Project Details: Urban Design
UCA: Third Year Final Project 06
Location: Valencia
Nominated for Architects Journal 2023 Student Prize
Tracing History is a project which explores issues of cultural heritage, local identity and civic pride. The building, situated in Valencia’s historic Old Town, is designed to act as a temporary exhibition centre for the 20th Triannual International Committee of Museums, hosted this year in Valencia, and following this as a new headquarters for the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Assets, currently accommodated at the nearby Universitat Politècnica de Valencia.
The building offers event spaces, galleries, archives, laboratories, workshops, lecture theatres and teaching spaces with a focus on new techniques of conservation and restoration. It serves as an educational establishment for both students and professionals to restore artefacts and artworks for museums within Valencia and beyond. The plan combines flexible, temporary and permanent programmes around a central service and circulation core to balance public integration and private use of the building.
The ground floor of the proposal incorporates the display of an archaeological excavation on the site which has uncovered the remains of a 13th century Moorish family house. The building seeks to capture and celebrate the site’s rich history in both form and function, and to establish a strong local and contextual identity. The brief also responds to the UNESCO Forum Declaration of Valencia (1996) which promotes cultural heritage protection, conservation and seeks to foreground universities as permanent and independent members of civil society.
The project uses found and waste limestone as principal structure with locally sourced spruce timber frame as secondary support and infill. The use of stone and timber with naturally ventilated internal spaces and on site energy generation help to make the project carbon negative in construction and low carbon in use.
Jordan’s project investigated the nuance and complexities in representing history. His site research uncovered former occupations and building forms which were used to form a geography of patterns and excavations. The proposal used these to form fragments of a new building which sits above a sculptural ground floor landscape. The proposal is a fascinating assemblage of site histories in form and material, speculating how a layered approach to referencing site history can develop a new model for Valencia’s future.
The final structural framework consists of two stone massed structures supported by an inner framework of glulam with continuous posts. A lightweight timber structure connects the two built forms at its center.
1. Preserved Archaeological dig (13th century Islamic residence historic site) now a focal point to the entrance.
2. Pavilion calving into the ground using the site’s history creating a landscape for conversation space.
3. Reception and main event space for exhibitions, acting as the central space to enter the upper floors.
4. Dining space and café facing the masterplan whilst sheltered from the sun.
5. Archive displaying work currently in the process of work, visible from the pavilion space.
6. Large auditorium space for formal lectures and conferences.
7. Public assessable physical and digital library that includes the work and archive within the building.
8. Gallery holding temporary storage of artefacts for public viewing to see the work on hold.
9. Informal conference space and relaxation area with more open natural lighting and informal seating
10. Classroom and workshop space focusing on education and teaching restoration to the uni students.
11. Adaptable event space with revolving door slides and exterior access with a quiet space.
12. Secondary event space with more natural lighting for exhibition work.
Project Details: Residential Master Planning
UCA: Third Year Project 05b
Location: Canterbury
The projects brief consists of creating a residential master plan for a community of homeworkers/makers, inspired in relation to the increases in homeworking following covid. The site for this master plan is situated in Canterbury on a corner plot currently being used as a car park due to its proximity to the city center. The sites sits next to one of the main entrances to the city between two major universities and colleges of Canterbury
In response to the brief my proposal Brewers Lane explores creating a residential working neighborhood of makers that produces homemade beer in each housing unit within a dedicated working space. Inspired by the site’s previous occupancy that hosted a brewery and bar that was destroyed in a bombing in WWII. Creating an external social hub within a local community like that of German beer gardens, taking advantage of the rich student population through the central circulation of the masterplan. While the living space would be located towards the street front of the building separating the work and living areas. Each house focuses on producing a step in the brewery process working together as a community. The Units are designed to accommodate for a family of 4 with a workspace included within each unit that can adapt to incorporate each process of the brewing. The working space resides at the back of the living space that faces onto the central landscape of the masterplan.
Below shows a long section of the design with the central core space at the middle that acts as the main social hub. The landscape within this space is formed by lifting the sites typography and is then cut using the original circulation paths used by both students and passing visitors, forming a nested social space within the residential community. The public/ customer interaction between the housing units and this space can be seen with the brewery space located on each end facing towards the core social space.
