Mila Giovacchini Portfolio

Mila Giovacchini

Part 1 Architecture & Work Experience Portfolio

University of Cambridge - Year 3 For a Civic River

Setting the Scene

The assigned site sits on the bend of the river Lea, within an industrial estate. As housing pressures increase in central London, this area is bound to change drastically. With new communities developing either side of the river, I imagine a better use for the distribution centre currently on site: something to bring these future communities together.

New Bridges Industrial/Commercial Tube Stations Forecasted Residential New Connections Cultural, Civic, Recreational Centre 500m

Sainsbury's

Cody Dock

river Lea site

Poplar Baptist Church

Residential

How a non-place becomes a place

Plans are already under way to make the River Lea more accessible to the public. A riverside pedestrian and cycle path will be opened in the next decade.

In the next 50 years, having a local industry, such as a brewery, with a commercial public front on site would open up space for the public, and start making this pensinsula a destination. Two new bridges would help people access this area form across the river, and form connections between communities.

In the next 150 years, a once forgotten and inaccessible part of the river can be turned into a cultural, civic, and recreational centre for surrounding communities.

I propose to achieve this through 3 main moves:

> landscaping for a new public park on the peninsula

> a new dock integrated within the landscape

> splitting the existing shed into 2 new sheds at a more human scale: one to host a boatyard and office complex, the other more open-ended, for a range of cultural, civic, and recreational purposes.

A better shed

Landscaping around the site preserves existing biodiversity, and increases ground permeability by digging up a previously tarmacked area. The new dock that splits the existing shed also mitigates flood risk by allowing water levels to rise and fall in the landscape.

South of the new dock, the ground rises to meet the cultural shed: a large unprescribed covered space, a landmark that can accommodate a range of activities and events: a market, a playground, or a venue.

The Cultural Shed

On the southern third of the original shed, the slab, steel structure, and roofing are kept, but the walls are unclad and wrapped in a patchwork of recycled fishing nets, a common source of plastic pollution in oceans and rivers. The cultural shed glows red and becomes a recognisable landmark for the neighbourhood.

A couple of permanent timber frame pods are bolted into the slab to provide washroom and storage spaces. They are clad in recycled scaffolding planks, which are sturdy and weatherproof.

The Productive Shed

Almost all the historic shipbuilding industries of the Lea and Thames have shut.

London threaten these spaces for industry even more.

How will the increasing demand for living, moving, and playing on water be met? How will the need for workspaces for businesses and makers be met?

The Productive Shed responds to these issues by providing a boatyard to revive the shipbuilding and repair industry on the Lea, and a series of flexible office spaces available to rent by local businesses and makers.

It sits in the northern third of the original shed. Steel hulls are welded and painted, then dropped in the water to be moved to one of the three docks. Here the shells are fitted with all necessary furniture, electrical and plumbing work. At the back of each dock, mezzanine offices overlook the carpentry work below.

A Boat Building Complex

Two triple height spaces are dedicated to boat building: the steelwork hall and the boatyard over the docks. Glulam columns and beams make up the structure, except in the steelwork hall, where the largest span on the building is supported by steel bowstring trusses and columns.

Circulation occurs around a central courtyard, and a kitchen serves a double-height cafeteria on the first floor. Offices of a range of different sizes overlook the boat building spaces. The boatyard docks are left open to view from the park and cultural shed. The steelwork hall is opened and closed to the water by a large PVC curtain.

Deliveries

Steelwork Storage

Boatyard Storage

Steelwork Hall

Boatyard

Courtyard

Break Room

Cafeteria

Boatyard Mezzanines

Offices

The Boatyard

In the boat bays, the columns and trusses are stained dark to stand out against the light marine plywood of the walls, and create rhythm in the interior boatyard facade. The ground floor is clad in recycled plastic panels made from waste collected in the Lea and the Thames. Columns are bolted into the floor with tall steel fixings, breaking up the triple-height space. The steel fixings, top running crane, and mezzanine structure are all painted a dark petrol blue. The mezzanine’s cross bracing reflects that on the roof.

