The Center of Seeking Possibilities PROJECT 2 - Materials for Change / Re-Imagined Realities BUILDING PROJECT YAOWEN ZHANG 21057790 Space is unnatural, it is political, it is shaped by various historical and natural elements. The destiny of space oscillates again and again in history. Changes in social form must bring about changes in the nature of space. - Henri Lefebvre, The Production Of Space The complex cultural background of peckham, an area full of three generations of immigrants, and the low level of regional identity have led to a high crime rate in peckham today compared to the rest of London. But this complex cultural background also led to the birth of peckham festival, an annual event that has changed my perception of peckham forever, and I see in it the potential for peckham to become a creative community. Transforming a community is not something that can be achieved in a short period of time, so I wanted to build a youth centre to nurture the creativity of the younger generation in peckham and use the new generation to change the whole community. While deciding on the design of the youth centre, I was inspired to think about the experimental nature of architecture byHenri Lefebvres 'the production of the space'. No building can live forever because of its functionality, the building will eventually be changed by the changing needs of society, so the designer needs to take into account the future environment in which the building will be located and even the possibility of the building being demolished. So when I look back at the programme for the youth centre, which is a programme that belongs to the present, there is no guarantee that it will be successful in transforming peckham, so I decided to design it with the possibility of demolition in mind. I decided to design the building as two parts, the core design concept of the exhibition space in the centre of the building is derived from the clock and it will have vine mans growing on top. It takes 30 years for these vines to reach the ground and when they do it means that the occupants of the building need to start thinking about what they really want from the building in the social context of the time. The rest of the building will be made mainly from locally sourced rammed earth, which means that when the youth centre programme is no longer appropriate for peckham, the users can simply demolish it and redesign it. As an environmentally friendly material the rammed earth will not have a negative impact on the environment and will even help the local environment to repair itself.
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