Having chosen an agent and program, Part II of the project offers three sites in differing locations to place the Finnish Institute into, taking into consideration the prototype incubator and its function and requirements.
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| Finalised Prototype Incubator |
A comparative site analysis and benefit study was undertaken, relating again to the function of the incubator [user, provision, size, effect etc] over two of the sites. It is important, for this project, to consider the effect the Institute and the Agent will have on the local and wider area.
After applying these techniques to all 3 sites, I decided upon the Pipewellgate site, an old industrial unit on the banks of the Tyne, about 2 minutes walk from the Newcastle and Gateshead quayside development. The reasons for this are based around cultural regeneration and expansion of Gateshead's cultural revolution along the Quayside which is heavily biased in Newcastle's favour. I also feel a strong factor is the size of the site - Pipewellgate is 5000m2, more than twice the area of the brief, which enables the agent to utilise the spaces inbetween the program, and to really get involved in the site.
This site produces really interesting volumetric interactions, since there are few buildings on or near the site but the high level bridge is adjacent to it, a part of the bridges conservation area, requiring careful attention in terms of the effect any interventions may have.
Also of interest is the large, steep slope south of the site, which gives overshadowing but also an interesting "backdrop" for the building to sit against and interact with.
Also of interest is the large, steep slope south of the site, which gives overshadowing but also an interesting "backdrop" for the building to sit against and interact with.
I decided to make a quick rough 1:1000 site model in order to quickly test out rough massings of the programme size and areas over different floors, and an examination of the effect of general overall massing on the high level bridge and slope.
I'm still not sure about the massing and volume of the site and program, but fragmentation is key to the successful integration of the agent with the Institute, and so by breaking the programme down into smaller volumes and allowing the agent to inhabit the spaces inbetween the "honesty" and openness of the Finnish working culture is maintained, and society is invited to explore and witness the co-operations and interactions.
For this reason, the work of Cedric Price, in particular his "Fun Palace" has been a real thought-provoker for me. Not neccessarily in terms of the form, scale, or tectonics, but because of the principles behind it.
"The Fun Palace was not a building in any conventional sense, but was instead a socially interactive machine, highly adaptable to the shifting cultural and social conditions of its time and place ... By assembling their own pedagogical and leisure environments using cranes and prefabricated modules in an improvisational architecture, common citizens could escape from everyday routine and serial existence and embark on a journey of learning, creativity, and individual fulfillment."
I'm still not sure about the massing and volume of the site and program, but fragmentation is key to the successful integration of the agent with the Institute, and so by breaking the programme down into smaller volumes and allowing the agent to inhabit the spaces inbetween the "honesty" and openness of the Finnish working culture is maintained, and society is invited to explore and witness the co-operations and interactions.
For this reason, the work of Cedric Price, in particular his "Fun Palace" has been a real thought-provoker for me. Not neccessarily in terms of the form, scale, or tectonics, but because of the principles behind it.
"The Fun Palace was not a building in any conventional sense, but was instead a socially interactive machine, highly adaptable to the shifting cultural and social conditions of its time and place ... By assembling their own pedagogical and leisure environments using cranes and prefabricated modules in an improvisational architecture, common citizens could escape from everyday routine and serial existence and embark on a journey of learning, creativity, and individual fulfillment."
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