This Is Engand is a design & research unit within the graduate diploma school of the Canterbury School of Architecture Studio Georgia Chatzimichali, Adam Freestone, Adam Hiles, Simon Jones, Matthew Parnham, Pedro Santos, Chris Simmons, Dimitros Sinos, James Williams, Ottili Yip
Adam,
ReplyDeleteQuite like aspects of this but I have some big questions:
There seems to be some over-complication of the storyline. I understand that the house is temporary, able to move as the cliff erodes, but why is the geologist not there all the time? Why does it become a holiday home for part of the year? This doesn't seem to add to your narrative so I would suggest dropping it.
I don't really get the planning. Why is it split into two parallel wings? It seems an ungainly formation for an object that is meant to be light on its feet and able to adjust position.
Why is it clad in shingles? The grass roof makes some sense but the imagery is confused between a Heath Robinson-ish, steam-punk machine, and an inflated garden shed aesthetic. This combination could work if elaborated on and explained (not just in words) but the plan and section would need to be simpler I feel. Perhaps the geologist has adapted a big shed? At the moment there are some fashionable-ish architectural tropes competing with a potentially more interesting home-made machine language.
How does the digital stuff fit in? The relationship between a physical but crumbling border and an invisible but increasingly powerful virtual one is very interesting but at the moment only the former is addressed in the design.
What is the relationship of the building to the site? Is it indifferent? The rate of erosion of the cliff means that the house would not need to move much more than a centimetre within the geologists lifetime! So, is it something that actually moves across the cliff laterally beyond the borders of the house? Or is it's ability to move simply symbolic?
Lastly, your description is a bit over-cooked. Can you simplify it and home in on the really important, key element(s)?