City Hall London England Environmental Technology Project

Alongside the Construction project we had to do a similar project for the Environmental section of our Technology lectures. For this I researched City Hall in London, designed by Fosters and Partners, which is the home of the London Borough Council and the Mayor of London. It is an extremely environmentally friendly building and has many methods such as a borehole cooling system and a thermal mass based on the light which gets into the building through each window, which are all placed at different angles.

Sendai Media Centre Japan Construction Project

Last week was a mad rush, for everyone on our Architecture course, to get our Technology projects finished and handed in for the suprisingly early hand in date of the 25th January. This is my Construction Technology in which we had to produce two A2 sheets explaining the construction points of a particular building which meets the requirements of the brief.

The building I used was the Media Centre in Sendai, Japan, which is a typically square, glass curtained building, of which the interior is very cleverly designed, using clusters of randomly placed downward sheaths which right through the interior of the building, piercing through all the floors, as the construction for the load of the building. Thus allowing the glass front to be completely structureless, apart from the suspended cables used to hold up the facade.

Anish Kapoor Modern Living Project

Back in my first year we were put into groups of 3 and 4 and given a designer to do an exhibition and presentation on for the Modern Living Project, not to mention we also had to write an essay on that particular designer. I was put with a couple of others, Ravi, who I am now good friends with, and Simon. We found it very difficult to do a presentation on Anish Kapoor, a person who actively denies his role as an architect, and sells himself solely as an artist. After alot of scratching of heads, scribbling on paper and running around trying to find random objects from charity shops, we managed to pull this together by 2am in the morning.

Our odd choice of location for our exhibition and Ravi's superior skill at talking his way through crits meant that we ended up doing alright and getting a decent mark. I entire experience strengthened our belief in the course and our own potential. This project for me was a turning point in my first year.