Case Study Visit 02- Idea Store, Whitechapel

David Adjaye’s Idea Store on Whitechapel Road in Whitechapel London, it was completed in 2005 and nominated for the Sterling Prize in 2006; it is a building which despite extensive praise has also faced strong criticisms.

Arriving on Whitechapel Road on the tube you are offered a glimpse of the building as you cross from the platform to the station, on the street itself the building stands out boldly against it’s surroundings and the hectic street market in front. As you approach the building the entrance is not instantly obvious, the external escalators up to the first and second floors do not help to clarify this. Entering the building, users are guided around the building by a series of colour coded signs which refer to rooms such as ‘Learning Labs’ in place of study rooms and ‘Surfing Room’ rather than computer suite. Despite this the building feels awkward to navigate through, the central lifts work fine but staircases are merely escape stairs and are tucked away at the ends of the building.

The building is busy, there are a wide range of activities offered here from children’s ICT clubs and bookclubs to Yoga and Martial Arts. Adjacent to the main library spaces are a series of ‘Learning Labs’ which are relatively generic rooms in which many of these activities occur, furniture can be moved, put away and re-arranged and the blinds can be closed as appropriate. The 5th floor cafe seems to be quiet, although a group of gentlemen having their weekly social meeting there are kind enough to chat to me briefly about the building. They say that the locals enjoy the facilities on offer and it has made a significant impact in terms of increasing the number of library users; but they agree that it’s not without fault. They agree with Roger Stephenson (Stephenson, 2005) that the interior of the building is not as elegant as the outside suggests, they remark that it looks ‘unfinished’ and they agree with the common complaint that the building is difficult to navigate.

It is difficult to decided whether this building is a success or not. With regards to the architecture, possibly not as successful as it seems; whilst a visually striking and interesting building the interior spaces do not reflect the quality of the exterior language. However, as a public building, as a means of increasing library user numbers and a means of encouraging people to learn and interact with their community then it can be regarded as a success and there are lessons to be learnt here with regards to my proposal.

Case Study Visit 01- Peckham Library

Peckham is a large area in South London composed of many communities including Bangladeshi, Caribbean, Chinese, Indian, Turkish and Indian amongst others. Arriving at Peckham Rye Station at around 10:30am I proceeded to take a brief walk down Rye Lane towards Will Alsop's Peckham Library which was awareded the Stirling Prize in 2000. The mix of cultures is instantly obvious from the people on the streets and the local shops. Peckham has a bad reputation, due to some high profile crimes including the murder, in November 2000, of Damilola Taylor. Despite this I never felt at risk here, it seems a friendly area and I wonder if it's reputation is undeserved?

Peckham Library is 5 minutes walk from Peckham Rye and is the stand out modern building in the area, it's upside down 'L' shape creating a pleasant public space on the ground floor and a busy meeting and resting place for the community.




The top floor holds the, relatively modest sized, public library and reading rooms thus elevating the quiet rooms away from the noise of the street. The ground floor houses a neighbourhood 'One Stop Shop' and security office; the first floor has staff facilities and media facilities; the second floor is home to the local history library; the third floor provides access to the main library and children's library and finally the 4th floor access to the study pods which sit in the main library space (as shown in the photo below).


There are three of these study pods, one is for general study and the other two are available as spaces for private and public use. Whilst there I attempted to talk to a few people to garner their views on the area and the library; unfortunately nobody was particularly enthusiastic about talking to me although I did manage to spend 5 minutes with the Premises Manager. She told me that although user numbers have dropped by approximately 50 000 since the opening couple of years the library is still very busy and the community still very much love the building. She told me that many people feel that the architect has provided a building which really enhances the community, she said it feels like 'somebody cared'.

The building, from my brief time there, seems to be successful; it's busy and the facilities it provides are of great benefit to the community of Peckham and there are lessons to be learnt here for my project. The simple task of placing the library space on the top floor away from the busy street works well and the study pods add an element of excitement and exploration. The inclusion of the 'One Stop Shop' and it's continued success shows that it is possible to mix neighbourhood essentials with desires, bringing people to one place to perform tasks and enjoy activities is an important technique to incorporate.

