Ferne McGregor Architecture

Exquisite Corpse:

Module of Upward Movement

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The second design project of my second year comprised of two parts: the main design, completed in pairs, and a larger group component which combined our designs under a speculative architectural practice. The project had a heavy focus on the technical elements of the design, with the key outputs for the project being at a construction drawing level of detail. Each pair chose to design either a staircase, ramp, or lift, before being randomly allocated a material, program, and adjective to design around – for me and my partner, this meant designing a staircase which was expansive, featured fabric as a material, and functioned as a town hall. To begin with, the brief additionally restricted the volume of our structure to only 800m3, which seemed to immediately contradict the “expansive” descriptor. The initial design process involved a lot of sketching, particularly around how to fit the staircase within the restricted volume, and consideration was taken into the idea of a horizontally “expansive” design. However, through the consideration of numerous precedent studies including several observation towers – which often focused on both the journey up through the structure, alongside the resulting view from the uppermost platform – the structure was decided to be expansive in height instead. A parallelogram-shaped plan was considered with variation in the arrangement of stairs on every floor, however this was later simplified into a triangular plan to reduce the building’s footprint instead. My partner’s research into MVRDV’s Expo 2000 Pavilion inspired the decision to add a second staircase which wrapped around the outside of our structure, which was achievable with the newly reduced footprint of the design.

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The final design, consequently, consisted of two triangular staircases which spiralled along the interior and exterior of the building, interspersed with landings which provided small meeting spaces in reference to the original town hall typology. The triangle motif was continued in the façade of the structure, with a triangular grid of alternating timber battens and fabric suspended from the interior. Occasional windows punctured the grid system, concealed by the fabric to provide an element of privacy for the inhabitants and allow diffused light into the heart of the structure. The top floor of the structure was left exposed to the elements, with the uppermost landings of each staircase combining to create one large, flexible meeting space. The entire structure, particularly the detailing, was designed with constant consideration of the Building Regulations, particularly documents B, K and M, and all final outputs were presented at a construction drawing level of detail.

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My primary responsibilities during the later stages of the project included creating a digital model of the design, creating plans, sections and elevations, and creating an exploded axonometric of the design, whilst my partner took care of the physical modelling and detail elements. The biggest challenge for me was the digital model, as I was still new to learning Rhino 3D at the time, and my lack of experience caused me to take much longer than anticipated with this stage of the design, which led to some delays in our outputs and some smaller inconsistencies between my partner’s work and mine. With the skills that I now have, I believe that I could have either taken a different, much more efficient approach to the digital model, or allowed a more experienced partner to take on this element of work, and either would have allowed the project to progress more smoothly. Regardless, I am still pleased with the outputs I was able to create with this project, and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of such a technically focused project, which became very useful going forward into my final project of the year.