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The Briefcase/Suitcase Merger.

Part 1 Project 2005
Vicky Patsalis
Indraj Bhachu
 University of Westminster | UK
This tower explores a prefabricated modular system of individual work/live units which echo its structure and essence. Its amalgamation of structural components emulating the oil-rig effect plays a parallel with the assortment of consultants that gather for an intense short-haul period where the merge of materiality meets a melting of minds.

Imagine a variety of professionals be it freelance or corporative accumulating from a wide spectrum to collect and create intensively for a two week period on a particular assignment via a communal/individual work/live strategy, a place where your briefcase and suitcase will merge.

Vicky Patsalis
Indraj Bhachu

The programme is a hybrid, located somewhere between a hotel that provides IT facilities and an office that provides sleeping accommodation.
The intention of the brief was to explore the notion of Live-Work or more appropriately Work-Live as a fluctuating relationship. It is part commodity, part identity, part negotiation, part appropriation.
Vicky's take on it is to formalize it into a succession of small units linked together through hanging garden and sky plaza overlooking a more formal garden situated on a valley. It is a combination of prefabricated units and generous open space, an appropriation of a garden within a vertical tower.

Tutor(s)
2005
Pavilion model and construction timeline - Competition entry images showing inhabitation and constructive detail
Word site model configuration - Programmatic exploration of 3Dimensional site manipulation with word tool
Distinguishing structural and habitual planes - Exploratory card models studying the distinction between structural and habitual planes through the establishment of plane depth
Sliced intervals for an extended view - Study extension for plane assignment -Sections of the work/live module at its basic state arranged to form a 3Dimensional view through and around the module
Horizontal/Vertical design strategy - Initial design concept for supplementary module work/live pods
Horizontal; Briefcase/suitcase pod - Individual work/live pod designed to exist as a single unit or multiples stacked to form a complex within each communal module
Horizontal; Vertical; Briefcase/suitcase pods - Individual prefabricated work/live unit specifications
Modular connectivity - Exploration between module interaction
Site specific strategy - Prefabricated work/live units constructed within each communal module/sky street
Unit unification - Technical detailing of each module construction and its connection to core stairwell and vertical frame
Section uncovering typical and atypical elements
Sections through grounds and tower - Conditions at key points through the site are documented through a series of long ground sections and sketches
Interior views
South east façade activity - Sky street inhabitation of commerce and the (un)natural environment
View through extension of public grounds - Extrusion shows the geometric relationship between tower and garden
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