THE EXPEDITION PORTFOLIO Part 1

LIVING

Life can be described as a language as every word has meaning. Some are defined by dictionaries and others only can be understood through life experience. The truth is, not all words were created to be equal, humanity influenced, shaped and twisted this reality and an unequal world developed.

‘A journey undertaken by a group of people with a particular purpose, especially that of exploration, research, or war.’

THE EXPEDITION

“The real work of an expedition begins when you return”

-Louis Arner Boyd

introduction pg5

brief site information

verse pg15

camden article racial disparity race article the windrush generation architectural theories music editing precedents

verse 2 pg34 camden mapping windrush mapping mapping manipulation

The Score introduction

chorus pg56 the form

verse 3 pg66 further site research construction structure environmental atmosphere & experience materiality bridge pg102 detailing outro pg113 hybrids renders

The instrumental, the section that opens and introduces the movement. This allows for the project to be established and to pave the foundations for The Expedition.

thebrief

The Expedition

Life was designed to be equal, loving and accepting but overtime humanities minds were corrupted, broken and twisted, leaving behind an unequal world.

Now we are left with the consequences, one of these being social injustice…

But what about Social justice?

This is the justice of distributing wealth, opportunities and privileges within a society.

But is this distribution executed in an equal manner?

There are more people that are victims of social injustice every single day than benefices of social justice outcomes, actions like hate crime, ageism, poverty and racial disparity are just some examples that are many people’s daily reality.

This makes one question if the umbrella term of social justice is still relevant in modern-day society or has the corruption of people’s minds advanced this-worldly term?

Camden. Many know Camden as a diverse multicultural town, but what it is lacking is further diversity within its population. Statistics show that London has the highest black population in the UK; 97% of the Black British population lives in Greater London, however despite

Camden being a multicultural town the BAME community only makes up 34% of its population. Within this there is a low black population.

In 1948, the change began. The Empire Windrush, a post war ship, embarked upon a journey that unknowingly would change Englands future. Although the ship brought people that wanted to help rebuild England after the war their arrival party wasn’t welcomed by many. The Caribbean was coming to England, passengers were expecting streets of gold, endless opportunities to work and better their lives but it wasn’t all that they first thought.

The Expedition aims to explore if their is any racial disparity within Camden and if so to create a sweet spot location. This location is to represent the journey taken by the black community during the mid 1900s, they were the minority crying out for help and support, but they didn’t always receive it, therefore I want to create a building that would have been ideal for them as a lifeline and refuge during this time and into modern day.

The Expedition will research and manipulate the route taken by the ship and the aim is to develop this into a mapped space that is a direct representation of the experience felt by those who first arrived to the UK. The aim is to understand why their reality did not match up to initial their expectations.

This study allowed for further understanding into the surrounding features in this area to seperate the buildings from the parks, transportation routes and the canal.

BUILDING PURPOSE

The spaces around the site all have different purpose however there are 4 main types, these have been categorised into public, private, PW and residential, this purpose would allow for further help into concluding what the functionality of the building would be.

URBAN GRAIN

BUS ROUTES & STOPS

DISTRICTS

DIRECT BUS CONNECTIONS TO THE GIVEN SITES FROM AREAS SURROUNDING AREAS OF LONDON

Site access is important and becasue this is a busy area that can have traffic build up, this map shows the points where people can use alternative forms of transport to reduce on street can traffic. As well as bus routes there are underground stations within this vacinity for further connection points 10 11

This districts map shows the transportation points from the site to the rest of London. This allows for an understanding into the site access points and how people approach and arrive to the site.

verse

The verse, is the section that narrates the way forward. Providing people with more understanding into what happened, happens and is happening.

camden the town of cultural diversity

Camden Town is a desirable place that welcomes mass amounts of tourists every day. Whether you’re there for the food or the markets of the fake Gucci this is a place that emulated the urban and indie generation that is an uprising in the UK. It is known for its cultural diversity within the town’s community which is reflected in the historical development of the area which began to expand in the late 1700s.

