Take-Off - Final Year Group Project 2019

TAKE-OFF TAKE-OFF GROUP 30 LOUIS EVANS HOE YIN FUNG MIN SUN KIM HOK YAN JESSICA LAI PETER MCLAUGHLAN JONNY SEDGLEY

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DESIGN INTENT 1. To celebrate and remember Filton’s rich heritage in aviation innovation.

2. To create a piece of architecture that draws public attention and in turn generates life in a developing community.

3. To inspire future generations to engage with the aviation industry acting as an interface between community and industry.

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CONTENTS SITE ANALYSIS PROCESS PROPOSAL ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY STRUCTURAL STRATEGY REFLECTION

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SITE ANALYSIS FILTON AIRFIELD, BRISTOL BS99 7AR LOCATION MAP URBAN DISLOCATION A HOME OF AVIATION AVIATION INDUSTRY YTL DEVELOPMENT SITE VISIT

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LOCATION MAP Currently Filton is a suburban town located 8 kilometers north of Bristol City centre.

The site is sandwiched in a patchwork of factories, railway lines, roads and the aerodrome. These elements expanded after World War II and in the 1970’s large trading estates developed as well as the A38 trunk road developing into a dual carriageway.

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URBAN DISLOCATION There is a strong sense of division in the surrounding area between large scale industrial warehouses and small scale residential suburban developments. We decided it would be important that our building should act as an interface between community and industry in a way that both commemorates the heritage of aviation and innovation as well as inspiring future members of the community to engage in this field.

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A HOME OF AVIATION Filton Airfield is currently home to various technology companies and is the forefront of Bristol’s renowned aerospace industry. As the birthplace of supersonic travel and numerous aircraft since 1910, it is important this unique historical spirit of the site is celebrated and preserved.

Filton has an aerospace connection dating back to the establishment of the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Aerospace companies in Filton include BAE Systems, Airbus, GKN, RollsRoyce and MBDA, all located around the former Filton Aerodrome.

The Concorde supersonic airliner was built here in the late 1960s and 1970s; on 26 November 2003 Concorde 216 (G-BOAF) made the final flight of a Concorde, returning to Filton to be kept there permanently as the centrepiece of the Aerospace Bristol museum, which opened in 2017. This museum also houses the Bristol Aero Collection and examples of helicopters and missiles built at Filton.

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AVIATION INDUSTRY

Rolls-Royce

Aerospace Bristol

Site

Brabazon Hangers Airbus GKN BAE Systems and MBDA

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GREEN BELT

EXISTING PATCHWAY STATION

TRAIN ROUTE METROBUS ROUTE OTHER BUS ROUTE PEDESTRIAN & CYCLE ROUTE

PROPOSED TRAIN STATION

FLAGSHIP SQUARE SITE

YTL MASTERPLAN

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REGENERATION The new YTL development proposal will dramatically help improve public connectivity to our site. Firstly, there will be a green belt that is proposed to run through the heart of the development which is terminated by Flagship square in the east. There will also be a new railway station proposed to the south west of the site which we feel will define the primary approach to Flagship Square. There will also be improved bus services.

YTL masterplan showing site location within commercial zone

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SITE VISIT

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SITE ANALYSIS

ACCESS

WIND

NOISE

VIEWS

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PROCESS METAPHORICAL DETERMINISM EXPERIMENT SECTION STUDY FUTURISM INITIAL PLANS PARTI DIAGRAMS INITIAL SKETCHES MASSING MODEL

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METAPHORICAL DETERMINISM Early on, we decided that in order to celebrate the heritage of the area we wanted our building to be a metaphor for the idea of flight. We saw metaphor as a powerful storytelling tool that could inspire public engagement and help regenerate Filton. In order to physically manifest the idea of flight we began to sketch loosely organic forms which encompassed a sense of airflow and dynamism.

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EXPERIMENT

SKETCH

MODEL

An experiment where we passed backflow incense through basic massing to determine how we can capture a sense of airflow.

A resultant sketch showing initial idea of capturing a sense of airflow as negative space moves around positive forms.

A wireframe model that further explores the idea of representing fluidity and dynamism.

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SECTION STUDY

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MUSE | TRENTO, ITALY | RENZO PIANO | 2013 We analysed how Piano extended facade planes beyond the roof line and massing. We wanted to use this motif to create a sense of dynamism in our building, as the solid massing would be deconstructed into a series of extending facade planes that cut through space, manifesting a sense of fluidity and dynamism.

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FUTURISM We also became fascinated with work by Futurist artist Umberto Boccioni. His work; ‘emphasised speed, technology, youth, energy, and objects such as the car, the airplane, and the industrial city… it sought to capture a frenetic sense of movement, reflecting their intoxication with the future and the innovations that would lead them there’. As we were aiming to embody similar ideas concerned with airplanes, speed and dynamism in our building we wanted to extract theories they developed and manifest them in our architecture.

1. Abstractification of form - elements are represented at multiple points in time, denoting movement.

2. Compression and Expansion - space is in flux, showing a forceful fluidity.

3. Movement through Space - breakdown between positive and negative form show forms moving through space.

Dynamism of a Cyclist Boccioni

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Unique Forms of Continuity in Space Boccioni

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INITIAL MASSING

DIAGONAL AXIS

CENTRAL ZONE

SECONDARY SPACES

PROJECTION

Linear layout of primary massing with minimal stacking to give a horizontal aerodynamic aesthetic.

