What do I want to discover?
I would like to investigate existing building stock in industrial or post-industrial neighborhoods and discover the potential for adaptation and reprogramming. More specifically I would like to focus on methods and means of production and how these man made systems can potentially be linked to natural, pre-existing systems.
What is my ultimate goal and how can I break it into steps?
I would like to create a building that can act as a local sustainable eco-system within itself. For me this means that both the production of raw materials and the manufacturing of a final product will take place on the same site. There were a couple of surrounding buildings that attracted me to my first site, the abandoned coal plant at Battersea. These included a large market and a recycling plant located adjacent to the site. I would like to somehow link these two places perhaps with an agricultural or manufacturing element. So the entire process of production can take place in the same area from the gathering of raw materials to a finalized good that could be sold locally. The primary problem with the Battersea site is that the building has become an icon and people do not want to see the building’s profile altered to a large extent, thereby limiting the potential for an architectural response to the problem on the exterior of the building. I agree with the comment that it may be preferable to use a building that is less “polished” and thereby allowing for more room to play with the architectural response of the building to fit my needs.
I would like to break these steps down researching:
Natural systems and cycles
Artificial systems of production either of a consumer commodity
Site remediation Strategies
Philosophies and strategies behind bio-mimicry
What do I want to accomplish for each of these steps?
I would like to research each of these steps in depth in hope to generate a meaningful way a guide the architectural design of the building. Ideally I want to find a way in which an artificial system of production can mimic a natural system or cycle.
How do I know if I have achieved my goals?
If I can generate a clear and meaningful guide as a driving force behind my design process I will consider my goals achieved. I also want to create a correlation between the artificial methods of production to a natural system.
The first critical decisions I need to make are:
Picking a more appropriate site
Focusing down on the type of production I would like to have
Researching natural phenomenon or cycles
