Compendium

“What does regeneration would mean in the future? Will it impose or will it mimic?”
The Ham Close Uplift is an ongoing regeneration project for Ham Close Estate. This is due
to its flats’ construction and insulation falling below the current regulation standards. The
public and its residents were invited to join the public meetings and consultations along with
the estate owner and the council. The proposal was to redevelop the site by replacing all of
the existing structures with an increase in density which the people opposed to, citing two
negative effects.
Regeneration projects tends to break up communities due to the relocation of its current
residents. Therefore, the studio looked into social housing and the idea of communal living.
Our brief was to collectively design a masterplan that has shared layout, parking spaces and
allocated plots for the individual proposals. Each proposal would comprised of two dwelling
units that engage each other in a mutually advantageous relationship. Pre-requisites include
the overall height limit of around 4-5 levels and a sectional relationship between proposals.
Whilst taking precedents from the existing estates and maisonettes, the explored concept was
Louis Kahn’s spatial principle of ‘served and servant spaces’. It involved splitting a single
volume into many, categorising them into two types of spaces - served (perceived and experienced
as a habitable wall e.g. living room, bedroom, dining room, study, etc.) and servant
(kitchen, storage, closets, bathrooms, area of circulation such as stairs and hallways). Meanwhile,
the idea of boundary was taken - positive and negative boundaries can be dynamic
through the use of grids on plans and sections (Grids: walls as rooms) to simplify the concept.
The entire width was split into an equal grid of three where the two-thirds define the living
space and the remaining third act as an area of circulation - exterior stairs. The habitable
space denotes density with its program consisting of two flats with living, kitchen, dining,
bathroom and double bedrooms. Meanwhile, the stairs act as both the connection and the gap.
Whilst it links the units vertically and horizontally, it also breaks the collective proposal’s
continuous facade. Its only aim was provide another access route for the residents into the
building but the “5th elevation” emerged as a part of the design.
Ham Close: “Dwelling Island”
HORIZONTAL& VERTICAL BOUNDARIES
Textures and Materials as Modular technique
Using this technique, one can create a certain
feeling or atmosphere depending on what kind of
material is used.
Academic Project 5
Drawings explaining boundaries
Using line sketches to simplify some of my photographs,
I created illustrations where I only used
straight lines that differ in thicknesses. These created
depth and perspective but also made it a little
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abstract.
Like background and foreground, this technique
gives us clues as to which could be the part of
the negative and positive space. This then can be
interchange depending on how you look at it reminding
us of optical illusions.
This concept can be used in my design by making
the windows as if they were cut through it.
It is nice to experience a space not just by our visual
senses but as well as our sense of touch or
smell. Architecture should always give enough
arousal for our senses to respond to the space.
A.Y. 2016/2017 Autumn
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Collective living as an alternative solution to redevelopment