L’EVOLUZIONE: A dialogue between the new and old human aesthetics | Florence, Italy | Unit 21 | 2023 Florence is the birthplace of Western humanism and the Renaissance allowed people to really start looking at themselves and documenting their beauty, which has filled the city with aesthetic works of art of the human body. Since the invention of the camera, it has been difficult to break through in terms of
Scoring Florence | Florence, Italy | Unit 21 | 2023 Scoring Florence has derived directly from the rhythms, cycles, and durations of the city. A contemporary arts space on the river Arno, the project is a gallery developed through a reconstructed digital score of the city. In the same way a musical score leaves its interpretation up to the performer, the architectural score provides the designer agency in its application and
Reframing Florence | Florence, Italy | Unit 21 | 2023 Taking form as a frame-making facility serving the galleries in Florence. Reframing Florence explores the gaze as a tool. Utilising a bespoke eye-tracking headset, the gaze is integrated into the design process. A fixation capture system allows users to compose new architectures based on unique perspectives captured through experiences within the city. Emphasising the significance of the individualised perspective, not
Casting Quantum Shingle | Dungeness, UK | Unit 21 | 2021 The dynamic shingle landscape of Dungeness is new and charged with energy, pushed and pulled by geomorphic processes and experimental technologies that populate the flat terrain. The boundless sky and infinite horizon plane form a datum against which the changing climate and landscape are measured. Two Nuclear Power Stations stand on the edge of the landscape, protected from the
The Blue | Dungeness, UK | Unit 21 | 2021 The Blue is a film park that consists of multiple film galleries and filmmaker residencies that create a place of pilgrimage for Derek Jarman, a filmmaker who lived in Dungeness between 1986-1994. The project spatialises ‘Jarmanesque’ qualities architecturally in a filmic way that captures the relationship between time and landscape. Jarman developed a deep blue field of vision before his
Orchestrating Geochronology | Dungeness, UK | Unit 21 | 2021 Awarded the Bartlett School of Architecture Medal, BScAwarded First Class Honours Geochronology is the field of geology concerned with determining the age and history of Earth’s rocks, sediments, and fossils. Time is inherently encoded into the landscape; this project aims to quantify varying scales of time across numerous architectural elements. The scheme proposes a geochronology museum, archive, and research facility.
Archiving Jurassic Coast | Isle of Portland, UK | Unit 21 | 2022 carmen.kong.14@ucl.ac.uk Sited on the Jurassic Coast, this project highlights the paradox of conserving an eroding coast. The Jurassic Coast, the only natural heritage site in the UK is a geomorphological landscape encompassing 180 million years of geological history. The coastline contains multiple fossil localities from the Mesozoic era. The Jurassic Coast acts as a natural archive preserving
Cross-Modal Compositions | Isle of Portland, UK | Unit 21 | 2022 Awarded the Fitzroy Robinson Drawing Prize rolandas.markevicius.20@ucl.ac.uk The developments in deep neural networks force us to reconsider the role of references. The project frames this statement through the challenge of establishing synaesthetic links between architecture and music suggesting that the new instruments offered by machine learning allow designers to play with abstract features systematically. The project proposes a
Transposing the Courtyard | Isle of Portland, UK | Unit 21 | 2022 oscar.maguire.15@ucl.ac.uk Since the 1850s The Courtyard Societies have been accommodated rent free in Burlington House, a grand neo-classical edifice built from Portland Stone, in the heart of London. Recently however the landlord, the UK Government, decided to start charging rent. The rent increases year on year at an unsustainable rate, setting the clock ticking to stay in
The Observer Effect | Brighton, UK | Unit 21 | 2021 In physics, the observer effect is the disturbance of an observed system by the act of observation. This is often the result of instruments that, by necessity, alter the state of what they measure in some manner. This project attempts to embrace the uncertainties of observation through developing frameworks that transform records of everyday presence into a spatial form.
