Macro - micro

This August I had a great opportunity to take a part in the project called Macro-Micro. It is a prototype building designed and made by Masters Unit students within the School of Architecture at Dundee University. It is located at the Botanic gardens. In the building process they are testing existing technologies in a new way which makes this work very unique. 
I joined the team as volunteer in the stage when buildings frame structure was already erected and insulation work just finished. 

External wall structure filled with icynene.

During August I was participating in different works such as 

carpentry, covering weather membranes on outside and vapour membranes inside, laying OSB sheets and many others.
It was a great experience and a pleasure to work together with interesting people and learn many new things in process of making. 

Unfortunately my volunteering on this project is finished now because I am back to the school for my 4th year but I will keep the following on the progress of this interesting project.

More info about Macro Micro:

http://macromicro.co.uk/
http://macromicrodundee.wordpress.com

HOME

Recently I took a part in the International competition hosted by Building Trust international. The competition seeks solutions for a low-cost ($30,000) single occupancy house within an urban area of a developed country. This was an opportunity for me to implement ideas which I have been preoccupied with during last 3 years. These ideas are about small space.

LOCATION
Dundee City, Angus, Scotland, UK: population 152,320 (2008)

HOUSING FACTS
There are growing signs of affordable housing shortages in Dundee City area.
   *In the last year 863 social sector properties have been lost through sale or demolition.
   *There were 1,252 households assessed as homeless in 2011-2012.
   *The total number of households on the main council housing list, which includes the transfer list, was 8,518 in March 2011.
   *43,000 properties in Dundee City currently fail the Scottish Housing Quality Standard.
Schelter Scotland [online] Available from: http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/housing_issues/get_your_housing_facts/dundee_city

CURRENT TENDENCIES
In the past decade Dundee City Council has carried out a large scale demolition programme to deal with inadequate housing.
Demolition significantly is changing the skyline of the city and its density.
There is very little activity in the building sector at this moment with rare exceptions of new homes being built and
some old being refurbished. 

HOUSING PATTERN
Dundee is generally characterised by low density housing, with relatively large green areas - parks and gardens.
The most common housing types:
1.Victorian terraced tenements, mainly four storeys high.
2.Significant feature - detached family houses creates sub-urban character only 1km distance from the city centre.
3.In proposed area significant part is occupied by two-storey detached houses for 4 households. 

CLIMATIC FEATURES
Dundee has an average of 1400 hours of sunshine per year which makes it the sunniest city in Scotland.

ALLOTMENTS
“Due to a desire from people to know the origin of their food and because of the recent rise in cost of
food prices there has been resurgence in demand for allotments Scotland-wide and in Dundee.
There are 13 allotment sites in Dundee with responsibility for a total of 600 plots.
Allotment Security has been identified as a problem in many areas of the UK, with many sites
suffering from incidents, vandalism and theft.”
Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society [online] Available from: http://www.sags.org.uk/docs/AllotmentStrategies/DundeeStrategyConsultation.pdf

 
 

THE SITE
The site is located in Dundee's West End approximately 1.5km from the city centre.
It is near to green areas of Balgay Hill and Victoria Park.
The site is resided by City Road Allotments which is owned by City Road Allotments Association.
There are 64 plots of sizes 15x20m located on South faced slope. 
Plot-holders are diverse but mostly they are retired elderly persons who have a free time to spend in the allotment.

SITE SECTION

CONCEPT


Single-person household is the most expensive, energy and space consuming living model in the urban environment.
Therefore its dwelling design should take into account many factors and incorporate wide range of compensatory qualities to be sustainable.

LOCAL CONTEXT
Design looks for ADAPTABLE solution which after small transformations could be used in different environments.
However, the original context is urban Dundee area with its building typology and housing situation.

SOCIALISATION FACTOR
People by nature are social beings therefore even single-person household dwelling should be involved in some community links.
Design looks for a BALANCED solution which provides both INTIMACY and OPENNESS, SECLUSION and INTERACTIVITY.

USER
There are two main potential target groups for the proposed design in the proposed site:

1st group are HOMELESS people who are interested in a healthy “green” lifestyle.
City Council provides them with low cost houses,
whereas land owner lets the plots for a typical price.
Allotments make gains from PERMANENT INHABITANTS
who provides safety and order of the area.

2nd group are persons who already lease a plot and
owns a flat which is too large or too expensive for them.
In this case these persons could move to affordable
low cost houses but their flats will be available for others. 

TRANSFORMATION SCENARIOS
Design looks for TRANSFORMABLE solution which provides FLEXIBILITY of space for possible life’s changes.


1. Single person finds another person with whom to share a time and space. Design provides ADDITIONAL living space for up to 2 adults and 1 child.

2. Houses could be located in such a way that provides
possibility to join them together with a common
space or just a canopy.

COMPACTNESS AND SPACIOUSNESS
Design operates with ENERGY EFFICIENT form to achieve COHERENT solution which provides both COMPACTNESS and SPACIOUSNESS.

