Project 2- the Stent Laura Brett Unit 5B

Project 2- The Stent Laura Brett Unit 5b The Site Cheshirere RingRing My site is located at the most western point of the Cheshire Ring, at the Runcorn Docks. Runcorn Docks is located adjacent to the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey. The docks are now used to export powder in 5,000tonnes 2-3 times a week. Access to the site is limited and this has proved to be a challenge throughout the project as sourcing images of a place that is unaccessable is rare. I explored the site more in depth in the first project ‘dissection’ to gather research in order to do this project. Runcorn is a place that ‘once was’, in a sense that it once was a thriving industrial place, exporting and importing goods, providing employment- being a lifeline to the public. Now it is a memory of what it once was, industry has slowed considerably and the parts of the lock have been closed down. The Stent The Manifestoifesto Runcorn Docks is in the town of Runcorn, once a flourishing Cheshire port originally opening into the River Mersey. The docks were the thriving home of industry, a lifeline and the employment of many. Now stands a cloudy, ‘polluted’ place of embedded memories, unemployment and abandonment. The opening of the Manchester Shipping Canal has left industries finest cogs and springs in disarray, the industrial pulse is slowing down and fearful of grinding to a halt. If revival is risky, restoration and invention needs to occur, effectively benefitting the place itself. In the Dissection project I designed a device that would reveal something within Runcorn docks that was out of sight, this device being an artistic expression to reveal the disused lock, dependant on tidal change to show a passage that once was used frequently and was abandoned. Runcorn Docks industrial trade has slowed down significantly over the last few years, with only 2-3 shipments a week. The docks use a considerable amount of energy, being fossil fuels which are harmful to the environment and the surrounding atmospheric conditions. With regard to this project, ‘Stent’, I intend to look further into how to use the disused lock at Runcorn docks and redevelop the lock into a research and development centre for tidal power/hydroelectric power. This power will be generated and used to power the dwellings and the area and conditions will be observed, recorded and analysed in order to design a use for it at the docks and if successful, then further into the town Runcorn. The ultimate result being that the centre will promote the use of hydroelectricity within Runcorn putting its name on the map and in the news for positive reasons as opposed to the usual negative tabloid headlines. My dwellings will house eighteen people; these eighteen will be the ‘new blood’ the Runcorn Tabloids are so desperately seeking. There will be three families of three people, three couples and three single people. The four adults (of the families) will be scientists/ head researchers, responsible for the collect- ing, analysing and configure the data, two of the three couples will be managing the site and scientists specialising in tidal conditions, the other couple will be interested in restoration and regeneration of the area, the two of the three single people will be aspiring scientists/engineers learning from the project and the other occupants. And the other single person will be the developer, the engineer to design how the energy will be used at Runcorn most effectively and efficiently. They will live and work in spaces that are in close proximity to one another yet all on one site, the site itself is situated at Runcorn dock’s disused lock is, so transport to and from the site will be by transport apt for water. Transport will not coincide with shipment times, to avoid collisions. Transport will be to get to the mainland for activities such as going to school, shopping and entertainment/interaction with Runcorn’s locals. The stent will eventually create new employment, being people to control the power going into Runcorn docks and Runcorn itself. Site Photos Runcornn DDocksocks Nuclear Power Plant- Located North West of my site further up the River Mersey. (Above/Below) Residential Build- ings surrounding my site The warehouses at the docks and the chemical works in Runcorn. Project One Dissectionection PPieceiece Dusted redbrick warehouses churn and pump foul, grey smoke reaching the gathering clouds. Below circling seagulls swoop through industry’s homes, a bird’s eye view of monstrous vehicles coming and going, miniature labourers lugging to and from, smashing to the concrete. A cloud of powder drifts out from beneath and disperses to join the looming skies. Inhaled by the innocent. Hardened faces roam the streets; where nearby shops remain boarded up. A ghost town. Fresh residential buildings sit alongside the flowing scenery neighbouring the cooling towers down the winding river’s edge. Arising from a lethargic sleep, the iron giants are fed and loaded prepared to break the rusted chains to be swallowed into the sea’s mouth. The breath of the wind and tide pulls sand from their beds and drags the shadow of the bridge, as the loading cranes reassemble. Abandoning the lonely stacks and ageing vessels, the giants sail in the wake of the tar and gear of forgotten sails. Between the overgrown marshy piers sits a glimpse of history, embedded. Peeling back the slop reveals a decaying, disused lock. The lock acts as a ‘maere’ between the bustling shipping canal and the murky, wild Mersey River. Once a thriving home of industry, the lifeline, the employment of many, now an abandoned place, still with a pulse but a glance of what once was… Research Researcharch andand DevelopmentDevelopment As part of typology research, I looked at the Floating Houses of Amsterdam (images above), which was insightful as my intended design will interact with water in the same way. Initially, I looked at workhouses of the Victorian era where a co operative living was planned and I looked at terrace housing as an example of typical compact housing layouts. This was helpful as it helped to plan out my dwellings later on in the designing stage. Research Researcharch andand DevelopmentDevelopment Lighthouses were an inspirational design when I was in the researching stage. It was informative to the designing stage and when deciding on materiality and construction considerations. In terms of materiality, lighthouses used storm proof panes and a cylindri- cal masonry form to protect against weather, later iron/steel skeleton prefabricated structures were integrated. My design would use a steel frame with brick cladding. Gaudi’s use of a light shaft in the Casa Batllo was influential for my own design as method of gaining light into the interior spaces, by using window sizing ranging from small windows closest to the light shaft to larger windows lower down to catch any possible light. This design was interesting and I wanted to translate it into a communal space that connected the dwellings but also functioned as a method of drawing light inside Research Researcharch and DevelopmentDevelopment I looked at buildings such as The Lloyds building in london and a building in Germany for inspiation for the exterior of my building. I decided that the exterior would reflect the industrial context surrounding my design, baring pipes and internal workings on the facadeand the interior would contrast this. The interior would be the core of the building, ‘the lungs/heart’. This would be a clean, comtemporary and greener space. Runcorn is speculated to have contaminated air, so to combat this I will integrate a filter system. The light shaft will draw light into the internal spaces and the central space will be glazed and open to allow a visual insight of the inside. The interior will contrast the exterior, so much like an ‘aladin cave’ analogy where something is not quite like what it seems. This will make the building more exclusive to those who inhabbit the spaces and more isolated to external buildings Development Designgn DevelopmentDevelopment My initial design development occured in the designing of the dwellings. I decided that inte- grating different levels in the spaces would divide the spaces but also suggest something in terms of fluctuating tidal levels and the function of the lock, which would translate poetically. This was sketched and modelled and was then changed due to the needs of wheelchair users, whom need to access the whole site with ease. This development left the flats fairly standard and not poetic in terms of revealing something/relating to the site and what was once on the site itself. Development Designgn DevelopmentDevelopment I developed the stent continuously throughout the project, having to research tidal and turbine design consistently with no prior knowledge. I orginally designed a funnel system that would draw the tide into it usinh waterwheel- like designs that I drew inspiration from a centralfugal design to navigate the water flow into a basin where the water would be collected and stored until the energy demand increased and then the water would be released back through the system to generate electricity. However, this was increasing the footprint on the site which was not my original intentions so I needed to look to develop a more contained design. Development Designgn DevelopmentDevelopment Mechanical ventilation Green Roof system Glazed light shaft Dwellings Central Space Stent Development Designgn DevelopmentDevelopment I modelled extensively throughout the project, modelling the small spaces within the dwellings and the overall flats. This gave a greater insight into how movement would occur within the dwellings and the overall look/feel of the dwellings.

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