Aire Abbey

Final Renders

2009-05-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

Here's four of the final images rendered for my presentation. Hopefully they do the scheme justice, it's pretty hard to tell how good/bad/irrelevent anything is when you've been staring at it this long. I think they're okay at this scale, but boy do they look huge on an A0 board.

Next Attempt

2009-05-19T00:10:00.000-07:00

Looking a little better in this one. Not quite as stylised as I was hoping but certainly an improvement.

Water Render...

2009-05-18T23:06:00.000-07:00

...didn't quite work as well as hoped. Back to the drawing board!

Elevations

2009-05-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

These are about 90% finished, still a few things to tweek but more or less there.

Testing Presentation Styles

2009-05-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

Generally running out of time in this project, but beginning a few tests of how to present my 3D model. This on is a combination of a basic sketchup outline with a properly rendered model.

Still very rough around the edges, only intended as a sort of 'proof of concept'.

On Site

2009-05-16T05:29:00.000-07:00

My first attempt at photomatching the model onto the site.

Precedent: Terry Pawson Architects

2009-04-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

More inspiration, although these came far later in the design development. These are from the Terry Pawson Architects website, which I hadn't looked at in a while and I was really taken with some of the more recent schemes on show. I love the austerity of the buildings, very reminiscent of Chipperfield (more of that to come later).

Sketchbook Extracts

2009-04-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

Still playing about with ideas of courtyards and building over the water on stilts. When I suggested this to one of the tutors, he gave me a pitying look and suggested that perhaps I shouldn't try it. Perhaps, given the standard of my subsequent tech report, it was good advice.

As you can see from the date on the second page, this work was going on around mid February.

Initial Modelling

2009-04-18T03:29:00.001-07:00

Here are some images of early Sketch-Up models, also exploring the general site strategy. I was pretty confident at this stage that I wanted to pursue a linear arrangement inline with the island. That's not to say there weren't niggling doubts though, I'm as indecisive as it's possible to be. I wasn't actually proposing that the building would be black and pink by the way, it's just contrasting colours that help differentiate voids, shapes etc. And Carmody Groake used pink in their model (see below) and I really am that shallow sometimes.

Precedent: Carmody Groarke

2009-04-18T03:20:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be posting a few images of architects or schemes that have inspired me throughout this project, as I'm a bit of a geek for trawling through endless journals and architects websites for precedents. The batch above are from Carmody Groarke, whose models I love. Thes rest of their architecture is equally wonderful.

Design Development 1

2009-04-18T03:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a few photos of early design work. At this stage is was still wondering how to translate the traditional courtyard/cloister configuration onto a narrow site. In the bottom image you can see that the courtyard is simply overlaid onto the island, ignoring the boundaries between land and river. This isn't a case of simply ignoring the specifics of the site; the whole building will have to be raised above ground level to avoid flooding, and with that constraint in place you can deliberately ignore or blur the perceived site boundary.

Sketchbook Extracts

2009-04-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

I've decided I should post the real scruffy end of my design process - my sketch books. Or at least, I'll post extracts from them. Most of it would be pretty boring, or make no sense, but I'll put up a few pages from throughout the design process so far. The drawing hardly marks me out as the next Picasso, or even the next Rolf Harris, but it's about visualising a thought process, not making beautiful pictures. That's my excuse anyway.

The images above are from pretty early in the design process, which you can tell from the fact that none of the images looks remotely similar. I really didn't have much of an idea what I wanted the building to look like at this stage, but it helps to work through a few ideas on paper.

What the images hopefully illustrate is that I switch between drawing little sections, plans, elevations, details... pretty much anything. Each idea is best expressed in a different way, so you draw the most appropriate representation for exploring and developing each thought. There were quite a few pages of my sketchbook with images that look a complete mess because I've drawn revision and revision one on top of another as I work through the idea.

Precedent: Mariakolster, Tautra (Jensen & Skodvin)

2009-04-17T15:15:00.000-07:00

Photos scanned from Detail Magazine

It's also worth noting that the architects, Jenson and Sodkvin, provide a generous number of lovely photos of this scheme and several others. There are also links to download high quality images which is an unexpected but welcome bonus for admiring students hunting for precedents.