The two primary spaces are offset allowing the central procession through the building to be defined based on the approach analysis.

The creation of a central compression hub point for the building.

These expand out from the central hub and radiate from the primary spaces.

The entry space is moved out to help signal the entry from the square and likewise with the storage space to act as an acoustic buffer to the road.

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A massing model was produced by shaping out the volumetric requirements of each space, resulting in a form that accentuates two large volumes with spaces that sweep around them. The volumetric hierarchy of space aims to guide users through the building. Architectural volumes increase through spaces from entry to transition to destination.

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MATERIAL EVOLUTION Inspired by Filton’s rich aviation heritage, we took reference from the early riveted aluminium metal planes. Clean, shiny, and metallic; these are characteristic of aeronautical technology and innovation.

We decided to use flatlock zinc panels to express a similar aesthetic and create a thin metalic skin.

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STRUCTURAL EVOLUTION Aeroplane fuselages are usually made up of an efficient lightweight structure covered by a thin skin. This idea is applied structurally in our building, using the same strategy to produce volumetrically large interior spaces.

EXPERIMENTAL STRUCTURAL MODELS

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PROPOSAL PLANS MATERIAL PALETTE ENTRANCES CAFE INTENSIFICATION OF BUILDING LIFE 1 OF BUILDING LIFE 2 OF BUILDING LARGE EXHIBITION LARGE AUDITORIUM SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE LANDSCAPING ELEVATIONS EXTERNAL PERSPECTIVES

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1:200 4m

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Entrance Foyer/Cafe Atrium Kitchen Storage/Cooler Staff Changing Room Staff Toilet Male Toilets Disabled Toilets Female Toilets Large Auditorium Back of House Storage Plant Room Unloading/Waiting Area Small Exhibition/Small Auditorium Storage Air Handling Units/Plant Room Large Exhibition Reception Cloak Room Bike Rack Gift Shop Flagship Square

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Unloading/Waiting Area Small Exhibition/Small Auditorium Storage Air Handling Units/Plant Room Large Exhibition Reception Cloak Room Bike Rack Gift Shop Flagship Square

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GROUND FLOOR PLAN 1:200 @ A0

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KEY 22.

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Large Exhibition Reception Cloak Room Bike Rack Gift Shop Flagship Square Male Dressing Room Toilets Shower Female Dressing Room 0

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FIRST FLOOR PLAN 1:200 @ A1

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Gift Shop Flagship Square Male Dressing Room Toilets Shower Female Dressing Room Break Room Rehearsal Room Control Room 0

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SECOND FLOOR PLAN 1:200 @ A1

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AXIS

NOISE

SUNLIGHT

GREEN BELT

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- AERIAL VIEW -

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MATERIAL PALETTE

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VM NATURAL ZINC FLAT LOCK PANELS | 590MM BY 885MM

PERFORATE ZINC PANELS | 590 BY 885MM

With properties of high durability, high manufacturability, noncorrosiveness, recyclability and re-usability, we have chosen zinc as our cladding, in addition to the reference of our narrative of plane fuselage mentioned previously.

The material is very easy to form, allowing the cladding to be fitted to the parabolic curve of the facade.

Perforated zinc cladding has been used in the large exhibition to allow controlled light in between the trusses where the glazing is whilst still maintaining the appearance of the facade to look seamless externally.

STEEL STRUCTURE | 1.2M DEPTH ARCHED TRUSS 900 BY 450MM BLADE COLUMN 450 BY 200MM BLADE COLUMN Steel was chosen for the structure for its efficiency in the nature of our building form and its higher durability. The embodied carbon of the structure is reduced significantly through the use of Histar steel, a low alloy and high strength steel.

CONCRETE FLOOR

OAK SLAT INTERNAL FINISH

High thermal mass of concrete allows the reduction of energy demand for thermal comfort.

Concrete floor for the seating in the large auditorium is beneficial acoustically as well, shielding the auditorium from the sound of air handling units and kitchen facilities underneath the seating.

Vertical timber slats are used for the internal finishes in areas such as the cafe, small auditorium and large auditorium in order to soften the hard surfaces of concrete and steel for noise attenuation.

MAIN ENTRANCE By peeling the faรงades up and off the ground, not only is the entrance articulated, but a connection between the building and air is expressed. It provides an entry into the building which does not disrupt the form.

- JOURNEY TO THE BUILDING -

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PEELING ENTRANCES Concealing entrances within the walls allows visitors to transition through spaces seamlessly.

This imitates airflow around objects in flight.

Doing this allows the architectural journey to be experienced as a sequence of transitions, instead of a sequence of rooms.

- AUDITORIUM EXIT -

- TOILETS -

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- CAFE -

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ROOF DETAIL SECTION 1:50 @ A3

CAFE DETAILS This is the first point where visitors will experience the skin wrapping around the steel structure. By separating the wall build-up from the blades, the structure is better articulated.

WALL DETAIL SECTION 1:50 @ A3

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INTENSIFICATION OF BUILDING Through an analysis of the schedule of accommodation, we were able to identify programmes that would be used more frequently and others not so much. By combining such spaces, it intensifies the efficiency of building usage and provides a dynamic environment for its users.