Elevation of the central building, from the Boatyard

6 m

Interior Elevation Study

Materiality and Light

The top running bridge crane allows boats and other heavy machinery like motors and appliances to be lifted and fitted in. The panels closing off the break room are translucent to let light in. During the day, light pours in from the top of the trussed roof and from the open ends of the docks that face South. At night, the cafeteria and offices give a warm glow and light up the space.

material palette

1:50 interior model, the Boatyard at night

Testing light

Two timber structures meet

The ground floor of the central buidling is raised to add insulation over the existing concrete base. CLT floors span over Glulam columns and beams, allowing for a small cantilever on the second floor. Timber stud walls are clad in either recycled plastic panels, or marine plywood. A gap separate the uninsulated truss structure over the docks and the central building, creating where cross bracing joins the two timber structures.

Future possibilities...

Designing for flexibility is key to building sustainably. Should the need for boat building and repair cease or diminish, the buildings can be re-inhabited to host different events, businesses and services. Should the Lea become clean enough, the new docks would make an ideal place to swim. Here, the facility is re-imagined as a sport and leisure complex, complete with bowling alleys by the water.

A new office, boats downstairs Yoga studio, badminton downstairs

Boat building views from across the new dock

A leisure complex by the docks

Dissertation: Un-gentrifiable Marseille?

Neil Smith’s gentrification in Marseille’s city-centre: case study of the rue de la République.

Abstract

Through the case study of the Rue de la Republique, Neil Smith’s work on gentrification is used to highlight the trajectory and actors of gentrification in Marseille’s centre. Marseille seems to follow all stages of Smith’s model simultaneously. This dissertation argues that the prism of gentrification is useful to recognise patterns of investment and denounce the tactics of profitability that lead to exclusion. The focus is on the role of the state and council in encouraging private investment as part of a neo-liberal logic. The long-standing project of “re-conquering” the centre aims to make Marseille a competitive city, a feat not without violence for existing working-class inhabitants. The difficulties in transporting gentrification theory are exposed through the particularities of Marseille’s historical and socio-demographic context, which also explain the varied results for developers, and relative failures of the council’s gentrification objectives.

Wintringham, St Neots

Wintringham, St Neots

My team and I worked on the production of a design code for the second phase of a 2800 home development on the edge of St Neots. Part of a larger expansion scheme for the city, the first phase is under construction and was approved as part of a hybrid planning application granted in 2018.

We worked collaboratively with the client, council and consultants to establish rules and guidance for housebuilders. We developed a layout for 800 homes, sports facilities, a local centre, and a primary school. I produced the imagery for the design code and oversaw the production of the document itself.

HIGHER SECTION OF BUILT FORM CONCENTRATED ON CORNER

PARKING TO THE REAR TO ACTIVATE GREEN SPACE AND PREVENT VISITOR PARKING

LANDSCAPE TO MAXIMISE VIEWS OF SCHOOL BUILDING

MARKER BUILDINGS TO FRAME ENTRANCE TO COMMUNITY GARDENS

Marker Building

* * Landscape Screening School Parking

Built Form Emphasis

Key Buildings

Residential Frontages

School Frontage

Mixed Use Frontage

School Forecourt

Indicative School Entrance

Key Area: the local centre

Local Facilities

Carriageway

Footpaths/Plaza

Indicative Parcel Access

Key Views

Indicative Bus Shelters

PARKING TO THE REAR TO MAXIMISE ACTIVE FRONTAGE MULTI FUNCTIONAL CIVIC SPACE

PARKING TO THE REAR TO MAXIMISE ACTIVE FRONTAGE

TRAFFIC CALMING MEASURE TO PRIORITISE PEDESTRAN MOVEMENT

LEAP/NEAP

Annotated 3D view: Sketchup and Illustrator

Netherhall Gardens, Cambridge

This is a planning permission for a 200-home development on the edge of Cambridge. I analyzed the local architectural context, then established design principles, an architectural language and material palette for our site, picking motifs to create both variety and cohesion across the houses. We collaboratively agreed on a visual style that worked with the narrative of the project. I modelled early massing in Sketchup and rendered street elevations and 3D views in photoshop.

Avenue Park Road, Tulse Hill

My team and I successfully submitted planning for this apartment block in Lambeth in 2023. I was involved in the later stages of the project, putting together and creating visuals for the Design and Access Statement, and editing and checking the flat layouts for compliance with building regulations and national space standards.

Elevation (Revit, Photoshop)

Presenting Contextual Research (Illustrator)

Typical Flat Layouts (Revit)