Discontinuous Spaces Part 2 Project 2002 Gurmeet SianStuart DevonshireAlan Wallis University of Liverpool | UK To think of a site in isolation one instantly omits the opportunities which exist within its ‘territory’. The proposal posits the theory of spatially ‘connecting’ sites around the broader territory of Battersea Power Station, to facilitate the functioning of a temporary entertainment facility on the main power station site. The theoretical connection of spaces was dealt with at the scale of the city, building, and room. Through 2d and 3d boundary analysis and cognitive drawing, two dislocated ‘feeder’ sites were developed, in addition to a water and land promenade running along the south bank of the Thames. The architectural challenge was to theoretically 'connect' these physically disconnected spaces.The ‘feeder’ sites, [Jetty and Hinge sites], are located within a 0.5 km radius of Battersea Power Station and incorporate programmes orientated towards the travelling entertainers, tourists and the adjacent residential and industrial areas. The ‘keys’ acquired from the re-mapping process are used to generate form and provide an infrastructure for spaces to be connected together, both within the buildings and the surrounding urban fabric. The promenade functions as a public walkway and connects the largest inaccessible stretch of embankment in Wandsworth. It includes points at which impromptu circus acts can be performed and becomes a permanent spectacle along the riverfront. The ‘feeder’ sites, the promenade, and the ferry, rail and car access points situated within the power station territory permit integration in and around the site. By creating ‘feeder’ sites one begins to connect pieces in an otherwise discontinuous urban landscape. Gurmeet SianStuart DevonshireAlan Wallis The interest and quality of the project resides in its methodological contribution – in the way it addresses site analysis, programmatic insertion and form generation. The project began as a critique of the present development proposal for the disused Battersea power station site. The proposal, it was realised, concentrated too heavily on the site proper, too prematurely and at the expense of, the true role, potential and the essentially interconnected nature of adjoining brown field sites. Stemming from such a criticism, the project progressed on to identifying a series of underused sites – the ones that did have the potential to connect up with the main site – and act as, in the broad sense, an infrastructural armature to the site proper, supporting both the present nature of activities (short term annual events such as ‘circus’) and a series of envisaged future activities. Leaving the main site alone, the project moved into a mapping and analysis of the peripheral sites’ multivalent development potential. The project’s methodological/ processual potential was noted at this point as a key component of the thesis. The thesis, in pursuing its regenerative goal, paid careful attention to the needs and aspirations of the local community to achieve a sustainable change. Two sites, a ‘hinge site’ and an ‘jetty site’ were finally chosen for testing the infrastructural and methodological arguments, but also to explore the often-ignored architectural experience of facilities supporting leisure and industrial activity. The project presents a strikingly consistent yet quite a complex process, resulting in well-explored architecture.