City Land Process
Limehouse, London
Considering the carbon impact of constructing new buildings, and the over-reliance on concrete, this year Unit H looked instead at the potential of re-use. The students focused on a number of existing buildings in Limehouse, evaluating their material performance, construction, spatial qualities, and architectural merit. Alongside this, they investigated materials such as rammed earth and timber, gaining a hands-on understanding of the materials’ properties and potentials. In the studio and workshop, they made a series of experimental material tests and speculative architectural fragments, forming an archive of building materials, processes and construction methods. Returning to Limehouse, the students tested these materials and fragments in relation to the specific site contexts, and in the process suggested possible futures for the existing buildings. These slight adjustments and additions were then developed into projects that aimed to enrich the buildings, whilst retaining and revealing what was already there.
Teaching partner: Keita Tajima.
Student work: Guilherme Bressaneli
Limehouse, London
Considering the carbon impact of constructing new buildings, and the over-reliance on concrete, this year Unit H looked instead at the potential of re-use. The students focused on a number of existing buildings in Limehouse, evaluating their material performance, construction, spatial qualities, and architectural merit. Alongside this, they investigated materials such as rammed earth and timber, gaining a hands-on understanding of the materials’ properties and potentials. In the studio and workshop, they made a series of experimental material tests and speculative architectural fragments, forming an archive of building materials, processes and construction methods. Returning to Limehouse, the students tested these materials and fragments in relation to the specific site contexts, and in the process suggested possible futures for the existing buildings. These slight adjustments and additions were then developed into projects that aimed to enrich the buildings, whilst retaining and revealing what was already there.
Teaching partner: Keita Tajima.
Student work: Guilherme Bressaneli