Ghost in the Machine

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Synopsis Staycation

Systemic

Cartographies

Coastal Augment

Post-industrial User-centric

Systemic Intangible

Liminal

Legacy

Cartographies

Sustainability

Identity

Ghost in the Machine

This year we have selected Redcar as our test bed for applying a System Thinking approach to design. Granted it is not the most glamorous location, so why Redcar? Redcar and the stretch of coastline from the high street up to the South Gare is a fascinating manufactured strip of land which incorporates a multitude of territorial conditions, including, post-industrial steelworks, beaches, retail, sites of special scientific interest, ex gun batteries, water sports and fishing huts.

This studio asks you to consider the agency of an architect in augmenting a landscape such as Redcar, in the shadow of its industrial past and in the context of a desire to increase staycations in the area.

We will explore new and experimental tools to view place from the perspective of a chosen protagonist(s) (user). Drawing from a variety of sources, including systemic design, storytelling, science-fiction, digital design, graphic design and cartographies.

Perception

User-centric Transient

For several years now our studio has been interested in people and their relationship with systems and infrastructures. These can be hidden (intangible – e.g. social networks or local legends and stories) or visible (tangible – e.g. buildings and railways). We are particularly interested in how these systems respond to change and how they can be adapted or appropriated.

Landscape

We are currently working with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council as part of our practice work, and we intend to engage with the Council through the studio, providing you with a real-world client experience.

About us Mags (aka Matthew Margetts) Mags is a practicing architect, furniture designer and part time lecturer. When not dedicating his life to his students, Mags is a director of a growing architecture practice EDable Architecture (@edable_ architecture) - whose projects range from modest domestic extensions to public art and infrastructure.

Mags is also a director of furniture design company PLYable design (@plyable_design) which produces a range of furniture and lighting products.

Cara Lund Cara is a practicing architect working alongside Mags at Edable Architecture (@edable_architecture).

She is a graduate of Newcastle University and has developed an expertise in workplace culture and design. She has an interest in public infrastructure and engagement alongside strategic thinking and diagramming. Cara has a keen interest in both graphic design and graphic novels. Mags was Cara’s graduating tutor and he thinks he taught her everything she knows.

Steve Ibbotson Mags thinks Steve taught him pretty much everything he knows. Steve is principle at I-ARCH (iarch.co.uk) and has been practicing for many years, having cut his teeth at Camden Council and then Farrells. Mags used to work for Steve when Steve did lots of church and warehouse Conversions for Manhattan Loft Corporation.

Steve has since developed a specialism in church conversions and flexible workplace.

Studio Culture We always start with the belief that design is a collaborative exercise, a process of dialogue, including conversations with your peers, your tutors or even the site. We believe that architects should not position themselves as the ‘heroes on white horses’ but should rather consider themselves as conduits of conversations, aided by their skills of drawing and modelling.

1 / View of previous studio workshops - to be recreated virtually Ghost in the Machine

We take the same approach in our studio, we don’t have all the answers, and we don’t expect you to either. Rather we see our studio each year as a journey of discovery, where through collaboration we uncover the secrets of a project together. We always try to keep an open mind and all we ask in our studio is that you do the same. As tutors we aim to enthuse, encourage, challenge and support you through your journey through stage 3. We will recreate our studio culture virtually through group chats and sharing of ideas.

Studio Description About Redcar Redcar occupies a low-lying site by the sea; the second element of its name is from Old Scandinavian kjarr, meaning ‘marsh’.

Redcar originated as a fishing town in the 14th century, then as seaside holidays became fashionable in the early 19th century, Redcar expanded. In 1846, work was completed on the Middlesbrough and Redcar Railway, created to attract tourism and trade. In 1917 the Teeside steelworks quickly became the town’s main employer and provided steel for the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tyne Bridge. After the construction of Redcar Racecourse in 1875, Redcar prospered as a seaside town drawing tourists attracted by its eight miles of sands stretching from South Gare to Saltburn-by-the-Sea.

Click for drone footage of South Gare (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiZML7BzrOI)

Ghost in the Machine

BREAKWATER

WIND NATURE

TIDAL POST-INDUSTRIAL

GREEN TECHNOLOGIES

LIMINAL

TOURISM HIGHSTREET

REDCAR

Ghost in the Machine

Studio Description

1 / View of the beach in Redcar with the steelworks in the background

2 / View of the fishing huts in Redcar with the steelworks in the background Ghost in the Machine

Studio Description

All Images / View of steelworks - images by Urbex

Ghost in the Machine

Studio Description

1 / Duisburg-Nord Landsharftspark, example of industrial reinvention

2 / Duisburg-Nord Landsharftspark, example of industrial reinvention Ghost in the Machine

Studio Description Approach Through the application of ‘systems orientated design’ we will look at the various relationships along the coast. We will seek to explore historical traces, movement flows, past, present and future uses, and most importantly explore ways that the relationships between tangible and intangible forces can change.

