A hole in wall style bar service area, gives direct service to the outside bar. During the Covid 19 lock downs this door service was used for their takeaway pints. “The Hatch”. My design would hope to include something similar, giving the resident of the accommodation direct access to this area instead of having to go out to courtyard and back in. It creates a line of exclusive connection.
Kingly Court is place you stumble across on Carnaby Street in Soho. In a bustling area of London this court is hidden away behind a small series of alleyway entrances. Kingly Court is made up of lots of different restaurants that all serve the central busy courtyard. This is an idea that I want to take into my own project. The restuarants are situated around the sides of the courtyard and go up three levels.
Something I really like about this space is the facades of these building and how they allow for a strong visual connection of the courtyard.
The Rum Kitchen Caribbean Restaurant, Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, London, UK.
As you can see these windows breakdown the interior and exterior threshold of the space, creating new openings and allowing for greater social interaction.
The Outsider Project, is a rehousing project that is aimed that Queer homeless community. The project was initally housed on an old tour bus that could 12 people. Since then the project was able to move into the vacant Clerkenwell Firestation in London.
There “shelter is for LGBTIQ+ people who have become homeless whilst living in London and either do not meet the criteria or feel unable to access existing services. We do not accept agency referrals, national or international self referrals or operate a waiting list.”
I think what is really interesting about this design is how loose everything is. The space is filled with temporary furniture and no changes have been made to the existing building. This creates a feeling that space is able to changed by the people in it. It is there to change, move and fill like a home would be. The aim of this design was to make people feel like there were at home within their community.
The aim of the Maggie Centre is to provide support and care for people affected by cancer, both for the individuals diagnosed and their families. There are many centres and they’re designed as places of warmth, comfort, and community, offering a wide range of practical and emotional support services in a non-clinical, relaxed environment. The Maggie Centre in Glasgow is a part of Gartnavel General Hospital and it is centred around a fresh and green courtyard.
What I think is particularity effective in this case study is the thresholds created between the interior and exterior spaces. The courtyard is enclosed by large glass panels that allow for full view of the natural within it. This creates a really strong visual connection to the space without exposure to it. This threshold is complimented with warm wooden cladding in the ceilings and in the furniture chosen.
The Centre for Contemporary Arts is located on the busy Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow.
Through renovations around 2013 and 2014 the space became a really open and social hub for its users. The main design feature of the space is the internal courtyard which is at the centre of the building. This was originally an external courtyard but with the renovations and the climate of Glasgow it was transformed into an interior courtyard, which has a mix of natural and artificial light.
“CCA was transformed from a cul-de-sac of a building into a series of dramatic spaces, level relationships and surprises with a focus on the elevated villa set behind the veil of Thomson’s façade to the street.” – The Alexander Thomas Society.
The space is enclosed by the glass ceiling and is connected to the building by walkways, that link the spaces through the courtyard. The ground floor space that sits directly below the voids, is used for cafe seating and events. The space is multi-functional and thus has no fixed design elements.
From looking at the floor plans it is obvious how these void spaces are used are both connection spaces, both in terms of route through a building and in visual connections. It is interesting to me that as the functions of the spaces become more private as we go up the floors, the connection of these walkways is dialed back too. By designing this long walkway on the first floor it makes clear the public path of travel, in contrast to the more discreet side walkways that link to the private spaces.
The addition of these walkways also offer an interior design opportunity of hanging and suspended lighting. To me i think this creates a really fun and social environment while also dividing the social and private spaces vertically.
I love the contrast in materiality this courtyard offers too. The combination of the original sandstone facades of the building and the industrial style details of the lighting and walkways creates a really cool and modern reflection of the City.
My research methodology aims to collect qualitative and quantitative data from a survey. The survey is aimed at people who are within the Queer Community who socialize and/or live in Edinburgh. I approached the questionnaire in a sensitive manner and kept the questions to surface level in order to gain participants trust and not to provoke any sensitive issues.
The Queer Culture Hub
Queer is an umbrella term used to generalise different labels and definitions. But what really is Queer Culture? It is dance, music, fashion, art, literature, sports, community, love, activism, and freedom. An open and accepting community with rich history, values, beliefs, and identities. A culture that has been formed out of exclusion and isolation.
