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The global pandemic has both increased our online distant connections whilst also making us all focus more on our immediate surroundings; we are drawn into questioning what a local, proximity city, might mean. The project draws on ideas of the ’15-minute’ city developed by Carlos Moreno, defined to create a ‘city of proximity’ in which you can either walk or cycle to fulfil six social functions of living, working, supplying, caring, learning, and enjoying within each individual city.
The project has two phases. In the first phase, students address their local area based on the concept of the ‘15-minute city’ and identify the special traits of that area, as well as what may be missing from a civic point of view. The second phase requires students to locate a small site and design a small building that address their reading of the area. The small building or piece of architecture will address the civic, imaginary, and a new speculative future.
With sites from Hertfordshire, Devon, Suffolk, Kent, Chedworth, Roundway, Buckinghamshire and East Sussex being featured, the unprecedented move out of London reflects the global nature of the first-year cohort.
Centred on a leftover plot of land from Northolt’s pony racing course, three stables and other facilities–interconnected between a cluster of trees–cooperate with the nearby primary schools to engage children with their natural environment in the middle of an urban context.
The tower is a tool to read the diverse landscape, where research into conservation and sustainable agriculture takes place. The key spaces include two closed research floors, a public observatory, and an archive.
The Tree Pod Walkway winds up into a band of trees in which a pair of meditation pods are wrapped, revealing the nearby sunrise coast. Immersed in nature–near and far–for context and contemplation.
The project is located at Pettswood Station, sitting between two railways, and attaching to an existing station bridge. The programme intends to emphasise this special context, creating an exploration space for train lovers.
The site is Fisher’s Field Nature Reserve in Bushey, Watford. The building will serve as a Flood and Nature Reserve Museum to inform the locals about the flooding of the River Colne and green belt conservation. The building is an educational tool with a floating element, an element that floods, and an element on stilts.
Moments can be an ineffective means of collective remembrance; their original meanings are obscured unless they are reaffirmed through everyday life.
Standing on the edge of a wheat field in a countryside town, the open floors and platforms of the windmill allow the public to experience the lost heritage of flour production whilst bridging the gap between the urban and rural.
Three bedroom cabins, a communal gathering space, a kitchen and a bathroom, mean that climbers visiting Harrison’s Rocks can submerge themselves in the outstanding natural beauty of the site for longer periods of time.
The Harrow Boy’s School design proposal sits on a ceremonial staircase, allowing students to socialise on the permanent structure as well as donate and purchase at the temporary uniform shop.
The lido is created through landscaping to mitigate flooding risks from the adjacent river. It consists of a core building featuring a lounge, toilets, showers, and three viewing pods with a sauna scattered around the site.
In an area with few cultural spaces–especially in the music department–the hub provides music practice rooms, performance areas and a listening courtyard, generating a place to create and enjoy music.
By capturing environmental elements, the spaces record weather and provide an observational platform for walkers. Sea level rise causes sections to decay and reveals relics.
The Roundway Hill Covert Forest School is an environmentally focused learning facility for primary school children. Its proximity to an Iron Age hill fort, the North Wessex AONB, and the location of the Battle of Roundway Down makes the site perfect for learning about preservation and escaping into nature.
The scheme includes a hub building for gathering, a courtyard to provide a walk through the activity, and three sheds with allotment gardens for two people to work together and learn from each other about gardening.
Celebrating the area's rich Korean history, the building design showcases the traditional Korean noodle making process. It aims to revive the site through community and culture.