But Camden today is very different to what it used to be, it was once known for its high pollution levels, a bar or club on each corner and a high number of beer drinkers. The poverty levels were high and it was a town with a large number of manual labour jobs, which explains the demand for the pubs and bars as it was where many of the workers went after a shift. The town is now described as fun, mad and romantic. These descriptions just show the variety and change in the types of people that now live in or visit the town. Over time Camden has become more appealing to wealthier people and is described as a desirable place to live. This growth in desirability also caused a major growth in the house prices, the average house price in Camden is £921k. Even areas described as deprived and undesirable are still of a higher calibre to that of the housing with the same description across the country.

Street views of Camden show clear diversity as on one street you can have houses priced at £800k+ as well as council housing, the streets show no continual consistency. Council flats and some of the most expensive houses in some cases are on the same street. This design feature forces people to intermingle with those of a different race, class or financial status because of the way each street is designed. This forced inhabitation across the classes causes many to see this: a brand new Maserati owned and driven by 1 person parked next to an early 2000s rusted Ford KA used by a family. The most expensive houses encase the town and are what you see on arrival emphasising the desirability of the area, but towards the town, the appeal drops.

‘Diversity may be the hardest thing for a society to live with, and perhaps the most dangerous thing for a society to be without.’

- William Sloane Coffin, Jr.

Collage of images taken when visiting camden that represent the heart, culture and diversity of the town.

6 BAME Ethnic groups

The BAME community makes up 34% of Camdens Residents

Racial Disparity

‘CAMDEN HAS A BLACK HISTORY THAT NOT EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT’

These 2 are the largest

Bangledeshi Black African ? ? ? ?

Resident Passport stats

39k non British

10k with no Passport Other : 65k Country of Birth

: 126k

The Black population makes up 8.2% of Camdens population

One of the first Black Women in Higher education

History of Camden

B lack

The first known BlackBritish editor

One of the UK’s First civil rights groups

Pride & Prejudice within the British Museum

A railway worker overturned the white only recruitment policy

WHERE ARE THE BLACK PEOPLE IN CAMDEN ?...

Questions that I asked myself during this research:

Why is there less/low amounts of black in Camden?

The statistics show that there are black people living in Camden but where are they?

What are the main reasons why they do not live in the area?

Is there any pivitol black history in Camden?

Statistics show that the location in the UK with the highest black population is London. 97% of the UK’s black population lives in Greater London, but why not Camden? As the quote by John Powell states black people are much more likely to live in poverty driven areas, despite Camden having its more deprived areas the black population numbers are still much lower than other London regions. Camden does has a strong and consistant amount of black history and when black history month or carnival does occur people come together. This made me question if there are any locations that specifically have higher numbers of black residents. Further research and analysis was carried out this will be explained further throughout this project.

‘Blacks are about seven times more likely to live in neighbourhoods of concentratd poverty than whites.’

- John Powell

Gospel Oak

Is desribed as an inner urban ares, located in NW London, south of Hampstead Heath. This is made up of many estate blocks but also mansion flats estate.

King Cross

The black population in this area is higher than that of Camden, although its a busy transport area it also has multiple residential blocks.

Dartmouth Park

This is located in NW London, it is made up of muktiple housing blocks and is inherently a residential area. Research found thst people that live in the area are on middle to higher incomes.

Figure 2

The Windrush generation is the generation of people that arrived in the Uk between 1948 and 1971 from the Caribbean. The name of this generation refers to the ship the MV Empire Windrush. The first shipload carried 492 people and arrived at Tilbury docks on the 22nd of June 1948, bringing workers from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and many other islands one of these being Mexico. These passengers came to the UK intending to help rebuild England after the war and to gain new skills and to help with the labour shortage the UK was experiencing post-war.

What was it like?

Starting a new job is hard but starting a new job and life in another country can be intense. The research highlighted the impact this had on the generation and the way many felt. One article was titled, Windrush generation: the history of un-belonging, this immediately emphasised the disconnection that many must have felt at the time. Many of the migrants saw this move as an opportunity and had high expectations, Britain was described as the mother country, a place that looks after and supports each other. This view of this being the motherland was dispelled quickly upon arrival, and the generation quickly began to feel like dark strangers who did not have a place in Britain.

