three different rooms. On the top floor is the “light room”: light enters through the roof and casts beautiful shadows. The second floor is the “dark room”: the only thing you can do in this space is to enjoy a restricted view from a small window on the left side of my memory space. The ground floor I call :‘‘The journey to the view’’.

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Airydas Mikalajunas 174

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Farhia Mohamed 178

My Entity The days in which I discovered the entity of my imagination was when I was seven, where my childhood was arguably at its peak. This entity was always waiting for my discovery: it somehow lured my senses towards it before it captivated me eternally, out of all places which were seen as grand and interesting. Because of its physical appearance, it was dull for me, it did not allow me to imagine and as a child we love to image. This space was said by many, to lack ‘character’, however for me this place had a very unique character and only the ‘lucky’ ones would discover it, and in this case it was me.

Walking around and exploring the unknown was a habit of mine, it was on a cold Sunday afternoon when I discovered my entity, it was when everyone was busy dreaming, but I couldn’t get myself to dream. So I decided to explore the place where all my childhood wonders. In a split second I thought I heard a noise, which I can’t fully describe what it was, which caused me to back up to the wall, and like magic it creaked and so I entered. It was pitch black at first, the smell was clear and fresh it felt and smelt spacious. Of wood. The space was located underneath the stairs, it was not used for anything, but what made this space and place captivating was because of its selflessness, which allowed me to create characters instead of them being created for me.

The days in which my emotions were very low, my surroundings felt overloaded with objects and physical characters, this did not allow me to have a clear mind. I was not able to think clearly, my imaginations felt trapped. But that all changes as I enter that space, it allows me to enter my entity where my imaginations is released.

The space could only take two people; it was by no means physically spacious but the space it created in my psyche was endless. The fact that the space was emotionless, allowed me to conjure up my own emotions that were bursting from my psyche. This space was like a childhood friend where I can go and express my feeling, I see myself as an introverted person. Therefore this space allowed me to discover myself.

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Identifying the pockets within my memory space providing different experiences.

-Vaulted height -Soft ground -Directed views

Samuel Nicolls 182

The garden which grows simultaneously with my family. The garden alters with season and time.

The trees tower above as I stand; I gaze up as if I’m staring at skyscrapers in central Manhattan. At no point do the branches break the surroundings. The territory stays confined within them. They create an enclosed space providing a safety from what lies beyond the roots and walls. Silver birch, Oak and Ash coexist exist with their roots intertwining within the foundations of the earth. The watch birds calling at any hint of movement deepen the feeling of security and confinement.

Fresh unscented air inhaled every time I breathe, a hint of perfumed flowers invades when the wind carries the aroma towards me. The smell grows stronger as you navigate around the garden like small pockets of smell placed in different sections of the air. From time to time a bonfire will be lit, completely disregarding any other smell, filling both the house and garden with the sticky scent and distinctive sensation.

As winter falls the ground is four inches higher. The cushioned crunch under every footstep gives a distinctive notification to the snow beneath me as I walk. Feet sinking on the white quilt bring the remembrance of my dog bouncing trying to avoid the sharpness of the cold powder: I smile. The garden appears to be lighter now than ever, the reflection of the sun bounces from the ground to my body and infiltrates my skin with warmth.

The silence is broken by my brother’s voice, usually a shout. The materiality of sound can change an atmosphere almost instantly: as this did. The broken silence settles again while the panting of my dog is now dominant, with the rustling of leaves encouraged by trees being disturbed by wind, the sound brings a calming but anxious sensation.

As night falls moonlight illuminates the surroundings. Sitting, feeling the blades of grass running through my fingers with only touch to determine the materiality beneath my hands. I stand and leave the patch where I sat, taking each individual step towards the house, the sun now set and everything is silent. The garden now sleeps.

The garden sits in front of my house, 20 steps down, excavated into the hillside. Its natural surroundings consist of towering trees, dominant shrubs and low lying flower beds all providing some sense of confinement and homeliness.

While over the hedgerows and trees, other gardens and houses lie. As I stand in the centre of the garden, only the sounds, movement and sight from my peripheral senses impact upon my remembrance of the moment. The small pockets of perfume from the flower beds fill the air and every so often as I walk around, it’s as if I’m walking through a bubble of confined smell, and only in that specific place can you smell the aroma.

