MSA Stage 4 School of Architecture
Zhuoqi Liu
In my opinion, architecture serves as a vessel and medium for enhancing human happiness. It facilitates and conveys communication between daily life and neighbors through its unique language, fostering a dialogue between nature, the built environment, and the human body. This interplay not only increases people’s happiness and enjoyment of their surroundings but also breathes life into buildings, making them truly functional and vibrant through the presence and activities of people.
Urban Building: Fresh & Future
I started to review and conducted further research again from Urban Strategy, and found that the health level and education level of pollokshield were lower than the average of Glasgow. In the survey, it was found that there were many retail stores and fast food restaurants in this area, and there was a lack of regular restaurants and the purchase and supply of fresh vegetables, which were also the reason of health and education levels below the Glasgow average.
In order to solve this problem, I hope to provide residents with a food hub where they can experience planting and learn how to grow and live a fresh and nutritious life. Architectural functions include an open food market, and main programme is a Vertical planting experience and learning hub, on the one hand can improve production, drive pollokshield’s economy, but also can promote neighborhood and even attract residents from other areas of Glasgow to visit, experience, learn and purchase. Not only the way it is sold, but also the fresh restaurant on the second and third floors, where all food is cooked with only freshly grown vegetables in the Urban Fresh Vegetable and Food Hub.
According to the design, the core idea in my Urban Building is to experience and learn how to plant in different creative ways. In the building, vertical planting and roof planting are the key space, and the back of the building is traditional land planting. In this way, planting efficiency can be improved, planting yield can be increased, economy can be promoted, which improving the development of Pollokshields. The application of planting structure, I have researched a lot, Green roof technology said : “In general, the weight of any Green Roof system is not a quality criteria. In fact, plants do not care about the weight. After all, plants care about the porosity of materials, Air-to-Water Ratio, and nutrient exchange capacity to name a few. After testing and iterative reflection, the structure was replaced with a more reasonable and less embodied carbon CLT and GLT column and beam structure from latice structure.
Main programme: vertical planting area is 14 meters depth and 8 meters high cantilevered space, and the roof is planted roof, so the use of waffle structure and wood truss as the primary structure of the main part in my building. The structural support of the programme makes the structure reasonable and solves the challenges of load bearing and planting.
Urban Housing: Agreement One To Everyone
I am proposing an Urban Housing typology fostering family diversity in Pollokshields. From extensive research and earlier Urban Strategy, has proposed challenges such as housing density, emergency housing and priority with accessibility.
My proposal of Urban Housing lies in aligning with the Urban Strategy to tackle housing density issues and responce the site St. Andrews Crescent.
Pollokshields is home to a significant number of both local residents and a large Pakistani community. The new housing proposals prioritize the integration and environmental comfort of immigrants and original residents. To uphold the justice of living space for the original residents and protect the equal rights and interests of all inhabitants, the new housing site is strategically chosen cutting through the side with minimal sunlight shielding from the existing towers with the lowest utilization rate. This adjacency to existing houses ensures a seamless integration for new immigrants without disrupting the established living patterns of local residents, fostering better living environment. Addressing the critique of the existing building’s lack of relevance for residents and social spaces my retrofit proposal reconfigures an existing unit stock into a public space on the south side of the ground floor. This space encompasses a laundry area, kitchen, dining room, conversation and meeting area, and a space for mutual learning, fostering a sense of comfort, security, health, safety, and privacy of the occupants.
The housing primarily uses larchwood and CLT as the main materials. The house’s form respects natural urban structures and morphology, featuring an open floor plan and balconies for shared and private use, connecting different units. A courtyard naturally forms at the junction of exsting towers and new Urban Housing. This not only responds well to the site and theme but also maximizes the protection of green resources and optimizes site utilization, strengthening the connection with the site and improving residents’ Living in Agreement.
