Weekly Blog | My Site 2

Welcome!

Here is where weekly updates have been posted documenting the design research process and completed work relating to the different subsections of the project. For the relevant entries, a link is provided to the final documents, illustrating the transition from concept to completion.

The weekly blog records my thought process throughout the project from analysing the project brief to the final portfolio.

WEEK 01 // 12th January 2021

INTRODUCTION

Analysing the Brief

Organising Group Work

Temple Church Ruin Elevations

WEEK 02 // 19th January 2021

DR# 1.1

Individual Research For Group Website

Glossary of Terms // Click [Here] for More Information on the Group Website

Heritage | Regenerative | Biodiversity

Site Analysis Research // Click [Here] for More Information

Site Plan | Ruin Elevations | Photo Elevations | Future Plans

Case Study Research // Click [Here] for More Information

Material | Amin Taha // 15 Clerkenwell Close

Public Space | MMX // Brick Arcade

Regenerative Design | WSP // Bristol university Auditorium

Understanding the Site Without Being Able to Visit in Person

WEEK 03 // 26th January 2021

DR# 2.1

System Thinking Research | Food // Summary Diagram & Bristol's 2050 Vision Strategy - 8 Categories

System Thinking Research | Water // Summary Diagram

Project Narrative Ideas

Weaving - Weavers Chapel 1299

Bristol Weaving Mill Ltd. (0.8 miles from site)

Engaging with local Businesses

- Service Provide:

- Fabric Collections

- Design & Production Consultancy

- Commission Weaving

- Accessories

Fabric (Reclaimed Textile Waste - Fashion)

- Workshop Activities

- Customising (up-cycling) clothes, furnishings etc.

- Art work / Fashion / Theatre

(Performances & events held in ruin)

WEEK 04 // 02th February 2021

DR# 2.2

Gabion Life Cycle Assessment // View Complete Material Passport [Here]

WEEK 05 // 09th February 2021

DR# 2.3

Gabion Wall Design Ideas Collage

Material 'Scratch' Project Design Sketches // Completed 'Scratch' Project can be found [Here]

WEEK 06 // 16th February 2021

DR# 2.3

Sketchup Model of Temple Church & Gardens

Material 'Scratch' Project // Pavilion design idea in context

Project Narrative Ideas

Fishing Nets (Bristol Fishing)

River Avon

- Up-cycling

- Repair Centre (Learning a skill, community activity)

- Re-purpose

- Finer nets used to protect plant saplings

- Larger nets used as climbing net in architectural proposal

- Adaptive Structure

- Reclaimed Ghost Nets

Ropemakers of Bristol

- Manufactures - ended in 1965

- Newtown, St Philip - ‘the roping house’ (0.7 miles from site) - Hand made church bell ropes from Temple Church

- The bells were removed from the tower for safety in 1941 - Now hung in its north-west tower of Bristol Cathedral

(0.8 miles from site)

Connect sites? City walk

- collect items on route to fill gabions?

Rope Making / Repairing / Weaving on Site

- Growing plant based Fibres (Hemp?)

- Growing plants that can be used for dyes

Bringing People to Site

- Growing vegetation off of the tower.

Visual symbol of where the site is and the activity that is taking place. (Gabion mesh structure / trellis)

- Wire mesh structures (pillars) distributed around Bristol (growing vegetation)

Rope & Net Architecture Design Precedent Collage

WEEK 07 // 23th February 2021

DR# 3.1

Project Narrative & Site Plan Sketch

Mental Health & Ecotherapy Facility

Five Senses:

- Sight, Hearing, Touch, Smell, Taste

Thought Garden

- Worries can anonymously written on biodegradable paper, folded and placed inside gabion wall

Physical Activity

- Combating a sedentary lifestyle

- City walk, - gabion pillars distributed as markers

Sensory Gardens

Temple Church Plans // Sketch Designs

Gabion Uses // Sketch Designs

Tower // Sketch Designs

Site Section // Sketch Designs

WEEK 08 // 2nd March 2021

DR# 3.2

Manifesto

With the increasing pressures of modern-day life combined with the demise of natural habitats and the climate emergency, this project looks to create an outlet by repairing, re-purposing and re-wilding Bristol’s Temple Church. The proposed public mental health and well-being service provides ecotherapy whilst subsequently increasing the biodiversity within the urban context.