‘We grew up under the colonial system and we knew everything about England –everything. And we came here, nobody had ever heard of Jamaica. I mean few, few, people. And it was funny, the few who had heard of Jamaica treated you differently. Those who had never heard, they all had the opinion that we lived in trees.’

Figure 4

Figure 5

What happened next?

It is not known the exact number of people that are under the Windrush title but it is said that thousands did make take the plunge and travelled to the UK during that time.

The reason the generation stopped in 1972 is that the immigration act was introduced in 1971 when commonwealth citizens were given indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

Many of the migrants worked in manual trades such as drivers, nurses or cleaners. But despite their leave being granted as indefinite in 2010 over 40 years after the end of the generation, the government destroyed the landing cards that belonged to the migrants and the home office at the time of the Windrush kept no record of the people who were grated remain status, therefore it became difficult for people who to prove their legal status.

How does this connect to Camden?

Camden has an extensive history relating to the progression of its becoming a place of cultural diversity.

Camden is known for music, community and food however, despite the wide range of restaurants in Camden, there is not one Caribbean restaurant. Camden celebrates Black History Month every year and makes an effort to mark the arrival of the Windrush Migration. Camden needs a way to represent its black culture better, the people are present but the representation is not active. Camden is known for diversity making this an ideal place to have a space that reflects the arrival of the generation that changed the nation. The Windrush generation came here with the purpose to help the country improve, develop and be strong again, but many of the British people had other motives, resulting in the initial expectation of what it would be like to live in the country quickly dropping, this was not the place many thought it would be. Having this building would make Camden the first of many locations to have a space that reflects and represents the true struggle felt by the people.

Figure 6

Figure 7

INITIAL MAPPING RESEARCH

Further research was carried out into the process and journey carried out by the Windrush Generation. These pages symbolise the timing and the journey taken. These will be expanded upon and mapped in a diagrammatic way in the next chapter. TBC...

INEQUALITY VIDEO

NEURO-ARCHITECTURE

Neuro-Architecture explores the features within a space that can impact the behaviour of a person. Exposing this style allows for the design to be constructed in a way that can improve the well-being of the user.

This is done by recording the way people’s attitudes change in a space, this assessment is carried out by Architects and Neuroscientists.

The following stimuli are some aspects that influence human activity: Temperature, lighting, and colours.

Neuro-Architecture is another way to help designers improve the relationship between users and their surroundings.

EMOTIONAL DESIGN

Architecture aims to understand the intimate relationship between an individual and their physical surroundings.

The Expedition project aims to be able to create a space that is a direct emotional representation of the experience many faced during the Windrush generation. This allows other people to encounter the intimate, isolated and overwhelming experience of entering a new space and what that must have felt like. Architecture is linked with music, poetry and media, this helps to create a space that is memorable but can be emotional. Emotional design is key to the success of this building.

This style of architecture focuses on the way textures, smells and sounds can impact the user’s experience. This can transform the way people interact within spaces and the connection with the built environment. Relating this to The Expedition textures will relate to the materiality.

Multisensory Architecture

Multisensory relates to all five senses and this style of architecture emphasises the need to speak to all of the senses, to embrace architecture by feeling it, this can be done through active senses. Providing someone with a sense of space and place helps to sculpt the personality and the trigger points within a space that can impact ones emotional state.

Sensory Architecture

Figure 8

Figure 10

Figure 9

A key aspect that connects the black community to people of different races is music. This has been prominent for many years in black people’s lives, to many it’s been a type of refuge or way to reflect upon life, a genre that is a reflection of this is blues. Many genres and styles have developed over the years and were brought to England, Reggae music to most is made famous by Bob Marley but over time other black artists have paved the way and are doing major things to bring their experiences, culture and beliefs into their music and through these actions, it has brought together millions of people from different ethnicities tog-ether. Some of the most well known London born black artists in the modern day include Stormzy and Dave, but Janet Kay helped pave the way for this as she was one of the first black female artists to have a number 1 song in the UK with a reggae track.

and less forced way, like school. Music Manipulation. So how can this traditional art of music relate to this Camden project?

