Comp 1

Component 1: Aquatics Centre​

By Sam Tapsell

Design Brief To redevelop an old warehouse area into a modernised aquatics centre using themes such as movement and flow. I plan to also add a café within the interior of the building and have an outside area with a pavilion. The area should be accessible as possible and should be usable by all ages having different pools for different ages, people with disabilities, people who are into diving, people who swim competitively and people who just want to go swimming for the fun of it.

Specifications • 3 Different types of pools: Competitive, (Can be used casually) Diving and children

• Comp swimming pool size: 25m X 50m • Diving swimming pool size: 23m X 19m • Child swimming pool size: 15m X 10m • A café • Small outside area

• Male and Female changing rooms as well as group changing and family changing. Lockers, showers and hairdryers within all changing areas as well.

• Reception desk • Spectator stands

Location & Site Analysis

I have chosen this location because it is a very old group of hardware buildings with not much there and there's a large area of land in the centre already not being used. This area of Romford is also lacking any type of sports facility's the closest is in central Romford a few kilometres away.

Blue – Warehouses Purple – Random Buildings Green – Housing Red – Other

Location & Site Analysis

If possible I think it would be best if I could keep my building within the size of the area that’s marked out in purple which is approximately the size of 80 X 180 metres which should be enough space to put an aquatics centre. Also using this site I could have easy access of an entrance from the road that goes down the side of the site without any buildings in the way. I also don’t really want enough space to have any parking either so that it encourages people to walk to the centre instead of drive which has both health and ecological benefits.

Another thing that should be taken into consideration when considering my site is the surrounding area and the types of people that live in that area The area surrounding my site is mainly suburbs of semi dethatched housing which also means that many of the housing is occupied by family's so as I develop my design I must make sure that my design is suitable for all ages and genders. Another thing I notice about the local area is that there is a catholic church nearby which could lead to many of the locals being catholic which should also be kept in mind while developing my design

Another thing about the local area is that there are many schools within close proximity of the site so I should try to optimise my design to allow large groups of people to access the centre at once in case that any of the local schools would like to use the centre.

Also within the park right next to the site is a few football fields so adding another type of sporting activity to the local area will be good as not everyone would enjoy playing football.

Also having it local next to a park is another benefit as people who may be on a walk and just want to stop for some food or drink will be able to come over to the café within my centre.

Zhejiang Huanglong Aquatics Center​ Zhejiang Huanglong Aquatics Center was built in 2017 in Hangzhou, China by architects Li Wang, Chunfang Li and Junjie Jiang .

It is located north of west lake and was the alternative venue for the 2022 Asian games. For this building, the construction space was limited the simplest was to combat this would've been to just build the pools on top of each other however that would've caused a lack of good ventilation and natural lighting however instead they decided to have the competition and diving pool at the same level with the training pool 10m higher. The outline of the roof is shaped based on the different heights required for each pool which ends up giving it a fluctuant form also presenting a sense of floating by using a curvy cornice. The natural flowing shape of this centre visually reminds you of the waves in the swimming pools. The façade of the building also reflects the inner functional layout of the building giving a better understanding of the local citizenry to this construction.

Emerald hills aquatic centre Emerald Hills Leisure Centre was built in 2016 in Edmonton, Canada and was designed by the two architecture offices MJMA and MTa. The centre was built onto a catholic high school and is used by both the community and the school itself. The building is a "simple and affordable big box" that was designed to have a sense of lightness and dynamic movement. A façade of white triangular panels is put on the exterior of the building which incorporate four triangulated glazing locations. The four glazing locations are specifically located at low deck levels to the west for views to landscaped areas and high on the front elevation of the building to bounce light off the ceiling structure which results in a maximum low glare lighting distribution

Size of Site 60m X 85m

Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre was build in Surrey, Canada in 2016 by the architect group HCMA Architecture + Design.

The vision of this project was to develop an aquatic centre that would attract people from everywhere while expressing the community's ambition for Surrey. They also wanted the place to be as inclusive as possible with all the building including the pools all wheelchair accessible. The building also has the worlds longest spanning timber catenary roof built to date.

This roof while looking aesthetically pleasing also has a practical use giving the building the clear space for pools while also being strong enough to keep the building up even with just a 1m thickness.