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LIFE 1 During the 10 year YTL showcase period we wanted to give users choice of movement so they could easily access the different elements of the showcase. To do so we activated the Atrium core as the buildings central hub.

CIRCULATION People radiate out from a central hub to the different elements of the YTL exhibition.

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PUBLIC / PRIVATE All large YTL exhibition and presentation spaces are readily accessible to the public domain.

CORE The split level atrium is activated as the hub and allows access to all elements of the YTL exhibition.

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- LIFE 1 LARGE EXHIBITION -

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- OFFICE -

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ROOF DETAIL SECTION 1:25 @ A3

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LIFE 02 During this period we wanted the exhibition to tell a story about the history of aviation transitioning from a historical display in the large auditorium, through a cinema experience in the large auditorium to an interactive exhibition space about the future of flight in the small exhibition.

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CIRCULATION Linear movement through the building is about creating a journey through the exhibition experience. Visitor’s transition through the exhibition mirrors that of the chronology of the exhibits - past, present, future.

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PUBLIC / PRIVATE As the exhibitions become fee paying, spaces become semi private.

CORE The core now becomes a connection point as you pass through the exhibition experience and reorient yourself in the building.

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- LIFE 2 LARGE EXHIBITION -

VISIBLE STORAGE DESIGN MUSEUM DENMARK | DENMARK | KAARE KLINT | 1926 Using the depth of the arched truss structure as storage maximises efficiency, allowing storage area to be kept to a minimum. Items in the exposed storage would consist of aircraft models, old drawings, and small artefacts. Involving these items in the exhibition journey would allow visitors to be immersed in the heritage of Filton.

LARGE EXHIBITION ISOMETRIC DETAIL 1:50 @ A3

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1:50 LARGE EXHIBITION SECTION MODEL

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MULTI-DIMENSIONAL The scheme should express the same amount of energy in section and plan.

Having a mezzanine in the exhibition space and ‘bridge’ across the atrium creates multi-dimensional spaces throughout the building.

ROOF DETAIL SECTION 1:25 @ A3

- LARGE EXHIBITION -

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- LARGE AUDITORIUM (SCREENING) -

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BACK OF HOUSE The back of house space for the auditorium would provide a comfortable environment for performers to rest and prepare. A private space for staff, the back of house can operate in isolation from the rest of the building.

- REHEARSAL ROOM -

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AUDITORIUM SEAT DETAIL 1:25 @ A3

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LARGE AUDITORIUM As we intensify the building, the large auditorium will become a part of the exhibition journey. It would be a continuation of the installations in the other exhibition spaces, used for documentary screenings, small theatrical performances and lectures.

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- LARGE AUDITORIUM (MUSIC PERFORMANCE) -

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Large Auditorium

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VARIABLE ACOUSTIC STRATEGY The large auditorium effectively operates as a multipurpose hall. It must be used for musical performances, cinema screenings as well as lectures and product launches. This means a variable acoustic system is required to accommodate for the different reverberation times necessary for these functions.

To achieve this you either need variable acoustic absorption or variable internal volume. We chose to use variable acoustic absorption using a system based on the Finnish multipurpose hall, Schauman hall.

SCHAUMAN HALL | FINLAND | ROGER WINGREN | 2013 Architect office Roger Wingren stands for the design of the concert hall and acoustical design is done by Henrik Mรถller.

Schauman Hall has variable acoustics and can be altered for rhythm music. It uses a simple system of acoustic shelves, acoustic diffusers and acoustic curtains to achieve variable acoustic.

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In our system acoustic shelves are fixed back to the horizontal steel purlins.

Acoustic diffusers are fixed to timber boarding behind. The acoustic curtain boxes are secured between the shelves and the curtain rail runs along the underside of the acoustic shelves. To change the reverberation time, the acoustic curtains can be moved over the diffusers and therefore increase absorption.

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L L A

H X E

R E ND

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- SMALL EXHIBITION/AUDITORIUM (LIFE 2) -

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SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE Interior spaces are distinguished visually with the use of structure. By using a different strategy for our primary spaces (large auditorium and exhibition) and secondary spaces (small auditorium, exhibition, and atrium), visitors would experience a sense of transition as they circulated around the building.

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ENHANCED WALKABILITY

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STORMWATER ATTENUATION

BIODIVERSITY

SENSE OF PLACE

LANDMARK

COOLING

LANDSCAPING AMELANCHIER LAMARCKII A multi-stem verstile tree that has delicate white blossoms in spring, verdant summer foliage and beautiful fall colour.

EUROPEAN BEECH The deciduous trees planted along the green belt help reduce noise from the nearby road and produces a leafy canopy.

GALLIUM ADORATUM The understorey plant froth out the base of trees and are not adverse to some shade. It also will not compete with tress for water.

PROTECTIVE MULCH Planted around the base of trees, it helps to feed the trees and keep the ground moist.