This thesis uses the traditional and cultural styles of editing music and poetry to manipulate mapping. Terms like: slicing, punching, sampling, pitch correcting, stretching, compressing, cut copy & paste, tempo, timing, and pitch will be used as ways to alter the design and to create something that is a direct representation of the traditional journey of the Windrush generation but also as a representation of the music that was a lifeline and point of reflection for many people throughout black history. This will be further explained in the manipulation and mapping section in the next section.

But why is this important to Camden? Camden has a rich cultural history and it is developing more and more every single day, through food, fashion, music and much more. But art like music can bring people together that may never have been brought together in life. Music divides, collides and joins people from all walks of life together. It is also a way to educate and teach people about the past and the struggle black people face but in a more relaxed

This image represents the culture of Camden, overlaying these images and removing the colour removes distraction and busyness from the reflection. The only section in colour is the bars that represent the music of London, these bars represent the amount of walking done when in London for 4 days, 2 of which were spent studying Camden.

PARASITIC ARCHITECTURE?

These designs are by Lebbeus Woods, Parasitic architecture can repurpose older space by designing a type of dynamic facade system that climbs and intertwines between buildings, creating a continual space. This is a style that will allow me to connect the older buildings with newer ones in my design work, and to create a unique facade from mapping that reflects the Windrush.

CREATIVE ARTS CENTRE

The creative arts centre by Daniel Libeskind is a form of parasitic architecture. This design shows how spaces can be developed and manipulated to give them new life. This design is key as it links directly to the Camden site, this is something that could be designed for the space in between Sainsburys and the church, as this would allow for the building to weave between this unused space.

Figure 12

Figure 11

Figure 13

Figure 14

verse 2

Verse 2 further narrates the story and explains the process leading up to the Pre chorus. Providing people with more understanding into what happened giving more background context before the finale.

‘They served this country well. In Jamaica they couldn’t find work. Discouraged but full of hope, they sailed for Britain, citizens of the British Empire coming to the Mother Country with good intent.’

- Pathé News

The ‘welcome’ recorded by the Pathé footage does not tell the full story either. Just two days after the Windrush docked, a group of 11 Labour MPs wrote to Prime Minister Clement Attlee calling for a halt to the “influx of coloured people.”

-(Royal Museums Greenwich, 2022)

Dartmouth Park, Gospel Oaks and King Cross were the locations with highest black residents population. This mapping was carried out to allow for futher analysis to be carried out to understand the distance these groups would have to travel from their residence to the site.

This research showed the spread of where the highest amounts of black people live in camden. Gospel Oaks and Dartmouth Park are neighbouring estates but are described as more deprived areas, whereas King Cross is a sort after location, therefore proving the theory originally discussed in the research section regarding the lack of continity within even a street.

WINDRUSH TRAVEL MAPPING

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

JAMAICA

MEXICO

CUBA

ENGLAND

The investigation found that The Windrush ship travelled at a speed of 14 Knots, the following evaluation is done upon estimating that the ship travelled consistently at that speed for the entire journey.

DAY 1...

The Windrush ship departed from The Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago on roughly the 20th of May. The ship travelled 1299miles at the speed of 14 Knots for 4 days...

DAY 4...

The Windrush ship arrived at Kingston port in Jamaica on roughly the 24th of May 1948. This was the largest passenger pick up point.

The ship departed from Kingston and travelled 1427miles at the speed of 14 Knots for 4 days...

DAY 8...

The Windrush ship arrived at Altamira port in Mexico on roughly the 28th of May 1948. The ship stopped for 4 days in Mexico, to pick up passengers and to allow for the ship crew to rest.

The ship departed from Altamira and travelled 925miles at the speed of 14 Knots for 2 days...

DAY 14...

The Windrush ship arrived at Puerto de Santiago in Cuba on roughly the 3rd of June 1948. The ship departed from Puerto de Santiago and travelled 1337miles at the speed of 14 knots for 4 days...

DAY 18...

