Looking more closely at the site, a cumulative image of shadow coverage through the day was made. The areas within the site with less shadow throughout the day can be marked and shapes formed. These shapes represent a house that has a minimum of 4 hours consecutive direct sunlight
Winter Sun
Summer Sun
By making a computer model of the site and simulating sun movement, consequently a shadow coverage map is made. The results show that there is a huge difference between the seasons in terms of shadow casts. For the Lightness Houses, this could be advantageous in terms of setting out the rooms to get the desired light levels.
By visiting the site during a weekday, a weekday night, and weekend night and the sunday market, a character profile for the site can be made. The results describe a site that is in constant flux between noise/quiet, clean/dirty, occupied/deserted... caused by different users and different uses.
The site is bound by Bishopsgate Goods Yard to the south, Brick Lane, Bethnal Green Road and Commercial Road. Bordered by 3 busy routes Sclater Street (where the site is) during the week is a tranquil haven.
After reading Terence Riley's essays on the (un)Private House and Light Construction, I went to the site and tried to find my own interpretations of those concepts.
I discovered themes of ghosts/contrast, exposure/revelation and something I learnt about in Unit A last year the greek word zynoikia which translates as 'together-house' and can be used to describe the force that brings people into communities forming 'hubs' of life and energy in and around Brick Lane.
The highlight of the trip were visiting Jean Nouvel's Institut Du Monde Arab. I particularly liked the responsive meachanisms used within the windows, thousands of apertures that allowed the users to control how much light entered/escaped from the building. I also was interested in the orientation of the building with its back to the Seine and the untraditional way of accessing the building by entering and walking diagonally across the courtyard before it. These ideas have influenced me for the main project located in Shoreditch, London.
Physical Occupation
From the drawn dynamic of physical occupation, wax was used to construct these spaces. To prevent the model being an extrusion of the drawing I thought about how we use corners of rooms and realised that a parabolic shaped space created by human arms in a croner can be classed as physical occupation e.g. corner shelves. So the wax was moulded into these shapes within the model. The resulting model shows the void as physical occupation.
Shade v2.0
This new model places columns of acetate on a uniform grid, and takes into account the graduation of shade.
Shade v2.0
This new model places columns of acetate on a uniform grid, and takes into account the graduation of shade.
Shade
Using strips of acetate graded with different shades of grey, I attached them to the underside of a plan of the house using the drawn shade dynamic as a template. However, the model needed refining as in one direction the shade was visible but as you rotate the model the strips become too thin to read. Also, the strips did not show a graduation of shade so was an extrusion of the drawing.
Designed by J.R. Davidson but never realised, CSH1 was built to take advantage of the Californian sun and make the automobile intrinsic to the design.
The aim for this proposal was to bring the glass house completely into the public space, and adopt another method from the 'window experiments'. The new concept camouflages the people within the house (rather than the house itself) at different times of the day/night by using angled panes of glass that would reflect light strategically.
I chose to use interlinked boxes that would cantilever over the entrance way diagonally, orientated so that viewers from street level could look up through the house and see the sky. The facade would consist of strips of different 'treated' glass panels, for example, mirrored, smoked, frosted and transparent, depending on the level of privacy required at that point.
Brick Lane has many warehouses, tall terraced housing and offices. I looked at the way the users appropriated the lane by placing tables and chairs, scaffolding and vehicles on the street and by using graffitti and fly posting. I became interested in and documented the different styles of windows that face onto the lane and chose one to experiment with.
The site chosen for the Glass House was above an entrance way to workshops within the Old Truman Brewery, in the heart of Brick Lane, E1. Brick Lane wears its history on its sleeve and is a dynamic area, with many uses and users throughout the week.
