Merchant City - Initial Site Analysis
From the initial site analysis, we identified the lack of social infrastructure in the surrounding area of the site. The project chooses diverse vulnerable groups across society and reforms a part of the city to accommodate their fundamental needs, bringing in the density and services needed to sustain a community and support the surrounding vicinity of our district.
Observing Labour through Play
My project focuses on the needs of workless families, aiming to break the cycle of unemployment by making different models of labour observable to children from workless households and providing parents with the facilities to access support finding a job.
Approach from South-West of Proposal
View of the main public entrance to the proposal looking towards Trongate. The proposal is set back from the street to allow for the creation of a public square in front.
Approach from North-East of Proposal
View of the back of the proposal. All domestic circulation is external and exposed to allow for smaller communities to be formed around the shared front gardens that each serve four flats.
Long Section through Proposal
The long section shows the vertical play area that takes place in the core courtyard of the building. This allows children to observe different modes of labour in the public library on the lower floors and the office spaces within the flats that are placed to face into the play area.
Typical Housing Floor Plan
The flats are split over two levels and interlock to create shared outdoor spaces at the front and back. This front and back garden will be shared between a different set of 4 flats to create smaller communities for shared working and childcare.
Axonometric of Units Stacking
This drawing shows the way the flats interlock to create shared outdoor space on two levels. Each colour represents a different 3 or 4 bedroom family home.
Lower Floor Plan of a Unit
This is a typical lower floor plan of a flat. The design comes from my aim to create housing where domestic labour (primarily childcare) and traditional labour (‘work’) can coexist and complement each other by creating working and childcare communities around shared outdoor space.
Typical Upper Floor Plan of a Unit
This is a typical floor plan of an upper floor plan of a flat.
Working Model Photos
These photos are taken of a model made to work out my initial ideas for a unit that deals with the issues of the relationship between labour and domesticity. I wanted to tackle the question of ‘how can you work from home without feeling like you are working from home?’ My solution was an upper floor that can fold up during the day to create a double height work space on the lower floor. Additionally, the walls between units can slide open to allow for collaboration between neighbours to resemble a more traditional office setting.