Walking towards the garden takes you from the centre of the territorial ground. The house is at the centre and is surrounded by flora that influences most of the landscape. The steps that lead to the garden create a route that is visible to those who wish to use it, but knowing the space, and knowing the routes, it is not the only one. Another route is hidden by low lying trees and the canopy of the path created by twisting ivy and an aged oak frame to support it. Walking through the compacted space directs you to the open garden, revealing the wide-open but confined space but from a completely different perspective.

The space became threatened by sudden noise; it was a shout from my brother. A shout from the house down to the garden. It may not have influenced the actual physical space, but it interrupted the mentality of it being confined and

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Exploring spatial inhabitation through the influence of skins. Wrapping, disguising and intersecting.

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The proposal provides learning experiences within different pockets. By using: Light: Light hand. Through a strip of light, it is directed into one of the spaces. The strip of light then moves with the sun path and begins to determine the time on the wall in which it projects to.

Viewpoints: Seasoned platform. A platform which is directed towards the Museum gardens and the surrounding trees, the platform aims for children to understand the change in season and its impact on the surroundings.

Proportion: Scaled room: The scaled room acts as a staircase, a transition from one space to another.

Exhibition space surrounds the stairs while the stairs act as a learning tool through fractions and other mathematics suited toward early learning.

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Analysing views from the museums boundaries. Direct. Obstructed. Edited.

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Charcoal drawing: I remember the long dark corridor and at its end a door, framed by light squeezing into the darkness through the gaps of the door frame.

Aslihan Ozer 188

Entering into a dark corridor, light shining through the wooden door. Walking towards it, aiming to open the door with the cold metal silver handle, stepping on a smooth, soft, dark toned green carpet, formed into a square. Feeling the cosiness as soon as you walk in. Hearing the noises of the children playing at the far end of the room shouting at each other, trying to make their point go across. Realising I’m surrounded by comfortable green sofas with flower textures, feeling the warmth in the atmosphere.

Smelling the food getting prepared, coming from the other end of the space, changing the atmosphere instantly.

Standing on a cold hard surface, feeling the breeze, fresh air coming in and spreading. I am walking past messy surfaces to get to the other end. Going out of the room entering the corridor from the other end. Looking up, upon the staircase looking dark, willing to go upstairs. The higher I get the lesser I hear the other kids play and the adults in the kitchen. The smell seems to follow me upstairs. All the lights upstairs are turned off , the further away I get from the staircase the darker it gets.

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The words define the outline of the plan of the memory space.

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Models of abstract spatial representations of the memory space. The idea of creating a contrast of comfortable and hostile atmosphere.

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A conceptual collage of narrow and open spaces, reflecting a sense of comfort and hostility.

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Decision making through darkness and brightness, while getting lost in the woods. Positive or negative?

What would have happened if I took the bright path?

Sonia Rajaratnam 194

It was cold when the sky was becoming dark and I was surrounded by nature and trees which looked like soldiers.

I felt lost in a huge space, which made me feel small. The path had a soft ground and it almost felt as if the muddy ground was dragging me down. As the journey was getting colder and longer, a massive round space gave me a sense of hope and joy. It was a breathing space and at the same time, it became a decision making area. Two paths leading into different direction, one was bright and open, but the other one was dark, where at a point you could not see what was going on further.

The curiosity made me go through the dark path and the journey was getting even scarier as time was clicking. The sound of the moving leafs and the small insects moving everywhere gave me a small shock and I felt like going back to the decision making space, but as I looked back I couldn’t see it, the darkness was hiding it. The journey was becoming an infinite journey and the hills gave a connection to both over and under ground. The long, non-ending feeling of the journey finally ended as a light shone back through the path. A question kept on going through my head “If I went back, how would my journey be? Would it be like a infinite journey, or will it be the end of a journey?”

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Proposal idea showing a connection of an infinite journey through the museum, underground and railway, turning in a transport system that flows through multiple entrances. It allows easy circulation as well as encouraging children to explore, through the mini railway inked through Cambridge Health Station.

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“Infinite journey through the transport system and connection with the over ground and underground to create a negative and positive space” Breaking the dead end, through an infinite journey

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This drawing is a metaphor of a junction which represents the future and the past, while present is represented by the root of the moon, which is the ideal path for a person’s life in order to fulfil their dreams.

Vasileios Sempsis 199

Exploring Junctions through layers, levels, light and time.