Through respecting, researching, and responding to the site’s heritage, the site provides a public space that is freely inhabitable alongside private facilities where people can seek help. It also implements strategic design interventions across all scales, from sensory gardens to city walks, to provide an urban escape for city individuals.

With such a strong emphasis on increasing biodiversity, wildlife and microclimates, the project addresses how the site will remain functional, but also how the experience of the spaces differs throughout the seasons. With the scarily increasing statistics of young adults and working professionals who are seeking help regarding mental health, Bristol’s temple church once again can serve as a safe haven over a proposed 10-year period.

Having a regenerative design approach, whereby whole system thinking is integrated into the design, creates a resilient site-specific project that aims to leave the site, the people and the planet in a better condition by the end of the 10 years.

Revised Site Plan & Plant Matrix Template

'Flower of Life' Research

Proposed Facilities

Wildlife & Contemplation Tower
- Information Point
- Contemplation Spaces
- Connections with Nature
- Viewing Gallery

Garden Pavilion
- Performance Space
- Meeting Space
- Contemplation & Relaxation

Church Gardens
- Inhabitable Grass Spaces
- Wild-flower Garden
- Walking Routes & Raised Platforms
- Maintained Floral Garden
- Responding to the sites existing features
(Tombs, Graves, Well)

Inside Temple Church
- Cable / Rope walkways & bridges
- Continuation of the sensory gardens / planting
- Raised Platforms ( Window Entrance)
- Thought Garden (Notes inside gabion)
- Gabion Pillars & Archways
- Water collection & Grey water purification

- waterfall & Read beds
- Rain water collection & water distribution

- Gardening Store
- Staff room (+ Kitchen)
- Toilet & Shower Facilities
- Offices - Mental Health Services (Therapy)
- Community Flexible facility - Classes

City Walking Routes
- Thinking time & Combating a sedentary lifestyle

Maggie Centre Architecture Design Guide

Wildlife & Contemplation Tower Redesign

System Thinking Apraoch

A.1 Solar / Heat
- Using tree canopies for shading
A.2 Solar / Light
- Using tree canopies as shading in summer and allowing light through in winter
- Using varying levels of natural light to provoke emotions through the spaces
- Positing intervention to maximise the natural light and growing conditions
A.3 Energy
- Utilising the towers hight by installing vertical wind turbines.
- Potential use of solar panels
A.4 Water
- Rainwater collection and grey water purification to be the primary water source for maintenance
A.7 Biodiversity
- A broad range of plant species are implemented to promote extensive wildlife throughout the seasons
A.8 Climate and microclimate
- Creating a variety of microclimates to allow wildlife to flourish and create architecturally provocative environments

B.1 Transport and mobility
- Inclusive accessible design intervention for all uses to navigate and utilise the facilities
- City Walk connections promotes safe connecting routes to the site
B.2 Demographics & local community
- Addressing and providing an outlet facility for the pubic and surrounding communities
B.4 Material & Physical Environment
- Careful selection of materials that work to complement the existing material fabric of the church ruin whilst also maintaining the approach of reusing and upcycling existing materials locally sourced.
B.5 Waste
- Grey water waste is purified and reused
- Steel from the supporting archways, redesigned and reused
- Plant waste goes to compost and reused as fertiliser on site
B.7 Urban Ambiance (Noise)
- As part of the sensory gardens, the absence of noise is created through dense planting of vegetation
B.8 Heritage, Culture & civic memory
- Restoration of the project
- Movement through the site
- References to the knights templar and the flower of life
- A biodiversity take on recreating historical elements of the ruin
- Materials linking back to the sites uses