The Garden; Film and Photography School in Dungeness Part 1 Project 2010 Kazushige Ina University of East London London | UK Dungeness in Kent, is well known for its shingle peninsula, its nuclear power station and as the home of the late British film director Derek Jarman. His film ‘The Garden’ was filmed in Dungeness.This project is inspired by Dungneness’ history, culture, human inhabitation and activity, by senses awakened and emotions felt during the physical experience of the site. The method for the project is based on the process of touching and using real materials; sense of gravity, density, smell, tactility through my hand. One of the most prevalent experience of the Dungeness landscape is the rolling surface of the shingle ground; its tactility and rhythm gives a strong sense of being in Dungeness. The film and photography school is located adjacent to the power station site at the periphery of Dungeness, where the shingle landscape slowly rises towards the south to form sea defences. The concept is that of integrating the new users; students, staff and tourists into the landscape and current use of the site, such as sea anglers and nature observers. The aim is to give Dungeness a space where different users can meet, a place of co-existence; like a garden. The work produced by the school’s students intends to document and preserve the memory of Dungeness and to potentially involve locals and visitors to allow for new interpretations of the area.The building is organised around a ramped circulation hall following the slope of the landscape, from arrival through a wide entrance, through to a communal library in the heart of the building. Studios, lecture theatre, canteen and so on sit at the edges of the circulation hall. Several of the school's facilities would be open for public use. The volume of the building opens up at the periphery, providing externalised courtyard spaces and gardens in between rooms, both connecting to the landscape and allowing for incremental future expansion as the demolition of the nuclear power station advances.The materials experienced are on the exterior; marine ply, hammered metal, and copper, and on the interior; wood end grain, white concrete with seashells, and plywood. Kazushige Ina The unit worked in Dungeness in Kent. Students were asked to explore the notions of authenticity and the local vernacular prior to proposing new architectures responding to the spatial, social and environmental changes affecting Dungeness. Not least, the pending and lengthy demolition of the Nuclear Power Stations Dungeness A and B. Through his work, and inspired by the writings of Pallasmaa and Heidiegger, Kazushige Ina successfully captured the spirit of Dungeness: He worked by crafting a series of models from 1:500 to 1:1, alongside a collection of evocative material samples, drawings and sketches. This painstaking approach sought to address both the physical and metaphysical aspects of Dungeness, developing an understanding through his own body and mind. The result is an outstanding portfolio; with a material awareness and a sensitivity towards placemaking of a standard rarely seen in degree work.In his project, entitled ‘The Garden’, a film and photography school positioned alongside the nuclear power station at the western edge of the residential settlement, a strong connection to the Dungeness landscape is maintained. Ina employs a wide ramped and stepped circulation route through the centre of the building as a device to continue the landscape into the interior space. In addition, a series of external courtyards and gardens provide a rich and varied relationship to the building’s surroundings. The spatial organisation supports the strategy of the building expanding slowly over time; a cunning take on a construction principle revealed through a survey of a Dungeness railway carriage home. The project's generous social agenda is elegantly adapted into the spatial strategy and layout. Ina intends for the building to be well used by students, visitors and locals alike, and indeed it is possible to imagine that this would be the case; its scale, complexity and sophistication manage to strike a perfect balance for a building of new size, typology and use in this unique landscape.Ina’s work speaks to the heart, mind and senses; an individually driven piece of work arriving at a proposal that truly belongs on its site. Tutor(s)