Project Update - Plans and Sections

Some feedback that I did receive on my presentation was that their was a lack of basic plans and section on the presentation. I thought that an isometric section would suffice but I do believe that it was hard to follow.

A construction detail would also help express the way in which the DIY culture was reflected in the tectonics of the architecture.

Project Update - Project Summery

Project Update - Final Master Planning - 2025 to 2035

The final part of the master planning is to be completed in 2 stages. This is a strategy to deal with the growing community as it grows, rather than designing huge structure that may have large portions wasted. Because of the type of construction, these extensions can be made easily and without a great deal of mechanical assistance.

Story:
As more and more DIY enthusiasts begin to hear about the workshop and visit, the Woodfordia Association decides that an expansion is required. There is also a demand on spaces for stalls to swap and trade parts and tools. The expansion occurs in two stages.

The first is an expansion of the building envelope to accommodate a larger lecture space and workshop.

The second is stage is the construction of a second workshop and lecture space with a covered space in between for stalls and trading.

Final Stage 01

Final Stage 02

Project Update - Final Master Planning - 2020

2020

The Woodfordia association commissions a team of sustainable designers to design and project manage the creation of a permanent yet very low impact workshop and tutorial space that can be easily extended or expanded to meet the needs of the growing DIY community who choose to visit woodford.

The number of people accommodated is informed by APA data suggesting that there is an optimum no. of people in a group to reach maximum effectiveness. The facility will accommodate approximately 20 smaller, but highly effective working groups to use the space at any one time.

(New Study Suggests Small Groups Solve Problems Better By Kendra Cherry,)

The brief describes that the building is to have a workshop that can be expanded out into a covered area with a space to for experts to give tutorials. The area will be uses through the year with visitors being able to setup tents nearby in the case that they wish to use Woodfordia as a retreat.

The construction methodology must also allow for it to be expanded to accommodate more people as the Community grows without any wasted spaces

The team comes up with a design that is capable of facilitating 30 people working in the workshop and 40 people attending a lecture. Plus a small amenities building that is self compositing.

Describe construction method.

With the assistance of our character, the workshop is constructed. And the workshop is successfully operated all year round with classes and workshop tutorials being run and organized by our character and a team of DIY enthusiasts. A small maintenance fee is charged for the use of the grounds by participants and the online presence of the workshop generates addition ticket sales for the Festival.

Project Update - Final Master-planning - 2015

The site is selected an a series of tents are erected capable of accommodating 30 people who want to work on projects and an additional 3 small tends where do it yourself techniques can be explained to an additional 30 people.   

The workshop consists of a number of pneumatic drills and tools as well as 2 spot welders and 2 large drill presses. Even though there is only a small amount of tools. The power required to have the tools operate is so great that generator vehicles are driven onto the site to provide power. Although quite a small installation, it is enough to attract enough attention from DIYer to let their friends know about the project.

The Woodfordia organization this then approached to facility DIYer all year round. The proposal is accepted and our character moves to Woodford to manage the help oversee and be close to the project. 

Project Update - Script - Reality and Creativity

I am now starting to look at how I will present the proposal and addressing specific parts of the presentation criteria. I'm choosing to depict the proposal as a story with a character:

Reality

The overwhelming allure of material positions has give us a false context of what possessions mean to us, and that they are the ultimate means to happiness and satisfaction in life. Not only this but a context in which one can judge another’s success in life. But what is the impact does this ever increasing needs to consume have on the health of the environment and the health of society.

To understand this we must look at the impact of producing the products we consume. 

Raw materials must to extracted from the earth but unlike organic material, manufactured materials such as ABS plastic, the same found in computers, do not biodegrade and therefore either end up in landfill or pollute the natural environment in fact, Last year, an estimated 150,000 tons of marine plastic debris ended up on the shores of Japan and 300 tons a day on India’s coasts. (http://coastalcare.org)

One of the major aspects of this consumerist system is the individual life cycle of a product. As products are outdated seemingly as soon as they are released, Quality and adaptability are disregarded and it becomes the norm to discard outdated products and purchase new ones. Transport, production and manufacturing of these products puts enormous strain on the environment.