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WEST ELEVATION 1:200@A1

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S O T O H P L E D O M

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EAST ELEVATION 1:200@A1

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EXTERNAL PERSPECTIVES

- SPRING DAY -

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- SUMMER NIGHT -

- AUTUMN EVENING -

- WINTER MORNING -

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ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIES OVERALL STRATEGIES PLANT LAYOUT GROUND FLOOR SLAB DETAIL NATURAL DAYLIGHTING POWER GENERATION RAINWATER HARVESTING

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Photovoltaic Cells - favourable power generation

ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIES

Rainwater Collection System - operation on the large auditorium and large exhibtion space

Air extraction unit at high level to remove hot stale air

Planting Irrigation System using rainwater collection

Ground Source Heat Pump - drives the underfloor heating system Air handling unit - concealed under auditorium seating - accessible from storage

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Displacement Ventilation - slow velocity fresh air - appropiate strategy for large volume spaces

Underfloor Heating - even distribution of heat among low level occupied spaces

Natural daylighting in the atrium Space

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PLANT LAYOUT The plans show how the different services access the plant room in the large exhibition. The main plant room is located centrally to provide easy access for all the servies to different zones.

The auditorium plant room serves the large auditorium, cafe and kitchen spaces.

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RAINWATER HARVESTING

DISPLACEMENT VENTILATION

UNDERFLOOR HEATING

Rainwater gutter is integrated into the structure and goes straight to the ground then to the storage. Rainwater downpipies are designed to have greater capacity than needed in case some pipes get blocked.

The extract and inlet ventilation in each plant room is directed straight out to the nearest facade at a height that is suitable to avoid vandalism and covering.

The extract and inlet ventilation in each plant room is directed straight out to the nearest facade at a height that is suitable to avoid vandalism and covering.

50mm Concrete Cast In-situ 38mm Screed Heating Pipes 15mm Concrete Floor Finish

Supply Vent for Displacement Ventilation

200mm-100mm Insulation Hardcore

GROUND FLOOR SLAB DETAIL 1:25 @ A3

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NATURAL DAYLIGHTING

The main strategy for natural daylighting comes from the roof. This is in preparation for the development of surrounding buildings in the future and potential overshadowing of the site. By controlling the amount of shading applied to areas of the roof, daylight factors of internal spaces can be controlled more easily.

The cafÊ roof will be completely covered. However, glazing on the west façade will allow soft daylight to enter during the day, and warm low-lying sunlight to enter during the evenings.

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In the central spaces, 50% of the roof will be glazed, resulting in a well-lit environment for most of the year.

Strips of glazing will be applied to the Large Exhibition space roof. Blinds will allow better control of light levels within the space, resulting in a generally darker environment. Small hints of daylight will express the steel arched truss structure.

POWER GENERATION The roofs of the large exhibition and large auditorium are to be utilised for photovoltaics. The parabolic nature of the roofs mean that around two thirds of the roof is suitable for PV. The total roof area available for PVs is 1428m2. Using PVs with an efficiency of 20%, given the average annual sunlight hours, produces a total of 61600 kWh for the whole year, this energy can then be used to power the ground source heat pump or the artificial lighting system. Using this PV instead of electricity from the grid results in a carbon saving of 15.7tCO2e per year. For context this is the equivalent to 1688 train journeys between Bristol and London.

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RAINWATER HARVESTING

Mains

Rainfall

Kitchen

Showers / Sinks Greenbelt Trees Roof Collection

Greenbelt Planting

Toilets

The annual precipitation in Filton was 707mm in 2018 which can be harvested and used to flush toilets and provide irrigation for the landscape areas. The total roof area that is available for rainwater collection is 3300m2. The runoff coefficient for the roof is 0.8 which leads to an annual yield of 1886m3 of rainwater.

The water demand for toilet flushing in the building is estimated using an average of 500 people flushing the toilet 3 times a day. This produces a demand of 1642m3 per year. The annual yield is greater then the annual demand so the excess water can be used for irrigation of the landscape areas.

Grey Water

Plant Storage

Underfloor Heating

Underground / Longterm Storage

Summer Usage

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Irrigation

Flagship

RAINWATER HARVESTING

Downwater Pipes

Rooftop Drainage

Storage of the rainwater will be provided in tanks in the plant room which are designed to hold a total of 100m3 (approx.

5% of the yearly demand and 22 dry days).

The storage tank will also filter the water to ensure its suitable for use.

Plant Storage

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STRUCTURAL STRATEGIES CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE OVERALL BUILDING STRUCTURE MEZZENINE FLOOR DETAIL STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS TRUSS DETAIL

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CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE

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PHASE 1

PHASE 2

PHASE 3

PHASE 4

The site is cleared and excavated. Access is created and pile map is installed. The piling rigs will be the first equipment on site followed by cranes which will be set up on crane bases.

Foundations are installed using a piling rig.

Concrete piles are driven into the ground.

Additionally, where necessary, ground improvement is performed for long span ground floor slabs and pad foundations for smaller elements are installed.

To connect and provide load transfer between substructure and superstructure, pile caps, ground beams, and ground floor slabs are cast. Steel plates are cast into the pile caps to allow to connect the primary frames.

Sections of building arrive on site via lorry.

Where required the primary structures are connected together on the ground to form the complete section. This avoids unnecessary working at height.

PHASE 5

PHASE 6

PHASE 7

PHASE 8

The first structural element to be installed are the columns, which are craned into place and supported using temporary prop between columns. The formwork is the same for each column so it can be reused for each portal frame.

The roof is then craned in and connected including cross bracing ad frame for cladding completing the portal frames. The frames are constructed in pairs, so that the structure has stiffness out of plane and the temporary formwork is removed.

Once the portal frames are stable, the secondary structure can be installed on the walls, finishing this section of the building.

Finished frames are free standing, however scaffolding is installed to allow a safe working platform for constructing the roofs.

