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Converse – Co-operative Housing For Researchers

Part 2 Project 2017
Ross Wilkie
 Robert Gordon University | UK
Converse is a scheme which explores the co-operative housing model. The brief proposes housing for researchers. The researchers each have a compact home within one of ten co-operative blocks, however these co-operatives pool together to sustain an extended range of common facilities, such as a common house, swimming pool and gym.

The schemes architectural ambition is to offer an alternative, social lifestyle to those that seek it.


Tutor(s)
Professor Neil Gillespie

2017
The Architectural Idea Walls divide the block into a central courtyard with common house, surrounded by co-operative housing and shared gardens. From the street, the block is read as a story of gable ends and garden walls. Please see ‘Design Process Portf
Site Context The site has spectacular views to the south. An initial on-site notion was to create vantage points that would capture these views. Vantage points take the form of rooftop common spaces and open roof terraces that offer a panoramic across the
Ground Floor and Section Common House (Ground Floor) - Mail-room - Multi function space, a space for residents to arrange fitness classes, play sports, host parties etc. - Workshop, a place where residents can repair belongs or vehicles within the car poo
Plans and Elevations The elevations are a product of the design process and scheme ethos. Southern elevations are modular, animated by a moving facade. The Northern elevations are a stark contrast, exposing the eye to monolithic walls that re-enforce priv
Housing Tectonics Together this is a delicate timber structure resting on a concrete plinth that lifts the living spaces of the ground. This filigree interior is protected by dark monolithic brick walls that create an explicit through view to gardens in f
Common House and Central Courtyard (Afternoon) A day in Summer. The residents have picked apples off the trees found in the gardens. Over the last few months they have been brewing cider. Today the cider is ready and they have gathered together at the com
Common House and Central Courtyard (Evening) An evening after school. The children of the block are playing together in the common space until the sun goes down.
Vennels Linking Co-operatives Walking back from work on a Winter’s night. Narrow vennels thread through the scheme to connect the co-operatives. In the workshop, at the end of the vennel, a resident is repairing one of the car share vehicles.
Co-operative Housing And Shared Garden Nearing the end of Spring, the weather is warm and residents are tending to their crops. The tree is a turning point between the vennel, the street and the co-operative.
One Story of One Co-operative The detailed proposition was an opportunity to explore representation. It became the synthesis of model making and digital collage after studying a range of practices and how they represent their architecture. Model making wa
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