2. My Architectural Journey
My basic concepts in my imagination of what architecture is all about
starts with a few thoughts about the structure and how it impacts the
day to day human interactions with the environment.
Man has from ancient time desired fundamental safety guards for
survival from inclement environmental elements. Though aesthetics
play a significant role in my architectural approach, practical
interactions of man and the environment play a more poignant
consideration when I process my thought pattern in dealing with a
design problem.
For instance, when I was given a school project to design an Art
Centre, which was going to be situated on an empty plot next to the
Walsh assembly in the Britannia quay, Cardiff, I had to imagine how
the art centre would fit in with the surrounding listed and modern
buildings.
3. The site is a bit rectangular with a side tail that brought a witty thought
of me designing a structure shaped like an aeroplane with a tail, about
to go into a hanger. A plane has the wings, the head and the tail with
some obvious technical attributes that are used in general.
As a result, the following shape was arrived at with the above concept
in mind.
4. The resulting design produced a project that I was confident would
respond to the design brief.
The above represented the “head” of the plane design, or the front of
the project design. The front of the design was “glassed like a cockpit
with the side pillars as supports.
5. The design suited the brief as mentioned in that it represented
commercial, modern and reflected definite contextual quality to the
surrounding buildings.
The entrance foyer carried an airport feeling of a departure lounge
with high-tech colours representing a “foreign feeling” of “about to
depart” reception area.
This “aeroplane design” has made me to understand that shape and
context matter a great deal when responding to a design brief.
6. The height, aesthetics, materials and general arrangement of the
structure provided solutions to the design brief that required a
modern response to an “Art centre” in a commercially rich
surrounding of important heritage buildings.
Section through structure
7. Side elevation with partially revealed Pile system
Front elevation with partially revealed pile system
Roof garden restaurant area for clients used when the patrons want
to rest after visiting the art centre. This roof garden restaurant is partly
covered with roof lights and a system of lighting that provides a
complex treatment of glass, concrete and aluminium frames.
8. Section through structure
Callout of the structural system
This project resulted in me appreciating what professional architects
are faced with whenever they have a complex design project on their
hands. After looking at the renderings below, I have come to
understand that it is not only the design that should attract the
glancing eye but the solution must be relevant to architectural
dictates of size, context, aesthetics and environmental considerations.
10. In my journey as a student, I have come to understand that
sometimes, Architectural briefs can be very constraining, leaving very
little room for architectural ingenuity.
A project I worked on recently demanded the use of specific materials,
ie timber, concrete, reclaimed bricks and glass for a design of a motel
for overnight accommodation for back pack trekkers.
The site was set in the CF10 5AH area of a busy Cardiff area. This was
again another disused carpark that was meant to be turned into a
prestigious “away from home but at home” hotel accommodation.
Site plan situated at CF10 5AH
The buildings in the area are basically a series of listed buildings of
great important to the Cardiff area. To get a design solution that would
take all these factors in consideration was daunting for me as a
student.
11. The journey in my architectural thinking took a severe knock in that I
had to think of how best to utilise timber, concrete, bricks and
aluminium. It is something that a student would not necessarily have
the knack of how to combine the materials properly.
Working with Timber is a tricky situation and designing a multi-storey
building with timber as a major material can cause much
consternation!
Basic design consisted in me thinking of circular individual rooms
linked by a central access route open to the elements rather than an
enclosed passage.
12. With the above basic concept, I proceeded to arrange the individual
rooms as below and withdrew the administration block to be placed
away from the structure.
13. With the above, I then had to arrange the access so that it took into
consideration privacy and aesthetics without allowing timber cladding
on the inner frames to distort the design.
Access passage between individual rooms
The design took timber as the major material that cladded the entire
external frame with bay windows that accentuated the external skin
of the structure.
Timber framing/cladding with bay windows
14. The idea behind the design assisted me to understand where am going
with design issues and it is important that many other issues like the
above project can be found by putting across solutions that are
amiable and completely intuitive.
15. My journey has made me to respond to design theories with a
pragmatic approach of arrogance with boldness. There are projects
like residential houses that I have practiced my Revit knowledge away
from academic assignments. Below is a sample of my work outside my
academic life:
Villa design
Ground floor
18. Using Revit, one is able to explore various ways of treating finishes and
visual looks of designs and I have learnt to articulate in more ways
than one on how to make the same design to appear different for
presentation to clients.
End
