Y2 Project 4 Shifting Tectonics (1)

The final project of the year, named 'Shifting Tectonics', dealt with a dramatically shifting landscape around the village of Happisburgh in Norfolk (pronounced Hayes-Burgh). This was a site of contant coastal erosion, and despite the best efforts of all our knowledge and monetary power thus far, the speed of the erosion hasn't dimmed. It is under threat now of not existing at all within the next 100 years.


The cliffs were being eroded at an astonishing rate, and within 100 years the town will be almost underwater. The government has given up on repairing the sea defences along the coast for the most part because they are now far too expensive to maintain. First thing on the agenda was some in depth research about the erosion and why it happens in Happisburgh more than perhaps other places.




The main factors which contributed to the rapid erosion process were


1. Strong winds from across the North Sea, which in turn increased the power of the waves. This meant a greater impact on the cliff face.
2. Longshore Drift was a contributing factor. Taking away the materials, and reducing the size of the beach, which ordinarily would have slowed the waves down and reduce the kinetic force.
3.Side effects of coastal defences further up the coast such as reducing the amount of sediment which reaches Happisburgh (Trying to reduce the impact of longshore drift by the use of Groynes) and so the impact of the local longshore drift is increased.


This will become the focus of my project, which in the initial stages was pitched as a place where sediment along the coast could be re-used as a coastal defence itself. 


Here are a few site photographs to get an understanding of the situation.



This landscape provided an interesting architectural challenge. Not only was it in almost constant motion (referring of course back to 'Shifting Tectonics' the project title) but it was also a place where the population had been forgotten about, and ignored by almost everyone. It created a multitude of opportunity to design.

Y2 Project 3 Canal Club

The brief for this project was a set brief by the St Pancas Canal Club itself, and although we weren't proposing directly to the club it was used as the project brief for the third project. It contained things needed such as a kitchens, overnight accommodation, repair workshops, reception and a large social space. My initial idea for the project was thrown out a week before the final crit and what i show you now is an exploration in designing by modelling and to a very tight deadline. 

Stylistically this was my favourite model from Y2. It was clean, communicated enough information to convey the site and it's constraints yet was also simple and did not distract from the architecture. A simple 2 layered grey-board site model with a site plan drawn on top with ink. 

The design was structured so that canal boats in need of repair can sail straight in. Accommodation, social space and kitchens were on the first floor with only the workshop and reception on the ground floor. Aesthetically i designed it at the time in a very angular way and intended for a high-tech look to this building. 

Situated on the site of the old canal club and taking up around 50% more space, it could hold 2 more canal boats in the workshop (for a total of 4) and had a substantial social space plus bar which overlooks the docks and canal on the first floor (the large space that overhangs the workshops on the ground floor.)

An unfortunately fuzzy image, however since Year 2 this model has gone missing, so the chance to re-take this image has passed.

Y2 Project 2 Gasholder 8

This project was a small 4 week group project using the site of Gasholder 8 within the London St.Pancras International Station. The project came about after a folding exercise within Studio, upon which i made a simple triangulated structure which moved when compressed at one end. This idea sparked the generation of the brief. 

The brief was to create a recreational installation within the gasholder for the local community. We took the idea of the moving triangles and shifting surface to the facade and created the idea of a changing climbing wall. 

The idea was to have 3 distinct levels. Beginner (At the bottom), Intermediate (In the middle) and Expert (At the top). Each level would increase in difficulty to climb and the surface would change every day by means of pushing and pulling the facade to create new challenges for the climbers. At the very top was a platform which would have fantastic views across the city of London, this was resered for those with the skills to climb all the way to the top!

There were access points from the inside to the outside of the wall so if you wanted to stop halfway you could, and if you wanted to only tackle the expert section you were free to do so. The wall itself was made up of triangles which were connected so as to allow some movement when certain plates were pulled or pushed form the inside by machine. (You can see this from the little vignettes i drew on the side of the presentations)

I really enjoyed the idea of this project, the teamwork was both exciting and frustrating yet in the end despite some bumps in the road we managed a good idea for a small installation and for what was the first design project of the year, pretty decent presentation as well. Looking back a year on from this i would love to tackle this project again and go at it from different angles and try some different presentational techniques, but at this moment i don't have the time available for such a thing. Here are 2 of presentation panels we used (these were accompanied by a variety of hand made models to display the idea of the climbing wall)