Continuous and unobstructed movement through the house’s daily life without corridors.

Observing and interacting with the surrounding environment.

Hexagon has a low perimeter for a given area and straight edges to provide functionality.

Key areas: location and features

Layout is divided by zones, zones is separated by “service walls”

SUSTAINABILITY
Design uses SUSTAINABLE energy solutions.

Roof derives directly from the layout and forms six faces at a 40 degree angle which is most effective to gain from solar energy in Scotland area.

Solar PV panels could be located on 3 of 6 roof faces which allows operate effectively (over 90% of the maximum) during the day in Scotland’s changeable weather conditions. There is possible to place 18 a typical 185 Watt solar panels (1.6x08m) with total area 23m2. Therefore it creates up to 3.3kW array. Potential output of this array could reach 2,500kWh per year which is around 80% of electricity consumption from average single-person household (˜3,000kWh per year).
Surplus electricity could be sold back to the national grid or
collected in a electrical storage (off-grid).
Based on data from http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

Version ‘M’ with total area 58m2 provides living space in two levels for up to 2 adults and 1 child.

Site plan. Design provides flexibility of locating houses on the site, effective use of land, insolation and unobstructed views.

 Ground floor plan

  Section through entrance

Section through living area

 North elevation

East elevation

South elevation

West elevation

 View from City Road

Light Turret

During Winter holidays I found some spare time for participating in design competition "STORY-TELLING SPACE" for Dundee University Nursery. Organisator - DUNDEE TRANSITION TOWN Group  http://www.facebook.com/groups/204363026269920/
which is part of International movement Transition Network. See more on: www.transitionnetwork.org 
Brief was simple:
No more than 5x5m footprint.
Ecologically sustainable and/or recycled materials.
Easy to build by non-experts.
Able to be de-mounted and re-assembled quickly.

The site.

The site is located in Dundee University Campus area behind The Union building. The site is used by nursery nearby. It is quite secluded by trees around and within it and that makes it little bit unusual. Particularly with The Union building in the background.

The fully glazed facade of Postmodernist style building makes the site bright and glittering in sunny days. 

Another architectural feature of the site are couple of small turrets on the roofs of historic buildings near the site.

Concept.

I took a book as a symbolic base for the concept and structural idea.
Thus story telling space is:
    1. Enclosed from outside world and open at the same time.
    2. Airy, little bit dreamy and mysterious.
    3. Structural louvres as a book pages.

Another source of inspiration was a latern and a campfire because for me story telling usually associates with sitting around a campfire in a dark forest.
Thus I defined story telling space as:
    1. A source of light during dark time of the day.
    2. An enclosed space with light source (skylight) in the centre.
    3. A space with seatings located around the centre.

Story telling space is in form of a dodecagon (12 sided polygon)
and oriented with the entrance strictly north-south.  

It is a place where to lose all sense of time.
The light is only one which reverts it back. 

Structure.

The main structural idea: all elements of the building work as the whole structure. I chose OSB3 sheets as the main building material. It is cheap material with wide possibilities to use it.

I liked idea about standardisation which allows operate with certain sizes and use a material efficiently and parsimoniously.

For this shelter 90m2 is needed and that is around 30pc of OSB3 sheets. Thickness of sheets varies - 12, 15, 18mm accordingly to the structural purpose.

Another material used for this building is transparent polycarbonate for openings.

Here is a build-up scheme.

Building is easy and quickly de-mounted and re-assembled.

The lowest element of cladding forms perimeter of the dodecagon and braces it during assembling of the whole structure. 

Light turret consists of ribs that works in compression and pulls together all upper part of frame structure.

Light.

The light plays the most important role in my concept. Here is scheme showing different sources of light used to create different mood during twenty-four hours.

See more at STUDY WORKS.

Open house

2nd year of studies already have started in the end of August when Sketch Design Competition was announced and I started to generated ideas for it. Object is an outdoor learning space different from the traditional. Client is real - the pupils and staff of Grange Primary School. This means - the best proposal will be realised.
I came to my concept very quickly without being on the physical site – thanks to my spatial imagination. 

This photo shows significance of the place – presence of nature. Narrow belt of trees along the site creates view free of buildings and other elements of the city.
The main idea of my concept is building – 'mediator' between inside and outside, people and nature, as well as place for feeling, exploring and playing. 
As a base for my design was taken archetype of a house - compact, simple form; double pitched roof (local feature ;). 
And then... I opened it.

...filled with content...

 

I open it for all 5 senses.

This house is open to the light – direct light in the morning and diffused during the rest of the day.

It is open to the best views towards the cluster of trees.

It is open to scent what comes from flower bed.

It is open to sounds what come from birds and school nearby.

It is open for pupils and everybody who walks along. There are sitting stairs inside where to sit and eat lunch. 

Site plan

 

Plan

Section

South view

It is hard to realise from the street that there is a school. While “Open house” will be as a place mark to pay attention and be inviting. 

Street view

Street view

 Build-up scheme