You are on page 1of 8

msa BA2 2011|2012

Project 3.3
White Water

Programme + general requirements
You are to design a canoe and kayak centre with associated ancillary spaces and to include a
multipurpose meeting room/social space.
The structure and finishes should be sustainable, robust, and have minimum environmental impact
in their manufacture, acquisition, transportation, construction, re-use and maintenance. Building on
the knowledge you have acquired from Projects 3.1 and 3.2 about 3D conceptual physical
expression, the relationship between concept and site, environment, materials, structure and
construction and passive environmental systems you will aim to resolve and make general
arrangement drawings, models [of scheme and of details], montages and sequential sketches.

Site
There are two sites for this project, one in Graz and one in Ironbridge. All those travelling to Graz
should use the site on the Neutorgasse. You should consider the surrounding physical context
carefully. Access will be a key concern especially on the Ironbridge site, located on the riverbank and
car park adjacent to The Museum of the Gorge. Both sites will need a significant amount of
investigation and you are welcome to form your own groups to do this. Obviously while on location
either in Graz or in Ironbridge the quality of your site analysis is paramount as it is not practical to
return to these sites. This will be a considerable test of your site analysis skills.

Assessment + Analysis
This location is a managed and processed landscape. Both cultivated, their ecosystems are relatively
stable. There is an emphasis on the sustainability of this resource both in terms of the resource
production and visitor activities that take place. Your assessment and analysis should take account of
these facts. Remember the conditions of scale, pattern, land use and vegetation, colour, buildings
and other objects that you have previously recorded and considered. Obviously the site orientation,
river swells and views are critical here, as are the climatic conditions. How do you use and analyse
this data, rather than simply recording and recounting it?

User Requirements
You are to design a canoe and kayak centre with associated ancillary spaces, capable of going off
grid. It must include the following elements:
Main club area/multifunctional space to include bar + adjacent kitchen. This area could be
double height [lighting + vertical circulation may be a key consideration here]
Meeting Rooms x2
Bar/kitchen storage rooms
Service areas for canoe/kayak equipment + storage
Office that can be used to service events, visitors, security
Race office incorporated into the design with 180 degree safety visibility [approx. 10m, base
3m above ground, vertical circulation will be a key consideration]
Wet changing area, toilet facilities inc. disabled facilities
One additional programmatic element as determined by your studio tutor


You are to consider and demonstrate how your proposal responds to and facilitates the following
issues:
The multipurpose space should accommodate up to 60 visitors. It must have excellent daylight
provision and you must consider the ventilation, insulation, issues of glare, finishes, and storage. The
office / staff room need only contain one desk and one office chair with comfortable seating for
three, space for a fresh water cylinder and storage of materials/promotional information.
The centre should be functional, welcoming, practical and flexible, allowing for the hosting of formal
events as well as providing an informal environment to its users/members.
The centre will need to cater for the extremes of wet canoeists at lunch time or between races
through to formal events.
The design should aim to reduce potential consequences of a flood - ways of making cleaning up
afterwards easier and quicker should be explored.The design and construction of the building should
be robust enough to withstand environmental conditions, and must be capable of being easily
cleaned and maintained or repaired.
The multifunctional space may be enclosed or partially open to the elements during the year.
The building should be capable of going off grid [with the exception of water and sewage]. You
should make provision for no mains electricity supply. Low energy safety lights must be used where
necessary at night in addition to domestic lighting needs.
How will you power the building?
How will your design resolve heating, cooling, ventilation?
How will your design negotiate public / private /shared spaces, and facilitate /adapt to changes of
use?
You should provide toilet facilities that satisfy the dimensional requirements for a user with mobility
problems. The public access toilets should be accessible from both within the building and from the
outside when the building is closed.
The building will be used throughout the year; as such you must maximise the insulative and heat
absorbing / retaining qualities of your scheme demonstrable in the winter, in addition to the solar
shading + cooling qualities in the summer. You should consider access and security to the building as
a whole.
You may provide sheltered outdoor space as you see fit.

Aims
The aims of this project are to build upon your existing knowledge of architecture with minimum
environmental impact [structure / material / form] and to look at the idea of experiencing a building
as a sequence of spatial events over the course of the year. You will be assigned two sub-briefs
during this project that will test your response to each of these issues. You will be assessed on the
analysis, design process, the formal quality of your intervention, the understanding you demonstrate
of materials and structure and the quality of your finished outputs.






