Massing Models

From the Big Draw, I began to develop my ideas further, considering my plan within its context through exploration of various orientations. I used blue foam to aid me with this, cutting out the areas that I had used within my previous iterations.

Café

Social Space

Services

Housing in a variety of sizes

Replicating the massing of iteration 5, I can see that while the plan is able to escape criticism of being rectilinear, it appears too disordered. This makes it look like the beings are not related or indeed linked in any way.

I have further experimented with greater order within my plan in these next two massing experiments. However I feel that this makes the plan of my building feel too dull and rigid. I want to avoid making it feel like an institution and so a more casual plan would help with this.

In this experiment I have lost the continuity in the front elevation with the surrounding housing. I don't think this is very successful, making my project feel as though it is not a part of its context.

Here I took previous massing and began to layer it to create multi-floored structures. I like the way that this adds some depth to my designs as well as beginning to relate to the surrounding context more.

Here by breaking up the project into small blocks of housing, a greater social aspect could be achieved. It would also enable me to go forward with my previous ideas of having rooms which can be informed by the progress of the residents recovery, using a moveable plan.

Here I have lined up some of the buildings to give the plan more of a sense of order. I think this works quite well, but the current placement of the café doesn't really interact with the Public Hall very well, which I feel it should.

Whilst I may not like the form of this model, I do like how the row of blocks guides people into the site diagonally. This is perhaps something which can be taken forward.

Spreading out of buildings is not very successful. I think that it makes the buildings feel as though they are too separate. Within my design I want to create a close knit community so that the residents are able to communicate and help each other.

I developed this idea more, thinking about how such a proposal could be linked to the café and other programme functions. I think splitting up this mass into slightly smaller sections might be more effective and make the housing seem less like a block of flats and more like a community.

Three distinct housing blocks can be seen here. In this instance there is greater connection with the other elements of programme on site. This results in a project which is more cohesive. Back right and left corners have been left deliberately free with the view to create public gardens.