5th year portfolio

HIDDEN BARRIERS 2022/23

To the sleepless nights and the friends I’ve made along the way.

This year has presented some tough times and challenging moments but I have been fortunate enough to have built my 5th year at Ulster University on a foundation of close friends, old and new, who no matter what where always there to help.

For that I am truly grateful.

Rhys Morgan / 5th Year / MArch

HIDDEN BARRIERS 2022/23 Caolan Headley

Rhys Morgan

Orla Mulvey

Jordan Taggart

Aimee Mc Gonnell Naimh Mc Caughan AylaJohnston Orlagh Loye Philip Croker Edward Penny Patrick Leech Caitin Watkins

Saskia Smith Laura Green

Jonathan Baranowski Michal Wasson David Coyles

Eduardo Rebelo

Orlagh Loye Teagan O’Donoghue Cara Conlon Chantelle Foster Orlaith Rafferty Erik Varadi Hannah Douglas Brendan Mc Cambridge Adam O Neill

Hidden Barriers On Tour - Amsterdam - 2023

INTRODUCTION Due to Covid-19, I always felt that I was robbed of a

third year at Ulster University and following my two years in placement I was both excited and nervous to return for Masters.

At first it was hard to get back into the

Studio mindset however working alongside my peers quickly reminded me of how fun University can be.

Collaborating with younger students presented an opportunity

for me to provide guidance on things only placement could teach and yet I also found myself surprised by their new and fresh ideas.

In February our studio visited Amsterdam, this was an amazing opportunity to see outstanding architecture and

experience new cultures. It was an eye-opening experience

to see how far the limits of design can be pushed and I left Amsterdam feeling inspired. This trip also created a strong bond between everyone, I can honestly say by the end of the year the studio felt more like one big dysfunctional family.

I would also like to thank our studio leads, David Coyles and Eduardo Rebelo. I have always admired their approach

to teaching where instead of imposing their own ideas and interests onto their students they take the time to listen,

see what we are trying to accomplish and always help point us in the right direction.

This year has allowed me to grow as an architect and a person and I am excited to see what next year brings

Survey

Learning Booklet

From

Short

Strand

Project 1 Video

Map Work Timeline

Project one was divided into 3 parts, Observations, Evidence

and Reflections. At the start of project one the studio was split up into two different groups, one group was tasked

with looking at the division between Ligoniel and Squires

Hill, my group was tasked with looking at how Short Strand is isolated from the rest of East Belfast. These groups allowed all years to work together before we all started to focus on our individual analysis.

Shorts Stand is a small Catholic enclave situated in the

majority Protestant East Belfast, as a result the area has

experienced large amounts of sectarian fuelled violence, in an attempt to resolve this multiple Peace Walls have been erected to keep both communities divided

PART 1: OBSERVATIONS

Bryson Street Peace Wall

In the first Part of Project 1 our group was tasked with visiting short stand and documenting anything we though

was of particular interest. After arriving in Short Strand

my first impression was that it was an area in decline as I was immediately faced with a large row of derelict shop

fronts, as I then travelled throughout the space I started

to find myself hitting more and more dead ends as a result of the large amount of peace walls in the area, the purpose

of these walls was to resolve political tension in the past however today they still make it highly inconvenient

to navigate the space, taking inspiration from Georges Perec’s Species of Spaces I was able to analyse the Space

even further. Applying his theories to the peace walls

it became apparent that these Peace Walls are not just constructed out of brick and steel but they in fact utilise many different factors to create separation.

Cluan Place Peace Wall

Key Photos of Short Strand

PART 1: GROUP MAP

After everyone had taken time to investigate short strand

we all returned to studio to compile our findings, I worked closely alongside my fellow 5th year Jordan to help direct the final display of

everyone’s points of interest, we first

took our route and straightened it out in order to create a foundation for everyone’s work to be pinned up on, I then

complied a photographic story board with 3rd Years Teagan

and Cara to highlight the main things that stood out on our

walk. Once everyone’s work was up we were then able to take wool and highlight points of interest in relation to the

satellite view of our walk compared to our straight one , this helped visualise the difficulty of navigating the space

“You must set about it more slowly, almost stupidly. Force yourself to write down what is of no interest, what is most obvious, most common, most colourless.”

-Georges Perec-

Learning

From

Las

Vegas

inspired map of the area.

