The School of Fashion - Textile Design

Moving on from the first part of the project, i have begun further investigations into the detailed design of my assignd section of the school of fashion - the specific facilites housed within my zone have been envisioned as the area in which the learning spaces an other associated facilities for the textile subject will be housed (as well as retail, commercial and hospitality ventures can be carried out. As an over riding tone to the porject i have bee interested in the intimacy of the school and opportunites to engage user with their surroundings, asking them to define the spaces around them.

This has predominantly been and exterior exercise with some, however limited, resolution of the interior workings of the buildings themselves. This project now has challenged me to investigate what each building within my zone is and how, as a collective group they operate together and as a part of the overall school offashion and DDI. Furthermore it is intended to continue to investigate this idea of intimacy, or almost a domestic/homely quality to the school, somewhere to feel like you belong or are a part of.

When it comes to the structure of this design my original intent was to incorporate materials such as masonry/stone, timber metals, concrete and of course glass - the intent seemed to move towards an architecture of solidity, monumentalism and bold form. However this isn't all that intimate and has the potential to dominate space. From this point i decided to re-think the structure. what is the structure, how should it feel, how should it look, what is it trying to say... and most importantly how will it work. This thread of thinking lead me towards a combination of a sort of assemblage of structural elements that appear almost weightless, (visually) unburdened by downward forces. This has been the approach for my first week of investigation towards a structural reality for my project. I have also started to investigate the idea of structural piggy backing - mainly just the idea of transfering loads but... in a way that visually assigns more importance to one member over an other. The first image (Sigurd Lewerentz) above is an idea of how an important structural element can b given prominence in size (post to support awning), however reduced by attaching it to what would commonly be perceived as a basic element (hand rail). This also reduced the need for two sets of footings. Similarly with the Santa Caterina Market the structural 'bent' columns appear danty and fragile, yet they also seem more than capable of providing support for the roof structure.

For the prgress of the next twoo week i hope to beable to investigate and find a medium group between solidity and foundation with lightweight and organic structures.