Precedent: Novy Dvur, Czech Republic (John Pawson)

2009-04-17T15:14:00.001-07:00

Photos scanned from New Sacred Architecture

Site Model

2009-04-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

Couple of images of my (digital) site model

Heating solution

2009-04-16T05:37:00.000-07:00

One of the key challenges with this project is the integration of the closed monastic community with the wider city population. There are four key ways I envisage this could happen:

Church services - visitors admitted to the island could watch (but not participate in) the monks' daily church services. This reduces the physical and emotional distance between the observing population and the observed monastics, whilst still maintaining a clear barrier between the two and placing control in the hands of the monks.
Beer - the monks obviously need to sell their beer, and whilst they could achieve this through a third-party, they could also sell beer on site and even run a modest bar.
Guests - many monasteries have guest accommodation to provide extra income. The guests may be people needing a break, visiting speakers or academics, or newly arrived novices.
Crematorium - a little more unusual (i.e. I have no precedent for this at all), the monks could run a crematorium. The nearest one currently is the Co-Op in Beeston, about 2 miles away.

The crematorium option was inspired by the quote I posted earlier ("It is in this place... that one passes to eternity") and by this fantastic article from BLDGBLOG. If I hadn't handed in my environmental strategy 2 weeks ago I'd be onto a winner.

Where it all began...

2009-04-16T02:43:00.000-07:00

"It is here that death and the truth,
Their terrible torches raise;
It is in this place, in the inaccessible world,
That one passes to eternity."

Translation from an engraving outside the abbey of La Trappe, as recorded in the marvellous book:

A Visit to the Monastery of La Trappe in 1817
With Notes
Taken during a tour the[sic] Le Perche, Normandy, Bretagne, Poitou, Anjou,
Le Boucage, Touraine, Orleanois, and
The environs of Paris

by W.D. Fellowes, Esq.

Illustrated with numerous coloured engravings,
From drawings made on the spot

They don't name books like they used to. I've had to fudge the translation a bit because my french is a little rusty. Actually it was never shiny in the frist place, so feel free to correct or retranslate if I've gone horribly wrong. The orginal text is:

"C'est ici que la mort et que la vérité
Elèvent leurs flambeaux terribles;
C'est de cette demeure, au monde inaccessible,
Que l'on passe à l'éternité."

On a side note, after months of inactivity I intend to update this blog with all my design progress... stay tuned for more over the coming days.

Evolution of a Style

2009-01-29T03:47:00.000-08:00

After staring at those maps for a few days, I decided I didn't really like them. On our course, we have this problem: we're all encouraged to be creative and arty, but the work we're asked to produce is methodical, predictable and, well, boring. How do you resolve that chasm of a gap? You can see from these images that I've tried to convert my dull, undergrad photoshop work into something with a bit more visual interest, that fits in with the rest of my proposal presentation. Who knows, I may still ditch this playing around or go for something completely different again!

Site Analysis 1

2009-01-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

I'm sort of mid-way through the process of piecing together my Design

Proposal so I thought I'd put up a bit of work-in-progress. These are the first two site analysis maps I've squeezed out - they actually need a few more things adding (and a key would probably be helpful...) but they're well on the way.

Oh yeah - the top image is Building Useage (try and work out what's what if you're bored), whilst the bottom one is simply highlighting the urban grain.

More to come...

Spatial Adjacencies

2009-01-19T14:45:00.000-08:00

This is my first stab at establishing relationships between the different areas of the monastery. My biggest problem is going to be the Cloister, which is typically the central organising feature of a monastery. My island site won't allow room for a traditional courtyard arrangement, so I might have to 'reinterpret' the cloister into something a bit different.

2009-01-15T14:12:00.000-08:00

I found these wonderful pictures on Flickr of the site in the snow, from 1990. The Leeds skyline is very different to the one we see today, as is the development around the canal... no Armouries for a start. However, the island is already there (which shouldn't be a surprise - it's on the earliest OS map I could find in 1854) and filled with a very similar combination of single-storey huts that is still there now.

Many thanks to Tom Ackroyd for uploading the photos.

Ampleforth Abbey

2008-12-19T04:29:00.000-08:00

[photo taken from the Ampleforth Abbey wikipedia article]

One of my colleagues and future architectural partners has brought Ampleforth Abbey to my attention. The Benedictine monks produce cider and, just recently, cider brandy. A recent article in The Guardian newspaper went into details and had a great interview with Brother Rainer - it's well worth a read.

The monks really downplay the production, and amazingly no relating information appears on the wikipedia article for the Abbey.