Students will be encouraged (alongside mapping the various systems at play) to select a protagonist to either confront or subvert their chosen system. The ghost in the machine. As such this studio will offer you a range of sites and brief choices, however, all projects will involve some kind of narrative built around the perspective of a particular user or protagonist.

We will also take inspiration from novels by JG Ballard – all of which question the dynamic between the individual aspects of society and the legacy of manufactured We encourage diagramming and modelling, both physically and digitally to landscapes. All the novels have a protagonist, struggling against some sort of explore these perspectives, shown below are some examples of diagrams and system. mapping undertaken in the framing phase of a project.

STAGING

STUDIO : GHOST IN THE MACHINES

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1 / Student Work - Bright Attaphan Ghost in the Machine

ACADEMIC PORTFOLIO

pa

2 / Student Work - Hope Foster

3 / Student Work - Ming Harper

4 / Student Work - Jacob Botting

ctions waste. everynd. As rom a om up of day

Climate Crisis Ghosts in the Machine

We will employ an experimental and contextual approach to the environment. Exploring how post industrial landscapes found in Redcar can be augmented through sustainable design.

There will be opportunities to work with (or indeed against) the landscape, making use of the kinetic energy abundant at the coast.

You will be expected to embed sustainability in your brief from the outset, including as part of your programme to explore circular economies and look at adaptive reuse and material recycling.

The “AFTERLIFE” SI TE . Location close to market

. Surrounding charity shops/moved/repurposed . Council upping prices of local shops, vendors, moving out . Circulation- draw people in from stations and centre . Reuse space available/ repurpose

CLI MATE Educating public on alternate sources/ purposes of day to day items, routines, rituals.

Importance of buying products that will last for many years, rather than items that will break or be tossed after a short period of time.

FARMING

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Local farmer

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School kid

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Homeless man

PRO TA GON ISTS

Waste composting and storage

CU

Vertical fields Terraces Vegetables ALLOTMENTS

G - Homelessness - Poverty - Meals - Unemployment

LTUCoventry City of Culture 2021 RE Bid development sponsors

- Friargate Coventry (3 million st. ft of mixed-use space over 25 efficient and sustainable new buildings) - PET-XI, ʻlargest and renowned educstion training provider... working with over 500 schoolsʼ Honorary partner - Positive Youth Foundation ʻBrought to Lightʼ comes to Broadgate - ʻWhat lights you up?ʼ, solar panelled lanterns - Collaboration with Coventry residents and local arists (Creatmosphere)

No events linking to sustainability or educating on climate change

ENQ UIRY

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Encouraging the practice and learning the principles of a circular economy and sustainable living. Making them the norm day to day.

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Produce sorted and distributed

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Reuse Recycle Upcycle

A PEOPLE

- Restaurant - Market - Cooking school

Reduce

THE MES

Tangible Engage Change Immersive

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E . . . .

Network

ʻInformation is useless unless compared/ being given in context.ʼ Interaction with other systems Explore intangible, hidden aspects (systems) of Coventry Look at the systems from point of engagement to the wider system to overlap with other systems.

. Decrease in landfill . Increase in mend + repair/ up-cycling . Increase in repurposing/ new uses CHA . Decentralisation - re-establish local centres and communities and hubs NGE . Onion effect of recycling

1 / Dynamic Redcar Ghost in the Machine

2 / Student Work - Ming Harper, showing the circular economy of food

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Studio Specific Criteria Along with the core criteria our studio has two studio specific criteria: System Orientated Design Does the work display a clear understanding of the working system(s) and how the project relates to them?

User Centric Design Articulation of the moment the person interacts with system.

‘In a landscape where nothing officially exists (otherwise it would not be a ‘desert’), absolutely anything becomes thinkable, and may consequentially happen’ Reyner Banham Ghost in the Machine

Framing | Testing | Synthesis Framing We are interested in how places and landscapes can be viewed, measured and communicated. We are interested in the process of abstraction that happens as we start to diagram, either through hand drawing, computer fabrication or model making.

Our approach to viewing and measuring influences our understanding of a place and opens us up to new possibilities in design.

We will therefore start by reading snippets of science-fiction stories by JG Ballard. These will encourage us to go past the immediate and view a place from a different perspective. We will use a fictional protagonist from the works of JG Ballard to explore these systems from a human perspective.