The Windrush ship arrived at Hamilton port in Bermuda on roughly the 7th of June 1948. The ship stopped for 4 days in Bermuda. The ship departed from Hamilton and travelled 4040miles at the speed of 14 Knots for 12 days...

DAY 34...

4 8 14 18 34

The Windrush ship arrived at Tilbury dock in London on the 22nd of June 1948. The ship travelled roughly 9,028 miles from Trinidad to the UK in 26days, 34 days including stoppage time. 42 43 12 22

Manipulation Task Explaination & Rules

TASK 1...

Rotate 450 at the start point of each island and connect to the beginning of the next travel start point ...

TASK 2...

Move each travel section to day 2 of the travel process and connect...

TASK 3...

Reflect every other travel section 900 and then join together at day 2...

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO TO JAMAICA

MEXICO TO CUBA

BERMUDA TO ENGLAND

JAMAICA TO MEXICO

CUBA TO BERMUDA

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO TO JAMAICA

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO TO JAMAICA

MEXICO TO CUBA

MEXICO TO CUBA

BERMUDA TO ENGLAND

BERMUDA TO ENGLAND

JAMAICA TO MEXICO

JAMAICA TO MEXICO

CUBA TO BERMUDA

CUBA TO BERMUDA

TASK 1 - FURTHER MANIPULATED

DEMOLISH RE-PURPOSE

REDESIGN THE FRONT FACADE

2D ELEVATION OF THE ROOF MADE USING THE MAPPING

DESIGN THE CULTURAL CENTRE IN THE DEMOLISHED SPACE DEMOLISH

chorus

The chorus, the main section, the repeated section that is the most well known. The process before the finale.

THE FORM OF THE SKIN

Previously in this report map manipulation was explored and through that a site elevation was produced. This elevation was used to create the skin of the building. That was a 2D view so the 2D elevation was duplicated and placed evenly through the building and then panels were created to create the skin.

These panels create an attractive external facde as well as an interesting internal roof space.

The reasoning for designing in this style is because it reflects the way The Windrush generation would have felt, each angle resembles a change in emotion, inward slants reflect a negative emotion and an outward sland reflects positivity.

This dynamic skin acts as a strong blanket that is to protect what is on the inside. The panels allow for large open spaces to be created as well as small tight spaces.

SOUTH

modulars

Intro...

The Expedition is a reflective building, each person that this building represents is on their own journey to reach the end goal. Each of the blocks in the building encloses a neccessity. These are designed to be free standing and self sufficient.

Detail...

These blocks are self insulated and act as mini spaces within the larger building. These are lightweight alternatives to building solid walls that apply pressure to the structure.

Further...

Aspects that are within these self contained mdoular blocks is the reception, storage rooms,charity drop off point, building 3 in the cultural centre, the kitchen, mini super market, hairdressers/barbers and the mini cafe.

15

Figure

verse 3

Verse 3 the section that makes the design posible. This verse provides further insight into what goes on below and within the skin of the building.

Due to the chosen site being surrounded by facilities that aren’t be being repurposed or demolished site acess is a key section to reseach as this can majory impact the design. Sainsburys is located on the east side of the site, disabled and underground parking are within the intial red boarder line where the building would have been located. This has therefore caused an issue within the space as these features would still be needed for the sainsburys to function therefore it was key to mark these points out so that they can be considered when designing. These access points can also be adapted into the design as they could potentially be used as access points for the proposed building as well.

The highlighted area that will be repurposed is the office block space, this is going to be converted into the onsite learning centre. This will be a 2-floor space with parking below.

The area highlighted to remain in the church and a residential building on the east side of the site. It is key for areas to remain in this design as it is a symbol for the way life was at the time as if people were arriving but had somehow had to try and fit into England.

The demolition zone s at the south of the site, the reason for this is because of the way this area is shaped. The V shape resembles an opening as if the building should begin there to open and expose people to the world.

Initial site boundaries are removed, this project is to represent the people and how they might have felt at the time, space is needed that goes beyond the boundary walls. A space will be designed to go over the river as the residential area that is on the riverside will act as the rehabilitation homes for the arrivals.