Output

You are required to produce the following finished work for this project:
Drawing pack
Site Plan 1:500 to show roof and context
Building Plan 1:100 ground floor with finishes and any external treatment
Section(s) 1:200 to show topographical context
Section 1:50 to show technology / structure / envelope / finishes
Elevations 1:100 including context

Concept + proposition communication
Site analysis
Perspectives [Developed from project 3.3.1 sequential experience]
Hybrid concept schematic drawing
3D montage showing your proposal in the landscape. Consider this when visiting the site and
taking your site photographs, you may wish to take a tripod and other equipment.
Diagram the program and energy resource flow of your scheme. Indicate the seasonal and
occupational activity phases of the building
Short video presentation of your proposal [3mins max to be assessed by tutors after
uploading to blog] [key stills to be presented in portfolio with brief narrative]

Vertical circulation

1:50 section through tower to show structure, linings and finishes, methods of fixing,
openings, detail to stair etc. Developed from project 3.3.2 Vertical circulation
1:5/1:10 model [physical or CAD] or cutaway axonometric/isometric drawing of detailed
junction between stair, structure and skin.

Design process + methodology
Design process and methodology - project development sheet to show key processes, model
experimentation, research + outcomes, engagement with feedback + peer involvement,
changes to design, detail resolution, concept execution. This will be a graphical summary
from your project journal.
A4 Project Journal to be included in design report. [Design report submitted in Jan 2012]

Models + experimentation [photographed / presented in portfolio]
Model 1:100 to show external form + immediate context
Detail models as required by studio tutors.

This will be supported by research and analysis, which you will record in your sketchbooks. The
research and development work will be formalised and assessed as part of your Design Report 3 and
portfolio submission. Your peer engagement, feedback, critical review skills and activity should be
recorded. Use the online blog and review pin up processes as evidence of this, to be included and
reflected upon in both your portfolio and design reports.



Critical Dates

26
th
October Project 3.3 Briefing Note Introduction
Week of 31
st
October -5
th
November Graz | Ironbridge Study tour + site visit
17
th
November Issue Sub-brief 3.3.1
17
th
November Issue Sub-brief 3.3.2
29
th
November Interim Critical Review
13
th
December Final Project Review
12
th
January DS3 Portfolio + Design Report Submission [A4 format, to include digital copy
on CD]

Reading

Aldersey-Williams, Hugh, Zoomorphic: New Animal Architecture, (London: Laurence King, 2003)
Baker, Geoffrey, Design Strategies in Architecture: An Approach to the Analysis of Form, (London:
Spon Press, 1996)
Ballard Bell, Victoria, Rand, Patrick, Materials for Architectural Design, (London: Laurence King, 2006)
Blundell-Jones, Peter, Dialogues in Time: New Graz Architecture, (Graz: Haus Der Architektur, 1998)
Bougdah, Hocine, Sharples, Stephen, Environment, Technology and Sustainability, Technologies of
Architecture Volume 2, (London: Taylor & Francis, 2009)
Chan, Yenna, Contemporary Design in Detail: Sustainable Environments, (Gloucester, Mass: Rockport
Publishers, 2007)
Ching, Francis, Building Construction Illustrated, (London: John Wiley & Sons, 2008)
Costa Duran, Sergi, Eguaras, Marina, 1000 Ideas by 100 Architects, (Beverly Mass: Rockport
Publishers, 2009)
Deplazes, Andrea, Constructing Architecture: Materials, Processes, Structures, A Handbook, (Basel:
Birkhauser, 2005)
Drake, Scott, The Elements of Architecture: principles of environmental performance in buildings,
(London: Earthscan, 2009)
Dunn, Nick, Architectural Modelmaking, (London: Laurence King, 2010)
Edwards, Brian, Rough Guide to Sustainability, (London: RIBA Enterprises, 2005)
Farrelly, Lorraine, Representational Techniques, (Lausanne: AVA Academia, 2007)
Farrelly, Lorraine, The Fundamentals of Architecture, (Lausanne: AVA Academia, 2007)
Hauslanden, G., et al. Climate Design: Solutions for Buildings that can do more with Less Energy,
(Basel: Birkhauser, 2005)
Horden, Richard, Micro Architecture: Lightweight, Mobile and Ecological Buildings of the Future,
(London: Thames & Hudson, 2008)
Kolarevic, Branko, Malkawi, Ali, eds., Performative Architecture: Beyond Instrumentality, (London:
Routledge, 2004)
Leach, Neil, ed., Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory, (London: Routledge, 1997)
Littlefield, David, Metric Handbook: Planning and Design Data, (Oxford: Architectural Press, 2007)
Marjanovic, Igor, Ruedi Ray, Katerina, Lokko, Lesley, The Portfolio: An Architecture Student's
Handbook, (Oxford: Architectural Press, 2003)
McDonough, William, Braungart, Michael, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things,
(London: Vintage, 2009)
Neufert, Ernst, Neufert Peter, Architects Data, (London: Wiley Blackwell, 2002)
O Cofaigh, Eoin, The Climatic Dwelling: Introduction to Climate-Responsive Residential Architecture,
(London: James and James, 1996)
Olgyay, Victor, Design with Climate: Bioclimatic approach to architectural regionalism, (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1963)
Owen Lewis, J., ed., A Green Vitruvius: Principles and Practice of Sustainable Architectural Design,
(London: James and James, 1999)
Richards, Brent, Gilbert, Dennis, New Glass Architecture, (London: Laurence King, 2006)
Slavid, Ruth, Extreme Architecture: Building for Challenging Environments, (London: Laurence King,
2009)
Weston, Richard, Materials, Form and Architecture, (London: Laurence King, 2008)
Yeang, Ken, Ecodesign: a manual for ecological design, (Chichester: Wiley, 2008)
Yeang, Ken, Woo, Lillian, Dictionary of Ecodesign, (London: Routledge, 2010)