The extension frames are next installed and connected to the two main frames.

The frames will be constructed outward in a similar fashion and completed with secondary members, cross and plan bracing.

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EXPLODED WHOLE BUILDING STRUCTURE

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MEZZENINE FLOOR DETAIL 1:50 @ A3

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Primary Structure Arched Truss

Primary Structure Steel Blade

STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS The building consists of a general strategy where

Primary Structural Elements primary steel arched truss structures support

halfelit, portal frames.

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this structure, vertical loads would have to be kept to a minimum. As a response to this, the scheme is kept low, reducing the number of floors required and consequently reducing the load on the structure. The structures will be supporting lightweight roofs and facades.

Lateral loads arising from wind are resisted through two main strategies. From the East-West direction, loads are resisted by pile foundations. Loads in the North-South direction are resisted through bracing between columns in the walls of the structure.

The arched truss structure allows Screwed us to achieve large spans as well as volumes.

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Steel ‘blades’ visually express a hierarchy to the spaces, primary and secondary. Additionally, half portal frames are versatile and help to tie together the structures to form one coherent one.

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Diagonal secondary members - 100mm diameter

Wedge

Chord of primary truss - 150mm diameter

Nodal sphere - 200mm diameter

Bolt - runs through node to provide lateral and horizontal resistance

Sleeve 0

100mm

200mm

300mm

400mm

500mm

Head

1:5 TRUSS DETAIL

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SHORT SECTION 1:200@A1

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SHORT SECTION 1:200@A1

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LONG SECTION 1:200@A1

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REFLECTION GRAPH WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 INTERIM CRIT WEEK 5-7 FINAL CRIT INDIVIDUAL REFLECTIONS

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WEEK 1 Briefing with Matthew: “Competing with Bjarke Ingels” The brief we had been given for this year’s Basil Spence project was quite different to the previous year’s brief. It was intriguing in that we were working alongside an ongoing ‘live’ project and addressing the different lives would be a key point. The short meeting with Matthew and his comment to “imagine we are competing with Bjarke Ingels” framed our initial response to be bold and of an architectural statement – a ‘Flagship’ building.

The first week of the project is always important in that the beginnings of our intent starts to form and qualities of the building are initially drawn out from brainstorming ideas. Our group discussions at the beginning revolved around ideas of the building in Life 2. A common idea was the narrative of past to future of innovation and flight, manifest in both the journey through the building and the exhibition uses. Different elemental ideas of each space had been discussed, such as letting people into the exhibition storages, mezzanine experience around the Chinook and combining spaces to intensify the building. These ideas were then able to be developed in the coming weeks, all to support our narrative.

Looking back over the beginning of the project, we could say we were all over-ambitious in what we aimed to achieve both in the design of the building and the work we wanted to produce for the project.

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WEEK 2 Tutorial with Daniel: “Plan mirrors section�

Extracted from our numerous discussions, we had two initial schemes both rooted in the idea of flight to celebrate the history of the site: one of the plane fuselage and air flow, the other of birds and spinal structures. Initial sketches to support the airflow idea were brought to the tutorial with Daniel where he pointed out the fact that our sketch plans mirrored our sections; air flows in both multidimensions, horizontally and vertically. This had excited our group prompting us to explore the ideas of flight and fluid dynamic more thoroughly.

We felt that a strong sense of narrative had started to form, which we believed was important as we progressed through the weeks; to have a place to always come back to and justify with whenever we were struggling with a challenge.

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WEEK 3 Tutorial with Nigel: “A scheme like this is marmite” Upon discussing the scheme with Nigel, we had received a very positive response, although Nigel warned us that a scheme like this is marmite – some people love it, some people hate it.

We received comments that our section is very dynamic and exciting however, the plan is static and therefore needs to be more dynamic.

After this tutorial, the group was caught up in bringing the plan to a similar ‘dynamic level’ as the section. Reflecting upon our design process, we were too focused on this that the sections started to lose its original energy and was the opposite of where we had started; now the plans were very dynamic and sections had become static. It was then vital that the sections were brought to life again.

Many precedents were given to us during the tutorial which we went through after as a group. One thing that we have learnt from the final crit that should have been strongly applied at this stage is to be more careful and critical of precedents that is to be applied to our design, questioning every aspect of it.

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INTERIM CRIT FEEDBACK

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WEEK 4 Interim Crit with Jayne and Peter: “System proposed is very good start” Immediately prior to the interim crit, we were all very nervous about our scheme. We had prepared a powerpoint presentation on our design strategy and approach which was to be presented to the crit panel. Our critics were fully engaged with the presentation, which we were very appreciative of. They were convinced of our approach and felt that we had the fundamentals to start justifying every detail and adapting to benefit each individual space. A few things that had been pointed out was the orientation of the building on site feeling ‘trapped’, the entrance not being quite right and the weakness in our overall structural strategy.

Although we had already gone through many iterations of the orientation before the crit, feedback led us to explore this again.

We saw ourselves, however, continuously returning to a similar orientation to the crit. Eventually, we justified the reasoning for this and concluded that it was the optimum solution. For the week after the crit, we were occupied with trying to resolve the structural strategy. This time was a real challenge for all of us as we struggled to find a coherent and clear overall strategy that also supported our narrative of plane fuselage. Through the extraction of many models, sketches and discussions, we managed to resolve an integrated overall strategy that we were all happy with. Although the outcome of this time was positive, we feel too much time had been taken on resolving the structure which meant we were tight on time in resolving many other details of the scheme to meet the design freeze.

