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Metabolist Reinvention

Part 2 Project 2024
Luke Holden
Arts University Bournemouth | UK
'Metabolist Reinvention' is a thorough investigation of the possibilities and problems of adaptable architectural methodologies. This project stems from an interest in housing and the potential to apply lessons learnt from past exploration of the Metabolist movement. The more direct question embodied in this proposal is a search for better solutions for designing housing. This question applies not just in the UK but has a secondary worldwide scope to question the Metabolist mindset to solve current housing challenges. The research methodology focused on Metabolist architectural approaches developed in Japan in the late 1950s into the 1960s and 1970s, that have had a lasting international impact. The project is essentially residential in nature with a strong component of commercial community options that provide an alternative urbanism for Bournemouth that could be applied to multiple sites and adapted to potentially any site. The proposal in essence allows for experimentation through adaptions and changes throughout the project’s lifetime. As such the project initiates experimentation as an ongoing process. However, due to the variability of the proposal many iterations of what was possible were explored. The residential ‘pods’ were detailed with green list materials and considered the energy emissions, both embodied and operational. The project looked at best practice, including MVHR systems in each pod, reducing the requirements for centrally operated systems that can have a higher energy emission. The project was researched in depth and demanded an intellectual rigour. The project provided a springboard to develop an aesthetic range commensurate with the design.
Luke Holden

Tutor(s)

2024
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