Edinburgh being a city filled with multiple universities it is full of young people from a range of backgrounds, but it is also a busy city external from the universities. While the Queer Community is an active part of the city and includes people with all different ages, races, interests and hobbies there is a noticeable lack of a connected community. There is no centre. Despite the presence of various environments where queer individuals may feel accepted, many are still seeking a dedicated hub—a safe, welcoming venue where they can connect and engage with one another. How can we create a reserved space that allows for casual meetings, engages and inspires a community, who often feel pushed out in other spaces?
It is import that this project also takes a responsibility in providing and facilitating health care for Queer people. With standard health care being targeted for the ‘norm’ there is a huge lack in resources to care for the specific needs of the Queer Community and the niche problems that they face, in both physical and mental health. The project will offer a separate space for examinations, clinics and counselling.
To further support the people in need within the Queer Community, the project will facilitate the Queer housing crisis. According to Stonewall charity (one of the largest LGBT charities in the world) 1 in 5 LGBT people have experienced some form of homelessness in their lives, with staggering high rates of 25% of transgender people experiencing this. This issue arises for many reasons, many young people face rejection and abandonment, domestic violence can be issue too when people are choosing the streets over it. For many it can be because they isolated within their communities. A key issue the design hopes to revolve is these people being and feeling safe in the accommodations allocated to them. Housing the Queer community in need adjacent to the Culture Hub will create a real sense of community and life within the site. Having direct access to people and places that can help support them through there unique problems.
The design aims create a Queer World within a building in the centre of Edinburgh. A daytime location to connect, explore, and enjoy. A space for groups, individuals, and the In-Need.
This is a project I am really interested as it was designed by Architect Martha Summers, who was named amongst the Rising Stars of 2023 by The RIBA Journal. Martha focuses on designing queer and feminist spaces so in terms of my theme is a really good designer to look at.
Located in London’s South-bank, the project London LGBTQ Community Centre was designed and constructive in just 5 weeks. Martha Summers inlisted a team of only LGBT+ people to build it. The community project aimed to be a “permanent safe, sober, intergenerational, intersectional LGBTQ+ Community Centre.”
The space is created to be flexible to the needs of the community within. That means the design was orientated around a large open space that mutilple events could take place in.
This was intended to removed a fixed or designed feel from the space. Summers wanted to create a sense of being safe and cosy but not prentious or precious. This balanced allows for a community to feel like they can make a space theirs.
They first look random array of furniture within the space was actually carefully decided on in order to create a mix n match feeling – “It’s more like a big house where everyone’s brought their own chair.”
The Quiet Room –
One of the really interesting spaces within the design is the Quiet Room. This space is aimed create a more private space to allow of services such as or outreach, HIV testing, counselling, and other similar needs.
I think this space shows the importance on open and closed spaces in community projects, it is essential there are safe and private areas too.
Sources :
https://www.ribaj.com/intelligence/rising-stars-2023-martha-summers
https://marthasummers.co.uk/London-LGBTQ-Community-Centre-Pop-Up-2021
This is a community centre that has 4 key areas in which it focuses: Health and Wellness, Arts & Culture, Social & Peer support, and Advocacy and Community building.
The aim of the organisation is to facilitates a space that “educates, empowers, uplifts, celebrates, elevates and connects” the LGBTQ+ communities.
The building named ‘The Adora’ is located in Washington DC, 1828 Wiltberger Street NW.
In contrast to the Los Angeles LGBT Community Centre this building was not a new build and instead focused primarily on interior design. This fits along side my project I do not wish to make to make any major changes to architecture of my existing site, and I also like this project want to preserve the building character making it fit in with the surrounding city. Key aims of the project were to ensure employee wellness and explore flexible offices.
Withing the building spaces include:
Looking at the floor plan, it clear they want to incorporate open and closed spaces or various sizes, and there is quite an obvious flow and circulation around the space. From the plan it is also clear the amount of different services this space is able to provide and which spaces need to close to each other.
From the interior design proposal images you can see how the materiality of the space encourages light to flow through the large windows and into these communal areas. It is also clear that some of the original rustic walls from the building are purposely exposed which gives a sense of history and character to the space, which is something I am looking to include in my project aswell.
Sources :
https://thedccenter.org
