MEDIA & POWER

THIRD YEAR UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT

Forged in a global climate of protest, uprising, revolution, recession, injunctions and illegal activity, Media & Power, is a notional project set in the not too distant future. The fictional client, New Liberty Media (NLM) is a direct response to the bias of traditional news institutions - whose interests are closely aligned with those of the state - and the liberation from these propaganda outlets afforded by the internet. NLM actively seeks to combat the state, so far as the reporting of facts allow. Set upon the banks of The River Thames the scheme proposes a base for NLM where the production of citizen sourced, high quality, uncompromised news can be undertaken. Media & Power presented the opportunity to respond to the physical context of London, and directly engage with changing social conditions and The Thames, the catalyst for the citys existence and its most permanent and prominent component.

Books

Three publications packaged together document the contextual setting in which Media & Power arose. A Derivative of Now, illustrates the culture of protest engulfing the world and the opportunities enabled by the proliferation of digital media and communication. The book presents the student occupation of Kings College and the demonstrations in response to the increase in tuition fees. A Place of Changing Tides, addresses the physical and historical context of the site. Taking its point of departure from the River Neckinger, a now subterranean river that flows directly below the site, the book highlights Londons multi-layered composition and chronicles its heritage of underground resistance. State Media: Fourth Estate, chronicles a specific event - namely the kettling of protesters on Westminster Bridge - in which the facts were not portrayed truthfully by major news outlets demonstrating the need for a revolution in news production.

CONTEXT Media & Power Third Year Undergraduate Project

Location Plan

Underground Rivers

Process

A film shot on the beach of The Thames documented the specific site conditions and sets the project on a trajectory, which directly engaged with the river. The ephemeral drawing lasted no longer than fifteen minutes before being washed away with the incoming tide. The Thames - a place of changing tides - and the drawing that once was, is a reminder of our fleeting permanence alongside the certainty of change.

LOCATION Media & Power Third Year Undergraduate Project

Tunnel Mapping

Whitehall

What about fairness & accuracy? What happens when theres a sudden influx of amateur journalists who havent served the kind of ethical apprenticeships that those of us who came up through traditional media organisations have served.

New Liberty Media

MAC

Silvertown Tunnels

PARTICIPATORY ONLINE PLATFORM

COLONISATION OF THE FAMILY TELEVISION

NEW TECHNOLOGY

In addition to disseminating citizen submitted news and original content, the website is used to engage with citizens. A daily appeal invites the people to submit specific proposals on a loosely defined subject. The proposals are posted on the site and users vote for what they would like to see. The proposals with the most votes are accessed and the person/s responsible for the submission invited in to co-produce the show.

An increasing number of people view online content via the traditional family television. New Liberty Medias citizen produced topical programme is released daily, every evening.

New Liberty Media is committed to new technology and aims to be at the forefront of communication. This enables NLM to take advantage of the technology lag which exists between the emergence of new formats and restrictions subsequently placed upon it.

In a climate of news impartiality, super-injunctions and criminality, Media & Power, proposed a headquarters for a fictional client - New Liberty Media (NLM). In the vein of British democracy, NLM was intended to stand in opposition to traditional news outlets. The River Neckinger, now subterranean, prompted a wider investigation of underground London. Mirroring the composition of Whitehall, the proposal explored the notion of above ground legitimacy and covert underground, unseen illegitimacy.
INSTITUTES OF NOTE

| Al Jazeera - a station renowned for its independence and as such has been the target of many represive state actions.

| IndyMedia - online citizen provided coverage of events not in the state and thus corporate medias interest.

| Democracy Now - a daily online news programme, covering an alternative agenda, and often holding a critical outlook.

| WBAI Morning Show - a progr invited to curate the show on a

PROGRAMME Media & Power Third Year Undergraduate Project

Blog

Visual Landmark

Sketch

Blogging, being a form of information dissemination removed from the traditional sphere of control, provided an appropriate platform for the publication of Media & Power, documenting the projects progression and influences. In a throwback to the news dissemination apparatus of old, a structure not dissimilar to a radio tower sought to provide a very visible landmark. In the event of internet shut-down a column of salt water pumped directly from the Thames through an electromagnet produces an antenna capable of transmitting radio-waves as far as eighty kilometres. Blogging and radio transmission are two forms of communication distinctly different but with a common ground in their shared propensity for do-it-yourself broadcasting.

