URBAN STRATEGY
This urban study has instigated a reflection on the type of urban housing required to be developed. How private, public, shared spaces will be arranged and what type of agreement on a building and neighbourhood level should be achieved. Terrace houses and tenements choose a type of living agreement in between the Villa and the Tower Block models. Would be this more desirable? A key question is who are going to be the users of the new development and how integrated could be in the neighbourhood.

In addition, the environmental impact of materials used have been considered, taking into consideration the use of timber, sandstone, brick and reinforce concrete from the current buildings. Each neighbourhood has an identity and characteristics. A key question that have been considered during the design phase is how neighbourhoods bind together and give identity to a place.

The site
Knowehead Gardens are set in a walking distance from Glasgow city centre, in a landscape that combines green parks, busy roads, shops and multicultural communities. The new development and extensions to current properties aspires to accommodate mix aged groups, couples and families creating a sense of community. The accommodation will encourage the use of bicycle, giving the users access to the current cycling paths.

Gathering spaces have been considered as a way of neighbourhood spirit, encouraging interaction and social activities. Architectural and aesthetic considerations will be considered in order to promote a real sense of community and the restorative power of nature in a city.

Living in Agreement

The relationship between a city and its housing is symbiotic, with the character of the former informed by the nature of the latter. Through a series of spaces and thresholds, we navigate, on a daily basis, journeys between the civic-public and personal-private. A study of housing must therefore oscillate between the macro and micro scales. In consideration of these multiple ways of living, there remains a real and specific need to consider what a contemporary home is, who it is designed for, what it should provide as well as how it is built; re-evaluating existing housing models to address a broader range of demographics and to adapt to the changing needs of city dwellers. New living circumstances result in alternative social units, which differ from the nuclear family. How can we quantify and explore what people might need and how do we balance this with finite resources? To appraise our design decisions, there is a need to consider scale, volume, proportion, circulation, and spatial organization, as well as material selection. These factors should not only demonstrate a relationship to the architectural intent but also provide a reflective and critical evaluation of the impact these decisions have on carbon emissions and community resilience, as well as the comfort, security, health, safety, and privacy of the occupants.

Housing Strategy, designing on Neighbourhood level:
– An opportunity to organise ourselves in a strategic way;
– Density, infrastructure, services, building traditions, power structures, hidden relationships;
– Safety, coherence, directness, comfort, attractiveness, adaptability;
– How can we bridge the gap between current and future practices;
– How to address the inequalities of wider interlinked systems, particularly for vulnerable;
– Collective relationships;
– Hight, thresholds and social interaction;
– Hidden Relationships;
– Well-being of resident;
– Community resilience;
– Improve health, better lives

Good design, one that works well for many people
The three new houses and two extensions to the current flats have been designed to accommodated large families and placed in a way that encourage the notion of strong neighbourhood.

Private, Semi-Private spaces: In this area in between public-private, individual and collective claims can overlap, and resulting conflicts must be resolved in mutual agreement. It is here that every inhabitant plays the roles that express what sort of person he wants to be, and therefore how he wants others to see him. Here, too, it is decided what individual and collective have to offer each other.

DESIGN RESPONSE

The proposed City Engagement Hub – CEH attempts to assert themselves not as conventional ‘large box’ structure, but as identifiable local typology public building. The proposal reflects the variety of area’s buildings (tenements, commercial, industrial, worship) and the social mix of age, religion, ethnicity and race. The proposed Public Building ‘returns’ this building diversity of and attempts to articulate certain civic patterns in scale and proportion.

Following one of Clients’ key objective on empowering communities by helping them to build their confidence and skills and addressing inequality, the City Engagement Hub aspires to ‘brace’ this objective by the local community to build their confidence and skills though activities that support learning and address inequality.

The CEH will act as a social infrastructure that strengthens the social connections and networks, and improve the lives of people in Pollokshields area. At the same time CHE through its physical layout and organisational structure will be a place to develop skills for civic engagement and community building. Users/visitors will be ‘encouraged’ and informally taught how to engage in public culture and interact with people who are not like them.

Form
The proposed building on the corner of Albert Drive and Darnley Street uses shape and transparency to anchor its presence upon the site while employing civic and industrial gestures such as a big fascia of glass on the east and south sides. The west and north sides of the building’s envelope is more a collection of added elements, (less seamless) which reflects the diversity of the surrounding build area.

Materiality
The main materials used are metal frame, brick, wood and glass identifiable as continuing regional built heritage, while also subtly referring to the nearby railway station (Pollokshields Eas)t and the Tramway, a contemporary arts venue. Equally, the cones at roof reinforce typological references to the surrounding buildings.

City Engagement Hub aspires to promote community, allegiance, civility and at the same time encourage diversity and engagement. This has been done through two main areas:

Café and sitting areas, ground floor;

A community kitchen, first floor;

Co-working area, second floor;

Public Stairs that connect floors and areas, encourage interaction and engagement.