Links:

http://www.abbey.ampleforth.org.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampleforth,_The_Abbey_of

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/dec/14/ampleforth-abbey-monks-cider-brandy

Briggate: Propose - Presentation Feedback 2

2008-12-19T04:22:00.000-08:00

As predicted, my second tutorial yeilded a completely different set of comments. This time my scheme was analysed from completely the opposite end of the spectrum, picking up on many of the faults shown in the detailed floor plans.

All the comments were perfectly valid, and I intend to revisit the plans for a complete overhaul. The circulation within the building is excessive and wasteful (not just the stairs, but horizontal circulation as well) so the whole plan needs tightening up.

I now think my scheme is too far removed from the ecological/succession development that precedes the design. Whilst I'm tempted to rethink the entire scheme and design a more parasitic, organic structure, that will depend largely on time and my (more important) thesis project.

Briggate: Propose - Presentation Feedback

2008-12-16T06:13:00.000-08:00

I saw my personal tutors yesterday regarding this work, and whilst they seemed to really like the overall vision of creating a new roof-level streetscape, they felt that the work so far didn't push the idea enough. It was too safe.

I'm inclined to agree. I made a deliberate decision to pull back from the craziness of the elevation sketch that I produced with Roger for the Redefinition stage, but have pulled back so far that my proposal is tame.

I plan to add another sheet to the presentation, which illustrates the community growth triggered by my proposed unit. Hopefully this extra sheet will demonstrate the overall vision, and add back a touch of imagination and excitement to the scheme. I will be seeing another tutor on Wednesday, so hopefully the feedback will be broadly similar (a futile hope if ever there was one)

Briggate: Propose - Presentation Sheet 4

2008-12-16T06:12:00.000-08:00

Briggate: Propose - Presentation Sheet 3

2008-12-09T23:19:00.000-08:00

Briggate: Propose - Presentation Sheet 2

2008-12-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

Briggate: Propose - Presentation Sheet 1

2008-12-03T22:39:00.000-08:00

Briggate: Propose - Initial Images

2008-12-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

Briggate: Propose

2008-12-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

My proposal for briggate continues the themes from the Redefinition. Of the 3 vertical planes, this proposal explores one possibility for the upper, roof-top level. To demonstrate the use of a rooftop, I am altering an existing shop unit, with a complete redesign behind the existing facade.

This unit is one of the few non-retail uses on Briggate. As we concluded that the existing retail is vital to the strength of the street, I felt it was important not to take over an actual shop. Instead, I am proposing the alteration of one of the two McDonald's restaurants, and replace it with a similar (but expanded) service.

It is important that I emphasise the vertical circulation within my refit, and demonstrate the viability of useable roof space.

Briggate: Redefine

2008-11-25T01:24:00.000-08:00

This is where things start to get interesting. For our redefinition, we decided to focus on four key elements from the definition that we felt were really integral to the street as it exists.

- Single Use (Retail)

- Single Level (Retail branding restricts eye-line to below first floor)

- Pocket Spaces (The loins and arcades that make the street unique)

- Destination (The street's purpose, in it's current incarnation)

We then talked around the four points and started to explore how we could either change or enhance those existing characteristics. We found that similar solutions or problems started to repeat from the four different starting points, and so we mapped out the thought processes that related to each one. After several iterations of the mapping, we felt we had reached a natural conclusion, or in other words, our redefinition.

So our concept of Briggate was now focused its potential to become a 3-dimensional street. By adding activity above and below the current shopping level we are suggesting a complex and layered streetscape, with the potential to become a compeltely unique destination. The Briggate we currently know is redefined as one third of a system that does not yet exist.

We then felt we should try and represent this concept graphically, and so we sketched a slightly deranged cartoon of the new, redefined Briggate:

Briggate: Define

2008-11-24T12:43:00.000-08:00

This is the first of the definition sheets - the colours have gone a bit strange, I'll try and sort that before I upload the second sheet. Click on the image for a closer look anyway.

UPDATE: I have now replaced the image with one showing the correct colours. As you can now see, the image shows a sequence of maps of Briggate, showing:

- the pedestrianised area is marooned by the vehicular main roads looped around the East side, cutting off Briggate and halting the historical north-south flow.
- retail unit sizes vary enormously throughout the area, but there is an overal trend of increasing unit size as you move from north-south down the street
- the area is almost exclusively retail. Other uses are pushed to either end of the street, closer to Boar Lane and The Headrow.

