About Unit E

Unit E investigates how a city is shaped by the collective culture of its residents, and how the city, in turn, influences the rituals and daily experience of those who inhabit it. We see architecture and urbanism as overlapping disciplines, marking different points on a scale; our proposals form a continuity from public realm via communal spaces to the hapticity and intimacy of a private room.

Unit E Brief:

Each major historic period leaves behind its own distinct building types and infrastructures supporting that time’s way of life. Industrialisation has left us big cities, factories, canals and railroads. Post-war global capitalism has added high rises, airports, highways, and glass fibre cables.

 Our chosen research area, the Westway in Notting Hill, is an excellent example location. Europe’s biggest purpose built fly over, it is currently under review. What kind of infrastructure might be required to support Notting Hill’s future, post multi-crisis life styles? 

 Our aim this year will be to design the supporting small and larger infrastructure needed to make the Westway area more healthy, accessible, and resilient for the immediate and long term future of Notting Hill. Over the course of semester 1, an act of urban therapy aims to fix the Westway’s urban fabric whilst adding a small building for all residents of the area. The result is a collectively designed master plan along the entire Westway flyover. The projects in semester 2 then tackle the larger and more complex sites and propose a vision for the Westway above.

Together, everyone’s small and large projects form a new, positive future vision for the Westway’s specific surroundings and the future of our cities generally.

Charlotte Bate

Intervention: Bathhouse under the westway

Boathouse owners lack washing facilities along the Grand Union Canal. This project provides not only a necessary piece of infrastructure for many people who live on these boats, but a luxurious place to escape from the busy London life and any daily stresses they may experience.

Infrastructure: Infrastructure and Community Hub

The proposal aims to build a bridge between the local community and construction workers. The building provides a space for the construction workers by day, but a space for the community to learn new skills by night.

Year 2

Kajana Chaounthara Gnanan  

Intervention: The Green Lavatory

This proposal reveals the boundaries between inside and outside. The original area of office space under the Westway is demolished to increase foot fall and unite the communities on either side. It facilitates by passers to experience 3 different atmospheres, an outdoor space for users to rest, a warmer space with toilet facilities and a quitter area with green space. 

Infrastructure: The Food House

The proposal consists of a large open ground floor which accommodates market stalls and seating areas, its central kitchen is used by the community from the homeless to school children, educating healthy food lifestyle. The exterior walkway is opened to exhibit and celebrate the local community’s art and festive. The residents benefit from a private courtyard and allotment space. The project promotes zero waste by re-purposing food waste. 

Year 2 

Sophie Hoeg

Infrastructure: The Health Hub

London is a city of landmarks where my building offers a view that can be enjoyed by more than just cars. My building focuses on health-care infrastructure (with the possibility for adjustable spaces and additional floors according to what’s needed in health-care).

Year 2 

Thomas Mccormick

Intervention: Urban Oasis

During a global pandemic one of the most important things any project can provide is a safe space of connectivity. The Urban Oasis project is a cultivated ecological space that encourages a retreat from the chaos of urban reality and allows for a luscious and diverse external area of connectivity.

Year 2 

Nicole Llumigusin

Intervention: Active Wall

A bouldering wall designed to bring more life and activity to an unsafe area and space without existing use. Continuing the zone of sport and leisure provision it would trigger the gathering of a diverse population,.eg. a meeting point for children and parents. The changing rooms and storage space provides the required support space in a compact area, whilst the  design and its materiality generate a dialogue with the existing Brutalist highway concrete structure.

Year 2 

Varun Sinha     

Intervention: Train spotting Cafe 

Starting at the Bike Station, a new pedestrian and cycling bridge connects Westbourne Park Station with Acklam Road. The bridge runs on the roof of the train station and is wide enough for people to sit and watch trains and each other. 

Year 2 

Hannah Snow

Infrastructure: A City of Little Worlds 

Our outdoor space is precious, but in cities, the people who need it the most are the furthest from it. The project shows a vision of our urban spaces and how, with a bit of thought and care, they can be transformed using the ecosystems that are already thriving.

Year 2 

 Yi Yin Tay        

Infrastructure:Rooftop Playspace and Cafe

A community cafe provides a natural guardian for the new public toilet and reclaimed public realm created by widening the pavement and shifting the boundary line of the parking. A thin cafe building runs along the pavement boundary line and  replaces the fences, providing a more welcoming and active barrier to the parking area. Its accessible roof providing play space for local children

Year 2 

Carys Selina Webb

Infrastructure: Sensory Village

‘Bertie’s Buddies’ is a Sensory Village and Learning Support Centre for children age 4-7. We encourage children to learn through play stimulating their curiosity with the world, and reject the need for digital toys. 