Case Studies

Grassroots, West Ham, London

Grassroots in Memorial Park, by Eger Architects, is Newham’s second community resource centre. Like the first, The Hub, which opened in March 2005, the building is part of a wider strategic programme to provide access to improve the quality of life in a historically deprived area of East London. Both centres were developed on the basis that a well designed, sustainable, energy efficient building would contribute positively both to the people who use them as well as the wider neighbourhood.

Project Photos

Greenwich Millenium Health Centre, Greenwich Peninsular, London

In a pioneering facility, healthcare and education are linked on one site, to provide fully integrated services for the newly resident population of the area, which is ethnically mixed and primarily made up of young city workers.

The health centre has been designed to cater for the full range of primary care, in line with current Government NHS policy to devolve services from hospitals to primary care facilities. It houses a two-GP practice with a patient list size of 4,000, as well as accommodation for Greenwich and Bexley Primary Care Trust staff, for out-patient services and for medical educational facilities.

Project Photos

City Learning, Bristol

The City Learning Centre, Brislington and The I, Filton, are externally identical buildings that are already achieving their clients’ aspirations to raise expectations for a new generation of educational buildings in Bristol.

The buildings create high quality, well designed and stimulating environments for specialist ICT training and are part of the Government's Excellence in Cities Initiative. Each of the centres is designed for up to 150 pupils at a time and serves secondary and primary schools in its area. The centres are also open in the evenings and weekends and are intended for wider use by the local community and furthermore to act as a 'beacon' of investment within their respective locations.

The buildings were completed to programme and cost in a very short construction period of 23 weeks. Alec French Partnership has recently been commissioned to design a third CLC for Bristol City Council.

Project Photos

Site Location

Kelvin Hall School, Hull, is a secondary school of approximately 1200 pupils from the ages of 11 to 16. It is flanked by Bricknell Avenue to the north east, the point of the pedestrian and vehicle access to the school. Also on the site, to the west hand side, is Wyke Sixth Form College, which although not tied directly to the school has a large percentage of A-Level students from Kelvin Hall.

The very north corner of the site, where Bricknell Avenue and Grammar School Road intersect, is likely to form the position of the new building. There is the potential here to connect the two education campuses with the new 'well being' centre and also provide links through to the existing sports and art facilities without interfering with the operation of the school.


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Creativity + Education + Health = Well Being?

Ken Robinson's "Do Schools Kill Creativity" talk (posted yesterday) has had me thinking a lot about the notion of well being and the role creativeness plays in that. My thoughts for my final project have been lingering around the loose term of 'community well being' but it needs to have a very clear focus and programme which approaches the subject from a different perspective.

When I think about well being I immediately split this into two categories, mental and physical; my building should aim to address both. Physical well being can easily be defined as good physical health; participation in sport and healthy eating are a big part of this and are, currently, very popular topics. So the obvious conclusion here is to provide a place which deals with these issues; however it is not enough to include mearly a kitchen and a sports hall and this isn't just about children.

Like many [or most?] students, I left home at 18 with few skills in the way of household tasks, my terrible cooking being a source of fun for my housemates (although I promised I'm much better now), as I all I was ever taught to cook at school was cakes and pizzas. This building could provide a place for people, children and adults alike, to learn not only basic cooking skills but also how to shop for food; if the knowledge was there could people prepare their food fresh and save money? What about not only teaching them that not all food comes from a supermarket? Providing local food stalls would be a great addition but even better would be a vegetable garden, an orchard, a chicken run or a field of cows!

Sport is somewhat of a disappearing activity in the life of many people; video games and TV dominate leisure time. As a child growing up in the area around Kelvin Hall School in north west Hull, which is likely to be the site of this community intervention, we played football and games constantly, that's not to say we didn't play video games and watch TV as we certainly did. However, it was limited. The fields were open and our parents were not scared to let us play on them. Yes, the odd time we got in trouble with the school caretaker but he would let us play there as long as we liked so long as we caused no trouble, my initial thoughts are that this is becoming less common. Providing a safe, monitored and exciting facility for sport is important, the school has the capacity, unleashing that onto the community is the challenge.