The elevation at the bottom illustrates the inequality in dominance between the historical loins (alleys) against the main streets, grand arcades and key stores. Lengths of shop frontage are marked above the elevation, which again shows a trend for larger shop fronts towards the southern end of the street.

Briggate: Define>Redefine>Propose

2008-11-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

You may all be thinking that my design proposal is moving a little slowly, so I thought I should fill you in on the work that is going on in parallel.

Briggate is the main, pedestrianised shopping street in Leeds; if you've ever been shopping in Leeds then you will certainly have been there. The photo below shows a view from the South end looking North.

This street has been the site for our initial design work, which is effectively unrelated to our individual thesis projects. The work has been a combination of group work and individual proposals, and will culminate in around two weeks time. My group has two members - myself and Roger Reeves.

The brief for this project is split into three distinct stages:

Define: This stage is essentially a site analysis, undertaken by seperate tutor groups. For those people unfamilar with the idea, it is the process of gathering information about the site, as diverse, complete and exhaustive as possible, then analysing and presenting that data in a consise way. It is common to concetrate on a small number of key site characteristics once the initial data gathering has been undertaken. In this way, each group will focus on different areas and come up with unique 'definitions' for the area.

Redefine: The brief describes this stage as follows: "Using Briggate as a generator, develop a Narrative addressing defined issues and develop a specific method of approach." We interpreted that to mean all sorts of different things before we finally settled on something we understood. You'll see what we ended up with in a couple of days.

Propose: This stage marks the end of the group work, and we individually propose some sort of 'intervention' that fits within the framework of the group Redefinition. That intervention may be a building, but it could equally be sculptural, landscape, or something completely different. At least, that's what we think so far. This stage is currently ongoing, and I should find out in a couple of weeks whether I've got it completely wrong or not.

I'll post my group's Definition work online tomorrow...

And The Winner Is...

2008-11-21T05:06:00.000-08:00

The results of the first reader poll are in and the winner is Fearn's Island, with a convincing 77% of the vote!

Luckily this is by far my favorite site from the shortlist and I have already begun photographing the site and constructing a digital model of the surrounding area. I'll post some of the site photos on the blog over the weekend.

I think it's going to be a bit of a squeeze getting the building on here, but it'll be fun trying. The traditional monastery courtyard layout will be impossible to accomodate, so I'll have to get inventive.

Thank you to everyone for taking part, and after this success I hope to have a new poll up shortly.

Tour of The Black Sheep Brewery

2008-11-17T03:33:00.000-08:00

Photos:

1. Casking process

2. Casking process

3. Fermenting

4. Fermenting

5. Mash tun and Copper

(all images downloaded from www.flickr.com)

Here are some images from a tour around The Black Sheep Brewery in Masham, Yorkshire. I would have liked to take pictures myself, but these are sadly banned on the tour. However, they do describe the history of the brewery and the brewing process itself. I think the older part of the brewery (image 5. is clearly the most exciting architecturally, with the sculptural forms of the equipment dominating the space.

I fully recommend the Black Sheep Best Bitter.

Site 5 : The Dark Arches

2008-11-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

Photos:
1. Aerial photograph (Google Earth)
2. Bird's Eye view looking North (www.live.com)
3. Bird's Eye view looking East (www.live.com)
4. Bird's Eye view looking South (www.live.com)
5. Bird's Eye view looking West (www.live.com)

The final site on my shortlist is this, a patch of dusty carpark on the banks of the canal and next to the railway station. Admittedly, it's not as quick as it looks to walk to the station (it's on the wrong side) but it's only a few minutes.

I've known about this site for a little while because we based a project here in our 3rd year undergraduate (2006). It has vehicular access over the little bridge to the West (see the top aerial photograph), together with good canal and pedestrian access.

The Dark Arches provide a good backdrop, although the site is a little out of the way from the busy centre.

UPDATE: I have now been informed by two independent sources that this site is home to a multistorey carpark... perhaps my research should have stretched to a new site visit. Thanks for nothing Google Earth! However, for the purposes of this project I think the site is still valid. A little imagination never hurt anyone.

Site 4 : Kirkgate

2008-11-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

Photos:
1. Aerial photograph (Google Earth)
2. Bird's Eye view looking North (www.live.com)
3. Bird's Eye view looking East (www.live.com)
4. Bird's Eye view looking South (www.live.com)
5. Bird's Eye view looking West (www.live.com)

Finding sites close to the bus station was tricky, but this patch of semi-parkland is underused and very close to Leeds Parish Church. The fact that the site is bisected by the railway is actually quite appealing, with opportunities to tunnel under it and connect the two sides.