Size of Site 120m X 45m

London aquatics centre London aquatics centre was built in 2011 for the London 2012 Olympics and was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The Architectual concept of the centre was inspired by the geometries of water in motion and creating spaces and a surrounding environment that reflects riverside landscapes of the Olympic park. The roof mimics a wave to describe the volume of swimming and diving pools within the interior of the building.

Size of Site 160m X 65m

Themes and Ideas and inspiration Theme As I am designing an aquatics centre, I personally think that a good theme to go with will be movement and flow. I think this is a good theme to go with because as an aquatics centre it heavily relies on water which as it liquid it itself has a lot of moment and flow and I believe that relaying that also within building could make the building look better and my proof of concept for this is buildings such as the London aquatics centre using this idea for its roof.

Inspiration

Ideas Ideas that I want to implement into my build is use the shapes and movement of aquatic flora and fauna to shape my building giving it a very aquatic feel on the outside of the building letting people know the type of building it is even before they’ve stepped inside the building

One idea I have for the main buildings shape is using the shape of a type of ray as a ray has a large surface area which will be necessary so I can fit the pools within the building or maybe using a shark or whale or use a fish with a fish with a nice design or nice shape or use a mix of all of these to come out with a nice design for example on the exterior use the shape of a ray the interior the shape of an angel fish using the designs of a guppies fins. For an outside space I could use the shapes and colours of different types of coral to make different things such as a children's play area pavilion or some sort of food stand for example using the shapes and designs of brain coral to design a pavilion of some sorts

Primary Research

Secondary Research

Idea Development

I could use the outline of this spotted ray to make the exterior shape of a building

Using the Shape and moving flow of this rays body I made a brief sketch of a building outline Using a mix of the clown fishes' colours and the shape and design of this interior I tried mixing the two together to see how the colours effect an environment and how it would look

By using the colouring and shape of a brain coral I created a small building design I don’t think I'd be able to use this as my main building design, but I could use it for another purpose

I used the shape of a starfish to design this idea however I feel like I cannot really expand on this idea and may have to try approaching this idea from a different angle.

Using the spiral shape of this shell I tried making a building out of it. It doesn’t feel like it could be a large enough building for a aquatics centre but it could maybe be used in another way

I used this shell to design another building however unlike the previous one I don’t really feel like this design can be used in another way and as an aquatics centre I don’t feel like the idea of verticality works so I will most likely scrap this design.

I used the shape of this leopard shark to try and get an outline of a building and I feel like if I tinker with this design a bit, I could get a pretty nice building out of it and maybe try to implement the spots of the shark into the design somehow.

Further Idea Development / Model Development

The first Idea that I want to develop a bit more is the ray one. What I think would be a good way to develop these designs it to try and mix the two by using the shape of the first ray and then mixing it with the building design of the second ray.

These are the first models I have made of the ray idea I tried to make sure the base of the building was symmetrical, but I feel like I may need to work on that. I also need to figure out a way to implement the wavey style of the roof I'm going to try scoring some cardboard to see if it gives the desired effect.

The cardboard once scored gives somewhat the desired effect however it only goes downward, and I wanted a wavy effect so I'm going to have to try a different material.

After experimenting a bit more I found that this metal mesh material worked perfectly for what I had it mind I was easily mouldable into the shape that I wanted to use for this design.

In these two drawings I drew over models to try and see what the model would like if it was more detailed, and I think this design looks good.

This is the 3d model that I created of the idea once more developed and some basic and plan drawings I got of the model and what sort of colour I would like the building to be.

This is the basic outline of the brain coral pavilion idea I had. It requires the dome roof and the opening for food to be served out of however.

Using the Sharks outline as the overall shape of the building I created this model. From this model I could use the underneath area as the actual building

Drawing over the models shape I created this idea and then designed it in Sketchup however from drawing to 3d model I decided to remove the tail due to it would be difficult to somehow make it not just purely aesthetic. I think that this model is quite nice but it feels like I needs more to be a fully complete structure

When Drawing up the design for the brain coral pavilion I couldn’t decide on what way around I liked the colours, so I made a drawing and model of both colour variations.

