Nicholas.jefferson.strange@gmail.com
Nicholas Jefferson Strange Part 2 Architectural Assistant
Nicholas.jefferson.strange@gmail.com 07857 397130
MArch graduate from the University of Edinburgh ESALA. I have a strong interest in material lead architecture, which I have explored throughout my BA(hons) and MArch, focusing primarily on Timber Architecture through a series of interventions. Projects concerning social and civic design are also of key interest to me, as evident in my coursework. I have covered various speculative projects that involve local political and social narratives, that pick up on real issues that relate to the sites and areas I have researched on.
My Thesis at ESALA explored the social and urban dynamics of Naples, particularly focusing on the involvement of adolescents in the local criminal network. within my first year I would approach this issue through the concerns of addressing proposed social civic spaces for the vulnerable to seek refuge within and gain education. In my second year I would broaden this to the ongoing UNESCO crisis within Naples that is influenced by Mafia related crime, in an attempt to reconcile a new approach to how historically significant sites in crisis may be saved and re-proposed as new dedicated civic zones of purpose within the city for those who are vulnerable.
Masterplan & X-Ray Longitudinal Elevation | Naples Project
Cutline Masterplan & Abstract | Naples Project.
Isometric Overview of MArch Year 2 | Naples Project.
Section Line Drawing | Reception & Forestry Yard.
Renders & Physical Model | Reception & Forestry Yard.
Exploded Isometric & Interior Perspective Main Building Hub.
Section Cut Through Main Building Hub.
Floorplans & Perspective | Main Building Hub.
Footing Drawing Technical Studies | Main Building Hub.
Abstract
Lining, Inlaying and Carving Out Common Space
In 2009, a fascist organisation moved into an abandoned convent in Materdei. They were subsequently expelled, and in 2012 the space was returned to public use. Il Giardino Liberato, The Liberated Garden, as it is known, houses community gatherings and social events, places for people to gather and speak. As part of Commons Napoli—an urban commons network operating throughout the city—the building offers a new form of socially-autonomous space, working in parallel with local government policies to bring lost urban spaces back into common use.
Crafting Material Dialects sets out from this garden-sanctuary to traverse the city, taking in artefacts and spaces associated with or exemplifying tensions between expression and social conformity. It deconstructs the history and assembly of crafted artefacts: the furniture-like constructions of the confessionals and choir screens (tramezzo) which re-arranged Neapolitan churches and re-structured their practices; the elaborate carriages—some of which are now gathered in the Carriage Museum in Villa Pignatelli— manufactured in Naples for European kings; the Neapolitan (Sorrentino, Procidano, or Pozzolano) gozzo, a traditional wooden fishing boat originating in Lavent, introduced to Campania by Arabic traders. These artefacts inform spaces which create an impression of safety, privacy, and familiarity by translating material dialects into a new architectural idiom. Timber passages and walkways thread through historic streets, lining the cloisters and corridors of basilicas and convents, and abandoned spaces around Via Cinquesanto. Material histories are re-presented through the burls of timber, the species of wood chosen to line an entrance or provide a step between levels (akin to boarding a carriage or stepping over the gunwale of a boat). Linings slot into the hulls of damaged buildings to create a ticket office and lockers for the ancient Roman Theatre and provide access to its associated subterranean spaces, an office for a master carpenter, and a bar and small gallery for public events. A small arboretum for nurturing young trees occupies the cloister and courtyards of Basilica di San Paolo Maggiore. A workshop, drawing office, and meeting rooms are lifted above a courtyard hidden within the urban block between Via Pisanelli and Via S. Pellegrino, providing a space for making accessed through two abandoned churches. Through this series of programmes, Crafting Material Dialects re-positions lost woodcrafts as agents of socio-political change. Making becomes a facilitator for speaking, and material a thing which speaks. At the same time, they operate as demonstration projects. As the beginnings of a new and diffuse Centre for Forestry Management
and Associated Crafts in Italy this cluster of projects works toward implementation of the Italian National Forest Strategy, which was agreed in 2022. Many of the species of forest which provided the city with craft material have been mismanaged, and their associated craft knowledges lost. By providing a demonstration of the possibilities of contemporary timber construction in Naples, and its expressive capacity, and facilities for training and nurturing urban life (both human and arboreal), it aims to provide sustainable employment, skills, and support for the continuation of an urban life in common.