TRANSMISSION Media & Power Third Year Undergraduate Project

4 8 3 1 6

5 2

1. BERMONDSEY WALL WEST

2. STUDIO

3. PUBLIC SPACE

4. SECURE SUBMISSION

5. SHARED INHABITATION

6.FARADAY CAGE

7. GREEN RIVERSIDE FRONTAGE

8. PUBLIC RIVERSIDE ACCESS

The proposal resulted in a collection of spaces which allows for the penetration of people as well as wildlife, maintaining the existing public riverfront access whilst bridging the gardens situated to the North and the South of the site. A versatile studio located directly below the re-developed streetscape is naturally lit via sky-lights which provide a visual connection between those producing media and those consuming. The central hub where digital information is stored is semi-submerged. Copper cladding and wire-mesh glazing combine to create a faraday cage and eliminate electromagnetic waves and thus evading digital espionage.

KEY SECTION Media & Power Third Year Undergraduate Project

1:500 Site Model

1:200 Sketch Model

1:200 Model

The project was resolved at a variety of urban scales. The semi-submerged, low lying buildings and skeletal tower work together to preserve existing river views.

URBAN SCALE Media & Power Third Year Undergraduate Project

1:50 Sectional Model

Below Ground

Studio

The specific quality of internal spaces were developed through larger scale models. A sectional model illustrates the different intended finishes between the above ground elements, which are highly polished and clean, and below ground spaces where unfinished concrete walls represent the layered composition of London as a result of linear formwork.

SPATIAL QUALITIES Media & Power Third Year Undergraduate Project

1:20 Sketch Model

Consideration was given to the programme with specific thought given to the process of news production, the users and the space required. An integrated roofing system encompassing monitors and light baffles produced a space in which light is deflected allowing moderators to filter through public submissions.

DETAILS Media & Power Third Year Undergraduate Project

During the course of the project numerous models were created. These models, alongside drawings, publications and films formed a substantial part of the design units end of year exhibition.

EXHIBITION Media & Power Third Year Undergraduate Project

THE UNIVERSAL RIGHT TO PLAY

2012 LONDON FESTIVAL OF ARCHITECTURE

As part of the 2012 London Festival of Architecture, Article 31.1, a collective of architects, publicists, social thinkers and creatives, proposed a Universal Right to Play inspired by Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. By extending this right to all occupants of the city and raising a collective, social and institutional duty to provide equal opportunities to play for all, we offered a vision of a more playful city against which our own could be measured. The citys built environment is constantly changing. Alongside hopes for regeneration and increased opportunity offered by the 2012 Olympic Games, the ongoing privatisation of public space and the ubiquity of surveillance threatened to cast a shadow of anxiety over events and everyday life. While the 2012 Olympics offered up the global spectacle of games defined by formality, we explored whether there was any space left in the city to play by rules of our own making?

RTICLE 31.1 WORKSHOP 44

EXHIBITION

22.06-24.06

22.06 - 08.07.2012

Opening Party Friday 6pm 9pm Saturday/Sunday 11am - 6pm Location: Workshop 44, 44 Marlborough Avenue, London E8 4JR Article 31.1 will be collaborating with a number of Londons key players to curate an exhibition documenting playful acts within the city. This exhibition takes place within a re-purposed shop unit situated on the Regents Estate, near Broadway Market, presents game board before it makes nomadic excursions into the city. Structures, photographs, kites and tapestries will transform the space, and scheduled workshops ensure Article 31.1 @ Workshop 44 will be the place to play hard. Players include... guerrilla sewers: Community Kite Project, Urban explorer & photographer: Matthew Benson. CRAFTIVISM WORKSHOP