The interim crit was generally very positive, which encouraged us to keep moving forward with the scheme. The positivity in the group was very pleasing and inspiring, however, we were not as critical of the design as we should have been, which is a step to be taken if we were to do this again. Collectively, we can agree that the response and atmosphere of the crit should not affect the way you approach the critical analysis and reflection of your design to an extent.

On another note, creating the powerpoint presentation at the interim stage allowed our group to be clear and coherent on the design development as ideas can get lost in the run-up to the crits. Establishing this together as a group during the middle of the project was very beneficial in revising a clear narrative throughout the building.

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WEEK 5 Tutorial with Jayne: “Heart of the new district for the future” With Jayne’s comment that she sees our building becoming something more than a ‘helicopter’ in the future, the heart of a new district and dislocated community; this was probably the week that prompted us to think of the narrative for the future further, essentially a life 3, and push the idea of educative building for future generation on innovation and aviation. Ideas of wildlife environment, living buildings and endangered species were also a topic of discussion at the tutorial. Although as exciting as these ideas were which we explored for a while throughout the week, we had to be careful in what we extracted from tutorials and be critical of the design decisions that would be taken. As a group, again after numerous discussions, felt that our narrative and what we wanted to achieve with our building was quite different to this.

The general vertical circulation strategy had also been picked up at the tutorial, as we had originally a circular central staircase in the atrium which received feedback that it did not quite fit with the elliptical form of our building. Agreeing to this comment, we explored iterations of the vertical circulation, thinking of the user and spatial experience throughout the building simultaneously.

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WEEK 6 Tutorial with Nigel: “Interrogate each space” A comment at the interim crit had been on the need to resolve the main entrance. At the interim, the entrance had given the feeling of being blocked away from the approach and the flagship square due to it following the rules of the elliptical plans. Suggestions were given at the interim in terms of a precedent, Peter Zumthor’s Saint Benedict Chapel, where everything followed a rule and only the entrance was an ‘anomaly’. Exploring this idea by literally punching a hole through one of curved façade, we still felt the entrance was left unresolved and this was an unjustifiable solution.

Having discussed this at the tutorial with many ideas that were to be explored, we decided the optimum, justifiable solution was to peel up the front curved façade of the café up to the entrance and peel the atrium façade down again from the entrance. This allowed the entrance to be visible from approach, addressing the issue of being blocked that was brought up at the interim, whilst the peeling also acted as an ‘anomaly’ to the rest of the façade cladding system, again referring to the interim feedback. This also allowed the internal of the café and atrium to engage and have a relationship with flagship square WEEK 7 Tutorial with Anne: “Cladding: age, patternation, colour and density” Having this tutorial after the design freeze made it harder for us to bring to discussion big design moves. However, we felt the weakness at this stage in our design was in the detailing and cladding system which we were able to ask advice on. We knew of our cladding which was to be zinc following our material evolution to our design narrative. Many early discussions in our group had involved an integration of perforated cladding, however, we had originally abandoned this idea as we were unsure of how the detailing would come together coherently to our structural and cladding system. However after this tutorial, we were confident in how we could resolve the detailing of the perforation, bringing our initial suggestions of the use of perforation back to the discussion table. From this experience we have learnt that confidence in ourselves and in the ability to achieve what we want is vital alongside thorough research and further questioning/justifying of reason.

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FINAL CRIT FEEDBACK

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WEEK 8 Final Crit, Daniel and Jo: “Form appears arbitrary” Our final crit did not go too well and to quote everyone in our group, was the worst crit that we had ever seen or been in. The feedback we received was complete opposite to the interim crit, where the crit panel did not agree with our approach. Feedback received was that they disagreed with our design strategy and our form of the building appeared arbitrary.

Immediately after the crit, we were extremely disorientated at the negativity received and confused as to where it had gone wrong – if it had gone wrong – since the interim. As the feedback was on our approach to design which was a matter of going back to week 1 of the project, rather than what could be changed or developed further at this stage, we were left in a distressed state, affecting us a lot.

Looking back at the crit after some time, we can agree that a major issue of the unfortunate crit experience was due to miscommunication. With hardly any sleep before the crit day, busy with our pin up, we did not have the time and energy to prepare fully for our 10 minute presentation as much as we had for the interim. Having presented with the same powerpoint presentation as the interim, our final proposals did not come across to its best and was not well received by the panels.

The fact that there was development between the two crits meant that the presentation would have been outdated and in hindsight, a new presentation should have been prepared.

Sleepless and tired, our communication for the proposal was not the greatest and we had all frozen during the crit when negativity was received. From this experience, spending more time on the development than the proposal in the final crit was a mistake made and a lesson learnt.

Winning the People’s Vote on the day gave us an even more confusing and unknown emotion. With all the positivity in tutorials and the interim crit, to the contrary negativity at the final crit, then winning the people’s vote at the end of the day; we were in a position where we did not know how to progress for the next two weeks. Regardless, we have supported each other as a group to keep going until the end.

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ALICE KIM

The last 10 weeks have been the most challenging and dramatic time of my educational career. From the excitement, enthusiasm and optimism at the start of the project to the confusion, pessimism and uncertainty at the end, it has truly been an emotional rollercoaster ride.

