Modular Housing for Margate Part 1 Project 2013 Noah Carter University of Kent | UK The recent rejuvenation of Margate, until recently a declining seaside resort perhaps half a century past its heyday, was stimulated by the arrival of Turner Contemporary, and the subsequent burgeoning of a not-inconsiderable pre-existing artistic community. This housing scheme aims to promote the practice of this community and engender a greater sense of integration with wider Margate. Formally the scheme is derived from the rows of beach huts below the site and the black-tarred fishing huts common in nearby Whitstable, or on The Stade at Hastings. The repetitive pitched roof is also an inveterate motif of British domestication, echoing rows of terraced housing. Two sculptural, vertically clad, black timber blocks sit on top of plinths: the first of these plinths is constructed of concrete sandwich panels and houses four one-bed flats; the second, as one moves towards the beach, is glazed to open up views of the sea beyond, and contains open-plan rentable desk space for young, local creatives. Atop the concrete plinth, in the first of the black timber sculptures, accessed by a pitched roofed tower of the same cladding, are eight more one-bed flats: four on each floor. The second sculpture, atop the glazed plinth, contains four two-bed maisonettes. The lozenge-shaped plans of the flats on the upper levels accommodate sea views to the west, and toward the celebrated ‘Turner sunset’, for every dwelling. The timber cladding becomes vertical louvres over the south facing glazing of these protruding bays allowing for passive solar gains whilst denying occupants views into their adjacent dwelling. I am interested in continuity, humility and feeling; the repetitive forms of my proposal have an almost Nordic atmosphere and their clarity and mass give a strong identity, which is sensitive to location, to the scheme, and to the waterfront. Tutor(s)Dr Gerald Adler