HOW FREEDO_ ARE YOU WE? REMEMBER HOW TO PLAY

X RTICLE 31.1 WEAVERS FIELD

FREE

RTICLE 31.1 HUCK

03.07

RTICLE 31.1 VYNER ST

05.07

X RTICLE 31.1 RNOLD CIRCUS

OLYMPICNIC

PLAY DAY

FILM & TALK

GAME

01.07

08.07
Sunday 1-6pm Location: Arnold Circus, E2 Joining the activities at the annual Friends of Arnold Circus Sharing Picnic. A day of games, music and of course, food. ARNOLD CIRCUS Arnold Circus is a mound in the middle of the Boundary Estate, built from the demolition rubble of some of the worst slums that stood there previously. The Boundary Estate was built in 1890 and is one in the world. Boundary road, marked the boundary across which police would not cross, the lawless, overcrowded Victorian alleyways of the old East End, where there was only running water for 10 minutes a day. The bandstand is still standing at the centre of Arnold Circus, marking an alignment of several ley lines, that apparently pass through this East End estate.

Sunday 11-6pm Weavers Fields Adventure Playground Location: Weavers Fields, Bethnal Green

Tuesday 6.30-9.30pm Location: 71a Leonard Street, EC2A 4QS

Thursday 6-9pm Location: Vyner Street, E2

The rainbow coloured structures of Weavers Fields Adventure Playground open to all ages children and GROWN-UPS. The game board will be in action plus a range of playful activities, live COMMUNITY KITE PROJECT

Film screening and talk exploring the relationship between freedom and play in the city. CRACK THE SURFACE

Playing games amongst the First Thursday gallery goers on Vyner Street.

Takes a look at a small collection of explorers focusing on their playful engagement with the environment and their community. IAIN BORDEN

Design, cut, stick and produce your very own kite, aided by the professionals. Once constructed youll be able to take them into the

PARKOUR GENERATIONS Join Dan Edwards and his Whether a couch potato or a budding athlete, interact with your environment by throwing yourself off, on and about the multi-coloured structures of Weavers Field Adventure Playgroud. PING PONG ENGLAND Bringing nomadic Hit & Run Ping Pong tables, bats and balls, join Ping Pong England in playing ping pong in spaces, and on surfaces, it has never been played on before.

Professor at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Interested in the ways in which urban spaces are experienced by people after the moment at which theyre are completed an in-depth study, looking at how skateboarders have adopted modern cities. OLLY ZANETTI Journalist and activist specialising in environmental issues, urbanism and political culture.Regular contributor to HUCK magazine, as well as writing for New Internationalist, The Ecologist and The Guardian. BERNARD SPIEGAL Founder of Playlink, a multi-faceted independent play consultancy. Author of Play at School, Play as Culture and Portsmouths Cultural Strategy, From the Hill to the Sea. DAN EDWARDS Dan Edwards is a founding member and Director of Parkour Generations, as well as a founding member of Parkour UK.

23.06
FREE Saturday 2-4pm Workshop 44 Join us for a 2 hour Craftivism workshop on 23rd June hosted by founder of the global Craftivist Collective Sarah Corbett who is seen as one of the leading spokespeople in the Craftivism movement. Informative and fun, you will learn about how Craftivism can create change in a playful way using street art and working with the urban environment.

...CONTAINS AN ELEMENT OF CHANCE. RANDOMNESS. PLAY IS NOT PLANNED, AND IS NOT CONSTRAINED, AND SO IT WOULD BE SILLY TO THINK THAT PLAY WILL BE RESTRICTED TO WHAT YOU SEE ON THIS PAGE. SILLY SILLY SILLY.
RTICLE 31.1 ST LONDON
__.__

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE

PLAYING THE CITY 31POINT1.WORDPRESS.COM

craftivism.eventbrite.co.uk ??????????????????

PROGRAMME The Universal Right to Play 2012 London Festival of Architecture

RTICLE 31.1

Article 31.1 curated a multi-faceted series of events across a two week period. The programme brought people together to share their experience of play and encouraged dialogue about the state of play in the city. All events were participatory - playful - and included an exhibition of works, film screenings, workshops, playdays and many games. A giant transformative game board, based on the geodesic dome moved throughout London urging people to interact with the city and to get out and play.

