Architecture
For as long as I can remember I have always been interested in Architecture. In 2011 I visited Liverpool for the first time and fell in love with all the buildings around the docks. From then on I wanted to study Architecture in Liverpool. In 2015 my dream came true and I started in first year at Liverpool John Moores. Over the three years I worked on various projects and progressed with each building I designed. Although it wasn't easy going I loved it and it confirmed to me that it was something I wanted to pursue further. Most of the projects below are from my undergraduate degree, the final project was something I completed as part of an online Revit course, where I was refreshing the skills I had learnt at university.
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My favourite project is definitely the Dance and Drama school. This was the main design project in third year that also linked in with the History and Theory, Environment and structural modules. The brief was to design a new university building for Dance and Drama course at LJMU. We were given a site on Hope Street in Liverpool, this particular street was not only home to the Everyman Theatre and the Liverpool Philharmonic but is also the link between the two Cathedrals. In order to fit in with such precedents there was lots of research into how to create something that will stand out but not be seen as vulgar. I looked into the ways movement and transparency can be used to create a journey through a building and applied this research to the design of my building as well as using the research as a topic for my final year essay.
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If you would like a copy of my full architecture portfolio please get in touch by filling in the form at the bottom of the page or sending me an email, thank you.
The Library of the Future
A second year design project
On reflection I really enjoyed this project for many reasons. We were allowed to base the project anywhere in the world; I chose a site near the Albert Docks as it was one of my favourite places to go to while I was living in Liverpool. The Docks hold so much history so I felt that in order for my Library to fit in I would have to feature some of that history either in the design or in the program of the building. I chose to look into the lives of the dock workers and the imports and exports from the boats. Some of the features of the building also follow from the features around the docks including, the red bricks, the arcades created using colonnades, and even the point in the building taken from the concept of the bow of a ship.
Weather or Not?
A third year project
For this project we were asked to design a weather station in the Lake District. We were given three sites to chose from, a lakeside, riverbank or hilltop site. I chose the lakeside site based on the edge of Derwent Water. For my weather station, as the Lake District is notorious for rain and water, I decided to base the research on the recycling of water. I looked into the ways of turning rain water into drinkable mineral water and saw that with a few more cleaning and purification steps you could make the lake water drinkable.
The Jane Rosier Dance and Drama School
A third year project
By far this is my favourite project to date. I was so excited by the title as my family life is taken over by dance and drama. My brother is currently studying a BA in Musical Theatre at Bird College in London and one of our close family friends, Janey, used to be the Principle Ballerina in Sadlers Wells and Birmingham Royal Ballet.
For this project we were given a site off Hope Street in Liverpool, opposite the Everyman Theatre. We visited the current location for the dance and drama courses at LJMU as well as the Everyman and Unity Theatres. We spoke to the course leaders of Dance and Drama to find out what sort of facilities they use on a daily basis and what features are required in a theatre. The main feature from the existing dance location is their ‘Egg Studio’. This studio is egg shaped and loved by the dancers because of the lack of corners; the endless flow of movement helps with their art and performance. We roughly measured the size of the egg and added it into our buildings.
Dance and Drama School 2.0
After taking some time away from Architecture, I decided to review and revise my final year undergraduate project and critique it. I gave myself quite a few notes and decided to redraw the building. The site, concepts, program and main body of the building would remain but improvements would be made to the plans based on further training in Revit and a reflection on the work I had produced 2 years previously. I used proper structural columns, the correct materials for construction, proper lighting and ceiling materials and created a more structurally sound building. I reorganised the classrooms and staff spaces to make a clearer understanding of the hierarchy of zones. This project I set myself was a great way to get back into architecture and the software. It was difficult to edit something without starting again from scratch but I am pleased with how it turned out for a second time. If I were to be given the project again from scratch I would do it very differently and make the ‘Egg Studio’ the main feature of the building.
Office Building
An online project
During the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 I took the time to undertake independent study and signed up to an online Revit course. The course was 7 hours long and covered all the basics of the software. It was a helpful refresher that got me back into the architecture world. As a part of the course you were given a project to follow. The project was an office building that housed a large double height atrium, flat and pitched roofs as well as lighting and outdoor foliage. I learnt how to use the grids, dimensions and walkthroughs. I enjoyed this course so signed up to an AutoCAD and a 3DS Max course. While at University I had minimal experience with 3DS Max but do enjoy looking at and creating renders.