At the same time though, it seems a shame to build over one of the few areas of green that Leeds has, even one as poor as this.

Site 3 : Fearn's Island

2008-11-13T00:47:00.001-08:00

Photos:
1. Aerial photo (Google Earth)
2. Bird's Eye view looking North (www.live.com)
3. Bird's Eye view looking East (www.live.com)
4. Bird's Eye view looking South (www.live.com)
5. Bird's Eye view looking West (www.live.com)

I noticed this site whilst scanning the length of the River Aire for sites on either bank. I haven't been able to find an official name for the island yet (please get in touch if you've got any idea) but the footbridge running over the top seems to be called Crown Point Bridge.

Obviously this site would provide rather a unique challenge, especially in terms of access. The site is very close to the huge Carlsberg Brewery that closed announced its closure just over a week ago, which could provide a good comparison.

My early research tells me that Trappist monastics value 'hiddenness' and so this site would be fantastic for providing the isolation required, whilst still maintaining a strong city identity.

UPDATE: It seems that the island may be called Fearn's Island, so I have renamed this blog post accordingly.

Site 2 : Vicar Lane

2008-11-13T00:11:00.000-08:00

Photos:
1. Aerial photograph (Source: Google Earth)
2. Bird's Eye view looking North (Source: www.live.com)
3. Bird's Eye view looking East (Source: www.live.com)
4. Bird's Eye view looking South (Source: www.live.com)
5. Bird's Eye view looking West (Source: www.live.com)

This site made the shortlist primarily because it is available, and relatively close to the main streets of Briggate and The Headrow. Unfortunately it is also surrounded by roads and car parks, which doesn't make for the most appealing context.

As you can see from the images, the inner city loop road emerges from the ground just next to the site, which would make noise control a key consideration for any development. Access to the site is abundant, but there are no significant public transport links apart from a bus stop a little further South.

Whilst this is still a relatively prominant site, the area is unappealing to pedestrians and completely dominanted by vehicular traffic.

Site 1 : Wellington Street

2008-11-12T12:47:00.001-08:00

Photos:

1. Aerial photograph (Source: Google Earth)

2. Bird's Eye view looking East (Source: www.live.com)

3. Bird's Eye view looking South (Source: www.live.com)

4. Bird's Eye view looking West (Source: www.live.com)

This site was added to the shortlist because of its very central location, proximity to the railway station and buses, and current availability. There are very few sites of this size available in the city centre, no others in such prominant locations.

The site has been empty for some months, having previously been occupied by a large, brick office building. It would be an exciting challenge to put an industrial, introverted building type in such a central location.

Choosing A Site

2008-11-12T12:05:00.001-08:00

As with my choice of building type, I began site hunting by drawing up a shortlist and examining the pros and cons of each. The locations for each of the 5 sites on my shortlist are shown on the image here.

I made an early decision to base my scheme in central Leeds, regardless of building type or special interest. So far on our course we have based all but two design projects in or around Leeds, and it seemed appropriate to finish off the 5 year portfolio with a final Leeds scheme that demostrated a vigorous understanding of the city.

Within that intial criteria, the sites on this shortlist do not share any one overall characteristic, but instead represent a range of site strengths that could take my design in different directions.

1. Current availability of site
2. Proximity to public transport
3. Proximity to the canal

Choosing A Building Type

2008-11-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

There are three major decisions to be made at the start of a thesis project:

1. Building type
2. Site
3. Specific interest

Knowing one of these can lead to discovering or developing the others. I personally began by listing potential building types that interested me, and using this as the starting point for the other decisions.

Having listed around a dozen possibilities I gradually eliminated typologies one by one. Eventually I settled on a brewery as my favoured building type.

Unfortunately, breweries as a building type are relatively uncomplicated, and there is limited potential to develop such a brief into a thesis subject. I therefore needed to expand the building type to incorporate other services that would layer complexity and academic interest onto the brewery typology.

Monasteries have a strong historical connection with brewing, and there are still a number of monasteries globally that generate their entire income from beer sales. They also have an incredibly strong architectural history that contrasts well with breweries, which have often been ignored by architectural historians. By combining the two, an interesting contrast of typologies combines into an exciting building type.