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Surf Technology and Marine Research Centre, Newquay

Part 1 Project 2003
Lucy Cartlidge
Rebecca Gregory
 University of Plymouth | UK
A project that started with a holiday to Newquay, surf capital of Europe, sounded quite appealing...
The brief, formulated in response to situations in Newquay, focusses on reconnection with the sea and creating year-long employment, which led to the proposal for a Research and Technology Centre.
The varied usage of the place suggested floating pods shaped for different activities that could be tugged along the coast as visiting rooms and laboratories. Sometimes floating, sometimes resting on sand, access and experience differs with the tide.
Respecting its home in the harbour the scheme regenerates and revives an area once bustling with commerce and technology. This inspired an emphasis on research into marine technology and the design of a carbon fibre structure on an intelligent hypalon base with ETFE and ceramic tile skin.
The crux of the project was discovering how to make a building wear and weather that would not tear and die, and many, many conversations!



Look past the imagery…while the suggestion of pebble-like volumes, burnished by water and sun and set against a listed stone pier is evocative, this work is grounded in more than perceptual concerns.

The choice to work with the listed pier is ambitious yet considered; equally, the work dares to innovate yet does not succumb to the superficial. These intentions are supported by an exhaustive exploration of the tectonic and thoughtful engagement with context, and reflected in a sensitive yet optimistic response to social and environmental concerns.

The project was set in relation to a now completed proposition for an international surf center in Newquay, and was intended to prompt students to consider questions about siting and the very nature of the proposition itself. Lucy’s project provides a robust challenge to forces of commodification that threaten the built landscape, and her work hints at what can be achieved with an architecture that aspires to be responsive to site, tectonics and people.

Tutor(s)
Richard Difford
Prof Murray Fraser
2003
The situation in Newquay: a bad example of an International Surf Centre.
A beautiful harbour, evocative and suggestive, grade II listed, needs to protected.
The people of Newqauy, full of life, plenty of conversations...
Site Map, harbour area indicated.
Several models.
1:1250 model showing nestling jewels against harbour wall.
1:200 model showing relationship with harbour.
1:200 model, imagine walking around these bulbous forms, resting on wet sand.
Steel sheet display of project.
Close up of magnetic plans on steel sheet.
Interactive use of steel sheets, showing portable possibilities of floating pods.
Inhabited section at 1:20, tiles form a worn facade and unusual internal experience of boundaries and light.
Construction drawing of 1:20 section, intelligent base of hypalon moulds to contoured sand beneath.
Construction details, main detail shows fixing of ETFE to carbon section.
Balloons, many experiments carried out in my bath, how should the pods sit?
Floor plans and roof plan, the predominant view from cliffs and track down to site.
Close-up of plans showing friendly accessibility of pontoon street against harbour wall.
Elevations and sections at Mean High Water and Mean Low Water.
Close-up of elevation at tip of pier.
Sketches of internal experiential qualities.
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