PART 2: 3D GIF

PART 2: EVIDENCE

In the second part of this project I decided to settle

on one particular space that caught my attention, this space for me was the BITCNI (Business in the Community Northern Ireland) Building located on the Albertbridge

Road. The BITCNI Building also sits directly behind a community garden.

The reason that these two spaces stood out to me was that

at first you would think that they are a positive sign for

PART 2: 3D GIF

the area as they both promote better interaction with the local people , however there is an alarming amount of

derelict buildings in the area and the community garden’s gates are usually locked shut,

due to where they are

currently located they also effectively block of a series of roads that would make the area easier to navigate.

I drew inspiration from Robert Venturis Book, Learning from

PART 2: ELEVATION GIF

Las Vegas as it introduced me to the concept of sign theory where just because something may appear one way it could

in fact be having the opposite affect , the business that promotes a better community is in fact a hidden barrier that works to keep the community separated

Following on from this I then created two separate gifs to

highlight the various levels of barrier present between one side and the other.

PART 2: BITCNI SURVEY BOOKLET

PART 2: EVIDENCE

PART 3: REFLECTIONS

In part 3 of project 1 we were tasked with producing

sheets that documented all of our finding and work so far, as I had been drawing a lot of the inspiration for my book from Robert Venturi I decided that I would produce

my own version of the learning from Las Vegas Super Crit

and call it Learning From Short Strand. In order to mimic the original, I have based a lot of my graphics and layout

off the same structure that the original book uses. Etra nerionf irt

Vala Satios, egerobus viderum ponfir am optinte mentem intiquitas actus M. Sendioc tudem. Ibus vocri temum cupicio prionsul vividie ssendam, cae restrae cureor pes nocaet

interce poponsumus re pes essolut iam intelus, que este

medo, pare deme dit, dium hostrareo, quam din non sum mo

Learning From Short Strand

PART 3: PROJECT 1 VIDEO

MY VIDEO TITLE

Transformations

PROJECT 2 For project 2 I delved further into the challenges faced in Short strand and how it is isolated from the rest of East

Belfast, however whilst exploring for places of interest one location in particular stood out to me, Cluan Place.

Cluan place is a small Loyalist Street that connects to

the albertbridge road, it is tucked away, out of site and

unless you went looking for it you wouldn’t find it. For these reasons I feel that it is the perfect place for an transformational plan.

Stage 1: PRECEDENT Name: Viewing Tower Reusel

Location:Reusel-Netherlands

Architect:Ateliereen Architecten Six asymmetrically stacked boxes define this viewing

platform that marks the entrance to a recreational area near the small town of Reusel in the Netherlands.

It is perhaps the most eye-catching of the 50 markers in the area, and maybe the most diverse in terms of

function. In addition to marking an area to explore on foot, by mountain bike, or by horse, the 25-meter-high (82 feet) tower incorporates climbing and rappelling.

RESEARCH BOOKLET

Stage 2: INTERVENTION WELCOME TO LOYALISYT CLUAN PLACE CLUAN PLACE , BELFAST

Building on the ideas of Robert Venturi and his approach to

the Sign as a monument, I have decided in order to overcome the lack of awareness the street gets to place my tower at

the end of Cluan Place , this tower will work as a beacon shining bright above the peace wall and houses situated in the street in order to Cluan Place does exist

inform those driving past that

As you can see , Cluan Place (Orange) is surrounded by either a Peace Wall (Red), Catholic House (Green) or derelict shop

(Blue) this is why i belive that the best location for my own tower whould be on the place holder (white)

VENTURI THEORY

CLUAN PLACE SURVEY

THE BIG APPLE SCHEME

Stage 2: INTERVENTION Just

like

Robert

Venturi’s

big

apple

scheme

where

he

proposed to put a giant apple on top of a building in time square as the big apple is synonymous with NYC, I have

taken all of the loyalist heritage found in the area and clad my tower with it so that it can shine as a beacon above the surrounding houses

Progressive Nature

The design itself utilises polycarbonate as an external

envelope so that the tower itself has the ability to remove the loyalist murals and replace them with community based

imagery whenever they want to so that the tower itself can

also invite people into space who would otherwise try and avoid it

Forensics

DETROIT RESEARCH BOOK

For Project 3 I worked alongside my fellow 5th years in order to produce a site analysis of Eastern Market in

Detroit.