Our group has worked extremely well together with no major conflict in the design process. Working together in the studio almost every day, group discussions were held frequently, constantly sitting around a crit bay table for every design iteration. No decisions would be made without a single member. Although I have very much enjoyed working in this group and was constantly motivated, no conflict meant that we were not being critical enough of each decision made. Most tutorials and the interim crit being so positive had allowed myself and the group to constantly push our approach and scheme forward without being constructively analytical in each step.

The extreme contrast in the feedback we received between the interim and final crit, however, had brought confusion and doubt at this stage of my studies, finding myself constantly questioning our project and my own approach to Architecture ever since the final crit. A valuable lesson learnt from this experience is the importance of effectively communicating the right idea in a concise manner. The failure to do this at our final crit resulted in feedback that the building seemed arbitrary and not understandable. To not be discouraged and terribly affected by the outcome of this unfortunate crit was hard but with my group, I was able to push aside the negativity and move forward until the end. Now looking back at the crit, I understand why the confusion and misunderstanding of the scheme would have risen and agree with where the feedback was coming from. Having this crit made me realise the need to constantly question and justify your decisions. Without this turning point in both the Basil Spence project, and also my education as a whole, I would have been too blinded by the positivity received from the run-up weeks to the crit and would not have taken the time to fully reflect and look back in all seriousness.

And most importantly, to have sufficient sleep is crucial before going into any crit..!

Out of all of my previous projects in Bath, a project like this is a first; from the form of the building to the dramatic ups and downs in psychological and physical state. Definitely something I’m glad I experienced at the end of the day in my undergraduate studies. With no previous experience at all in curvature buildings and due to the complicated nature of the building proposal, every process was a challenge, every task taking much longer than I anticipated. Overall, I feel we have achieved our aims in producing a bold and dynamic scheme, the same way we interpreted this year’s Basil Spence brief – a Flagship building. The narrative to the project stayed strong, throughout the project which allowed us to keep a coherent approach to the design. Though, I feel our design strategy of the project, being of metaphorical determinism and art abstraction, was quite different to the university’s ethos; which in all honesty is where I struggled to keep belief in myself and our work. Nonetheless, having Alex Wright’s lecture series on critical methods throughout the project, with our two design strategies being mentioned as a type of approach to a brief, has allowed me to believe in ourselves that it is a matter of different design process not necessarily right or wrong.

The journey experienced throughout this period was of numerous trial and error with many days overwhelmed with pressure, moments of clarity, doubts of career. Nevertheless every process is a learning curve and I am very proud of my group for coming so far. I would like to say thank you to Group 30 for persevering so well through this project together. Lastly I would like to say thank you to our families, friends and tutors for their support throughout the project.

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EDWIN FUNG

Generally, the group worked well together; we managed to go through the project conflict free. The architects complemented the work of the engineers, and both parties drew from one another’s strengths. As a group, we were all ambitious, and I felt that this ambition lead to our inability to focus and be critical early on.

And so, I learnt that working as an effective group takes more than just having good relationships, but also good organisation. If we were more organised in the way we approached the design, we may have had been able to notice key design issues earlier. The underlying struggle with group work was operating in unity, as different individuals. Trying to get everyone on the same page was tough and required constant conscious effort. As the group was always keen to produce more work, we sometimes found it hard to focus on progressing the design efficiently.

From the onset, the design brief was exciting. Because there was relatively little physical context and culture to draw from, we had greater freedom in designing something original. We wanted to design a ‘flagship’ building that would inspire and generate new life on an abandoned site.

Quite early on, we decided to draw inspiration from the site’s rich aviation heritage, and this led us to develop more dynamic forms referencing elements of aviation and the futurist art movement. I feel that we did a great job in sticking to the challenges that originated from designing an organic form. There were many times where we struggled to visualise how our ideas were supposed to materialise, but we persevered.

However, although we were committed to our work and initial vision, this commitment may have turned into a distraction. The successful feedback from the interim crit motivated us to push the design further and explore ways in which we could really make this curved structure work. Yet in my opinion, due to the nature of the building’s form, we spent most of the final stages of the design trying to resolve what was already there. And although we were able to resolve our form structurally, it was hard to push the scheme further architecturally.

The negative feedback from the final crit surprised all of us. And in hindsight, because we were so involved in the development of our scheme structurally and in detail, we lost our way in terms of its architecture, and somewhere during the design process, our narrative stopped developing. We should have been more critical about what we were doing before the design freeze.

Nevertheless, I think that this project has overall been a great learning experience. Possibly the craziest roller coaster I’ve experienced yet in the past four years, but an experience, nonetheless. It dared me to take risks, challenge my limitations, and at the same time reminded me to stay rational. This is an experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Thank you all tutors, and thank you Group 30!

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JESSICA LAI

The Basil Spence project has been an exciting but challenging project. The brief is very different from all the projects that we have done in the previous years in terms of the life span of the building and the scale of the building. It asked for a Flagship building in a redevelopment site that has at least two “lives”. This has lead us thinking about the meaning of the building in the two lives and what the building does for the people in Filton.