In parallel we will approach our analysis from a macro scale by imagining the landscape as an architectural protagonist. You will be asked to map your analysis dynamically.

Through the framing stage the studio will gain a collective understanding of the different characteristics of Redcar. Then at a finer scale individually you will start to identify sites or briefs of interest.

Towards the end of framing we will use the protagonists taken from Ballard’s work to re-frame, subvert and rewire the systems we have mapped earlier. Through this each student will develop a project brief and building programme. You will have the flexibility to pick a brief which is of interest to you.

Within the context of the studio we will help you develop your own process and method to employ through the project.

1 / Spatilised Interface Drawing - Student work at framing stage, Adam Blacknell Ghost in the Machine

Framing | Testing | Synthesis Testing During semester 2 you will develop your chosen brief and site into dynamic architectural proposals. We will employ a number of methods to do this, including; model making, sketching, diagramming and animation.

REALISATION + SYNTHESIS INITAL ITERATIONS

We will encourage you to be free and experiment during the first few weeks of the testing phase while continuing to ask you to view your project from the macro scale of the system you are engaging with, and also the micro scale of human interaction.

You will be asked to work quickly and iteratively developing designs through testing and experimentation.

BALCONY COVERING

VIEWS DOWN

OFF-SHOOT OPENINGS

RAISED PLATFORMS

PLANAR DIVISIONS

PLATFORM LEVEL CHANGE

RADIAL APPROACH

ARCHED THRESHOLD

HIDE + REVEAL

Synthesis Through framing and testing you will have developed a strong foundation for your project and have tested your ideas. Through the synthesis phase you are required to integrated all your ideas into a single synthesised building proposal which engages with the site and its users.

This studio gives you freedom to develop your own brief for your graduating year, but we will support you in developing your schemes, and we hope you will have both a challenging but enjoyable year.

1 / Student work testing ideas - Hope Foster Ghost in the Machine

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Theory Architecture cannot be considered the creation of isolated buildings, it has social and political context. It influences and is influenced by a wide range of agendas, which in turn shape our future world. Architecture and in turn construction professionals have an important role to play in developing cities, spaces and places. This complexity can be scary, and it can make it difficult to know what to do, even for more experienced professionals. We will therefore encourage you to employ critical thinking, to situate your work within the wider social, political and environmental landscape.

As practicing architects we are interested in research led design, and often draw themes from our practice into teaching and vice versa. We will encourage you to consider how your own methods of practice and your own agency influence your project and in turn wider society.

We will draw upon a broad range of sources, from novels by JG Ballard, to articles exploring system orientated design, to films by Charles and Ray Eames. Taking a pluralistic journey where many different approaches are encouraged to thrive and where dialogue and organic development of new practices is central.

Systems oriented design (SOD) is a methodology for understanding relations and totalities in large and complex systems, enabling us to reveal the right problems and find better solutions” Halgon.

At all times you must ask yourself, how does my project fit into the existing landscape?

How does it relate to what has gone before?

If you are interested in design for people, both socially and physically then this studio will be of interest to you.

REM KOOLHAAS, BERNARD TSCHUMI, PRICE, DILLER & SCOFIDIO, GEORGE PEREC, MARC AUGE, CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER, REYNER BANHAM, LATERAL OFFICE, MVRDV, LACATON AND VASSAL Ghost in the Machine

Tectonics

GA2 GC1 GC2 GC3 GC4 GC5 GC6 GC7 GC8 GC9 GC10 GC11 1234567 123 123 123 123 123 123 123 123 123 123 123

Library Staircase Key Moment

Including missing bricks for community book depository

Brick and coursing detail

Redcar’s coastline affords us an unique opportunity to work with nature’s forces such as the wind, tide, sun and erosion to augment the experience of architecture. This constantly shifting topography invites us to explore dynamic solutions and evolving manufactured and lived infrastructures.

Book slot detail with missing brick for community book depository

We will focus on sustainable and contextual solutions working with the natural and manufactured cycles evident on site. What are the poetics of the materials you choose?

How do people engage with them? How do they change over time? How might they behave on the coast? What is their legacy?

Gap in brickwork for precast concrete staircase Glazed brick handrail for wayfinding

We will embrace sustainable materials, recycling and reuse materials where possible.

We will use hand drawing, physical and digital modelling to explore your designs and tectonics.