200

There was a common summer Saturday in Greece. The wind was just hugging the curtains of the house. The house was full of people who came to say goodbye to a friend. Their friend who was starting a new life in the next week, The living room table was full off different smells of food. People who were walking down the street could smell the strong smells of the well-cooked meal. In the middle of the living room there he was.

He was so glad that his friends threw him a party but he was also sad because he would probably not see some of them again. At this very moment the memories he had from this house and with these friends passed right in front of his eyes. This was a junction; In time. In place. In memories. It is said that the past is a dark space concerned with memories but at this point of his life it was so light that the images of his past were so clear. He felt like there were happening again. However they were soon over taken with the realization that his future was in front of him and from now on he was about to walk in a minefield ,in another country, another environment with different habits and ways of living.

Some hours later after he was left alone he went to the balcony, he caught himself staring to the root of the moon which was reflected on the surface of the sea. Then he realized that he was about to live a whole new life to start studying architecture in London, a country a more organized than Greece. So he closed his eyes and started to dream again of his future.

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A sequence of how the junction between future and past became a junction between two spaces, expected and unexpected spaces.

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The proposal as fragmented pieces meeting to create a new exhibition space.

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Cindy Silva Pereira 204

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Rahul Sunil Mirpuri 206

Located in a small island in the Atlantic Ocean, in the southern part of Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, remains a mysterious white building. Its exterior structure resembles a huge sharp wave in a pause mode. It looks like the exact moment a colossal foamed wave was captured at its pinnacle.

It is situated in front of the sea, in a medium-sized plaza. The plaza is square-shaped and grey, its materiality resembling that of a rock landscape. It had benches in its corners, where visitors can appreciate the sea. The white auditorium is made out of white concrete and the overall view. There were few visitors that day , amongst these were tourists as well as local people of the island, mostly elderly people. In contrast to this peaceful site, right behind this monumental building, the skyline of the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, capital of the Canary Islands, could be clearly seen. At the very bottom, there are two entrances to the edification, one on each side leading you to three different interior halls, stacked gradually one on top of the other, as if they were stairs.

Sharp rays of sun penetrate through the fine spaces between the wooden horizontal bars that compose every single door which, in turn, forms a long wall, slightly inclined towards the inside. This wall, made of wooden doors, which seems to be infinite, allows the breeze of the sea to come in, and enables people to experience its strong saline smell and its pleasing sound; the splash of the waves when they hit the rocks.

Through each wooden door that separates the interior from the exterior, the immense blue sea of the Canary Islands can be observed. The rays of the sun illuminated the floor, the walls and the overall space. The floor reflected the light of the sun rays to the white ceiling of the building, making it look like mountains of ice. The columns, which sustain the auditorium, are made of concrete. Cold and rough.

Despite this, loneliness was felt. It was just me in the space, no one else. The sound of the sea, the absence of the noise of the city, and the soft colors which decorated the interior, enabled me to fill up with pure and positive energy.

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Charcoal drawing of the childhood memory of family house. The drawing shows changing levels and magic of light and shadows.

Aleksandr Vasjutin 212

Family house: exploring space through levels, light and dark It is difficult to understand the structure of the inner space of my memory house. It looked quite simple from the outside, an ordinary box with a triangular roof and some additional small boxes on three sides, but for me, as a child, it looked magnificent, massive. The interior complexity is experienced as soon as you come in; you see a large confusing space with different levels, multiplicity of stairs and rooms of varying sizes. The first impression of the space makes it exciting and you get a desire to explore it.

In my childhood it was like a playground where I could climb, crawl, jump; I wanted to explore that uncommon and unique space. Every time I visited, it was a journey, a new adventure. I was very excited to go up and down the stairs, from the lowest level to the highest. With every step I took up or down the stairs, my view onto surrounding area changed too. During that ascending journey I visited many rooms which had their own atmosphere, their own spirit.

Another interesting feature of my memory space was the play between light and dark. Light challenges corners, walls and different objects, creating new unexpected qualities of spaces. I could see the contrast of sun light and random shadows on wooden floor. Fantastic, natural space. However not all the rooms or spaces in the house had an opportunity to meet the sunlight. There were no artificial light in the house as it was not yet completely built. Some rooms were totally dark and you could not even see how big or small the space was; or if it were square, rectangular or other unusual shape. You only could imagine. Only small candles or matches could reveal the space yet still these created strange light forms. I used to avoid those dark rooms. Not only because of fear, but because darkness tends to attract attention into what is hidden by this phenomenon.