DEVELOPMENT The Universal Right to Play 2012 London Festival of Architecture

A disused shop on the Regents Estate, London Fields was re-purposed by Article 31.1 and hosted an exhibition and weekend of playful activities; creative and crafty, active and arty. Situated behind Broadway Market, the event brought sections of society together, that live in relatively close proximity but worlds apart. Over 120 people attended over the course of the weekend and the opening night was rounded off by the arrival of an impromptu band.

At Weavers Fields, we cracked open the amazing adventure playground for a rare Sunday session, open to all ages, with workshops by some of the most passionate advocates of kite flying, ping pong and parkour. 90+ people passed through the gates with many adults rediscovering their inner-child. Weavers Fields became a sanctuary of freedom within a city laced with restrictions and limitations.

EXHIBITION Workshop 44 The Universal Right to Play 2012 London Festival of Architecture

PLAYDAY Weavers Fields Adventure Playground

Article 31.1 in conjunction with HUCK magazine hosted an evening at publishing house, The Church of London, bringing together a group of distinct and original voices to discuss play in the built environment, and a screening of urban exploration documentary Crack the Surface. The panel was composed of a collection of architects, urban explorers, free-runners, activists and play professionals. A large part of the evening was devoted to discussion about the themes raised whilst playing games.
FILM & DISCUSSION 71a

A giant gameboard was constructed from recycled plastic. The game prompted players to explore the city, jump a fence, get on a swing and pick up challenges. Play contains an element of chance. Play cannot be restricted. This transient quality of play was reflected in the board moving throughout the city for the duration of the festival. On one particular occasion the gameboard was amongst the First Thursday gallery goers on Vyner Street.

GAME The Universal Right to Play 2012 London Festival of Architecture Vyner Street / The Boundary Estate

THE CHERRY TREES SCHOOL

LIVE PROJECT

The Cherry Trees School is a local authority primary school based in Bow, East London which caters for boys who have severe and complex behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. In October 2012, I was commissioned by The Cherry Trees School to design and deliver a substantial redevelopment of the learning environment. Interventions include the construction of new internal class space, extension of external learning zones and reconfiguration of existing internal space. Responsible for a design team that includes Price & Myers, the project is ongoing and is awaiting planning approval.

Biodiversity Corridor

Wild Roof-top Garden

20

40

60

80

100m

St A

s gne

lli We

ngt

on

Site

rH owe

le am

ete em ts C

ry

Proposals seek to take advantage of the schools relatively low lying roofscape, by providing an inviting green space that will not only serve to educate pupils about the environment but encourage the community to actively participate in school life. The scheme adheres to the proposed green corridor specified in the Tower Hamlets local development framework.

GREEN SPACE The Cherry Trees School - Redvelopment Live Project

Massing

Initial massing studies experimented with various programmes and explored factors such as space, access, light and form.

Options

The new teaching space is situated in the car park, various solutions were explored that might allow for the current parking capacity to remain.

Seating Unit 550mm

476mm

1100mm

Responding to extreme fluctuations in class size throughout the year a flexible unit of seating has been developed which allows the arrangement to respond to demand.

DEVELOPMENT The Cherry Trees School - Redvelopment Live Project

Initial phase of development consists of a new single storey teaching block with associated access gates and binstore. Responding to the limited space, the proposals have been developed to allow expansion at a later stage to allow an external learning zone and, in the final instance, an additional storey.

PROPOSAL The Cherry Trees School - Redvelopment Live Project

1:100 1. New Bin Store 2. Existing Bin Store 3. Access Gates 4. Reloacted Kitchen Extraction 5. Accessible Landscaping 6. External Learning Zone 7. Lift 8. Communal Seating 9. Independent Workspace 10. Communal Workspace 11. Food Preparation External Seating Internal Seating Storage Refuse 7

Timber Screen FOOTBALL PITCH

+ 0.00

+ 0.00

+ 0.00

+ 0.05

SHELTERED ACCOMMODATION
+ 0.05

EXISTING SCHOOL ACCOMMODATION

8 14100
+ 0.05

9 3 10 7070

+ 0.05

11 1
+ 0.15

Bin Store 4350

Access Gate 3445

Teaching Block 6750

ModCell Panels

Access gates are set further back to allow refuse collection without the need for gates to be used. A new level surface alongside existing school accommodation provides a wheelchair accessible route to new teaching block. Planters, in the initial phase, combine with external seating and a level surface to provide an external learning zone bounded by the football pitch, existing school building, new teaching block and access gates.

