5th year portfolio

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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 am truly grateful.

Rhys Morgan / 5th Year / MArch

HIDDEN BARRIERS 2022/23

Caolan Headley

Orla Mulvey

Aimee Mc Gonnell

Naimh Mc Caughan

AylaJohnston

Orlagh Loye

Philip Croker

Edward Penny

Patrick Leech

Caitin Watkins

Orlagh Loye

Teagan O’Donoghue

Cara Conlon

Chantelle Foster

Orlaith Rafferty

Erik Varadi

Hannah Douglas

Brendan Mc Cambridge

Adam O Neill

Rhys Morgan

Jordan Taggart

Saskia Smith

Laura Green

Jonathan Baranowski

Michal Wasson

David Coyles

Eduardo Rebelo

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

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

Project 1 Video
Learning From Short Strand Booklet
Map Work Timeline

PART 1: OBSERVATIONS

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.

Key Photos of Short Strand Bryson Street Peace Wall Cluan Place Peace Wall

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

PART 1: GROUP MAP

“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: 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 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 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: 3D GIF PART 2: ELEVATION GIF PART 2: BITCNI SURVEY BOOKLET

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

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Learning From Short Strand

MY VIDEO TITLE
PART 3: PROJECT 1 VIDEO

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 inform those driving past that Cluan Place does exist

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

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.

DETROIT RESEARCH BOOK

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

RHYS MORGAN JORDAN TAGGART LAURA GREEN SASKIA SMITH

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.

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

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 INSPIRATION CONTROLLED LIGHT VIDEO DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

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
SHADOW STUDY FOR PASSIVE SOLAR HEAT GAIN
LIGHT VIDEO

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5th year portfolio by rhysjohnmorgan - Issuu