Eastern

market

is

comprised

of

abandoned

industrial buildings and as a result there is plenty of

large scale structures, brown site and green site spaces

all of which would be perfect for adaptive reuse, despite the area exporting large amounts of produce nationally the

ability to access the is limited and as a result it is hard to entice people to visit it. Together we were able to create a large site model , various site elevations and a research booklet.

THE SITE Detroit Dequindre Cut Greenway is a former Railroad line constructed in the 1830s. The trains ran below ground

serving factories and north through the Eastern Market and to the suburbs. The image shows the area in 2007 where it was left derelict and abandoned.

The area was regenerated in 2009. It sits along the border

between Eastern Market and McDougal-Hunt, the last remaining residential

area

where

many

former

residents

of

the

historic ‘Black Bottom’ neighbourhood settled after Black Bottom was demolished to make way for urban redevelopment and the construction of the I-375 Inter¬state in the 1960s.

Despite the amount of derelict buildings on the site the

area itself has various schemes running in order to promote the space and encourage footfall from tourists and locals

The “Eastern Market 2025 Strategy” aims to preserve the authenticity of the site and improve its con¬nectivity within the wider area. The authenticity of Eastern Market is built upon its 130-year history of nourishing Detroit.

The Eastern Market is seen as both a part of the city’s cultural legacy and its working economy. The future as a

working food district is fundamen¬tal to maintaining the

character of the district. Despite the District supplying to a range of further locations, the district itself is

isolated and cut off by freeways making it hard to access, as a result, the strat¬egy aims to bridge neighbourhoods

and break down barriers to make the space more accessible to all.

To further empower the people of Detroit the “Murals in the

Market” festival provides the unique opportunity to allow local art¬ists to showcase their wide set of skills, these murals relate to both the diverse culture and the heritage

of the area with the pieces of the most recent festival dedicated to the Eastern Market’s Farmers as well as the Eastern

SASKIA SMITH

LAURA GREEN

RHYS MORGAN

JORDAN TAGGART

Radical Reconstructions

PROJECT 4 For project 4 my main goal was to create a space that

provides An environment where the socially and economically

marginalised residents of McDougal-Hunt can learn essential practical urban farming skills. It is a place where local

residents can be supported through education, specialist assistance, and through connection with others.

The McDougal-Hunt Urban Farming Centre is situated within

an imagined version of Detroit where the climate emergency has

progressed

to

a

stage

where

the

region

has

been

significantly impacted by drought, causing massive food poverty amongst the most vulnerable groups in the city. Now more than ever, Detroit is reliant on the urban farming and food renaissance that has, for more than a decade, been at the forefront of the modest recovery of the city.

EASTERN MARKET GROWTH INITIATIVE For My design I wanted to create a space that would utilize

natural sun light in order to passively heat and cool a space, this will help to reduce the overall lifespan costs of the building, by removing the centre of the pre-existing

slab I am able to create an atrium space that can harness

the benefits of the stack effect, I have also decided to use CLT beams that have the ability to add or remove floor slabs so that

so that the layout of the building

can grow and adapt to suit any given event.

I have also

incorporated a hvac system that runs around the perimeter of the buildings atrium so that in the case the sustainable

method of maintain the building need assistance I can still provide a comfortable environment.

I hope that by creating a comfortable and diverse space I

will be able to encourage people to visit and allow them to develop new skills or personal growth

hopefully in doing so it will also breath a new lease of

life into detroit and will contribute to improving the local community.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

CONTROLLED LIGHT VIDEO FRACTURE In order to get a better understanding of how light can

break through a space I experimented with different forms

to see which one was able to control its path the best , in the end this was the final form i was left with

DESIGN INSPIRATION

PROPOSED REMOVAL OF EXISTING BUILDING

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT OF EXISTING BUILDING

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

ROOF PLAN

NORTH EAST SECTION

SOUTH WEST SECTION

SECTIONS IN CONTEXT

SUSTAINABILITY

PARAPET DETAIL

FOUNDATION DETAIL

SUSPENDED CONCRETE FLOOR

CLT FRAME TO FOUNDATION DETAIL

BOW WOW DETAIL

SITE MAP (ORIENTATED NORTH)

BUILDING IN CONTEXT

PROPOSED LANDSCAPE CHANGES

SET

RISE

SHADOW STUDY FOR PASSIVE SOLAR HEAT GAIN

LIGHT VIDEO