PLAN The Cherry Trees School - Redvelopment Live Project

17900

+ 0.05

Elevation

Existing School Brick

38 x 50mm Verticle, Naturally Stained, Rough Cut Timber

150mm Verticle, Black Stained, Rough Cut Timber

DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION

Cherry Trees School Single Storey Extension and Associated Works PRELIMINARY ESTIMATE 20th March 2013 Ref Element Basic Cost Preliminaries 15.0% Price Contingency 5% Design Contingency 5% Total m2 /m2

Finance
Proposed New Works 1 2 3 4 5 6 New Entrance Works New Roof Garden ( above teachers area) New Single Storey teaching block with habitable roof Extension of growing space above kitchen block Extension of playground to include front garden New parking Provision from Rounton and Campbell Road and upgrade of Football Pitch 42,000 17,400 244,600 44,200 58,500 33,000

Crossrail

Engineering

6,300 2,600 36,700 6,600 8,800 5,000

2,400 1,000 14,100 2,500 3,400 1,900

2,500 1,100 14,800 2,700 3,500 2,000

53,200 22,100 310,200 56,000 74,200 41,900

52 28 84 60 75 250

1,023 789 3,693 933 989 168

Proposed extension

TOTALS

439,700

66,000

25,300

26,600

557,600

Extra for For first floor extension concurrent with proposed new works

214,600

32,200

12,300

13,000

272,100

Extra for For first floor extension carried at later stage

53,700

8,100

3,100

3,200

68,100

In addition to liaising with the various statutory authorities and specialist Notes: All costs subject to review of brief / design consultants associated with a development of this type, the project is further Costs based on all works shown being executed concurrently complicated by Crossrail running the site, and from the a limited budget Costs current 4Q2012beneath based on competitive tenders select list of contractors of 228,000.
Exclusions: VAT Security ICT and furniture fitout FEES

PROJECT MANAGEMENT The Cherry Trees School - Redvelopment Live Project

STUDENT PROJECTS
UNDERGRADUATE

CAMERA SPACE

THREE TREE HILL

Camera Space explored the relationship between physical perception and representation of space via the image and was inspired by the choir at Ely Cathedral. The experience of a place is not limited exclusively to visual qualities. An emotional response is built upon the senses. Memories are composed of various elements: smell, touch and sound. Photographs, like drawings before them, are a valuable tool in recording & documenting events, but as a tool for portraying a scene photographs do not confer the whole picture... merely the visual element. The ambition was to explore whether it was possible to create a visual record of what one hears.

Three Tree Hill was a project which proposed ideas for a humble allotment shed situated within allotments situated in Honor Oak Park. In a break with conventional shed design, the proposal put forward a series of three identical interventions sculptural in form. In direct dialogue with the Victorian reservoir below, the trees proposed an alternative method of harvesting water, whilst fulfilling the traditional requirements associated with an allotment shed.

Shutter 0.3mm Pin-hole.

Power Supply 3 x 9v batteries.

Linear Solenoid Voltage controlled electromagnet. Moves in linear direction causing the shutter to open.

Winding Mechanism Reels 120 film loaded in the rear chamber.

Arduino Chipset Open source electronics prototyping platform, allowing physical computing. Connect and commuicates with computer via USB.

Microphone Shure PG58 connected to computer by XLR jack.

Circuit Electronic circuit on prototyping breadboard. Enables connection of external power.

An automated device was proposed that would respond to high velocity sonic events and consequently produce a chronology of photographs that documented the variation in sound.

Film

A film was produced in which brightness was automated to change alongside the fluctuations in the decibel level of sound. You hear and also see oscillation in sound. Restricted solely to visual perception an idea of events can be formed exclusively by reading the images.