Housing Unit Axonometric
G1. Exposed Concrete Floor
G2. Stone Brick External Interface
G3. Polycarbonate Cladding
G4. Supporting Timber Framework
G5. Timber Wall Storage
G6. Timber Frame
G7. Insulation
G8. Timber Frame Studs
F1. Timber Floor Frame
F2. Timber Flooring
F3. Timber Wall Finish
F4. Insulation
F5. Timber Frame
F6. Timber Frame Studs
F7. Polycarbonate Cladding
F8. Supporting Timber Framework
S1. Timber Floor Frame
S2. Timber Flooring
S3. Timber Wall Finish
S4. Insulation
S5. Timber Frame
S6. Timber Frame Studs
S7. Timber Roofing
S8. Polycarbonate Cladding
R1. Timber Finish
R2. Timber Frame
R3. Timber Vertical Supports
R4. Timber Horizontal Supports
R5. Insulation
T1. Timber Exterior Cladding Space
A1. Front Door
A2. Living Room
A3. Kitchen / Dining Space
A4. Workspace/Brewery
A5. Toilet
A6. Stairs - First Floor
B1. Stairs- Second Floor
B2. Relaxation Space/ Hallway
B3. Bathroom
B4. Bedroom 1
A5. Bedroom 2
C1. Relaxation Adaptable Space
C2. Master Bedroom
Project Details: Stone Mason Workshop
UCA: Third Year Project 05a
Location: Canterbury
The brief for this project was to create a small workshop space for a craftsman that has a temporary element to the structure situated within Canterbury. My design proposal was a stone mason workshop that could perform onsite repairs for the Canterbury Cathedral for smaller elements of the structure reducing the overall time consumption, with repairs ongoing constantly on preservation of the cathedral, as a key historical and cultural icon of the city of Canterbury. Acting as a temporary modular structure that could be installed and reinstalled on the site. The design would replace pieces of the cathedral and reimagine them into the workshop’s structure. Forming a workshop that as it repairs another it builds itself, keeping the elements taken from the cathedral onsite giving them new life. The materiality of the workshop would consist of stone from the cathedral and timber that would become a temporary module component of the structure, stored till the workshop is needed again. While inactive the stone structural materiality of the workshop would remain leaving a ruin like structure of the cathedrals history each layered with pieces of history stacked on top of one another, showing just how much the cathedral is preserved and the hard work that is done to achieve the structure stays standing while keeping the historic components on site. The briefs proposed 3000 x 3000mm workshop dimensions is achieved by the design complimenting the stone masons process and ensures little wasted space, while also providing comfortability though spatial efficiency of adaptability and interchangeability of the spatial layout.
The Stone masons process using the space entails the following:
Sliding the stone onto the conveyor belt below, when located below the hatch is opened allowing the stone to be lifted using a cantilever, formed using part of the Cathedral. After lifted and hatch closed, the moveable worktable is positioned below the stone block. Then after being placed onto the table it can be moved back to the center of the space. Tools are located on retractable wall storage keeping the space open. An impact generator is located below the workstation within the structure, so that through carving and hammering at the stone it produces power for the tools. After completing the finished product can be moved using the worktable and placed on a storage lift to cranked upwards to the top of the space for storage. The structure can be cleaned with drainage and ventilation fan included in the structure. Finally, fold down seating for breaks are included on both interior and exterior.
Project Details: Public Archive
UCA: Second Year Final Project 04
Location: Canterbury
Brief - Archive project, creating a public archive consisting of a physical artifact or a conceptual archive, to be situated in Canterbury. The concept behind my proposed archive was imagining a red ribbon path extending from Canterbury city walls, traveling though the city collecting shards of missing connections that have become lost and transversing them to the site becoming reforged into a structure that reflects Canterbury. Ultimately acting as a device to relink these lost connections results in a more inclusive and diverse collaborative community culture.
To realised this archive concept the building will take the form of a redesign and relocation of the Canterbury City Council and community centre. Becoming a key space from the current building located on the hidden outskirts of Canterbury unnoticed and become a keystone of Canterbury’s community and government acting as social hub and mixing pot. The building would comprise of public accessible 24-hour study spaces, library, auditorium leisure area, adaptable large sheltered and adaptable spaces and a cafeteria. Encouraging public engagement and bring Canterbury’s large student community together to the space and increase governmental youth engagement, offering more public exposure to city government though proximity and ease of access. The floors are transversed using the path that extends from the city walls to the building and leaves to reconnect back to the wall completing the broken ring created by the city’s historic walls circulating the city. The building would be draped in a moving skin that would reflect a shard like design each moving to shelter the space from the sun opening views to the surrounding site and city. The structural design of the building mirrors the shard like formations in not only its shape connected to the path but by its triangular structural supports and skin, reflecting canterbury.
Project Details: Pavilion/Folly
UCA: Second Year Project 03a
Location: Canterbury
The project brief was to create a temporary pavilion/folly to be situated in a man-made site by casting on different surfaces as the medium for creating the landscape the pavilion would be placed upon.
I explored a modular design allowing for the pavilion to be transported to and from the site allowing for reuses and simple deconstruction for other purposes after use. Inspired by the Folly For A Flyover and its bead wall curtain design. Fascinated at reimagining the standard brick building material. First through its materiality such as sustainable reclaimed wood cut into the dimensions of a standard brick and by cutting holes at its center, allowing rope to be sown though creating a solid structure. Second is its form from the typical standard solid wall construction appearance to become manipulated into organic structures. Using inspiration of Richard Serra use of center balance stabilisation allowing for a free-standing structure that by bending the structure could achieve structural stability. Through a more playful process of form manipulation to capture the casted landscapes typogthaophy and its created atmosphere. Shaping the structural form organically in a way that compliments the land and creates a domestic atmosphere using the form a structure. After manipulation the form inspired by the landscape, I then extracted potential user functionality of the structure from its created forms and arrived at a program of a sitting and viewing area. This allowed for multiple simultaneal user iterations with the structure while complimenting the landscape typography. Finally, when situated onto a site to further support the stability of the structure every two rows of bricks the corresponding rope can be removed and replaced with a metal pipe bent into the form of the previous situated rope, that would be installed into the ground or a form of fixed above ground connection.