Walking from the dark to the light and again to the dark made you experience different feelings and emotions. In black gloomy and deep space you felt limited and small, you felt the pressure of darkness. On the other hand, in the light room you felt more free, more comfortable and alive. The light plays one the main roles in creating and designing space for I can continuously transform the proportions of any simple room or space.

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Collage inspired by Jewish Museum and Dutch Embassy visits at the Berlin tour on the 8th of February in 2012.

I was impressed and inspired by light qualities in the museum and experience of journey in the embassy, which reminded me of my memory space.

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Site study: artificial light at the night time created by streetlights.

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Light spaces in the proposal of the extension for Museum of Childhood

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Dishav Vasudev 218

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An architectural mistake: The above is a conceptual plan of my memory space. It is a small, narrow corridor located at the first floor of my house. Initially it served no particular purpose and was considered a waste of space and money. However, during my childhood I often spent my time there and gradually transformed it into my own personal space.

Konstantinos Vatanidis 220

The space is located at my house in the suburbs of Athens. It’s on the upper floor,next to the bedrooms and I found it particularly interesting when I was a child. It is quite distant from the active part of the house,the ground floor. However the awareness of my parents’ activities below me was essential. The architect designed this narrow rectangular space for no particular reason. The width is less than 1m and the height no more than 1.6m. I just had to stand up and I would hit my head on the ceiling. Naturally, with these dimensions it was extremely unpleasant for someone to use this space in any way. But as a child I frequently spent my time there ,especially when I was bored, during the summer afternoons.

It played an important role in my daily routine during the holidays. After spending the morning in the beach ,it served me as a quite spot for resting and recharging my batteries. There is only one way to enter it: a staircase.

The ceiling is slightly sloping and at the end of it there is a small rectangular window with no particular use either; it’s only components are the staircase and the window,on opposite sides. The floor is covered with a white thick , wool carpet, which makes it particularly soft. Because of it’s location and it’s nature,it was difficult for sounds to infiltrate it.

I had discovered a warm atmosphere up there. As a child this amazingly simple and clearly defined space provided me with the illusion of protection. My only interventions in it were a very small chair and a wooden desk in front of the window. Sitting there you would feel the softness of the carpet underneath your feet and the rough surface of the wood under your hands while looking directly outside the window. The sense of touch gained a whole different meaning. I felt the need to spent my time there, drawing, reading or even doing absolutely nothing. I would lay down and think for hours, in various body positions. It was like entering a different time zone, a parallel reality, located between the bedrooms.

It was a space without a label which reflected my thoughts. Like all the other children I was ‘un-civilised’ and I acted based on my instinct and intuition. This lack of purpose of the space is exactly what generated this illusion of control I felt when I was there. As the years went by, a use has been discovered for it.

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My mapping involved a study of the in- between spaces around the area of the museum. As a starting point I used this map to show the intensity of the experience and realisation of limits and height. The tightest spaces are represented as the most intense ones, these later divided into 3 categories: 1.mistakes 2.private 3.public.

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In my collages and conceptual drawings I focused on the character and possible behaviour of spaces not relevant to the conventional needs or habits. I was interested in the relationship of these ‘accidents’ with the ‘meaningful’ spaces and how the one affects the other.

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My proposal involves a replacement of the character of the museum so as to lean towards children. The final composition consists of a number of orthogonal boxes, in which the museum’s activities addresses the children are enabled (playing, discovering, hiding, learning and so on). These spaces also represent an extension of the museum’s convention. In between these boxes are these tight ‘accidental’ spaces that address the children’s instincts instead of the adults’ needs. A relationship between conventional and unconventional, labelled and not-labelled spaces.

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Tiffany Maria Waddill 226

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1.3 LOGO COLOURWAYS The UEL logo has 4 primary colourways, their use is explained in the following pages.

This book has been a collaboration with Computing and Architecture Representation Studies The UEL logo and the UEL Small Space logos are supplied in a total of 10 colourways each as shown below.

THANKS TO:

Isaac Cobo I Displas Janet Insull

Docklands Campus University Way London E16 2RD 229

Main UEL Logo

Main UEL L

Supplied in: • 4 colour process • RGB • PMS

Supplied in • 4 colour • RGB • PMS

Black and White UEL Logo

Black and W UEL Logo R

Supplied in: • 4 colour process • RGB

Supplied in • 4 colour • RGB

Version 6.0 as at 05