msa BA2 11|12
Project 3.3 White Water
Sub Brief 3.3.1 | Sequential Drawings

You should develop a series of 6 images that define the visual and spatial experience you are trying
to give to the visitors and users of your scheme. These should include:
Approach to your site
Approach to building
Entering the building
View | experience of multifunctional space | bar | kitchen areas
Vertical circulation | highest accessible point to Race Office
View from within the Race Office | highest accessible point
Include interior architectural detail in addition to the framing of perspective view.
Your images should show a progressive narrative, e.g. throughout the day, year or over time to
indicate changes of use, light, weathering etc. You may use any medium to communicate the sense
of light, control of views, structure, materiality, drama, tranquillity or any other emotion or sense
that you are trying to invoke with your proposal.
Aim
The aim of this task is to consider the experience / emotion of the visitor as a continuous event that
you (the designer) may control. This task will also assist in the development of a series of images for
final submission and the selection of a suitable perspective for your 3D montage.
Critical Dates
17
th
November - Sub-brief issue 3.3.1
29
th
November - 3.3.1 - Submission + studio interim review

msa BA2 11|12
Project 3.3 White Water
Sub Brief 3.3.2 | Vertical Circulation
Of all the elements of architecture, the staircase is for a building what the veins
and arteries are for the human body. In the same way as they convey blood to
every limb, so the stairs, laid out in a similarly elaborate and ramified form, are
essential for communication.
Vincenzo Scamozzi, 1615

The stair and its atrium space are intrinsically linked to the structure and
form of your scheme. You must develop this element of your scheme in
detail. In order to do this you should make the following:
1:50 section through tower/key vertical stair section to show
structure, linings and finishes, methods of fixing, openings, detail
to stair etc.
1:5|1:10 physical model and cutaway axonometric/isometric
drawing of detailed junction between stair, structure and skin.
You may assume that these are considered as a public stair and the
dimensions, length of flight, width of landings etc. must reflect this. You
must consider the appropriate regulations for both fire and disabled
access. However, your scheme may include additional/alternative fire
elsewhere in the building. It is necessary to have disabled access only
where appropriate, for example, it is not necessary to have a ramp to the
top of the tower/race office.
Aim
The aim of this task is to examine the materiality and detail of your
scheme and how this is affected by your ideological approach. The
relationship between idea and detailed resolution can be poetic or
practical or anywhere in between; you should consider how your overall
approach affects your material and technological decisions. You will have
to make reference to Approved Documents K and M of the Building
Regulations. This task will also assist in the development of your final
submission. You may manufacture as many models as you see fit to
develop your ideas.
Critical Dates
17
th
November Sub-brief 3.3.2 issued
29
th
November - Submission and interim review

You might also like