We had then gone through lot of sketching, model making and discussions on how the narrative of the building should be and how our project would influence the lifestyle of its future inhabitants. At the start of the project, we were constantly supported by different tutors to carry on and keep going with our initial ideas. We had spent a lot of time on the plans and sections and we had a lot of late night discussions in the first two weeks of the project since we were scared to do an organic building due to all the experiences we had before and we knew that it would be hard to work on and to justify it and so we kept on going back and forth on a more organic plan and a more rectilinear plan and trying to strive for a balance between the two of them but it just wasn’t what we wanted. However, the tutors have given us the courage to start and perhaps the missing ingredient missing in the first two weeks is courage. Once launched, each step has evolved naturally or us although it does require a lot of careful examination. The trust within the group made us believe in each other that we will be able to solve new problems during the development process.

One of the hardest thing about the project was resolving the structural strategies because each structural member is unique in our scheme. Model making has helped us a lot in figuring out the right structure for the building, however, if we had more time, we would consider more on the use of materials for the structure and also the cladding in order to design a more sustainable building. Moreover, since all the walls and roofs are curving in two directions, it was a challenge to justify all the “residue” spaces created between the curved walls and the rectangular minimum clearance area fro each space. Landscaping has also become an integral part of our scheme due to the nature of the surrounding site and the amount of land and green belt that we were taking away from the inhabitants on the site.

Throughout the whole project, most of the feedback we got were generally very positive and we weren’t critical enough for the feedback we received and at some point we just assumed everyone will understand our scheme.

The final crit has left me and the whole group with great confusion and destress, and we didn’t know which way we should go in order to produce a decent and coherent design report. The People’s choice prize has given us even more uncertainty although we were very grateful about it. I would like to thank the engineers for being positive throughout the whole project and being supportive all the time. We had countless discussions and chats with each other and we managed to get everything back together in the next few days with the help of tutors and fellow colleagues who constantly reminded us that there was a reason behind a winning project and why we should bring everything together and keep going. I have realised the importance of conveying people the merit within an idea. explain the thinking behind each step we take, and justify it, otherwise, the scheme will just seem arbitrary. However due to the complexity of the building, each detail takes so much longer than we expected, which resulted in the lack of preparation for the presentation for the finial crit and we weren’t able to translate our ideas to the critics clearly. For my next projects, I will definitely try to reserve a day for laying out the pin ups and preparing the presentation and get descent amount of sleep before the crit.

All In all, the Basil Spence project has been a tough but fruitful project. Working with these talented, skilful and inspiring architects and engineers has refreshed my acknowledgement to creativity and a thoughtful design.

The group has always been so interesting and playful and the group morale was great. We all worked in the studio everyday and sometimes we go for random walks to discuss ideas or take a break from the project.

Although it might not be a resolved scheme nor a successful scheme, we had all enjoyed and liked our scheme and had learnt a great deal in the design process. I would like to thank everyone that was involved in this project and has helped me through the highs and lows in the last 10 weeks. I believe success can be measured not only in achievements, but in lessons learned, lives touched and moments shared along the way.

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LOUIS EVANS

For the vast majority of the project I have extremely enjoyed working as part of this group and I feel we have had a lot of fun together and have produced something ambitious that we can be proud of. As a group of people who didn’t know each other very well at the start of the project, we bonded quickly and were able to work together without any real conflict. Saying this though, in some ways, I wish we had had more minor conflict and had been more critical of each others thinking as this would have helped to eradicate more issues and lead to a more resolved design. I believe, the closest we got as a group was actually after the final review. After having generally positive feedback up until this point - the extent of the criticism hit the group pretty hard. We really discussed and analysed the way we went about the design process and whether we still believed in that process. Upon reflection, I think using design drivers of both metaphorical determinism and artistic abstractification was high risk. It gives the form a poetic justification but I can see how if you don’t buy into this story things can be seen as arbitrary as was the major feedback in the final crit. Maybe we should have heeded Nigel’s advice; ‘It’s marmite, you’ll either love it or hate it’, more. Saying this, I think the group has shown great spirit and togetherness during the period after the crit to push through the last few weeks and reach the finish line.

Overall I feel that we were very ambitious in terms of the complexity of form of building we designed. This naturally transpired from what we were trying to achieve, which was to create an eye catching building in the public domain which physically manifested the idea of flight and airflow. I feel it was an appropriate response to the brief demands and our intent which were fundamentally about creating a ‘Flagship’ building - a building that strives to galvanise public excitement to celebrate the history of aviation and revitalise the area of Filton. I feel for the crit we focused too much on producing eye catching visuals and physical models but didn’t spend enough time explaining our process as well as the finer details of the project. We should have noted advice in the brief more and ‘assembled appropriate text and illustrations during the whole project development process’.

This in many ways reflects the result of crit day which saw us win the overall people’s vote but then receive a very challenging review as we didn’t adequately explain our rational and finer details of the design.

I feel from the design process I really have learnt a lot - and for the most part the hard way.

Firstly, I think I should be sceptical about over ambition at the start of a project and I believe in some senses we should have been more sceptical about positive feedback early on and should have been much more analytical about the feedback we chose to take on board. It’s evident that striving to create a building that is extremely organic in form can cause issues further down the line and is something I hope to steer clear of in the future.

It also means every process becomes more complex and more time consuming, especially in both physical and CAD modelling. By inference, I feel myself now striving to achieve greater simplicity with more resolved execution.

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Group 30 would like to thank all our colleagues and tutors for their support and expertise throughout the project.

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