Community

Faced with the serious threat of resource depletion, growing awareness that we are becoming more dependent on a lifestyle that cannot be sustained and the fact that many people cannot afford to keep up with these social trends and new community has emerged. The expert amateur or the DIY community.

This DIY community began to come to light in about 2009. The community comprises of a series of websites that create a free open source marketplace for instructions regarding fixing, upgrading and extending the life of everyday products. From phones, computers, cars and homes these websites allow everyday people to learn share and contribute to the sustainability of the planet. 

Creativity

This brings us to our character, a retiree living in a time of uncertain economic future, 2015. To add to this pressure, he constantly has to purchase new products and technology to replace the outdated and broke ones around the home, until one day his laptop dies. Tired of having to spend his retirement money on replacing old products that seem to be fine, he decides to fix it himself. After a search on the internet he quickly find some instruction and fixes it himself. He also decides to upload and share instructions for other items he knows how to fix and before long, is very involved with the online DIY community. However, he is limited by what he can work on as he does not have access to more serious workshop machinery.

Later that year he attends the Woodford folk festival and shares his ideas of extending product life and sustainable consuming. He finds that many other people are also involved with this online community and are also limited due to not having access to shop equipment.

He decides to speak with the Woodfordia organizers and in 2017, and request a meeting space with workshop facilities. The association and out character meet on site to choose a location.

Project Update - Workshop Construction

For this project, i would like the construction method to reflect the nature of the occupants, to be extremely low impact and to comprise construction and timber joinery methods that are available to all DIY enthusiasts. For my final presentation, i will show an exploded isometric with the particular materials noted and explained.

Project Update - Final Workshop Drawings

Project Update - Selecting a new site

After discussing my site selection, i feel that the proposal should be located a bit closed to the heart of the festival to actually engage with the festival, while still responding to the site qualities observed during my site visit.

The his a piece of hand located north west of the festival heart, that will not effect the surrounding ecology but will be close enough to the festival center to become an integral part of it's function 

There are two main navigational experiences that lead you to the architectural entity. The first being as a stand alone workshop. The experience of arriving to the site is a combination of first learning of its existence through electronic media and human exchange. You must then find the structure. Then it becomes an experience of gps, direction asking then arrival, with the views and sensory experiences framed by car windows.

During the festival, the experience of finding the site changes. As people are already on the site. The building it visually recognizable as it sits on the crest of a hill, this creates a visual identification  A break In the structure of the festival center allow people to experience the space.

Project Update - Response from Tutorial

The final tutorial will assist me refine and targeting my proposal. The firsts thing we discussed was the layout of the workshops of the plan, it is possible that they don't necessarily respond to a practical future of the future of the site, and possibly don't respond to the economic position of the woodfordia organisation.

Another this that we discussed was the thermal mas idea of the workshop. Considering that the proposal was to create something that everyday DIYer's could construct, perhaps the piled earth and rammed earth is not the best material.

Project Update - Workshop Drawings

A group of preliminary Setup drawing to bring into the final tutorial for review. These are the basic plans, section and perspectives.

Project Update - Master Planning

This is my initial attempt at Master Planning the community. I have moved the area away from any potential ecological flow paths and positioned the site close to the road in an attempt to make travelling to the site a bit less taxing on the ecology. There is 4 stages in the master-plan  with the character being key in have the project organically generate itself.

There is also an attempt as some accommodation design, I have also added a few rough perspectives to get an idea of the experience that the character with be interacting with. I'm find that the fiction part of this assignment is having me look at the story rather than the architecture, which is a bit different but useful for understanding how people function in a community.

This is the very fist stage of the masterplan, an unfunded temporary group of tents to run workshops and swap meets. Our character is key in making this happen













This stage sees some addition structures, but with a hardstand provided by fund raising

This stage features some permanent workshop structures.

The final stage, featuring some accommodation.

Project Update - Refining the Workshop

 Some more refined sketches of the workshop. I'm interested in using the back wall as a thermal mass feature. It could also be used for people to have lunch and relax on.