After creating the pavilion models I added them both to the last building design and I think that it adds what was missing from the design. Also adding this to the buildings model has made me decide that the primarily orange model is the better looking design

Model Comparison

When comparing the 3 models the first thing I know is that I want to keep the brain coral pavilion as I like the idea of having an outdoor area to the building as it adds more of a communal area to the place. When it comes to the main building, I feel like I am going to use mostly the shaping of the first model but use ideas from the second for example as the first model its based off a ray I could add on its tail to make it so it curls around to make a courtyard area like what the second model does. I also would like to somehow implement the fins from the second model into the first model as I think that they look nice and would look nice on the first model if implemented correctly.

Model Refinement

I think that using the ray shape for just the roof of the building makes it look too simple so what I want to try and do is implement the ray shape more into the building rather than just the roof of it. While doing this I also want to achieve what I had stated on the previous slide of adding a fin like structure on to the side and adding on the tail of the ray.

This is a quick drawing of how I would attempt to change the wing into a more flowy shape however I feel that to improve on this idea more I will have to do some more drawings and models to get the shape of the building perfect.

Harbin Opera House

The Harbin Opera House was built in 2015 in Harbin, China and was designed by MAD architects.

MAD architects were chosen to build and design this building as they won the international open competition for Harbin Cultural Island in 2010. The opera house was designed with the idea of the city's wilderness and frigid climate in mind appearing as if it was sculpted by the wind and water. The building seamlessly blends with the nature and topography of the area. As such the building results with a curvilinear façade composed of smooth aluminium panels become the edge, surface, softness and sharpness. Due to its soft white exterior in the winter months the building blends into the snowy environment surrounding it. "we envision Harbin Opera House as a cultural centre of the future – a tremendous performance venue, as well as a dramatic public space that embodies the integration of human, art and the city identity, while synergistically blending with the surrounding nature" said the founding principal of MAD architects, Ma Yansong.

Heydar Aliyev Center

The Heydar Aliyev Center is located in Baku, Azerbaijan and was build in 2013 by Zaha Hadid Architects. They were appointed as the design architects for the building in 2007 following a competition the center was designed to become the main building for all of the country's cultural programmes.

The building was designed to be different from the current rigid and monumental architecture in the surrounding area of Baku trying to express the sensibilities of Azeri culture. The design of the building creates a continuous and fluid relationship between the building and the surrounding plaza.

The fluidity of this structure isn't new to Baku as in historic Islamic architecture rows grids or sequences of columns flow like infinity creating a non-hierarchical space. Their intention when designing the building was to relate to the historical architecture not through the use of mimicry or iconography of the past but by developing a contemporary interpretation which would reflect a nuanced understanding. The most challenging element of this building was its exterior they wanted to achieve a building that had a surface so continuous that it was a perfect uniform structure flowing from one part of the building to the next

Messing with different models & shapes I wanted to try and create a few new different types of models and shapes to try and get a few more ideas for my final result Here I created a water droplet shape that I then proceeded to bend attempting to mimic the shapes of the tide and moving wave shape.

This shape is meant to look like a large wave that is barrelling back in on itself

Messing with different models & shapes

Using a mix of the two shapes I created a small quick model of something that combined the two ideas together

Here I cut out the walls of the structure and drew out where the windows would be

Here I used Sellotape to make it look like windows going around the structure This is what the main part of the model looked like upon being finished

This is what the completed model looks like once the wave like shape was added onto the side of it and after completing the model I feel like the main body of the model is of a way too simplistic shape and design however I like the idea of a wave barrelling off of the side so I may try to implement it into my final design.

This is a basic shape of a aquatic ray that I created out of metal mesh.

After creating the shape I used different blocks to hold up the ray and then I bent it around a bit to give it a move wavey flow and see if I could find a position that looked good to be a building

Messing with different models & shapes

After bending the shape around a bit more I feel like this shape where the tail bends around and the main body is fluid and wavey is the perfect for the shape of a model and will try to make one using this shape

Using a foam board and bending some metal wire around the mesh I was able to create some basic scaffolding for the structure

Here I used a layer of polypropylene that I stuck onto the back of a layer of cardboard to give the walls a few windows

Finally I stuck some tracing paper on top of the metal mesh to make the meshes shape look more like just a texture instead of the actual shape. I think this model came out a lot better than the previous one however to improve this model anymore I would like to implement the wave crashing down on the side of the building into this model in some way.