Room with a view

As part of the fi rst, fi ve-week module of Solent University’s Design Foundation course, the non-traditional entry students undertake a project to build a full-size model out of cardboard. The students, aft er a year, will go onto parent courses, such as BA (Hons) Architectural Technology, BSc (Hons) Construction Management, BA (Hons) Interior Design and BA (Hons) Interior Design and Decoration, so this is a unique opportunity to work together with diff erent disciplines.

The 2020 client brief was to capture the potential of hot desking. It had been a growth area, with dedicated spaces popping up in city centres prior to the pandemic. Interestingly, aft er the pandemic’s push to home working, there may be an even greater demand to escape the kitchen table once social interaction in the workplace resumes without restriction.

The design students were asked to design a beach hut that could off er a fl exible working/meeting space while providing an environment where beach views could be enjoyed. Students had to produce a concept that considered what the end user would require from the workspace, the ability to reproduce the huts at a commercially reasonable rate and consider sustainability of both the construction and energy usage. These concepts then culminated in a two-week build of a full-size beach hut.

The challenges in the project are always communication and expressing shared ideas/strategies with new team members. It’s fair to say that this is an ongoing challenge in the industry, so to task students who are fi ve weeks into a university course to work with new people with the added issues of Coronavirus brings a renewed appreciation for their eff orts.

The Solent students produced four huts that provided a comfortable workspace and considered sustainability with fl at pack options, rainwater harvesting, solar panels and well considered material choices. All without too many team disagreements and while having fun – how oft en do you get to build a full-sized model building to test out your ideas?

Social distancing restrictions made the judging day a litt le diff erent, with the judges being unable to meet and quiz students on their designs. They had a tough choice, which ultimately came down to sustainable considerations and the eff ective use of shapes and space within the restrictions of the brief. CABE’s John Barfoot, Learning, Education and Academic Director, and Michael Wadood, Southern Regional Chair, joined Denise White, Course Leader of the BSc (Hons) Construction Management, as judges. CABE has supported this module for four years, and, this year, the CABE Southern Region sponsored the event.

The winning hut was ‘Turtle Arcade’, built by Jo Hughes, George Jenkins, Kate Northeast-Mason and Anna Wlodarczyk, which encompassed the brief most successfully with rainwater harvesting, solar panels and a fl exible but comfortable interior. Northeast-Mason summed up the experience: “The project sho wed me how eff ective teamwork and communication can be and the amount of thought behind planning a build, even for something as small as a beach hut.”

The entries considered sustainability with fl at-pack options, rainwater harvesting, solar panels and well considered material choices