CONCEPT & DEVICE Camera Space Second Year Undergraduate Project

30 secs

1 min 30 secs

2 mins 30 secs

5 mins

10 mins

The device required calibration in order to establish a range of exposures which translated into readable images. The louder the sound, the longer the exposure and the darker the scene registered on the medium format film.

CALIBRATION Camera Space Second Year Undergraduate Project

Pound Close

Priory Wood

-16.4db

-6.3db

Whilst walking the Cambridgeshire fens, I stopped at places of interest. Initial on-site tests had established a decibel threshold which triggered the device. Once activated, the device together with a computer determined the level of exposure and thus the brightness of the resulting image.

SOUNDSCAPE Camera Space Second Year Undergraduate Project

1:200 Model

A film shot amongst the allotments at Honor Oak Park was projected onto concept models with the result that models merged into the rich and colourful setting. This inspired the proposed trees, which opened and closed, to be composed of reflective material mirroring the vibrant plantlife which already inhabited the site.

DEVELOPMENT Three Tree Hill Third Year Undergraduate Project

Collage

Drawing

Work Space

The proposal addressed the inaccessibility of water at the specific location proposing an innovative system of water collection. Inspired by Nepalese fog nets, a sequence of rapidly cooling, finned structures collected the dew and condensation that formed upon their skin. The lightweight structures narrow bases were designed specifically to minimise the building footprint and thus limit the encroachment onto growing space. Retractable storage was provided for garden tools. The project was developed in a way in which represented the do-it-yourself vernacular of the site.

PROJECT OVERVIEW Three Tree Hill Third Year Undergraduate Project

OTHER WORK/PROJECTS

BETTER NEVER THAN LATE

WILKINSON GALLERY

ALLIES AND MORRISON

Better Never Than Late (BNTL) is the first platform website of its kind. We cover the intricacies of urban UK lifestyle. Based in East London and founded in 2007, the site is a gateway to cultural trends ahead of time. Our demographic of young creatives often look to us to point them in the right direction with regards to fashion, art, music and events. As well as a blogging platform, we are a large multi-faceted team including photographers, videographers, designers, musicians and writers. We pride ourselves on creating high quality project content in house and have proved a valuable partner having worked with a large portfolio of brands on a great number of interesting and engaging projects. Within the last year we have worked with Adidas, Nike, Urban Outfitters, Lacoste, Eurostar, Volvic, Beats by Dre, KetelOne Vodka, Jamesons, Radio 1, Dazed & Confused and many more. The readership of the site has increased year on year with the reportage remaining grass roots, with our own unique twist.

Since graduation I have been an assistant at Wilkinson Gallery, one of the most highly regarded and long standing establishments within East Londons thriving art scene. The gallery represents international artists, including Turner prize nominees.

Allies and Morrison is an international architecture and urban planning practice. Whilst at the practice I worked on a range of prestigious projects including, Bankside, the refurbishment of The Royal Festival Hall and The London 2012 Olympics.

Website

BNTL x Adidas

BNTL x Dimensions Festival

BNTL x BBC Radio 1

In 2012 alone BNTL curated, both independently and collaboratively on social events, broadcast live on national radio, produced numerous films and photoshoots and provided exposure to many up and coming creatives and projects from across the world. The website was redesigned in 2012 and averages 70,000 views a month.

BETTER NEVER THAN LATE Lifestyle Blog

AK Dolven, Wilkinson Galley

David Goldblatt

Larry Clark, Lisson Gallery

A series of curated online posts exposed the Wilkinson gallery to a new young audience. Selected archive material presented alongside commentary provided an insight into the heritage of, not only the gallery, but the wider London contemporary art scene.

WILKINSON GALLERY Online Exhibition

Bridges

Eton Manor

Pumping Station

Born in East London and having an interest in urban planning Allies and Morrison provided an opportunity to work on the London 2012 masterplan. Consideration was given to design not only for the duration of the games but more importantly the legacy. Projects worked on differed in scale from small individual buildings to the development of large urban areas.

ALLIES & MORRISON Olympic Masterplan