Year 2 

Yuxuan (Yushi) Zhao

Infrastructure: De-urbanisation

 ​​De-urbanising London to claim back the Everyday Life of local communities. Rapid speed of Urbanisation has left us with countless amounts of alienated space with few truly public spaces to meet and a physical disconnection from colleagues and friends. To address this a local-hub is designed to accommodate and facilitate the everyday needs of local residents. The proposed masterplan suggests a ”20 minute London” where each of these local hubs are within a 2 km radius of their local community.

Year 2 

 Morgan Anderson       

Intervention: Public Kitchen

The Public kitchen provides a sheltered space for people to eat the food they have bought at Portobello Market, an accessible toilet and open air wash basins for greasy fingers and faces. During the day, the roof transforms into a sheltered delivery spot for market traders and local businesses. The structure is made of timber and reflects trees from the nearby park.

Year 3 

Joshua Beanland

Infrastructure: A place for peoples things

 The proposal looks at providing a storage space for the ‘things’ that facilitate community events and activities to happen, such as chairs, projectors, tables, games etc. A small building with storage, a kitchen and toilet would allow for many more things to happen in the adjacent and surrounding public space. The paving design provides material variation to encourage different activities to take place within it. 

Year 3 

Rada Daleva    

Infrastructure: Battery Innovation Centre 

A proposal looking at future proofing the current car workshops and garages and providing a link between the Westway highway and local businesses.  The building offers workshop space  where existing petrol cars can be transformed into electric vehicles. . 

Year 3 

Elisa Defries      

Infrastructure: Re-imagining & reintegrating the Leisure Centre

 The  re-imagining of the existing walls and swimming pool of a leisure centre on the site. The proposal improves on site accessibility, developing a scheme that is more sustainable and mulit-purpose to facilitate the future of sports, health and the city. Netting is used for the walls to draw people in and showcase the sport on offer. The existing fences around the site are removed to improve access and encourage sport to spill out of the building onto the streets.

Year 3 

Hannah Kersley

Infrastructure: The Urban Playground

The urban playground is a project aiming to improve the sports and accessibility issues on the site. The site itself has many level changes, and sports courts that are not available for use by the public. My project opens up the site to the public, allowing people to use the courts whenever they are not in use by the school or leisure centre. It also improves the urban landscape and public space between the courts, with new seating and play areas throughout the site. A cycle path and pedestrian route flows through the site, making it accessible and connecting it to the neighbouring areas.

Year 3 

Ava Pevsner    

Infrastructure: The Highway to Justice

 A building which challenges existing ideas of what infrastructure is and who it serves. Aiming to create a more equal, democratic, socially just society through providing facilities to the local community, charities, NGOs, lawyers and more to impact grassroots issues in the local community and eventually the bigger picture to combat issues at a policy level. Located near Grenfell Tower in one of the poorest areas of London but surrounded by some of the richest areas, it is a vitally important place to campaign for change.

Year 3 

Ole Sund

Infrastructure: Treasure Yard

This proposal looks at developing a Council-funded facility for re-purposing local waste in public  use workshops. 

A creative free zone where people of all skill level have access and space to build, make, repair and re purpose.  People’s consumption is increasing in line with population  growth. If cities are to be a desirable place to live, there  is a need for an infrastructure that enables people to live  in a more self-sustaining manor. The city needs to change in parallel  to peoples changes in lifestyle. Facilitate reuse, repair and  re purpose. 

Year 3 

Shivani Suthar

Infrastructure: Cultural Boatyard

 A proposal assessing how strengthening the existing infrastructure of the canal can reduce the social stigma that exists between the canal boat community and the local community due to the gentrified development along the canal that restricts mooring. The primary function of the building is a boatyard consisting of- wet dock, dry dock, boat stack for winter storage and a boater’s canteen.  The building will consist of a night programme that deals with bringing the community together,  providing space to host events and watch events on the canal from the building. 

Year 3 

Lucy Turner     

Infrastructure: The Canopied Bridge

 Affordable co-working spaces and studios for start-up textiles industries which include kitchen and workshop facilities. The workshop focuses on using second-hand/recycled fabrics to support sustainable consumerism for now and the future. The surrounding urban space has been redesigned to create a safer, more inhabitable crossing above the train line.

Year 3 

Unit Tutors Names

Margit Kraft

Anastasia Glover

Rosie Hervey

Guests

Philip Christou (with special thanks)

Alexander Fthenakis

Louis Lupien

Student Names

Y2:

Charlotte Bate   

Kajana Chaounthara Gnanan     

Sophie Hoeg     

Nicole Llumigusin          

Thomas Mccormick       

Joshua Overal   

Varun Sinha      

Hannah Snow   

Yi Yin Tay         

Matthew Thomas          

Carys Selina Webb       

Yuxuan (Yushi) Zhao     

Y3:

Morgan Anderson          

Tsz Wai Zachary (Zac) Au         

Joshua Beanland          

Muna Dahir       

Rada Daleva     

Elisa Defries     

Hannah Kersley

Ava Pevsner     

Ole Sund          

Shivani Suthar  

Lucy Turner