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Komfort Award

Factory

Part 1 Project 2008
Aleksandrina Rizova
 Kingston University Kingston | UK
Factory Joinery/ Chair-making


Site
The site (a narrow shortcut area in-between two existing brick buildings) raised issues about dealing with existing surfaces, the current shortcut manipulation and access points’ differentiation. The notion of the route through which could become an urban room in the heart of the site informed the way the building was to be organised. The public courtyard was perceived as a void within the built mass - where glimpses to and through, and above and below created a unique dynamism of interconnected spaces. Fragmentation and hierarchy in spaces within the building was established in order to respond to the types of processes taking place - materials delivery, storage area, cutting of untreated parts, assembly of parts and drawing of joints.

Concept
The project started with exploration of an object - a hand crafted method of production. Particular interest in chair making and deck chairs (specific for Margate) led to investigation of various joints, connections between members and tools involved in the process of making a chair. Detail models making and materiality interpretation helped develop an idea about interconnected elements, light and solid, void and mass. Following the build up of a simple tool (the mallet) ways of insertion and attachment were applied in the make up of the building in later stages of the project. The notion of the factory, being a stitching element in the cultural life of Margate, in-between the residential and commercial zone in the city, was to become crucial. The idea of the urban “joint” informed the way the initial inserts into the site were composed. The concept of solid and void led to a fragmented design which leaves enough space in-between and encourages public interaction with the activities taking place inside.

Aleksandrina Rizova

Our students worked in Margate on a range of projects that aimed to show "how small-scale, locally co-ordinated projects" could regenerate a town (Guardian 12 September 2007). Students were asked to research something appropriate that could be produced in Margate and design a small scale 'factory'. Aleks chose the quintessentially seaside icon of the deckchair and designed a workshop for making and restoring them. Her site was an extremely narrow passage leading from the seaside promenade to the dilapidated High Street. Her design was inspired by analogies with the way deck chairs fold and transform themselves, shifting from a comfortable seat to something easily carried and stowed away. This approach proved very successful in producing an effective design in a very constrained space, workshops that function and are full of light at the same time as adding dramatic new incidents in the urban spaces of Margate.
Tutor(s)
Mr Andy Humphreys
2008
Urban Rooms - Margate. Comparative study of open spaces
A handrail detail investigates materiality and different ways of insertion. The process of making becomes revealed through the articulation of the "joint".
Above and below - site collage. The site is perceived as a pulled away urban "joint" where an isertion between two existing buildings could be made.
Concept models - the idea of carved out spaces (resembling the make up of a chair) leads to a sectional study of solid and void.
Public space penetrating through the built mass - model and concept section.
The route through with the building hovering above. Thus a new urban room in the heart of Margate is created. The built space turns into a sequence of glipses from and to the shortcut thresholds.
Solid and void - long section.
Differentiation of spaces and activites - the storage and manipulation of raw materials on ground level, public access on first and drawing areas and joinery above.
Entrance sequence - the hidden building. The proposal gradually reveals itself at 1:1 scale where one perceives the architecture through careful detailing.
The articulation of the drawing process - the facade announces the activity through layering of materials and revealed structural members.
The route through and the glipses above.
High-street access point - urban room.
Wrapping spaces - drawing platforms overlooking the joinery space.
Detail section.
The light void within the building.
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