Wall gap detail to allow views of floorplate beyond to reduce fear of unknown and hidden space

Recessed strip for grip

Concrete step for durability

72 - Stage 6 - Potteries

73 - Stage 6 - Potteries

1 / Jess WIlkes

2 / Arran Noble Ghost in the Machine

3 / Shaunee Tan

4 / Eric Shen

5 / Eric Shen

REALISATION + SYNTHESIS BUILDING IN SITE CONTEXT

REALISATION + SYNTHESIS BUILDING IN SITE CONTEXT

Previous Student Work

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Massing Model 92

Ghost In The Machine

4.

STUDIO : GHOST IN THE MACHINES

REFINEMENT

REFINEMENT

STUDIO : GHOST IN THE MACHINES

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GENERAL TUBE COMPONENT - INTERACTION NODE AND SUPPORTING STRUCTURE

Massing Model 4. Focus's around the Conversion of an existing building on site, keeping its existing structure. The

angle of Coventry Cathedrals Facade dictates the Massing lobby and future entrance. Structural Expressionism and Intentional Overlapping are the key themes here. Seeing the secondary met-sec façades set within the existing struc-

1 / Hope Foster

ture and glazed elements set within that. R. Piano's Lingotto Factory Conversion was used as a key precedent, most noticeably the extensions "Bolla" or bubble which characterises the extensive attitude of his client. The Bolla's primary structure is exposed externally with glazing set within its frame.

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FIRE PROOF GLAZING

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The site productio traditiona on and pr ing exerc sits abov another l posal aim will undo striving t On the s space. Be growth th cookery s city centr tion in the and educ Hydropo tion into are two f labs and r on groun

WAFFLE FLOOR STRUCTURE

2 / Adam Blacknell

5 / William Bell On-site Massing

STEEL ROD STRUCTURE

REALISATION + SYNTHESIS

3 / Oli Crossley Ghost in the Machine 108

ACADEMIC PORTFOLIO

DOUBLE METAL SHEETS

CONCRETE FLOORING

4 / Bright Attaphan

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6 / Michael Huang

EXPLODED DIAGRAM - TUBE COMPONENT o๔

7 / Michael Huang

ACADEMIC PORTFOLIO

ealisation

PROJECT:

FOOD PRODUCTION

auter

REALISATION + SYNTHESIS INTERIOR PERSPECTIVES

REALIS INTE

Previous Student Work

View onto walkways at uppermost level and mov

Entrance to cultu

1 / Jacob Botting

here for a gif of the moving bridge 7 / MichaelScanHuang

4 / Hope Foster MOMENT FROM GROUND LEVEL

Coventry Cathedral is a monument to religion, a dominant force in its time, and this project poses that data

has become akin to a new religion – heavily engrained into society, there is belief in and regular practice of GC1.1, GC1.3 // GC2.2, GC2.3 // GC4.1 // GC5.1, GC5.2, GC5.3 // GC7.1, GC7.2 // GC8.1, GC8.3 // GA1, GA2, GA3 using mass data to inform decisions . Data is worth celebrating architecturally in line with the Cathedral’s grandeur. This ‘Data’ Cathedral establishes a permanent monument to data with its own series of Rituals and Beliefs, yet seeks to be widely accessible, adaptable and useful – long into the future.

The Cathedral’s section: Data, a new Religion?

View of arched fins and balcony walkways

GC1.1, GC1.3 // GC2.2, GC2.3 // GC4.1 // GC5.1, GC5.2, GC5.3 // GC7.1, GC7.2 // GC8.1, GC8.3 // GA1, GA2, GA3

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Cooling Tower and Water Filtration 116

2 / Polina Morova

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5 / Janie Lyu Cooling Tower and Water Filtration

BUILDING FORM FROM NOTATION

GC1.1, GC1.3 // GC2.2, GC2.3 // GC4.1 // GC5.1, GC5.2, GC5.3 // GC7.1, GC7.2 // GC8.1, GC8.3 // GA1, GA2, GA3

Etruria Hall

Water Tank

Etruria Hall

Water Tank GC1.1, GC1.3 // GC2.2, GC2.3 // GC4.1 // GC5.1, GC5.2, GC5.3 // GC7.1, GC7.2 // GC8.1, GC8.3 // GA1, GA2, GA3

Hydroponic Hop House

Brew Kettle

Cooling Tower and Water Filtration

Whirlpool

Fermentation

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Brew Kettle

Whirlpool

Methane Flare

Cooling Tower and Water Filtration

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3 / Robbie Evans

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Fermentation Etruria Hall

Water Tank

6 / Arran Noble

8 / Sienna Sprong

Ghost in the Machine Milling & Mashing

Lauter

Brew Kettle

Whirlpool

Fermentation

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