So, coming on to mental well being, this again can be broken into many more topics than I could ever cover or understand so I'll focus on those I can.

Education is the most important aspect of this whole proposal, a building that plugs into a school has to provide an environment for learning, what this learning is is what is open to debate. Firstly, relating back to the previous idea about teaching people about food, I feel it important to educate people with what I want to call 'survival skills', that is the skills necessary to form a enjoyable existence. By teaching people basic economics you can provide a platform for them to survive an economic crisis, such as that we currently see, but also teach them how they could take responsibility for their situation rather than pointing the finger.

Ken Robinson suggests that there is a hierarchy of subjects (Maths & Literature, then Humanities and finally the Arts) which is detrimental to the education and creativity of children. I wholeheartedly agree that creativity is something that should be encouraged and if this means channelling a child's education through art rather than maths (as a crude example) than why is that of any less merit? I don't believe it is and this is something I wish to address.

Education is what draws this whole proposal together, be that educating children or adults, in art, maths or cooking, all is important. If I can begin to knit some of these thoughts into a coherent brief/strategy then maybe I can create an Architecture of Well Being.

Music as social reflection.

Music has always been a tool for reflecting on social circumstances, whether it be to defend civil rights, protest against wars or mearly to point how fickle and futile fashions and trends can be.

In my work I'm trying to find an architecture that benefits a community, a society, as well as individuals, there are an unlimited number of sources of information, music provides a different, emotive response.

Lyrics mean different things to different people, people will argue over their meanings, here I'll offer little comment on their meaning, instead I hope to gauge the opinion of others. My first offering is Rage Against The Machine's Sleep Now In The Fire:

(Watch the video, click here)

The world is my expense
The cost of my desire
Jesus blessed me with its future
And I protect it with fire
So raise your fists
And march around
Just dont take what you need
Ill jail and bury those committed
And smother the rest in greed
Crawl with me into tomorrow
Or Ill drag you to your grave
Im deep inside your children
Theyll betray you in my name

Sleep now in the fire

The lie is my expense
The scope of my desire
The party blessed me with its future
And I protect it with fire
I am the Nina The Pinta The Santa Maria
The noose and the rapist
The fields overseer
The agents of orange
The priests of Hiroshima
The cost of my desire
Sleep now in the fire

Sleep now in the fire

For its the end of history
Its caged and frozen still
There is no other pill to take
So swallow the one
That made you ill
The Nina The Pinta The Santa Maria
The noose and the rapist
The fields overseer
The agents of orange
The priests of Hiroshima
The cost of my desire
Sleep now in the fire

Does this suggest that corporate greed will consume us, that money always has and always will make the world go round?

Do schools kill creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson's talk at TED in 2006.

Final Design Project

The original intention was to design an extended school, that being a campus covering the entire range of education from birth to 18 and beyond. The main focus behind extended schools is the community aspect; involving children and adults in education to provide them with a better understanding of the world around them, besides conventional qualifications.

After discussions with [tutor] Dr Bob Felix , it is felt that a school of this scale may be too large a project and would involve unnecessary masterplanning work. Therefore, I am looking into the opportunity of focusing purely on the community aspect of the extended school initiative and providing an innovative facility for an area of Hull which caters for the well being of the local community.

"Architecture of Well Being"

_define - A1 Presentation

_define - Powerpoint Presentation

In week 2, we split into smaller groups within our years. Myself, Richard Maudsley and Ed Kepczyk will be working on a project for Briggate with the intention to "Define, Redefine and Propose".

Here is the electronic presentation we gave.





karl/rick/ed

Week 1 - Disecting Briggate

The first week saw the first and second years of the course coming together to produce an analysis of Briggate. What we're exploring here is the architectural language hidden and forgotten by a series of generic shop fronts.

edward/abby/ollie/karl/seyed/sunil/sunny/yassar