P04: CIVIC INSTITUTION Design a community integrated institution

Year 2: Local scale
Year 3: London scale both including key building + public realm proposal

Introduction
Project 4 is the final building design project of the year in which you will design a civic institute, drawing on the themes you investigated through P01, P02 and P03. We will return to West Kensington with the unique background research developed in P02 and with an outside perspective gained through our Portugal trip and P03. Use this project to architecturally question the notion of civic in this changing part of the city. What can we do architecturally to activate the area and contribute to existing and new neighborhoods?

Design argument
Draw together the work of semester 1 and distil a design thesis/ brief for the final project. Use site analysis, technology and precedent studies to articulate a drawn ‘Civic’ design argument. Position your argument in relation to the Earl’s Court development time line and express how your proposal contributes to the neighbourhood while the development is underway. What is important about that? What does it activate/trigger/contribute to? Can it link old & new neighbourhoods? Also position your argument in relation to the use of stone waste materials and exploring new material (re-)uses. Research your position architecturally.

Design method
Develop a creative iterative process, which explores and tests ideas in sketch models, sketches & 1:1. Use film, photography and perspective frames/views as critical design tools. Use them for abstract qualities as well as literal spaces and sequences. Continue to develop your building component prototypes and material tests as an integral part of your design process and test their spatial applications. Engage with people, places & local culture relevant to your site and proposal and let it inform your design development.

Architectural design resolution
Develop a full set of architectural drawings well resolved externally and internally, which express a complete proposal including all elevations, floors, key spaces, interior and exterior details & context in 2d & 3d. Develop a distinct and competent representation language that highlights key design qualities and ideas through out. Describe your design argument and design response in context in a 3min film. Alongside your portfolio make books of your photographs, stills from films, sketches, technology, research and give them each a purpose related to aspects of your design development.
Present portfolio and books graphically as a collection and refer to your books in your portfolio pages.


Reference projects:
Casa Del Musica, Porto,
Gulbenkien Foundation, Lisbon
Casa de historias, Cascai
National Theatre, London
The Museum of Art, Sao Paolo,
Petrol Station, Skovshoved Arne Jacobsen Havnebadet, Sluseholmen

P02: CIVIC INTERVENTION: DESIGN A SCENE

“Whatever time and space mean, 

place and occasion mean more.” 

Aldo Van Eyck

Overlay ‘Cinema Paradiso’ onto Earl’s Court: you are now Alfredo, the projectionist, what will you do to create a magic moment?

The purpose of this project is to design your own 1:1 moment in the city. Working in groups the project will consist of 3 experiments. Keep in mind that this is an area undergoing change. Get to know about it through your experiments.

Exp 1/ Social engagement with the city
Each group will be given a starting point. From there draw a long section and engage with your site within your section. Explore if to draw a section in a circle, square, line or in zig zag through the site. Cut through buildings, streets and public realm. Participate in cultural /local activity in your section. This can be anything from gossip chats, to more formal events. Compare scenes in Earls Court to the scene in Cinema Paradiso and use techniques developed in P01. Draw propositional ideas from your experiences. Use film as analytical tool

Exp 2/ Material engagement with the city
Develop your propositional ideas at 1:1 with film as a key design tool. Also develop a material exploration at 1:1 as part of your analysis of the site and your 1:1 proposal. Explore the cultural and connotational potential of material. Make and test ideas. Prepare for your intervention by inviting people, get permissions from council or police if this is necessary. Map your hurdles as well as successes.

Exp 3/ Social & Material relationships
Host your 1:1 intervention. Film the intervention, draw the intervention. Take some stunning photos of it. Critically reflect on the material and social relationships. Post intervention conclude the project individually by drawing your own territory of interest/drawn manifesto which will act as a starting point for your work in the final project. Consider site, interventions, social layers and material interests. What is your civic aspiration for the site?

PROJECT 01: A CIVIC MOMENT / INITITATIVE

scene study 

The magic of the moment: the power of the individual 

to transform a space and create an event 

We will begin the year with a study of a scene taken from Cinema Paradiso. In the scene Alfredo, the projectionist, moves a glass frame to reflect the projected image from inside the cinema into the square outside the cinema, where a crowd has gathered. In doing this he transforms the square, he creates a special moment in an everyday space. 

Draw the magic of the scene, capture the action, the movement of the projection and the transformation of the spaces. 

You will have to watch the scene over and over again. Take stills, collage them to recreate the spaces. Draw the physical spaces and their relationships to scale. Use your own judgment, your surroundings and places you know to estimate and draw a measured survey of the scene to scale. Draw your impressions, analyse abstractly. 

You could document and explore: the camera movement / the relationship between interior and exterior spaces / the projected light / light and darkness / the movement of the projection / the 3 dimensionality of the projected light / the surfaces touched by the projection beam / trace the ‘positive’ and the ‘negative’ of actual and perceived space / the movement of the protagonists and the crowd / time and space. 

Express your understanding of layers, time, and expressions in the scene. Experiment, study and test techniques to represent your observations through drawing and or model making. Allow your working lines, proportional rules, measurements & geometry to be included in the final drawings as an integral part of them. 

Capture the magic of the moment in your drawings. Make it a beautiful and a comprehensive piece of work, which clearly demonstrates a creative and individual approach to drawing. Pay attention to line weights and study good draftsman ship. Challenge yourself, test, experiment and set the tone for the year.