The Continuous Sea-Wall | Dymchurch, UK | Unit 21 | 2021 Awarded Distinction for Design The Continuous Sea-Wall is a proposal for an inhabitable section of coastline in Dymchurch, Kent. Occupying the boundary between land and sea, the scheme is comprised of a public esplanade, a fish & chip shop, a slot machine arcade, and a terrace of almshouses. Building upon a fascination with lighthouses, the Esplanade occupies a similar
Pnyx public planning portal | Athens, Greece | Unit 21 | 2019 Awarded Distinction for Design Click to see Thesis Click to see 4th year work Learning from Raphael’s School Of AthensThe project’s point of departure began with an investigation into Raphael’s Fresco; The School of Athens. Commissioned by Pope Julius II to decorate the walls of his private library within the Vatican. Painted between 1509 & 1511 it
Piraeus Archipelago | Athens, Greece| Unit 21 | 2019 Awarded Distinction for Design Click to see Thesis Click to see 4th year work ‘Piraeus Archipelago’ is a redevelopment masterplan for the cruise port of Piraeus, it proposes a strategy to improve the cruise-city relationship whilst creating a rewarding experience for cruise tourists. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is China’s strategy to boost trade and economic exchange across the globe, which promotes investments in
Tree of Turin / Bull’s Emporium| Turin, Italy | Unit 21 | 2018 Click to see Design Realisation Click image to zoom–> The Tree of Turin was constructed through various historical and modern data mining, and so it is broken down again to produce a genetic instruction for form growing. The research project dwells on the attempts to compile composite data in relation to the city of Turin. The city boundary
A {WIKI} LEAKING BUILDING | Stockholm, Sweden | Unit 21 | 2017 Awarded Distinction for Design & Distinction for Thesis Click to see Thesis Click to see 4th year work Sweden’s so called ‘neutrality’ is under question due to classified data leaks confirming that Sweden was spying on Russia throughout the Cold War and have continued to do so since. More recent leaks expose the Swedish government and intelligence
ACHIVING THE ANTHROPOCENE | Stockholm, Sweden | Unit 21 | 2017 Awarded Distinction for Design & Distinction for Thesis Click to see Thesis Click to see 4th Year work ‘The Anthropocene’ has been proposed to describe the current geological age we are within. Humankind has mindlessly archived contemporary behaviours, manifesting within the Earth’s geology itself. On the field trip to Stockholm, this relationship between humankind and
MARSEILLE: METAPHYSICAL DATA SYSTEMS | Marseille, France | Unit 21 | 2016 Click to see Design Realisation Marseille has two ports located within close proximity of the city centre. The original Vieux Port is situated near the old town of Le Panier, but maritime traffic becomes too intense and the port was extended north of the city. Port Marseille Fos was built and it now serves as the
L’IMAGINAIRE COLLECTIF DE MARSEILLE | Marseille, France | Unit 21 | 2016 Using French cinema as a tool for investigation, the proposal explores a new marketplace against the backdrop of a central and unofficial district which typifes the perception of the city it is located in. The project proposes the re-imaging of the Noailles district, Marseille. Nicknamed “The Belly of Marseille” for its embodiment of the cities national perception – a
MARSEILLE MUSIC AND CULTURAL CENTRE | Marseille, France | Unit 21 | 2016 Click to see Thesis Click to see 4th Year work Marseille is characterised by its transiency and cultural diversity seen in its importing and exporting activities that take place in the coast and expand in the mainland. The concept behind the proposed scheme for Marseille has been developed through the experience of the city as a
THE FRENCH CONNECTION_MARSEILLE AND THE PHYSICAL INTERNET | Marseille, France | Unit 21 | 2016 Awarded Distinction for Design & Distinction for Thesis Click to see Thesis Click to see 4th Year work The project proposes a new legal quarter for the city of Marseille. Alongside the continuing development of the internet, cyber crime is becoming increasingly prevalent. Current legal systems are territorial, and maintain jurisdiction only within physical boundaries.
TRANSLATING COLLECTIVE PORTRAITS OF CITY TO URBAN INTERVENTIONS – IMAGINARY MARSEILLE ON INSTAGRAM | Marseille, France | Unit 21 | 2016 Awarded Distinction for Thesis Click to see Thesis The focus of the project is to explore the possibilities in designing urban interventions by translating data obtained from Instagram in Marseille. This bottom-up approach informed geometrical principles and a site strategy, while the project attempts to reinvent civil space through a
20 MINUTES AT THE BARBICAN | London, England | Unit 21 | 2015 A POLITICAL ENCLAVE | London, England | Unit 21 | 2015 Click to see Design Realisation 20 Minutes at the Barbican Sound creates an invisible architecture, which greatly influences our experience of a space, without physically announcing its presence. It is a force which defines both the internal and external, designed and aleatory spaces
REINVENTING WINTER IN HELSINKI | Helsinki, Finland | Unit 21 | 2015 Awarded Merit for Design Click to see Thesis Click to see 4th Year Work Reinventing Winter in Helsinki Helsinki has positioned at 60olatitude making it the third most northern capital in the world. Due to this the summer days are long with up to 19 and a half hours of daylight and temperatures up to 35oC. Outside
SCENE AND HEARD THEATRE | London, UK | Unit 21 | 2014 DANISH MUSEUM OF RESISTANCE | Copenhagen, Denmark | Unit 21 | 2014 Click to see Design Realisation Scene and Heard Theatre Scene and Heard is a charity working with inner city children from Sommers Town. The charity uses theatre as a way to improve the lives of the Children. The proposal aims to reconnect the site to the community which it
PICTURE HOUSE FOR THE TURKISH MOTION IMAGE | Istanbul | Unit 21 | 2011 Snow; “it made the city look new, not only covering up the mud, the filth and the neglect, but by producing in every street and every view an element of surprise…” Situated amongst the long-lost memories of the celebrated past of the city, the Picture House reflects how the novelist Orhan Pamuk remembers his black-and-white childhood