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Borough Cookery School

Part 2 Project 2004
Tomi Godina
 Kingston University Kingston | UK
The project is situated by the Winchester Palace ruins in Southwark, London. It is developed through three main strategies which arise from and relate back to the site:

Firstly, the idea of the insular community of medieval Winchester Palace and its highly controlled relationship to the city, transforming into a residential cookery school with a much more public character, while preserving the themes of east and festival. The School revolves around a ceremonial Banqueting hall, as well as an everyday bakery, with Borough Market becoming the larder for the School.

Secondly, the idea of procession: In the middle ages, the Bishop of Winchester travelled
to Westminster Palace by way of a procession via the river Thames. This processional movement develops into a route away from the river and upward through the building, around which the programme is organised, culminating at the highest point, where the river can be seen again.

The final strategy is about the unique relationship between the two 'archaeologies' of the site, the ancient ruins and the brutalist modern building
built up against it. The concrete frame of the warehouse is treated as a piece of archaeology in equivalence to the ruins. The two are connected with a cut through the ruins, and the tectonics of the project in the frame become a series of linings which get anchored in the solid blocks behind the frame, relating to the solid ruins of the palace.

Tomi Godina

Tomi Godina’s Cookery School is an exquisite example of architectural invention carefully informed by the richness of the site (conceptual, material, topographical) and a deft handling of tectonics. This project operates as a bridge between a series of intriguing opposites – ancient/modern, visceral/intellectual, mundane/festive – which make up the complex tapestry of London city life. The translation of ideas into structure across scales – from siting to detailing – is executed beautifully, revealing a project that is innovative while remaining deeply situated and relevant.
2004
Co-existing Archeologies: the Ancient ruins & the brutalist frame. Due to their unique relationship the frame is kept as a piece of archeology, the project inhabiting the frame.
The Palace functioned as an insular community focusing on notions of ceremony and the guest against the backdrop of the mundane. This forms the program of the project: a residential cookery school revolving around a Banqueting hall and everyday bakery.
The Borough Embankment: a series of linings and additions have led to these 2 'archeologies' co-existing in such an extreme manner. Thus in the project the frame receives a series of linings.
The frame and the ruins in context of the festal south bank. A strong presence of leisure and tourism that has always been prevalent on the south bank.
The notion of the medieval procession that Winchester Palace was about, in the project becomes about a program that revolves around a procession through and around the frame, up to a point from which you can see the river again.
The linings on the frame vary their form to respond to their situation and use, eg: street seat/container/kitchen surface. A cut is made through the ruins to unite these 2 inter-dependant pieces of the city
The procession leaves the frame to step up to the first level of the existing frame.
Ground, First and second floor plans: The main route meets the teaching kitchens and then wraps around another archaeological excavation at the rear of the frame to enter the Hall.
The main events kitchen: the secondary steel lining folds up over the primary concrete lining to form a food preparation cutting surface.
The Banqueting Hall is wrapped in a light transulcent, Marquee like skin, which is anchored to the concrete pieces lining the frame.
The 'Bay Window' of the hall overlooking the vegetation on the disused viaduct and the train lines beyond.
The ruins are cut through by a piece that folds down into the ruins and up to the street, forming levels which can be sat on.
Series of images following the 'procession' through the building upwards. Where the 'route' can become a lecture space. In the kitchens, the steel lining folds up to become the extract fan.
The procession passes through the more intimate snug which overlooks the main hall and ends in the bar which overlooks the Thames.
As with the load-bearing solidity of the Ruins, the 'lined' frame is anchored by 3 solid load-bearing blocks at the rear of the frame. These being the residential element of the program.
• Page Hits: 6381         • Entry Date: 09 September 2004         • Last Update: 09 September 2004